BUSFEST 2020 - MALVERN MEMORIES
MALVERN MEMORIES 2020
Just to keep everyone in the BUSFEST mood during this years non appearance of the event we decided to post up a series of "Malvern Memories" on our social media to reflect a bit on what might have been & also remember some of the fantastic times we have had in the past and hope to in the future when we are all able to meet up again at Marvelous Malvern.
So, if you missed it first time round or want to relive some of your own Malvern Memories here is the complete set all in one hit.
Kind Regards
Simon & The Busfest Crew
MALVERN MEMORIES 1
Normally at this time of the year (August) our wonderful BUSFEST CREW would be getting well into the Busfest Build up & having all sorts of fun & frolics in the process.
Here is an index of links to our previous Busfest build ups & breakdown’s which should bring back a few fond memories to some of us
MALVERN MEMORIES 2
I have had a bit of a sort out of some of our Busfest & Vanfest Media & I have put up a couple of Vanfest video's which have not been seen on line before which may bring back a few memories to some of you.
Here are a couple produced following the 10th VANFEST in 2003
VANFEST BIG DISPLAYS 1997-2003
VANFEST 1997 - BBC - THE VANS THE STAR VIDEO
MALVERN MEMORIES 3
This is a video of the VANFEST 2008.event held at the THREE COUNTIES SHOWGROUND. MALVERN
This one for me is very special.....................
2008 was not a good year weather wise for the event (In fact it was the worst weather we or Malvern had ever experienced with flooding & lots of mud on the site).
I am sure some of you will well remember this one.
But as you can see, the event still survived & proved to be one of the most successful (and most remembered ones) we ever did.
We managed to do another one of our BIG Displays, this time the BIG DOKA celebrating 50 years of the VW Double Cab Transporter, along with the rest of the favourites in the Vanfest Programme.
There are some really nice sections in this video all set to the wonderful soundtrack from one of our resident band. Druids Brew.
Make sure you check out the “Stand by Your Van” section.
One of the really good things that did come out of this event was a very substantial investment was made by the showground (using our & your money) over subsequent years to improve the site (and off site) drainage so that we never find us in a similar situation as we did on that Friday evening.
VANFEST 2008 (STAND BY YOUR VAN)
MALVERN MEMORIES 4
Devious, Devious Fans ( & some of our Berlin Busfestival Crew) at the BUSFEST Sheepshed Stage ....
What a combination (Kombi nation ???? get it???)
This is our resident SHEEPSHED Band DEVIOUS (and Busfest Fans!) in action at BUSFEST 2012.
Spot the undercover Busfest Crew!
BUSFEST 2012 - SHEEPSHED STAGE & DEVIOUS
(Video Clip By Busfest -Berlin Bus Festival Crew)
MALVERN MEMORIES 5
Meanwhile, at the back of the Entertainment Marquee during the ANDEEJAY set at BUSFEST 2012 this was going on......
BUSFEST 2012 - BUSFEST BREAKDANCING BABES
I wonder what happened to the Busfest Babes……………
Over the years we have had some really fantastic Evening Entertainment at Malvern at both our Vanfest & Busfest events.
Some of the really big names of the past (plus a lot of other maybe not so well known ones)
The Wurzels, New Amen Corner, The Rubettes, The Committments, Swaddywaddy, The Drifters, Bad Manners, The Brotherhood of Man, Right Said Fred, Mud2, Dr & The Medics, & the amazing SLADE, to name but a few...
MALVERN MEMORIES 6
THE SYNCRO ZONE
Syncros have always been an essential part of the mix we have at Malvern.
Event coordinator Simon Holloway’s “Blue” has been a workhorse (and fun vehicle!) at every Vanfest & Busfest event.
We added, an ex Rowan Medical Hightop Ambulance as a crew vehicle & converted our own Syncro Firewagon (after the site van fire in 2003!) All 3 are still part of the Busfest Fleet.
Syncro’s certainly proved their worth at the Vanfest 2008 mud bath & we then decided to make them a real centre of attraction & created the Syncro Zone & Syncro Trial so people could really have a close look at these vehicles and what they are capable of.
More recently we have added the original “Rebel” Rallayebus to our fleet along with quite a few other “Special Project vehicles” which make annual appearances at the event. The Rebel continues to give trills (and get broken every now and again) on the SYNCRO OBSTACLE COURSE
Our latest Crew vehicle, a T4 Syncro Pickup was due to join the fleet at the event this year but that will now have to wait until 2021.
The SYNCRO ZONE (Organised & run by members of the VW 4x4 Green Laning Group) is now the UK’s biggest and most popular annual gathering of VW 4WD vehicles. We have expanded it to now include 4motion's & other VW oriented 4WD vehicles.
The SYNCRO TRIAL (run by our fantastic Berlin Bus Festival Crew) also proves to be very popular & now has a fantastic new location on the showground site which we will now be developing for use at the 2021 event.
MALVERN MEMORIES 7
Just in case you have forgotten what usually is going on at Malvern now.
This is an Ariel view of what it should be looking a bit like.
This is a picture of the 2016 event.
MALVERN MEMORIES 8
I go you go, we all go LOGO.... Memories of Busfest 2013
BUSFEST 2013 – BIG VW BUILD UP
BUSFEST 2013 – BIG VW FINAL PICTURE
BUSFEST 2013 – BIG VW & SHOWGROUND
BIG VW HIGH DEFINITION PHOTO’S CAN BE VIEWED HERE;
Busfest 2013 - BIG VW HIGH DEFINITION PHOTO’S CAN BE VIEWS HERE;
(Click on the small gear in the top right corner for the high resolution)
MALVERN MEMORIES 9
Here are a few memories from Busfest 2014
BUSFEST 2014 - OFFICIAL VIDEO (PAPERCUT MEDIA SHORT)
MALVERN MEMORIES 10
This is a video of our Busfest 2015 event which I think perfectly captures the atmosphere of what Busfest is all about & would have been going on this weekend.
I expect many of you would have, by now, seen some of the activities in this video this during the daytime & would by now be filling the showground with BBQ smoke before getting all dolled up ready to head of to the evening activities.
It also features our “one off – so far” Soap Box derby which we tried out for the first (and last!) Time. No mean feat for a showground which is almost perfectly flat.
Busfest 15 – Papercut Media Short (OFFICIAL BUSFEST VIDEO)
MALVERN MEMORIES 11
Some of you (well the survivors anyway) might remember we had another pandemic at the BUSFEST 2016 event when we suffered from a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.
At least we were a bit sturdier back then & the show still went on!
This is our Video from that weekend. It is best looked at with the sound up high……………
Warning; This Video contains ZOMBIES & GNOMES as well as lots of fantastic VW Transporters
BUSFEST 2016 – OFFICIAL BUSFEST 2016 VIDEO (Papercut Media Short)
MALVERN MEMORIES 12
BUSFEST 2017 was one of the few years that we did not have good weather. But I don’t think anyone knew just how extreme that wet weather (and wind!) was going to be. Certainly, the wettest one we have had since 2008,
But it was a “different kind of "wet” at this one, instead of continuous rain we had sudden & very intense rain storms which caused flash flooding on several parts of the showground (in particular the Sheep shed & Avon Hall areas).
On the Friday just after we opened one downpour overcame the roof drainage system for the Severn Hall & flooded Annex section & saturated the electrics. Special thanks to our electricians (and our site services clean-up crew) who spent a lot of time getting the services back in time for the evening entertainment. We also had several floods going on right through the Avon Hall over the weekend,
We also changed the layout slightly to create just one “Fun Zone” instead of 2 and swapped the main marquees around so that we had one available during the daytime as shelter in that area. This worked well (especially during the downpours). The Main Marquee also had more frontage (5m) to it to give more room backstage.
Yes, most of this went completely un-noticed by the public, who were probably more concerned with just keeping dry and not getting their feet wet and enjoying themselves. We had a very “wide” range of entertainment this year ranging from our own BUSTOBERFEST featuring the fantastic Jonge Remstaller right the way through to a full set of drag queens!.
So much so in fact that we ended up with 2 “official” Video’s for the event to give you a really good ideas as to what went on at the event.
It is well worth mentioning that, yes although we did get the usual whinges (on FB) about the type of entertainment, mobile food and the (wrongly) perceived lack of security in some areas. We did not get ANY complaints about flooding, muddy areas, poor toilets or showers, waiting hours to get in (or out), & no demands from traders for straw or bales of straw.
A stark contrast to 2008 and testimony to the huge amount of work that has been done at the showground on drainage & landscaping since that event – a process which was instigated by us following that event.
I do not believe any other existing VW event would have survived the weather conditions we endured over that weekend, and most would have already been wiped out by end of Friday.
BUSFEST 2017 – OFFICIAL BUSFEST VIDEO (BY PAPERCUT MEDIA)
BUSFEST 2017 - OFFICIAL BUSFEST VIDEO (VERSION 2 - ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK)
MALVERN MEMORIES 13
Busfest 2018 was a very special year for us as it marked 25 YEARS of VW Transporter Events being at Malvern. (Of course, there was BVF & Bug in before that but that is another set of memories, I might share with you one day!)
As has become traditional at Malvern with special anniversaries we decided to celebrate it with something BIG and produce one of our very Special BIG DISPLAYS this time THE BIG MALVERN. This year was very special to me as it was also a reunion of the original team who produced the very first (original) BIG VW way back in 1994.
Entertainment wise we again had a very wide mix, but also a had a throwback to our Vanfest days with the appearance of MUD2 (one of the only Glam bands that missed the boat at during our Vanfest Days). Luckily, that was the only mud we had on the showground that year as the weather was perfect.
Something else new introduced for that year was THE PAMPER ZONE which is now become a very popular part of the event.
Things were also very busy again as usual in the SYNCRO ZONE with the revealing of the latest addition to the Busfest Syncro Fleet.
As you can see form the videos, we did end up with another amazing BIG DISPLAY & very good set of memories from 2018.
BUSFEST 2018 – “OFFICIAL” VIDEO CLIP 1
BUSFEST 2018 - "OFFICIAL" VIDEO CLIP 2
BUSFEST 2018 - BIG MALVERN VIDEO CLIP
MALVERN MEMORIES 14
OK, This, is (nearly) the final set of MALVERN MEMORIES you will be getting from me (this year!)
BUSFEST 2019 – Yep, that was the last real BUSFEST.
It seems like a long time ago, let’s hope we can all get together & do something similar (and hopefully even better) next year.
In this year we opened a new area for the SYNCRO TRIAL.
Entertainment wise we did go right back to our roots with one of the acts & had a country and western band with us, for the first time since the very first Vanfest (some may say lets hope it is another 25 years before another one – we shall see … )
Highlights for this year was introduction of our electronic ticketing system – Well Done to our Busfest team on that one.
We also created a new food village on site at the Chill Zone using our own choice of caterers.
I also got to check out our First Aid facilities first hand after getting head butted by a Great Dane…. Thanks Dave!...
Anyway, I am sure a good time was had by all and another set of happy memories were created over the weekend.
BUSFEST 2019 – “OFFICIAL” VIDEO CLIP (FACEBOOK)
BUSFEST 2019 - "OFFICIAL" VIDEO CLIP (YOUTUBE)
MALVERN MEMORIES 15
At this point of the Busfest Weekend we would have (normally) just finished off our AWARDS CEREMONY & getting into Event Breakdown Mode
I would be getting to the rather emotional at the end of the ceremony
So, it just remains for me to say (on behalf of our Busfest Exec Committee) a very special thanks to all of our Committee, wonderful BUSFEST CREW, Sponsors & Supporters for your support & sticking with us for another year.
And to all of you other BUSFEST FANS, SERVICE SUPPLIERS and TRADERS who come to see us at Malvern every year we sincerely thank you all for your support and will hopefully join up with you again in 2021 for a REAL good time at BUSFEST.
Cheers….. Simon Holloway (Busfest Coordinator)
If you have ever wondered what goes on at a Busfest Awards Ceremony, a set of albums of all of our previous ceremonies can be viewed HERE;
OK, If you do manage to get this far & still want some more. The complete Busfest, Vanfest, Bonaween Media INDEX is HERE;
YOU CAN VIEW ALL OF OUR BUSFEST (and Vanfest) MEDIA HERE;
Busfest News
The Busfest Crew Support
Busfest Sponsors
Busfest Future Dates
2023 8th - 10th September
2024 6th - 8th September
