After a torrid few days culminating in a Thursday that saw bogged in cars and an unusable main stage I did wonder what Friday at the Wickham Festival would bring.

Before I set off I read an open letter on social media that saw the organisers reaching out to the attendees to apologise for a lot of things, many of which that were actually out of their control.

As I arrived it became clear what a monumental effort the organisers, crew and volunteers had put in to get the site in a much better state than the previous day and were able to open the gates on a smaller festival but one that promised some excellent music with all of the scheduled acts still due to appear, just on smaller stages.

The ground was still a bit soft underfoot but perfectly navigable which was just as well as the site has grown beyond recognition from my previous visits to the festival.

The main stage arena and many of the food stands were now at the opposite end of the site from where the headline acts had been rescheduled to play which left a bit of a trek if you wanted to catch acts in the big top and the Quay West stage but with the wonderful CoCo and The Butterifelds due to play the smaller stage it was always going to be worth the effort.

Daily Echo:

Pictures from Allan Jones, www.rockstarimages.co.uk

The music was as good as promised with my personal favourites arriving in the form of sets from Talisk, Capercallie and the aforementioned CoCo and The Butterfields.

With headliners Dohl Foundation and Show of Hands still to come it seems that all has come right and an excellent Friday has been had by all.

A look forward to Saturday has me eager to see Deacon Blue who have been a favourite of mine for many years.

Well done to everyone involved for managing to pull a great days music from the jaws of disaster.

Long may it continue.