The event had a good line-up, but just how many of these acts ever performed is a moot point, as the Sunday performances were completely rained out  , leaeets as Great British storms ravaged the area , causing havoc with electricity supplies , marquees and the stage . One of the promoters is supposed to have either decamped early ,  owing large sums of money to all and sundry or to have wandered off in a fugue-like state , tramping the moors for several days before being rescued in the nick of time before he expired from exposure and dehydration.

    The most that can be said for the Yorkshire Folk  and  Blues festival (August 14th through to 16th ), is that under normal circumstances the site would have been ideal . The publicity hand outs reported that it would be the only festival in Britain to offer 50 hours of top bands , 150 acres of camp site, licensed bars, decent, cheap food, free covered accommodation , beds for hire, all night concerts and boutiques.
     The final assessment of the festival on Monday morning showed it to be an unmitigated disaster  . The whole weekend awash with water , one death from exposure and one freaked out organiser last seen by the other promoters wandering away from the site on Sunday. He wasn’t found until Thursday , when the police picked him up, suffering from hunger and exposure , wandering around somewhere on the moors.

Alexis Korner ; In spite of it all , brilliant

 
    The unanswered question still is why the promoters decided to go ahead at all considering the non appearance of lots of groups and the state of the unfinished stands, when the public began to arrive. On top of this fourteen pirate ticket agents had managed to sell large numbers of tickets through advertisements placed in the Melody Maker which were not acceptable on site.
    The weekend was meant to start Friday at three , but nothing happened until around six. It must be said that the crowd was amazingly patient through the three hours , sitting in the cold while men wandered on and off stage adding scaffolding and backdrops . While all this was going on up front the groups were playing pop stars behind, arguing amongst themselves about who was to go on first. When all this was sorted out and the first group came on , almost synchronising with their appearance , the rain started and  never really let up all weekend.
    On Saturday morning it remained cloudy and cold but because of Fridays rain the site was turned into a mud bath . It was so bad that the land rovers taking groups around had to be pulled by heavy duty tractors.

    When the Humblebums appeared on Saturday evening it started to rain even harder and because the stage roof  was flat , water quickly collected and poured through onto the musicians   . During the course of their performance the drummer played with an umbrella up and there were constant interruptions due to workmen coming on stage to drill holes in the floor to let the rain out. 
    By Sunday evening there were sixty cases of exposure and some people had been injured when a marquee blew down on them after they’d been huddled inside for warmth . The death occurred  when a man  tried to get under a plastic bag for protection . When the last group finished on Sunday the crowd ( small by any standards ) were left standing in torrents of rain calling out for more. 
   The best that could be said for the whole fiasco was that the promoters and large numbers of police throughout the weekend were helpful. Portent of the Isle of Wight ?

International Times  wrote :
"It was the worst organized festival ever. It was a piece of moorland. About 25,000 kids turned up, but the weather turned almost immediately from a mild grey to rain., hail , sleet and rain , blue rain and thunderstorms. This went on for the entirety of the festival so there was this incredibly damp and miserable audience in the downpour in this rather cold and bleak up-land where trees don't grow. "