Victoria Park to host first ever Newbury Youth Fest today (Sun)

The event, which is being billed as West Berkshire’s largest-ever free music festival for all ages, has been set up to celebrate and promote youth in Newbury and the surrounding area.
The festival will showcase the best of local talent alongside professional performers on three stages, with music ranging from rock and jazz, to folk and classical, and everything in between.
Headlining the BaxterStory Main Stage will be Hatty Keane, who supported JLS last year on their farewell tour and has been seen this year performing with some of the biggest names in the business, including Rudimental and Ellie Goulding.
Woolton Hill teenager Emma Lawrence, who saw her single One Way Road go straight into the Top 40 charts at number 34 earlier this year, will be another big-name performer.
One of the highlights of the day will be a performance by the hugely popular Thatcham-based group, The Mini Band.
The young rockers, who are all aged between 11 and 13, have received worldwide media attention, including from BBC, ITV and Sky, and also received a video response from Metallica praising them.
The band can boast more than 33 million views on YouTube, 56,000 fans on Facebook and have played some of Britain’s biggest venues.
The Waitrose Community stage has several up-and-coming West Berkshire musicians, including Lambourn’s 18-year-old singer songwriter Jenny Bracey, who was a finalist this year at Open Mic UK, Basecamp, who were winners of Bracknell’s Got Talent this summer, and Fiona Davies who was the winner of the Newbury Fest Factor under-17s.
The Parkway Acoustic stage will see performances from the McInerney School of Irish Dancing, local harpist Rosie Oliver, who played for Princess Anne on her recent visit to West Berkshire and Aiden Reid, a 14-year-old singer-songwriter from Newbury.
Many local businesses will also be in attendance to provide demonstrations and discuss future career options.
Giant dream catchers and a supersized Twister game will also encourage people to get involved on the day.
Although the festival is free, a team of Royal British Legion members will be making a collection on the day in aid of the Poppy Appeal which this year coincides with the First World War Centenary commemorations.
Gates open at noon and the event finishes at 8pm.