Welcome to the White Horse Folk Festival website. Taking place in Grove, near Wantage in rural Oxfordshire, WHFF is a small, friendly festival for folk fans who enjoy making new friends. WHFF has been described as just like a weekend-long party - and that’s just how we like it!!
THE SADDEST NEWS
Our wonderful “Aunty” Pearl who has been at every Stanford in the Vale & White Horse Folk Festival since they began lost her battle with cancer on February 21st. Pearl, & her husband Tony, were instrumental is encouraging us to start SIVFF & in urging us to restart in Grove with WHFF.
Tony and Pearl have hosted our pub singarounds forever & such was the friendliness of Pearl’s welcome that there are many villagers that have been moved by her loss even though they only saw her once a year.
Dave & I have lost one of our closest and dearest friends, my kids have lost a wonderful “Aunty” and the folk world has lost one of it’s most welcoming & most beloved characters.
RIP Pearl O’Neill
WHFF is a small, intimate, relaxed festival where there is an emphasis on creating an inclusive atmosphere and encouraging everyone to play a part in the weekend’s events. There is plenty of opportunity to sing, play or tell a story with singarounds and music sessions every day, sometimes set around a particular theme
The White Horse Folk Festival has been running since 1997. Following the end of an era with the closure of the Stanford in the Vale Folk Festival in 1995 we succumbed to public pressure and started a new event which takes place in Grove, near Wantage, Oxfordshire
Festival guests are encouraged to be part of the general goings-on over the weekend and will host workshops, mini-concerts or give special presentations as well as performing in the Saturday evening concert in Grove Village Hall.
Local dance sides add colour and variety on the Saturday, dancing out or running workshops during the day, finishing up at the Bell PH in Grove. Then on Saturday evening in The Old Mill Hall, Grove, WHFF joins forces with White Horse Ceilidhs for a stomping English Ceilidh. Energetic and lively, the White Horse Ceilidhs have gained a reputation for lively, energetic dances which guarantee to have everyone dancing their socks off!!!
