About Us - Fringe By The Sea

This is the debut of Fringe by the Sea - and it all came about in roughly the following way...

January 2008: 'John, fancy a beer? Listen,I've been thinking, - why don't we pull a bit of the Festival Fringe buzz away from Edinburgh and down to North Berwick?'

'Eric, don't be daft....'

'No, listen, John, - it's a great idea. Lots to do in Edinburgh over the month of August - too much - so a wee break down to the beach would be welcomed by the festival goers. Then there's all the local punters. Nothing to do 6 o'clock on after a day of sun and sand. It would be brilliant.'

'Eric, OK, as an idea it has some appeal, but be serious, how would we do it, where would we start?'

'Have another beer, - we start this year with some music - mostly acoustic folk, jazz, blues and so on. I'll put out soundings for performers. We can offer ice creams and fish suppers to attract the musicians and the audiences! 'A great day out!' Golf at the West, - free train travel...'

'Hang on, hang on. If we were to do it - and it's not a bad idea - we need to plan it really well. Get the whole community behind it. Start small but real quality. August 2009 sounds good.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah....we could think about doing food as well, link up with restaurants of East Lothian, put in bars - maybe some plays, dance [have another beer], attract loads of sponsors, it'll be dead easy to find venue. So, this August then...'

'We can't do it that soon!'

'...just have another beer, John.'

And here we are!

Jane [Thomson] immediately got excited about the 'Big Idea' [well she did put on the Lennoxlove concert with James Taylor] and has been brilliant at problem solving on all aspects. Eric [Wales] has been Mr. Industry at getting the performers together, lining up the venues and sorting out all logistics. John [Shaw] has - eventually - got really into the whole notion [with doses of caution thrown at the other two!] and is feverishly sorting out marketing, publicity and sponsorship.... Part-timers having a real good go at turning a pipedream into reality. Made much easier by the fantastically positive response shown all round. Encouragement from the town council, volunteers, local traders, and the community in general. Help from East Lothian Council, a brilliant logo [thanks Alastair and all at Shaw Marketing & Design], a superb website [you're stars, Colin and team at If Looks Could Kill], lots of publicity material and leaflets [Summerhall to the rescue], and pure quality on banners and stage sets [Eastern, we love you]. Some hard cash has come in as well, making sure we have a fighting chance to make this year great - and next year even better! [Eric has already booked two gigs...!]

Hope you like the programme - get booking!