Allan Forshaw

One of the sad things about this year's festival was discovering about the death of Allan Forshaw.

Allan had had a stroke earlier in the year and it looked like he was going to miss his first festival for many years. As it was he made a better that expected recovery. He made enquiries about getting tickets for this year's festival before heading off on a holiday that would be his last.

Allan was one of the Cambridge Folk Festivals many characters. He was part of the Guinness Tent Crowd. His picture was one of those behind the bar. I occasionally met Allan when I was having breakfast at the Unicorn. He would talk long and passionately about many subjects, but none more so than Cambridge Folk Festival.

I'm not sure if he was there at the very start, but he was certainly there early doors. Allan's other passion is film and on many occasions he combined that with the festival. Over the years, Allan filmed extensively around the festival site, recording the atmosphere and the people. Buskers that performed outside the stages and the ad-hoc gatherings of musicians in the Cherry Hinton campsite were captured

I'm told Allan's nephew, also into film and cinematography will be working his way through Allan's archieve with a view to creating a permanent reminder of Allan Forshaw, by assembling his work in a DVD collection.

Allan Forshaw was one of life's genuine characters, he will be genuinely missed by family and friends. He may no longer be at Cambridge Folk Festival in body, but he'll be there in spirit.