Buskers wanted – but first, a sound check

18 hours ago

Gemma Dawsonin Spalding

News image — Jordan Ravenhill regularly performs in Spalding town centre

BBC A male musician with dark hair, a cropped beard, glasses and a black T-shirt, sings into a microphone while playing his acoustic guitar in front of a shop window. — Jordan Ravenhill regularly performs in Spalding town centre

More buskers are wanted on the streets of Lincolnshire – but they will have to get the local council's seal of approval first.

It is hoped bringing musicians to markets in Spalding, Holbeach, Crowland and Long Sutton will entertain shoppers and help bring the towns to life.

To secure a booking, "talented buskers" will have to submit footage of themselves performing.

So does the local authority have a Simon Cowell waiting with a golden buzzer? Not at all, says Councillor Nick Worth, but "we want to see maybe some video of where they've been before, so we know what they're capable of".

South Holland District Council has insisted it is not an X-Factor style audition and Worth, its leader, said he would not be judging the performers.

"As much as it would be fun to do, I'm going to leave that to people who know a lot more about music than I do," he added.

A man with short fair hair and wearing a pink Oxford shirt smiles at the camera as he stands in front of market stalls in a square. — Nick Worth insists he won't be judging the buskers

Solo singers, instrumentalists, duos or acoustic acts are being urged to apply, with successful performers offered a free pitch.

Worth said he hoped they would create "a bit of atmosphere" to entertain shoppers and attract visitors.

Jordan Ravenhill, 30, has been performing since he was 15 and regularly busks in Spalding and the surrounding area.

He welcomed the idea of having more buskers at the market.

"I think busking is the best thing you can do as a musician," he said.

A man with short brown hair, wearing a grey polo shirt, stands behind his fruit and vegetable stall at a market, with green beans and orange carrots laid out in front of him. A blue van is parked in the background. — Stall holder Dan Twaite hopes the buskers wont be too loud

Stall holder Dan Twaite, 36, from Lincolnshire Fresh Produce has visited Spalding market for the past seven or eight years.

"I think sometimes an atmosphere would be good," he said.

He is not convinced it will increase the amount of customers he gets, however.

"If they were quite bad maybe it would decrease it," he joked.

A woman with brown hair, tied back, is wearing sunglasses and an orange T-shirt with large daisy design as she stands behind a jewellery stall with a white van parked behind her. — Julie Taylor, from Julie's Jewellery, is a big music fan

Julie Taylor, a regular visitor to Spalding market with her jewellery stall, was "in two minds" about buskers.

"I don't mind as long as they can sing it properly, I'm quite happy to listen," she said.

Spalding has a musical claim to fame after staging one of the first rock festivals, Barbecue 67, in May 1967, when Jimi Hendrix performed alongside Pink Floyd and Cream.

Worth said: "Nowadays you can hardly believe you can have people like that here, but that's where they started their careers."

He hopes buskers will now take the chance to carve their own paths to stardom.

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