The Stony Classic Show, 2018. A Suzuki 50cc step-thru just like these but in blue, was my first bike.

Stony Stratford's annual festival of music and performance art, Stony Live, starts tomorrow, Saturday 28th August! It was sadly missed last year in its usual June slot, and delayed this year by the lockdown restrictions.

There's not so much going on this year, but it's still well worth attending. For a taster, this is what's on over the next two days, all in the town.

Playing tomorrow lunchtime from 13:00 - 15:00 are the Concrete Cowboys Lite, who will be putting the Moo into Music at the Fox and Hounds at 87 High Street. The traditional start to StonyLive, although reduced in numbers this year.

Later on that day is the Family Barn Dance, in the Market Square from 17:00 - 19:00. StonyLive says: "Here is the annual Town community event, this year your Hosts are Innocent Hare. Please read the "About" for details of how we can make you safe. Please note we are having it a bit earlier this year."

That's the "About" page at the website. (link above)

The Distance Project 34

On Monday the 19th of June the lockdown pretty much ended. Freedom at last.

On Friday the 23rd of June I went to see my first live band in a pub for over 16 months. I’d missed my regular Friday night gig and found this to be a great release, and not just for me.

The band was Wait For Jude, the pub the Fox and Hounds, Stony Stratford.

People danced and sang and didn’t seem to care if they were near anybody else or not. Actually, there was a lot of deliberate close contact going on; mates rubbing shoulders, women hugging, men and women dancing in lines.

It was like we had never been away.

I’d been planning how to photograph this event for months, and this is what I saw.

The Monday Photo

Stony Stratford's eight day Stony Live music festival and the Stony Classic vehicle show were all set to be held in the first full week of July, but the extended lockdown has meant both will now be held near the end of August.

Classic Stony will now be on Sunday 29th August from 9:30 am to 4 pm, with the various live music and cultural events of Stony Live now on between Saturday 28th August and Sunday 5th September.

As usual, Willen Hospice’s excellent used bookshop in the High Street will be open for the Classic Stony show. They say they “have a large collection of Classic car/cycle books & models”.

There may still be a few events still able to continue in the original 3rd-11th July slots; please support them. You can check which ones are still on by visiting the Stony Live website.

Regular readers will know that Stony Live and Classic Stony are favourite events for the North Bucks Wanderer.

Some events in North Bucks are completely cancelled. Folk on the Green isn’t going ahead, and neither is the Ludgershall Bike Night.

This photo above isn’t actually from Stony Live, though it is from one of the usual venues. It just seemed to be the right shot for today’s post. It was taken in 2017, when nobody knew what social distancing even meant.

It’s certainly not the most crowded I’ve seen that pub with a band performing…

Stony Stratford is well known for its live music scene, though I haven’t seen a band playing there (or anywhere else) since before the lockdown began, all those months ago.

I miss it, so when I heard live music coming from round the corner in the High Street, I walked over to see what was going on. This is what I found; three real, live musicians; “Doctor Jazz”. It was great.

A few locals walk by the closed Cock Hotel. In previous years there’s barely a parking spot to be found on the High Street, but tonight the street is almost empty.

The Distance Project 7

Last week should have been the nine day annual Stony Live festival with bands and other live entertainment in Stony Stratford, Bucks; there were over a hundred acts last year. But the pubs are shut, the streets quiet. There are other venues too, but here are some pubs in the town that usually have live music during those nine days.

On Sunday 14th June, another regular event had been planned to take place in the town, on Horsefair Green. It’s called Folk on the Green. In previous years the green is filled with people, there’s a stage half way down one side, and stalls line the edge of the green and the road that goes by it.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

The Plough is dark, the front patio is empty. All is quiet. In previous years during Stony Live the outside tables would be full of drinkers.

Martin of Simply Floyd, at the Cock Hotel.

By today, I would usually expect to be very tired. I would have been out every night since Saturday to see live music, at Stony Stratford’s annual Stony Live event.

I miss it. I’ve been out to Stony Stratford in the evenings, to take photos of all the closed up pubs for my Distance Project, which covers the changes the lockdown has made to our lives. 

The town, usually busy with live music fans at this time of year, was strangely quiet. So here, just to help keep you going until next year, are some unpublished photos from 2019. There's also a couple of shots from the Folk on the Green event, also in Stony Stratford in June.

Stony Live will be back next year.