The stage was positioned in the south-east corner of the outer-bailey of the 11th century Ludlow Castle, which is situated immediately adjacent to the town's market square. Before the stage a large semi-circular area was free for people to sit on, with an area further back for those who brought their own chairs.

Beverley arrived at the castle about 17:30, and a little later the band could be heard practicing from outside the castle walls. Practice continued until just after 18:30, when the gates were opened for those people who had arrived early to claim the best tuft of grass! A few minutes later I noticed Beverley wandering out of the castle with her husband, and 4-year-old daughter Mollie, presumably to get a bite to eat. At which point I thought that she looked to be eating for two!

Meanwhile the crowd began to arrive in force. Many people were obviously regular festival visitors and arrived complete with folding chairs, blankets, sleeping bags, picnic tables, large plastic sheets, and copious amounts of food and wine in all manner of baskets and cool boxes. By the time the performance started I was only surprised not to have seen anyone with a barbecue!

Beverley wandered back into the castle just before 20:30, whereupon there was an impromptu get-together as some friends or family ran up to say hello, and Mollie was presented with a teddy bear by someone - all just to the side of the stage and in full view of the audience. It was all very open and almost made you feel part of the family, setting a nice atmosphere for the concert, which began appropriately with Mollie’s Song - Beverley teasing her daughter with the line: You should be fast asleep by now.

As well as songs from the first two albums, the performance included five new songs from the forthcoming third album - which Beverley explained might be a while in coming due to the fact that she was 6 months pregnant. One of the new songs 'Legendary Love' was written for the film First Knight; and another 'I Miss You' was written for the forthcoming Pinnochio film; but in both cases the film-makers in their strange wisdom decided not to use the songs.

Mother Nature kindly enhanced the atmosphere by arranging for the wind to blow directly towards the stage, so all the low fluffy clouds which covered the sky for most of the evening, seemed to be drawn inexorably into the stage; as too did the smoke from the fog machine which on occasions became a little over enthusiastic - engulfing the two female backing singers in a cloud of mist.

Beverley writes all her own music and obviously takes great pleasure in hearing it played, as her expressions revealed when other members of the band were playing instrumental sections. This was most noticeable during the saxophone sections featured in a number of Beverley’s songs which allowed Frank Mead to show off his talents.

The concert ended with ‘Promise Me’ after Beverley explained that they weren’t going to do that bit where they go off and come back on again because they didn’t know any more songs, though I suspect it was more due to the fact that she was in no condition to be running up and down scaffold steps!

From comments I overheard, it seemed that those people who were there because of the festival, rather than specifically to see Beverley, had been as impressed by her performance as her already devoted fans.

Beverley is not your usual show-business type with brash over-confidence, she is genuinely modest and shows real embarrassment when everyone applauds at the end of the concert. When I asked her for her autograph after the concert, she thanked me for coming with great sincerity.

Chris Ward