A NEW music festival in Callington attracted thousands of people to the Saltash Road recreation field to enjoy three days of live music and performance. With around 27 hours of live bands, drama and dance, the Kelliwik Festival offered local people the chance to shine on stage as well as a long weekend of entertainment for the town. 'It was a pretty amazing weekend – we had about 3,000 people in total over the three days,' said organiser Steven Dawe. 'Our busiest day was the Sunday, where we had around 1,200 people attend. The feedback from people about the event has been phenomenal.' The festival was a new venture organised by Steven, together with town forum colleague Peter Sulston and Maureen Wotton from the Callington Gospel Choir. The three made a successful bid for £8,000 Big Lottery funding to stage the event during Callington's Carnival Week. An approach to Prince Charles for help with fundraising for the festival was obliged, said Steven, and a Mr Dingle, of Stoke Climsland, was the winner of a bottle of Highgrove champagne which came with the Prince's compliments. 'The goodwill that we've had from local people has been amazing,' he continued. 'The bands all performed for free, and most have said they'd be happy to perform again at another event. The advice we had from Ashley Tents was brilliant and Peake provided equipment for collecting the rubbish over the weekend for free.' Steven said that the festival was well attended by families and people of 40 plus, adding that he was surprised that so few young people in their teens and twenties came to see the bands playing. Thanking the helpers and stewards who pitched in, Steven added that he would now be having a rest after having had about 12 hours' sleep over the three days. He said: 'I did the event because I care about my town – and I want it to have a better image than it's got.'