WemsFest – Celebrating 15 Years of presenting the Arts in the Westbourne-Emsworth area, between 201 and 2026, with over 500 events raising over £30,000 for charities and community projects.
Giving Something Back to the Community We Live In.
WemsFest brings live music and arts events to Emsworth and the surrounding area throughout the year. Since we began in 2011, we’ve put on hundreds of concerts and performances.
Each September, we also run the annual Emsworth Beer, Cider & Wine Festival, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2026.
Our shows take place in a mixture of intimate, welcoming spaces, including the Old Malthouse (Chidham Village Hall), Westbourne Community Hall, The Havana in Chichester and often in the 300-seat St. James’ Church. All venues are wheelchair accessible, and we run licensed bars at most events to help fund WemsFest.
Over the years, we’ve hosted an impressive mix of familiar artists — among them The Unthanks, FARA, Fairport Convention, The East Pointers, Oysterband, Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, and many more— and we work closely with African Night Fever and Yaram Arts to bring superb African musicians to the area.
In 2014, thanks to a Heritage Lottery grant, we marked the 70th anniversary of D-Day with a large-scale community event featuring outdoor theatre, themed shop displays, talks, and live music. A year later, we helped Emsworth become the world’s first Red Nose Town for Comic Relief, raising over £15,000 with support from the Emsworth Business Association. We also marked the demolition of the town’s old gas holder by projecting historical images onto it before it came down.
WemsFest also helped launch the Up Close and Personal concert series at The Spring Arts Centre in Havant, featuring artists such as Nick Harper, Chris Difford, and Charlie Dore.
Our Black History workshops, supported and partially funded by WemsFest, have reached around 1,740 children across six local schools from Portsmouth to Chichester, helping young people learn about and celebrate Black history and culture.
WemsFest is a not-for-profit, community interest company run entirely by volunteers, proudly supporting local businesses including drinks from Vin, Ivy Wines, Bush Vines, and Langham Brewery; food from Emsworth Delicatessen and So India; and sells tickets through Harbour Records, Emsworth Bookshop and Westbourne Community Hall. If you’d like to join our volunteer team, please email adwemsfest@gmail.com. We believe strongly in giving back to our local community — and in having fun along the way.
You can contact us at adwemsfest@gmail.com or 07802 5000 50 or 01243 370501