gaze long enough into an Abbeyfest

A free summer festival which once saw 2,500 people through its doors has been scaled down for the second year running due to security concerns.

Abbeyfest has hosted open air concerts, theatre and comedy shows in Merton Abbey Mills in Colliers Wood since 1998.

But last year it shed its popular jazz and blues concerts after organisers said a bout of anti-social behaviour meant they couldn't afford the security needed to police it.
Festival founder Peter Wallder, 52, said: "It's a few things.

"The most important issue is a minority of people carrying out anti-social behaviour - people dealing or drunk.

"The vast majority was there to have a great time and this element was creeping in, so it was becoming more and more difficult for people to keep it safe."

After big sponsors like Marks and Spencers pulled out, he said it wasn't possible to fork out about £20,000 needed to hire private security.

The festival was in some ways "the victim of its own success" because it became so popular it was too expensive to manage, he said.

This is such a pity. The first gig would have been last night if the traditional timetable was followed.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an Abbeyfest, the Abbeyfest will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche