The Phoenix Festival is one of the most popular events in the summer Cotswolds calendar.

The event was started in 2013 by local youth club Ozone, as part of a social enterprise initiative.

Lucy Cordrey is part of the volunteering team that organises the festival, and she explains how the event has gone from strength to strength,

She said: “The Phoenix Festival was founded by a group of young people to help them develop business skills and experience and give them the opportunity to show what they could achieve.

“It was meant to be a one-off but was so successful it’s been going every year since.”

Lucy has been a Cirencester local for nearly 20 years, and for seven of those years has been running the popular Corinium Ales micro-brewery.

“I brew beer and was invited to trade at the first festival,” she continued.

“I’ve been involved ever since and have become a small part of an incredible and diverse festival volunteer team.

“I consider myself very lucky to be living in such a beautiful place and to have the opportunity to be involved with such a wonderful festival.”

The festival offers a wide range of entertainment including a children’s creative zone, a fun fair, trade stalls, a performance arena, three stages of live music and plenty of festival food and drink too.

Lucy said: “There are so many fabulous performers but the stand outs this year for me include very popular local acoustic duo Ethemia, the slightly bonkers Circus of Science, and the UK’s official No. 1 Tina Turner tribute, Totally Tina…can’t wait!”

Also appearing will be Rolling Stones tribute, The Rolling Clones.

The festival takes place on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th August, at the Abbey Grounds in Cirencester and is free to enter.

“There are lots of festivals to potentially go to but not everyone can afford them, including myself,” added Lucy.

“What I saw those young people from Ozone achieve in the first festival year inspired me to get involved and to uphold and honour what they created – a free to enter festival that everyone can enjoy.

“Of course nothing in life is totally free. We rely on sponsorship, grants, donations and in-kind support and a big dose of community spirit! Ultimately, we want the Phoenix to be a community festival, that’s owned and run by the community, for the community.”

And when you ask Lucy if she is looking forward to it, the answer is obvious.

“Immensely! Every year the excitement builds and a huge amount of teamwork goes into pulling it together.

“It has grown over the years and become the biggest free community event in Cirencester, so it’s a massive achievement and one I am very proud to be a part of. It’s going to be awesome seeing all those smiling faces and people having fun.”

For more information on the Phoenix Festival visit www.phoenix-festival.co.uk