Bananarama excited to play Valley Fest in Bristol

A Bristol icon says she cannot wait to perform on home soil.

Brought up in Bristol, Keren Woodward from the band Bananarama will headline the city's Valley Fest Lake Stage on Sunday with her bandmate Sara Dallin.

The music and food festival is taking place in Chew Magna, near Bristol, on Saturday and Sunday.

Woodward said the duo, who met at school and have had hits including Shy Boy and Cruel Summer, still love performing.

"The minute you hit the stage. It's just catching. You cant help but smile," she said.

Family-friendly Valley Fest, which is taking place alongside Chew Valley Lake, was setup in memory of founder Luke Hasell's parents who died.

The festival includes eco-bubble making, fancy-dress competitions, singalongs and creative workshops.

Formed in 1980, Bananarama once consisted of the duo plus Siobhan Fahey.

Fahey was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan in 1988, with the trio then embarking on their first world tour.

The band reformed in 2018, with childhood friends Dallin and Woodward returning as a duo.

Woodward told BBC Radio Bristol that both her and Dallin "used to write plays and make up dance routines" and were "in all the school musicals".

While she was "brought up playing classical piano and singing in choirs", she never thought music could be a career as she never really knew "how you would even go about it".

"The music was always there but I don't think in those days it was the sort of dream that you could have."

When they eventually moved to London, making it in music was far from their minds and their success and careers were down to "right time, right place and right people".

Woodward said while she never imagined she'd still be performing over 40 years later, "there's no finer feeling than having a crowd of people sing your songs back at you and wave their arms in the air".

"It never fails to excite me," she added.

"I count myself lucky every day that I'm still doing the job that I love doing and people still seem to want to see it. It's fantastic."

Other artists playing over the weekend include Scouting for Girls, The Kooks and Crazy P.

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