How a Chance Meeting at Glastonbudget Led to 20 Years of Marriage, Two Children, and a Lifetime of Love!
It was May 2005. The very first Glastonbudget Festival was underway, and I nearly missed it entirely.
With a nasty chest infection threatening to spoil my weekend, I’d already missed the Friday festivities, where my four Leicester mates had apparently befriended “some really fun boys from Lincoln.” Determined not to miss the entire festival, I dragged myself there on Saturday, equipped with blankets, medicine and a stubborn resolve not to let a pesky infection ruin my weekend.
Little did I know that this decision would change my life forever!
Across the festival grounds, a transit van with a double mattress chucked in the back had arrived the day before. Its owner, a chap named Dez, had just returned from golfing in Portugal and made it to the festival with his Lincoln mates just in time.
That first Glastonbudget was an utterly magical affair. At just £35 for the entire weekend’s camping, it was a proper bargain. The intimate atmosphere meant no fighting through crowds to see the bands, you simply settled on your blanket and took it all in. Even the security was laid-back, turning a blind eye to the cheeky bottles of booze we’d smuggled in. It was, as I recall fondly, “really cosy”—a vibe that sadly didn’t quite survive into the festival’s second year as word spread and the crowds grew.
Sunday: The Day That Changed Everything
Sunday afternoon, I found myself enjoying a nice bit of curry on my blanket when the Lincoln lads wandered over. One of them sat down beside me with the most striking blue eyes and a smile that made me look twice.
I mentioned I’d be heading home that evening due to my troublesome chest infection. Little did I realise the impact this news would have. Later that day, just before a T-Rex tribute band took to the stage, one of the Lincoln boys sidled up to me.
“One of my mates is really sad you’re going home tonight,” he confided.
I glanced over to see those same blue eyes looking in my direction. During the T-Rex performance, Dez and I found ourselves talking properly for the first time. As the nostalgic sounds of “Children of the Revolution” and “20th Century Boy” filled the field, something else was filling the space between us—a connection neither of us had anticipated.
When it was time for me to leave, Dez walked me to my car. A respectful kiss goodbye and exchanged phone numbers seemed like the standard end to a festival friendship. But what happened next was anything but standard.
My friends returned home the following day with a message: Dez was waiting for me to make the first move. I sent him a text, and he rang me within the hour. From that day forward, he rang me every single day.
From Festival Fling to Forever
Our post-festival courtship moved swiftly. Two weeks later, Dez and his mates visited us in Leicester for a night out. A fortnight after that, I made the solo journey to Lincoln. That’s when we both realised this wasn’t just a festival fling—we quite liked each other, even if it meant regular 90-minute drives along the not-yet-improved A46.
What began as weekend visits gradually expanded. One night became two, then stretched to Monday mornings, with one of us rushing home just in time for work. For 18 months, we maintained this long-distance dance before I finally moved to Lincoln—a decision we made knowing it would be “a move for good.”
About 18 months after moving in together, we welcomed our first baby. Three years later, our second child arrived. And seven years after that fateful T-Rex tribute performance, we married in Malta, as close to our meeting date as possible, with our second baby just four months old.
True to our festival roots, we followed our intimate Malta ceremony with a massive marquee wedding party six weeks later. The celebration featured a Frank Sinatra singer followed by a Paul Weller tribute band—because for a couple who found love amongst tribute acts, how could we celebrate any other way? All our festival friends were there… plus about 150 more!
The Festival That Started It All
We did return to Glastonbudget for its second year, this time together in Dez’s transit van with that mattress in the back. While we had fun, we both agreed it had been better than the first year with our mates. As our family grew, festival-going took a back seat to nappy changing and sleepless nights.
The changes to the festival over the years have been significant. Friends who’ve continued to attend report more people, more bands, and more stages. In all honesty, I loved how small and intimate that first festival felt. There was something magical about everyone gathering in one field for all the performances.
Celebrating 20 Years
This year marks not just the 20th anniversary of Glastonbudget but also the 20th anniversary of Dez and my meeting, and we’re both turning 50 later in the year. It feels like the perfect time to return to where it all began and introduce our children—now 16 and 13—to the festival that inadvertently created their family.
Our 13-year-old son is absolutely obsessed with Oasis, so we’re planning our visit around when “Oasish” is playing. While my camping days might be behind me (the transit van mattress has long since been retired), we’re excited for a day visit. We might even catch The Moderators, who hail from Leicester and whom we know personally.
It’s strange and wonderful to think that without Glastonbudget, we would never have met. Neither of us went to that first festival expecting to find a spouse—Dez’s joke about marriage tax benefits during our first proper conversation notwithstanding!
The Magic of Tribute Festivals
There’s something special about tribute festivals that brings people together. You’re hearing all the best hits of your favourite artists in a concentrated burst of nostalgia and joy. Unlike seeing the original artists, who might focus on their newer material, tribute bands deliver hit after hit from the songs that formed the soundtrack to your life.
As we prepare to bring our children to the 20th Glastonbudget, possibly alongside the very same friends who were with us two decades ago, I can’t help but feel grateful for a chest infection that wasn’t quite bad enough to keep me away, a curry eaten on a blanket and a T-Rex tribute band that provided the soundtrack to the beginning of our love story.
Here’s to 20 more years of Glastonbudget—and to all the other couples who might be meeting there for the first time this year, completely unaware that they’re at the start of their own festival love story.
