Interview with organisers of Cumbria's Weekend Truth Festival

Kev Dowling and Nicola Mayoh were the brains behind the Weekend Truth Festival (WTF) and have spent the last year working together to ensure that the three-day event, held in Workington during the early May Bank Holiday weekend, ran smoothly. 

Around 450 people from across the UK were reportedly in attendance, and both Kev and Nic are confident that a WTF 2.0 is on the cards.

Speaking to the News & Star, Nicola revealed more about how the festival was set up. 

She said: "In a nutshell, I went to Acapulco in Mexico last year. I went to some meetings there, and I loved it. I got the idea from them. Kev and I spoke to each other about it and we went to other festivals to get more of an idea of how to set it up.

"We've been meeting for nearly a year, in what we call 'the bunker' - that's just my kitchen - doing all the stuff you have to do to get a festival together.

"We wanted to get it right the first time."

Kev and Nic suggested they would return to Cumbria for another edition (Image: Supplied)

Kev and Nic meet every Tuesday at the Buxton Freedom Hub, a space which allows individuals to ' come together to share advice and information, receive and give support and take steps towards a future where our freedom isn’t treated as optional.'

Contacts that were made there allowed them to attract some of the bigger names at the festival. 

Kev said: "We wanted to meet up more socially, having a drink in the pub. Some people wanted to share their own stories about lockdowns etc. and how they and their families were impacted.

"We started inviting some more famous people to speak, including Allegedly Dave just over two years ago now. When 60 people showed up in a space that should have held 25, we thought 'good grief, we have got an idea here now.'

"Everyone that we asked to come to Buxton said yes and our venues got bigger and bigger. We got a lot of experience from that."

Although Matt Le Tissier, the legendary Southampton footballer and former Sky Sports pundit, has been outspoken regarding his views on Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kev suggests that the vaccine wasn't a topic discussed at all during his interview.

Matt Le Tissier spoke on his footballing career and gave an honest appraisal of the last four years, which included his sacking from Sky Sports (Image: Supplied)

The focus was instead on his footballing career and an 'honest appraisal of the last four years' while far-right political commentator Katie Hopkins delivered a 'comedy sketch.'

He said: "I don't think vaccines were talked about. We are more about solutions on how we can improve society. We're all a-political and we press forward with our own ideas. We discussed food solutions, paperwork solutions, solutions on 5G and etymology."

Both Kev and Nic are delighted with the feedback that they have received from attendees and they are hoping to return to Cumbria again for a second edition. 

They said: "The feedback we have had has been amazing. There was no trouble, not one incident over the whole weekend.

"We're nice people, friendly people, normal people, who just want to know what is going on and talk to each other without being judged and being called conspiracy theorists.

"We were just meeting to gather information. Having an opinion is allowed and we can debate things without falling out.

"We've been asked already by a number of people when we are doing another one. There will be a WTF 2.0 so watch this space."