HEREFORD, 19th August 2025 — The inaugural Hereford Military History Festival 2025 is a highly ambitious new addition to the UK’s cultural calendar, which aims to support the city’s local community, celebrate its culture and heritage, and honour its rich military history. The creation of a collaborative network of over 50 Herefordshire-based organisations, businesses and individuals has been critical to the festival’s development, creating a template for new festival initiatives.
Conceived as a community development project in 2020, the festival’s commitment to the local area led to the formation of a steering group in 2023, with members drawn from Herefordshire’s education, tourism, literature and business sectors, local and national press, and the armed forces. In early 2025 a crowdfunding campaign was launched, initiating partnerships and sponsorships with many organisations and individuals in the area, embedding the festival into the fabric of the city.
Although the festival is deeply-rooted in Herefordshire, it has been designed to compete on a global stage. To ensure excellence across its programming, the steering group appointed Hand Held Events to produce and manage the festival, one of Britain’s leading festival management consultancies, led by Lyndy Cooke, MD of Hay Festival for 20 years, and Jo James, who advises for Cheltenham Literary Festivals and numerous other UK festivals.
Speaking on the festival’s innovative partnership model, Founder and Festival Director Christian Dangerfield said: “As the first literary festival in the UK dedicated to military history, we recognised from the start that we needed to build a solid base of support in the county, in order to attract audiences from further afield in future years, and we are very lucky to have been able to plug into Herefordshire’s amazing community spirit.”
The festival’s headline sponsor is Hereford-based allpay, one of the county’s leading employers. As a business, allpay prides itself on simplifying payments, positioning itself as a leading payments specialist in the UK. On its sponsorship of the festival, allpay said: “As a proud Herefordshire-based business, we are delighted to support the inaugural Hereford Military History Festival. This unique event not only celebrates our region’s deep-rooted military heritage but also creates an important space for thoughtful dialogue about the impact of conflict, past and present. At allpay, we believe in supporting initiatives that bring communities together and provoke meaningful conversation, values which are clearly at the heart of this exciting new festival.”
Three further partners, integral to supporting the festival’s economic commitment to the area, helped shape first-year plans and continue to give promotional support. Hereford City BID, which was formed to reinvigorate the city centre, support local businesses and help Hereford regain its standing as a top destination for shoppers and tourists; Herefordshire County BID, a county-wide business-led, not-for-profit organisation focused on enhancing the economic and commercial vitality of Herefordshire’s tourism sector; and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, which provides business and industry support across the two counties.
Support for our veterans community is a key part of the festival’s mission. Hereford has played an extraordinary role in Britain’s military history, which lives on today. A garrison town for over 2,000 years, 25% of its current population are still connected to the armed forces, either as serving personnel and their families, veterans or contracted suppliers. As a result of this, many of the partnering organisations are founded by former servicepeople.
Examples include Selection Brewery which was founded by three SAS veterans with a shared passion for brewing and adventure; Ridgmont Holdings which supports veteran-owned businesses and enables entrepreneurs to realise their aspirations; X-Calibre Mental Health, a training provider aimed at educating former and current service personnel about mental health, founded by military veteran and life coach Paul Vicary; and Help for Heroes which provides veterans with carefully tailored and holistic support for their physical and mental health.
Many partners based in Hereford are also actively engaged with supplying military defence services, including Spectra Group, Global RadioData Communication (GRC), the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), defence suppliers Level Peaks, and cyber security specialists Sutton House.
On the subject of Hereford’s rich military history, Christian Dangerfield said: “The festival will celebrate and honour the proud military heritage of Hereford and of Britain more widely, and will provide a platform for world-class authors and speakers to talk about and debate all aspects of global military history in an open, balanced and apolitical environment.”
The festival is pledging 10% of the value of all ticket sales to the Herefordshire Veteran Support Centre, which was established in 2019 to provide support to the county’s large community of former military service personnel. In partnership with Spectra Group, the festival is also launching the Spectra Veterans Series, a special line-up of events created specifically for the Armed Forces Community. Tickets on sale now benefit from a £3 reduction in published price of £8 to £5 as recognition of being part of this community.
The festival also hopes to support and promote the county’s agricultural sectors, which are a big part of the local economy. Herefordshire has an incredible range of almost 150 independent food and drink producers, from cheese and beef to cider and beer. The festival provides a great opportunity to showcase these producers. As its hotel and hospitality partner, the Green Dragon Hotel on Broad Street will be offering a discounted dinner package on the Friday and Saturday of the festival (£35 for two courses with wine and coffee), while daytime food options will be available at The Yard in Aubrey Street and the Left Bank on the River Wye.
Also partnering with the festival are a range of organisations committed to assisting the growth of local businesses. These include Ducketts, a chartered accountant and business growth specialist; Herefordshire Means Business, an open business network offering support sessions and breakfast drop-ins; Rose Regeneration, who support businesses to access grants and develop projects; local estate agents Jackson Property; cyber security specialists North Tower Consulting; production company and award-winning charity Rural Media; and e-cargo bike manufacturers and operators MotoCargo and Pedicargo Delivery Service. Printing house and marketing agency Orphans Press have also been integral early partners.
It’s not just businesses who benefit from the festival’s network of partners, but also local schools and pupils. The festival will deliver an inspiring programme of events for 250 pupils for 10 schools in the city, including workshops (with NMITE and others) around code-breaking, drones and other cutting-edge technology.
Speaking on the impact these local partners and sponsors have had on the festival, Christian Dangerfield said: “The development and delivery of the festival has only been possible because it is a highly collaborative team effort, drawing on the skills and experience of a wide range of specialists and committed supporters. The biggest lessons for me personally have been the power of successful community organisation and the motivating power of a unifying vision which is rooted in our collective history and heritage.”
The inaugural programme combines a unique mix of historical insight into some of the world’s most important military episodes, local and regional stories from Herefordshire and beyond, and conversations around war in the 21st Century and the impact of conflicts on our lives today. Featuring internationally renowned writers and thinkers, including Philippe Sands, Sir Antony Beevor, Tessa Dunlop, Larry Lamb, Clare Mulley, Hilary Meredith Beckham, Ben Macintyre and many more, the rich and varied programme will provide a thorough exploration of global military history, showcasing key figures, human stories and the unusual aspects of war.
Website: https://www.herefordmilitaryhistoryfestival.com
Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/military-history-festival