WITH increasing costs, Monmouth Festival organisers are having to work harder each year to keep the event free for visitors.

The festival runs each summer – between Friday 24th July and Saturday 1st August this year – and relies on sponsorship, grants and donations to run every year.

The costs have now risen to more than £60,000 to stage the festival with a team of committee members volunteering each year to bring in the funds for one of Europe's biggest free festivals.

Now in its 33rd year, Monmouth Festival chairman, Melanie Ralph, said: "Costs are on the up and up, but we manage it.

"Money is always a worry as we have no regular sources of income and everything that comes in we generate ourselves.

"That comes through things like grants, advertising and the 'bucket babes' who collect each year.

"This year we will be holding fundraising events so that we have money in the bank.

"There's a host of costs people won't see or probably even suspect.

"We spend thousands not just on the stage and the entertainment but first aid, road closures, security, toilets, cleaning and statutory notices, as well as our brochures and screens for advertising.

"We run close to the wire most years but with a lot of support from the bucketeers, we usually have enough to make sure there's enough there to start off next year."

The festival relies on a large team of volunteers, both organising throughout the year and those who take part in the festival, acting as stewards, collecting donations and making sure everything runs smoothly back stage.

"There are around 50 people over the festival who help free of charge - and we are permanently on the look-out for more volunteers.

"We have a good relationship with the acts too. Back stage is run very professionally but there's a friendly atmosphere.

"There's a rule that we don't have the same act two years running, but those who do come back – local bands like Big Mac's Wholly Soul Band – work well with us and are very helpful."

This year's festival features a number of events linked to the festival too, with the Monmouth Carnival, Bed Race, Busking Festival and Monmouth Fringe all taking place in 2015.