ORGANISERS of Bournemouth 7s have announced the headline act at this year’s event as British singer/songwriter Ella Eyre.

The platinum selling artists leads a list of over 100 artists and DJs across the three-day festival at Chapel Gate, starting on Saturday August 28.

CEO and Founder of Bournemouth 7s Roger Woodall says that the announcement of Ella Eyre as their showpiece act will help put the festival “on the map”.

“We are absolutely buzzing at this end”, he added.

“We are a very unique sports and music festival in that we set out our festival first and then announce our music acts. All the other festivals rely on their headline acts bringing in the ticket sales.

“We are ecstatic to have Ella Eyre playing at the festival. To have a British female singer headlining our event is great for us.

“There is a lot of talk that there isn’t enough female artists at the moment, so we are pleased to be supporting Ella Eyre and having her entertain the crowds.”

Bournemouth Echo: Ella Eyre supporting The Script at the BIC on February 22, 2018. Picture by rockstarimages.co.uk

Ella Eyre has featured on a number of singles which have reached number one, including ‘Waiting All Night’ with Rudimental, with DJ Fresh on his single ‘Gravity’, and with Sigala on their singles ‘Came Here for Love’ and ‘Just Got Paid’.

With just over a week to go until the start of the festival, staff and organisers and busy putting the final touches in place as work on setting up of the site starts this weekend.

Roger said: “It has been a bit hectic.

“Our last festival was 27 months ago so we have been waiting in the wings to get our next event underway.

“When Boris Johnson spoken last month about festival being allowed to go ahead, we didn’t have a lot of time to get everything prepared.

“We had to find 800 staff to work at the festival which was pretty manic we can’t wait to put this festival on now.”

The festival is due to welcome 30,000 people, 3,000 campers and 400 teams from across the country.

Bournemouth Echo: Roger Woodall, Bournemouth Sevens festival director

Ticket holders aged 18 or over have been told that they will need to demonstrate their Covid-19 staus on entry using the NHS app.

This can be done by providing either a proof of a negative NHS lateral flow test taken 48 hours prior to arrival, proof of full vaccination with two doses or proof of natural immunity based on a positive PCR test within 180 days of the festival.

“My only advise would be for people to get to the festival two hours early. If you mistime it, you could be stuck in the queue for a while," said Roger.

“We have Covid restrictions in place and an additional section for people to go through on entry, so people nee dot take that into account.

“The preparations to this event have been different but with eight days to go before the festival, we can’t wait to put on another sold out event and welcome 30,000 people through our gates.”