A POPULAR Whitehaven music festival is set to return – with a star guest on the DJ decks.

Thomas Turgoose – who plays Shaun in the hugely successful This Is England series – is the special guest on the opening night of the two-day At The Stadium festival, at Cumbria Sports Academy, Hensingham.

Organised by The Mighty Boof, the festival ran for four years until 2014 – originally at Whitehaven Rugby Union’s The Playground before relocating to the stadium – and was headlined by the likes of The Enemy, The Pigeon Detectives, Ocean Colour Scene, The View and Reverend and the Makers.

After a year’s break, it will return on May 13/14 and ‘early bird’ tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday) at 9.30am.

The Boof’s Danny Maudling said: “I have always enjoyed doing these festivals and was a bit gutted when we had to cancel it in 2015.

“I really thought hard about doing it this year as there’s a lot of emotion attached to it. I put it to the poll on Facebook the reaction of people on there made my mind up.

“I’m really pleased to be bringing it back and I hope everyone enjoys it.”

Holders of early bird tickets (£35 for the whole weekend) will gain access to after-show parties which run until 2am on both nights, hosted by DJs from the Our Little Indie group, including John Peacock, Richie Harrison and Neil McBride, who will be joined by Thurgoose on the Friday night.

Other festival performers will be announced in The Whitehaven News in the coming months.

The Mighty Boof has also announced that indie stars Cast will perform at Haig Pit Mining Museum on April 8 next year.

The band had a string of hits in the Nineties, including Beat Mama, Walkaway and Guiding Star . Tickets are £20 and go on sale at 9.30am tomorrow (Friday). And The Boof has a small number of tickets left for two free gigs at Cumbria Sports Academy, Hensingham: Micky P Kerr on Saturday and Twisted Wheel’s Jonny Brown on December 5. Tickets for all shows from Threads, King Street, Whitehaven, and at mightyboofpromotions.com.