It was Bestival founder Rob Da Bank who coined the idea for an Association Of Independent Festivals (AIF), setting up the not-for-profit organisation with his manager, Ben Turner, in 2008.

Less than a decade on, AIF boasts more than 60 members, ranging from 800 to 55,000 in capacity, collectively contributing upwards of £200 million a year to the UK economy.

“A few years after we started Bestival, we had a serious spate of tent thefts and I didn’t know who ...