A number of festivals, still held to day, owe their origin to this initiative. Today schoolchildren are encouraged to take part in festivals and are offered the opportunity to perform and learn. In 1882 National Music Meetings were held at the Crystal Palace and then begun the Stratford and East London Festival. In 1885 it was Mary Wakefield, daughter of a Cumbrian landowner, on whose land music competitions took place, who created an idea of a Federation of Festivals . Ralph Vaughan Williams begun the Leith Hill Musical Festival in 1905.
Festivals are now a part of English life.
The British Federation of Festivals today play a very important part in keeping the spirit of music and dance festivals alive. In 1996 they organised the National Competition which involved 300 festivals throughout the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. One performance from each festival was selected in order to create a Festival of Festivals which took place at the University of Warwick in July 1996. All are a celebration of the arts and should be appreciated and visited by the public.