The International Guitar Festival of Great Britain celebrates its 18th birthday in Wirral this month. Eighteen years and hundreds of guitar-ists later the International Guitar Festival of Great Britain is still striving to expose the rich seam of the guitar within the music of the world. Wirral celebrates the guitar throughout the month of November and as an area that has a strong tradition of local players and enthusiasts; no place is better suited to host such an event. The early days of the festival established a serious and committed administration and audience for guitar music in the classical tradition and offered players within all genres the opportunity to be listened to in intimate surroundings with an informed and enthusiastic audience with open minds and ears. The intimacy and integrity of the festival has continued over the years as it has moved into different venues and attracted a wider audience from outside of the immediate area and artists from around the globe. Over the next few years, the guitar festival will be developing and expanding. A series of large-scale concerts to run alongside Liverpool's Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008 and a 'cutting edge' series of concerts concentrating on guitar innovators are all plans for the future. This year the festival continues to offer a diverse range of guitar music with some of the finest players in the world visiting from November 7-26, including artists such as Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings, Nils Lofgren, Chris Spedding, Robben Ford, Tommy Emanuel, Kelly Joe Phelps, Nick Harper, Martin Taylor and Guy Barker and closer to home Modjango. * Tickets for all Guitar Festival events are available form Pacific Road Arts Centre box office on 0151 647 0752. Book on-line at www.pacificroad.co.uk | 
