The hours of enduring persistent rain and unseasonably low temperatures were at last given reason. There, right before our eyes up on the Cropredy stage, was the closest we'll ever get to the early, groundbreaking Fairport Convention line-ups.

Stage right, the only member of the original formation still wearing the Fairport colours, Simon Nicol; beside him, master guitarist and songwriter, Richard Thompson; next across, Iain Matthews; then, the mastermind behind so much good music spanning five decades, Ashley Hutchings; and then the band's original female vocalist, Judy Dyble. Sitting at the back, in place of the departed Martin Lamble, was current Fairport drummer Gerry Conway.

Over the course of a couple of hours on the festival's Friday (middle) night those musicians, along with others who joined and/or replaced them to represent the progressing stages of the band's 35-year history, wove musical magic.

I can't claim to have been in the audience at any of those gigs in the late '60s or '70s but I have the records and I've read the books and, boy, was I looking forward to seeing the Early Fairport. Obviously, modern technology gave the band a much better live sound in 2002 than back then, but the spirit of those pioneering youngsters was alive on that stage.

The songs they chose to perform are too many to note here but stand-outs were "Time will show the wiser", "It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry", "Nottamun town", a mighty "Tam Lin" (featuring the wonderful Vikki Clayton), "Sir Patrick Spens", the near-legendary Dave Swarbrick fiddling mightily from his wheelchair on "The lark in the morning" and an appropriately concluding "Who knows where the time goes?"

For me, however, the song of the night wasn't a Fairport song at all. Hutchings' "Wings" tells the story of the band's formative years and influences and its great riff and intelligent lyrics were attacked with particular relish.

The story was continued - in much more pleasant weather conditions - on the following, Saturday, evening, when the unfolding story was brought up to date. But, despite tremendous readings of "Sloth" (will we ever hear that again?), "Doctor of Physick", Chris Leslie taking the vocal on Swarb's "Rosie", "John the Gun", Ralph McTell singing his own "Red and gold", an awesome "Red tide" with Maartin Allcock chunking out some big electric lead guitar and lots more landmark pieces from the Fairport songbook, it didn't have quite the zing of the previous evening's fare.

A high-point of both evenings was the appearance of old friend of the band Marc Ellington. No wilting wall-flower, everybody knew when Mr E was on the stage, taking charge of proceedings and telling hecklers "Oh, do shut up" in a good-hearted way. And he led a fine "Million dollar bash".

As ever, the band's set finished with the ever-young "Matty Groves", preceded by a beautiful acoustic guitar introduction from Nicol, and the weekend's proceedings were wound up with - what else? - the encore of "Meet on the ledge". There's not a moment in music quite like 20,000 people singing a song that means so much to band and audience alike. Simply nothing could follow that.

But, what of that which had preceded that grand finale? This year's Cropredy has been described, by more than a few, as one of the best - and with good reason

Local band Freeway Jam got things off to a lively start on the Thursday and they were followed by The Joyce Gang. I'm afraid their set didn't really work for me until, that is, old friend of the band Phil Beer (coming to the festival straight from the wedding of Show of Hands pal, Steve Knightley) joined them for the final two songs and filled out the sound with scorching lead guitar and fiddle.

The Dubliners followed and used their 40 years' experience to lift the crowd with a stirring set that belied their advancing years and included such sing-along crowd-pleasers as "The Irish rover", "The black velvet band" and "Whiskey in the jar".

First-night closing duties fell to e2K, whose effective mix of traditional folk and Afro rhythms, fronted by the wonderful voice of Kellie While, did a great job in helping a still-strong crowd ignore the rain.

Star of Friday's pre-Early Fairport show was the incomparable Richard Thompson who, with the help of Danny Thompson on upright bass, was simply breath-taking. Why this man isn't filling stadiums across the world on the strength of his own name is, surely, one of life's great mysteries. He can even make Britney's "Oops, I did it again" sound like a classic.

Mundy-Turner, the day's opening act, are standing on the threshold of a bright future indeed. Cath Mundy's voice, keyboards and fiddle, allied to Jay Turner's muscular but sensitive guitar-playing and a collection of insightful songs won't fail to win them new friends wherever they play.

The day's strong line-up was enhanced by the presence of Oysterband who turned in a stirring set that was powerful enough to drive away the clouds and force the sun out to see what all the fuss was about.

Their appearance at Cropredy was long overdue, the delay being attributed to a long-standing coolness, to be diplomatic, between themselves and the Fairports. If the invitation, and acceptance thereof, to play at Cropredy formed the foundation stone of a bridge being built, the presence of the host band's Ric Sanders joining them for a few numbers were the first steps across that bridge. The journey was completed when the Oysters' vocalist John Jones appeared with Fairport and multitudinous friends onstage for the closing "Meet on the ledge".

The unenviable task of opening on the last day fell to Richard Digance, a gig made all the more difficult by the fact he'd not appeared before a live audience for about three years. No matter, his easy charm and ability to pluck on the memory strings of his audience had the crowd eating out of his hand long before the end of his over-too-soon 40-minute set.

Little Johnny England followed, straight from Sidmouth the previous evening, and their confident attack, with a front line offence of fiddle, melodeon and fiery electric guitar, had the stage-front assemblage baying for more. Their set drew heavily on their latest album "Mercs & Cherokees", kicking off with "The way things ought to be" and featuring a cracking "My heart's where my home used to be".

The day continued with an eclectic mix of the easy sounds of Eddi Reader, with the assistance of Boo Hewerdine and Colin Reid; the no-holds-barred (if a little predictable) rock of the Deborah Bonham Band; and the jazzy-bluegrass expertise of The Alison Browne Quartet.

So, was it a good Cropredy? Well, it had truly outstanding music, really good food and drink, more-than-passable loos and the brilliant atmosphere that makes it the friendliest festival in the calendar. Sure, it rained, but the regulars were in full expectation of that; Richard Thompson was playing, after all!

You bet it was a good Cropredy.