The Oldcorne Cross: The crucifix is the only known item to have survived from the 1606 raids on Catholic properties after the Gunpowder Plot
THE only known item to have survived from the raids on Catholic properties conducted in 1606, after the discovery of the infamous Gunpowder Plot in November 1605, will be the focus of the Disguised To Survive exhibition at the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre.
The crucifix, The Oldcorne Cross, will be in the spotlight from October 5 to November 9. Special collections manager Dr Hannah Thomas explains why: “This is one of the most remarkable items in our possession.
“We have been working closely with experts such as Michael Hodgetts, who has painstakingly researched the history of all known priest’s hiding holes in England and Wales, and we are now confident in believing that this is the only item surviving from a series of raids that took place at the houses of known Catholic associates across the Midlands in 1606, following the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in November 1605.”
During the Reformation, mistrust and double agents were a part of everyday life. In Elizabethan England the practice of the Catholic faith was banned for political reasons. Elizabeth I and her Government were antagonistic towards Catholics on account of their loyalty to the Pope.
Pope Pius V’s excommunication of Elizabth in 1570 made all Catholics a threat to her claim to the throne. Harsh punishments were handed to Catholics who failed to attend Sunday services in the Anglican church. Heavy fines were imposed and land and property were confiscated. Catholic priests suffered horrific torture and death.
Catholics began to resort to secrecy, whereupon disguises became commonplace during the Reformation. When English priests, trained on the continent, re-entered England, they would be “disguised in both names and in persons; some in apparel as soldiers, mariners or merchants…and many as gallants, yea in all colours, and with feathers and such like, disguising themselves; and many of them in behaviour as ruffians”.
Once in the country, priests had to take on an inconspicuous disguise that would explain their presence at a household if questioned.
On display in the Bar Convent is a set of silk vestments that were carried by a priest disguised as a pedlar (door-to-door salesman). If challenged, the colourful vestments would appear to be an innocent bundle of ribbons.
Bar Convent special collections manager Dr Hannah Thomas with the crucifix
Priests would hide objects used for Mass in plain sight, such as using a carved oak Tudor 16th century bedhead as an altar for celebrating Mass in secret. At threat of discovery, the altar could be quickly replaced by the bed and appear completely innocent.
All communications had to be in code or would be written in invisible ink. When female education pioneer Mary Ward sent secret letters, in order to reveal the hidden text, the recipient would have to heat the paper over a flame or a candle. She would write her messages with lemon juice that would become invisible when dried.
Catholics made use of the architecture and created hiding places; they would always have an escape route. From 1588 until his final arrest in 1606,Nicholas Owen devoted his life to the construction of priest’s hiding holes, to protect the lives of persecuted priests.
He also had the ingenious idea of creating a double hiding hole, one inside the other. When the soldiers found the first one, it would not occur to them to look further. He was eventually captured at Hindlip Hall in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, tortured and killed. A hiding hole can be found in the Bar Convent chapel.
The Sisters of the Bar Convent also took on disguises. As it was very unusual for women to own property, the sisters pretended to be widows and dressed as such in public. Sister Frances Bedingfield, who founded the house, was from a well-known Catholic family and wisely took on the alias of Mrs Long.
The Sisters formed a group of fellow Catholics who they could rely on to keep a secret (Women of the Catholic Underground). They would act the innocent (the women playing up to ‘but we are only women, we wouldn’t be capable of such a thing’).
The location of the convent in Blossom Street, just outside the Bar Walls, was key, being beyond any jurisdiction, with Catholic houses nearby and a view of the walls. This enabled the Sisters to see approaching authorities, giving them the time to escape.
*There will be a trail through the exhibition and those who complete the trail will be in with a chance of winning a £30 voucher for use in the café.
Disguised To Survive runs at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, from October 5 to November 9. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Pink Hair, by Sarah Sharpe, from the Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th Anniversary Exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery
LEEDS Fine Artists is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition at its regular York host, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York.
“For this celebratory exhibition 26 members have come together with an inspirational collection of work demonstrating a wide range of styles and different media,” says gallery owner Kim Oldfield.
“It is very apparent from this collection that the relevance and talent of the group has in no way dimmed and that they will remain a vibrant force in creative circles for many more years to come.”
LFA artist Tim Pearce adds: “About the very same time that the French Impressionists were holding their first exhibition in the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris in the Spring of 1874, a group of Leeds artists were assembling their own show of work in a large public building in Park Row.
“Whereas Monet, Renoir, Degas and the rest ceased exhibiting together after 1886, Leeds Fine Artists continued to survive through two World Wars and on into the 21st century where the organisation still thrives to the present day.
Cherries, mixed media, by Roger Gardner
“As part of a series of exhibitions marking 150 years since Leeds Fine Artists’ inception, Blossom Street Gallery is displaying painting and sculpture by more than 20 of its 60 members who, these days, work from locations right across Yorkshire.”
Among the artists taking part are: Sharron Astbury-Petit; Dawn Broughton; Jane Burgess; Mark Butler; Pete Donnelly; Alison Flowers; Roger Gardner; Margarita Godgelf; Dan Harnett; Peter Heaton; Nicholas Jagger; Michael Curgenven; Catherine Morris; Martin Pearson; Clare Phelan; Trevor Pittaway; Neil Pittaway; Annie Robinson; Annie Roche; Sarah Sharpe and John Sherwood.
Sharron Astbury-Petit is a Yorkshire-born artist who works from her studio in Leeds. Favourite subjects in her paintings are nature, time and mortality/immortality. “Using a subtle layering of different media, my work pays homage to the seduction of the intangible,” she says.
Dawn Broughton, who lives in Tadcaster, has a First Class BA (Hons) in painting and an MA in fine art and has been an LFA member since last October. “I am a figurative artist who works in acrylic for paintings and pencil, pen and charcoal for my drawings,” she says. “My practice is perpetually evolving, as it constantly revisits ideas and themes that always stem from my own experiences and observations.”
Figurative painter Jane Burgess works in oils and watercolours and is particularly interested in the effects of light on the landscape. “When painting in oils, I often paint en plein air, completing a work in one session or creating a piece that I then finish in the studio. Watercolour appeals to me because of its immediacy of use and the luminosity of its colours.”
Allotment Shed With Maize, by Jane Burgess
Sculptor Mark Butler works mainly in cast bronze. “Although I use metal – a markedly permanent material – I harness chance to create imperfect and fractured pieces, mirroring the impermanence and vulnerability of the environment around me.”
Pete Donnelly’s sculpture is generally figurative and he tends to use traditional techniques such as ceramics. “However, I often use the face and expression as a tool to encourage an emotional response from the audience and prompt them to ask questions and form their own narrative and connection to the work,” he says.
Alison Flowers’ paintings are inspired by time spent in solitary natural spaces and the restorative effect that being away from it all has on her interior landscape. “Through colour, marks and combining different media, I work in the studio evoking memories and use photographs, sketches and mixed-media experiments as a springboard for paintings that emerge,” she says.
Roger Gardner usually paints in oil on canvas on a range of themes: chairs, shirts, picnic sets, plates, for example. “These themes continue for some while and may be reinvestigated later in a different format,” he says. His studio is in Wakefield, where a community of 30 artists and makers provides mutual support.
Margarita Godgelf explores contemporary existence and identity within social constructs, placing protagonists in fantastical or realistic spaces to form a world of ironic provocation and metaphor. “Sometimes this metaphor is flowers representing the spring that we all battle for,” she says. “Flowers blossom and we stretch, reach out, explore, dance and communicate.”
Alison Flowers: “Inspired by time spent in solitary natural spaces”
Dan Harnett’s photography is inspired by his time in the Merchant Navy and childhood on the Kent coast. “Ranging from abstract to still life, it explores human relationships with the sea, reflecting the differing perspectives of seafarers and landlubbers, conjuring images, stories and reflections from earlier voyages.”
Landscape often forms the subject matter of Peter Heaton’s work, along with a concern for “spirit of place”. “I am driven to create something that has resonance, feeling and meaning,” he says. “This can manifest itself in complex, layered images or simpler balanced harmonious compositions with internal spaces.”
Nicholas Jagger explores the Vanitas theme, one that considers the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures, exhorting the viewer to consider mortality and to repent.
“Most of my work witnesses the passing of time over a range of timescales, from the brief lives of leaves to the lifespan of sculpture ravaged and eroded by weather,” he says. “My subjects stand in their own light but are also metaphors for own brief lives.”
Michael Curgenven breaks away from his usual artistic practice of abstract landscapes to focus on figurative pieces for this exhibition. “These are based on my love of drawing,” he says. “They are constructed in mixed media, including ink, pencil, oil pastel and watercolours.”
Mighty Oaks, by Sharron Astbury-Petit
Catherine Morris works in diverse media – oil, acrylic, collage – but the common denominator is layers, allowing colours underneath to peep through and produce unexpected results. “My subject matter is the Yorkshire moors, but not in a literal way, often using just the shapes and colours I see to produce something abstract,” she says.
Since the mid-1990s, Martin Pearson has been exploring a form of lyrical abstraction utilising personal motifs. “I use a variety of mark-making techniques to develop textures and patterns,” he says. “In more recent paintings, still-life elements appear, alongside their abstract counterparts. I hope my paintings are optimistic.”
Award-winning Holmfirth printmaker Clare Phelan is influenced by the post-industrial landscapes of northern England. “I work with mass-produced obsolete materials from the past,” she says. “Through etching and collagraph printmaking processes, these redundant artefacts are given a new life.”
Two of Trevor Pittaway’s favourite subjects are his native North Yorkshire and the “magical city” of Venice. “When travelling, I sketch using pencil, watercolour and an iPad,” he says. “In the studio, I then use these drawings for information. I paint in oil, acrylic and egg-tempera and also produce original etchings and digital prints.”
Wakefield-born printmaker, painter and draughtsman Neil Pittaway’s works reflect ideas from East and Western sources and perspectives such as Anglo-European heritage, transatlantic connections, Asian landscapes, gothic revival architecture, urbanness, satire, illustration and narrative.
Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th Anniversary Exhibition in situ at Blossom Street Gallery, York. Picture: Kim Oldfield
“My work incorporates and explores these identities through direct and indirect observation, creating complex and seemingly agoraphobic, perspective spaces,” says the Royal Academy graduate and New English Art Club, Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers member.
Although Annie Robinson’s work is connected to the landscape, whether visited, studied or remembered, she “tends to work in an exploratory and instinctive way, drawn to the abstract qualities of paint itself and letting the paint evolve and speak for itself.”
After a long career in teaching, Annie Roche has time to explore her own creativity. “Colour is central to my work; it brings me a sense of joy and positivity. Still life, landscape and abstraction all cross over. Compositions are not literal; serendipity allows shapes to sometimes be recognisable but often obtuse, open to reinterpretation.”
Motherhood, angels, birds, woodland and the passing seasons are a constant theme of Malton artist Sarah Sharpe’s work. “Imagination, the land I tread, people and their stories underpin my work,” says this member of Leeds Fine Artists, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts and Society of Catholic Artists.
John Sherwood’s work develops freely over time. “The approach remains flexible and is open-ended in terms of outcome,” he says. “I have no firm preconceptions as to the purpose of what I do, other than perhaps that I see art as being a tool that interacts positively with my life.”
Leeds Fine Artists: the back story
The poster for Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th Annivesary Exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery
FOUNDED in 1874, the Leeds Fine Art Club, now called Leeds Fine Artists, soon became a major player in the intellectual and cultural life of Leeds.
Its meetings and annual exhibitions were popular among the middle-class professionals who had grown up to service the city’s expanding industrial base.
In the course of its 150-year history, the group has been associated with various artists of renown, some of whom have been social reformers, such as Ina Kitson Clark, the prominent campaigner for women’s rights, and Beatrice Kitson, the first woman to be Lord Mayor of Leeds.
The organisation’s members have always embraced a wide variety of subjects and styles. Eric Taylor was renowned for the paintings he produced when he was among the British troops that liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
While some artists evoked the Yorkshire landscape, such as Staithes Group member Owen Bowen, others travelled widely: Frank Dean, for example, painted scenes in North Africa, the Middle East and India.
Triform, by Tim Pearce, on show at Blossom Street Gallery
A blue plaque at Leeds City Art Gallery commemorates Robert Hawthorne Kitson, who, as a gay man, left Britain to live in Sicily, where his villa was much frequented by artistic friends, including Frank Brangwyn and Wilhelm von Gloeden, who was noted for his homoerotic photography.
Perhaps the most famous artist in the LFA ranks is Jacob Kramer, who was born in Ukraine but spent much of his working life in Leeds, becoming renowned for his depiction of Jewish life.
Today, members live throughout Yorkshire with some further afield, from Kent to Scotland, and the LFA continues to attract artists of the highest ability across a variety of media, from painting, drawing and printmaking to ceramics, sculpture and textiles.
To mark the 150th anniversary, LFA has produced a commemorative book, Leeds Fine Artists 1874-2024, featuring the work of 50 current members and an historical introduction to the origins of the group and its 20th century history. Published in hardback, copies are available at Blossom Street Gallery and at leedsfineartists.co.uk/yorkshire/ at £20.
Leeds Fine Artists, Celebrating 150 Years, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, on show until October 31. Opening hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
The cover for Leeds Fine Artists’ commemorative book to mark the 150th anniversary
Anna Hibiscus’ Song: Theatrical story of self-discovery from Nigeria at York Theatre Royal
FROM African storytelling to Milton Jones’s puns, Will Young’s joyous pop to Dewey Finn’s teaching methods, Charles Hutchinson finds reasons to smile.
Children’s show of the week: Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres present Anna Hibiscus’ Song, York Theatre Royal, today, 11am and 2pm
THIS is the story of a young African girl named Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Ibadan, Nigeria, where she is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. The more she talks to her family about it, the more her happiness grows. The only thing to do is…sing!
Told through music, dance, puppetry and traditional African storytelling, this theatrical story of self-discovery is adapted for the stage by director Mojisola Kareem from the book by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia. Suitable for children aged three upwards and their grown-ups. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Water-Lily Pond, oil on canvas, by Claude Monet, 1899, on show at York Art Gallery until tomorrow. Copyright: National Gallery
Last chance to see:National Treasures: Monet In York: The Water-Lily Pond, York Art Gallery, in bloom until tomorrow (8/9/2024), 10am to 5pm
SUNDAY or bust. This weekend brings to an end the National Gallery’s bicentenary celebrations in tandem with York Art Gallery after close to 70,000 people took up the chance to feel the radiance of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s 1899 work, The Water-Lily Pond, the centrepiece and trigger point of this special anniversary exhibition.
On show too are loans from regional and national institutions alongside York Art Gallery collection works and a large-scale commission by contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Una Sinfonia. Monet’s canvas is explored in the context of 19th-century French open-air painting, pictures by his early mentors and the Japanese prints that transformed his practice and beloved gardens in Giverny. Hurry, hurry to book tickets at yorkartgallery.org.uk.
Milton Jones: Not short of shirts for his Ha!Milton tour
Comedy gig of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
THIS is not a musical. Milton Jones is tone deaf and has no sense of rhythm, he admits, but at least he doesn’t make a song and dance about it. Instead, he has more important things to discuss. Things like giraffes…and there’s a bit about tomatoes.
The shock-haired, loud-shirted master of the one-liner promises a whole new show of daftness. “You know it makes sense,” he says. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Will Young: Showcasing Light It Up’s joyous pop at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jamie Noise
Pop gig of the week: Will Young, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
MARKING the August 9 release of his Light It Up album, Will Young is embarking on his most intimate tour yet, an up-close-and-personal evening of acoustic performances, stories and conversation across 50 dates.
The ten tracks are a return to embracing joyous unashamed pop music for Young, who has teamed up with Scandinavian pop production/writing duo pHD, as well as reuniting with Groove Armada’s Andy Cato and long-term writing partners Jim and Mima Elliot, for “the go-to pop album for a dance, for a cry and for a celebration”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Simon Russell Beale: Shakespeare actor, now starring as Ser Simon Strong in House Of The Dragon, will be in conversation at York Theatre Royal on Tuesday night
Theatre chat: An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, York Theatre Royal, September 10, 7.30pm
WAS Shakespeare an instinctive “conservative” or, rather, gently subversive? How collaborative was he? Did he add a line to Hamlet to accommodate his ageing and increasingly chubby principal actor Richard Burbage? Did he suffer from insomnia and experience sexual jealousy?
In An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, in conversation with a special guest, the Olivier Award-winning actor will share his experiences of “approaching and living with some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters”, from his school-play days as Desdemona in Othello to title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth. Expect anecdotes of Sam Mendes, Nick Hytner, Stephen Sondheim and Lauren Bacall too. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ruth Berkoff in The Beauty Of Being Herd, her debut show “for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in”. Picture: Alex Kenyon
Sheep and cheerful: Ruth Berkoff: The Beauty Of Being Herd, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 12, and Terrington Village Hall, near Malton, September 28, both 7.30pm
HAVE you ever felt like an outsider? Hannah has. Her solution? She has decided to live as a sheep. “But don’t worry, she’s thought it all through. She’s even got a raincoat. And she’d love to tell you all about it at her Big Goodbye Party. Everyone is invited,” says Leeds writer-performer Ruth Berkoff, introducing her hour of comedy, original songs, heartfelt sharing and even a rave.
“Whether you’re shy, neurodivergent, have accidentally put your foot in it or simply had to spend time with people that weren’t ‘your people’, this is a show for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in.” Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Terrington, terringtonvillagehall.co.uk.
Finn East’s Dewey Finn and Eady Mensah’s Tomika in rehearsal for York Stage’s School Of Rock: The Next Generation
Musical of the week: York Stage in School Of Rock: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, September 13 to 21, 7.30pm, except September 15 and 16; 2.30pm, September 14 and 21; 4pm, September 15
YORK Stage is ready to rock in the riotous musical based on the 2003 Jack Black film, re-booted with a book by Julian Fellowes, lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Failed rock musician Dewey Finn (Finn East), desperate for money, chances his arm by faking it as a substitute teacher at a stuffy American prep school, jettisoning Math(s) in favour of propelling his students to become the most awesome rock band ever. Will he be found out by the parents and headmistress, leaving Dewey to face the music? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe: Running his 11th York Chamber Music Festival next week
Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, various venues, September 13 to 15
FOR its 11th season, York Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe is bringing together pianist Andrew Brownell, violinists Ben Hancox and Magnus Johnston, viola players Gary Pomeroy and Simone van der Giessen, cellist Marie Bitlloch and flautist Sam Coles.
The centenary of French composer Gabriel Fauré’s death will be marked prominently in the five concerts. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.
Scarborough Crab, by Jason Wilsher-Mills, at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper of a pair of lovers, inspired by Peasholm Park, in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough.
His colourful explosion of artwork characters, revealing the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability, will be on show from September 14 to January 4 2025.
The Scarborough Crab sculpture features a tattoo design, 1970s’ psychedelic prints and seagull sidekick. The Scarborough Love digital fabric print wallpaper is themed around a willow pattern, utilising the story of two doomed lovers that decorates many blue-and-white plates.
“I love the fact that here in Scarborough there is a place that has been dedicated to this love story, so I decided to update the story and make it even more ‘Scarborough’,” says Jason, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, who was born in Wakefield.
“When asked what my work is about, I simply say, ‘Think I, Daniel Blake meets the Beano’,” says artist Jason Wilsher-Mills, pictured on a visit to Peasholm Park in Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
“My willow pattern features some of the designs I saw in Peasholm Park, alongside seaside ephemera, such as rope and seashells, and references to the north, with the Yorkshire Rose featured in the border.
“I’ve created my own Scarborough lovers, who meet and fall in love: the rocker with his Kiss Me Quick hat on, and the blonde, with her beehive hair, and Mod jacket, adorned with a target, which was so favoured by the scooter fashionistas that visited the town in the 1960s and ’70s.”
Visitors also should seek out Wilsher-Mills’s Scarborough Triptych: a three-panel wallpaper featuring argonaut characters inspired by his Jason And His Argonauts exhibition. Among them is the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.
Sarah Oswald, interim chief executive at Scarborough Museums and Galleries, says: “We’re really excited to have welcomed Jason to Scarborough over the past few months as he developed his response to the town’s heritage, character and people.
A detail from Jason Wilsher-Mills’s inflatable sculpture Rhubarb Totem at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
“We believe everyone, young and old, will find something to connect with in this exhibition. In Scarborough Crab and Scarborough Love Jason has created two new iconic pieces that capture the essence of Scarborough and his own experience and memories.”
Wilsher-Mills will give a talk at Woodend Gallery on October 12 on how he captures childhood memories, popular culture and social history through his psychedelic, pattern-clashing inflatable sculptures and wallpapers.
His large-scale, humorous, challenging work embraces cutting-edge technologies, vibrant use of colour and disabled activist messaging that transcends into individual characters, who carry a story and journey to each new town. “When asked what my work is about, I simply say, ‘Think I, Daniel Blake meets the Beano’,” says Jason.
Summing up Jason Beside The Sea, he says: “Ultimately, it’s a story about love, a reminder of the magic of younger times and caring for everybody.”
Artist. Jason Wilsher-Mills at work on his research visit to Peasholm Park in Scarborough.Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Keep an eye on scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk for further details of the talk.
Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, September 14 to January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm. Gallery entry is free.His exhibition Jason and The Adventure Of 254 runs at Wellcome Collection, London, until January 12 2025.
Did you know?
JASON Beside The Sea is part of Connecting Coastal Cultures, an Arts Council England-funded project, delivered by Scarborough Museums and Galleries in partnership with Crescent Arts, to raise the profile of art in the north, providing opportunities for artists from the area to exhibit in regional venues.
Did you know too?
EARLIER this year, from February 24 to June 2, Wilsher-Mills exhibited Are We There Yet? at Ferens Gallery, Hull. Created in response to disabled communities in Hull, Wakefield and Manchester, his theatrical portraits and sculptures reflected aspects of his personality, memory and disability. This year too, he has exhibited The Argonaut at Dusseldorf’s Balloon Museum.
Works by Alison Diamond, centre, Ade Adesina RSA, right, and Ian Burke, left, on show at Helmsley Arts Centre
FROM African storytelling to Milton Jones’s puns, Will Young’s joyous pop to Jason Wilsher-Mills’s inflatable psychedelic crabs, Charles Hutchinson finds reasons to smile.
Triple bill of the week: Three Approaches To Relief Painting by Alison Diamond, Ade Adesina RSA & Ian Burke, Helmsley Arts Centre, until November 1
THIS exhibition brings together three separate approaches to relief printing but a shared love of hand-made printing, lino cutting and woodcut.
Ade Adesina RSA, a Nigerian artist living in Aberdeen, has won the 2023 Academies des Beaux-Arts annual prize. Ian Burke, from Staithes, and Alison Diamond, from County Durham, produce work in regional galleries and print fairs. The connection between all three is the use of relief print to achieve something personal and produce multiple images.
Anna Hibiscus’ Song: Theatrical story of self-discovery from Nigeria at York Theatre Royal
Children’s show of the week: Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres present Anna Hibiscus’ Song, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow and Friday, 10am and 1pm; Saturday, 11am and 2pm
THIS is the story of a young African girl named Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Ibadan, Nigeria, where she is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. The more she talks to her family about it, the more her happiness grows. The only thing to do is…sing!
Told through music, dance, puppetry and traditional African storytelling, this theatrical story of self-discovery is adapted for the stage by director Mojisola Kareem from the book by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia. Suitable for children aged three upwards and their grown-ups. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Snake Davis: Making the saxophone talk at Helmsley and Pocklington
Snake at the double: Snake Davis, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm; Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
THE choice is yours: Snake Davis solo, with his multitude of saxophones, in Helmsley on Friday, or Snake’s four-piece band – sax, guitar, bass and drums – in Pocklington on Saturday.
The first gig will be an informal acoustic evening of music and chat in two parts, showcasing his musical dexterity and the stories behind his work as a sax hired gun to the stars. The second night promises “something for everybody, from floaty to dance-able, from soul through pop to jazz and world, original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train”. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Milton Jones: Not short of shirts for his Ha!Milton tour
Comedy gig of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
THIS is not a musical. Milton Jones is tone deaf and has no sense of rhythm, he admits, but at least he doesn’t make a song and dance about it. Instead, he has more important things to discuss. Things like giraffes…and there’s a bit about tomatoes.
The shock-haired, loud-shirted master of the one-liner promises a whole new show of daftness. “You know it makes sense,” he says. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Will Young: Showcasing Light It Up’s joyous pop at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jamie Noise
Pop gig of the week: Will Young, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
MARKING the August 9 release of his Light It Up album, Will Young is embarking on his most intimate tour yet, an up-close-and-personal evening of acoustic performances, stories and conversation across 50 dates.
The ten tracks are a return to embracing joyous unashamed pop music for Young, who has teamed up with new collaborators pHD, the Scandinavian pop production/writing duo with Kylie and Little Mix credits, as well as reuniting with Groove Armada’s Andy Cato and long-term writing partners Jim and Mima Elliot, for “the go-to pop album for a dance, for a cry and for a celebration”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The Beauty Of Being Herd: Ruth Berkoff’s debut show is “for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in”
Sheep and cheerful: Ruth Berkoff: The Beauty Of Being Herd, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 12, and Terrington Village Hall, near Malton, September 28, both 7.30pm
HAVE you ever felt like an outsider? Hannah has. Her solution? She has decided to live as a sheep. “But don’t worry, she’s thought it all through. She’s even got a raincoat. And she’d love to tell you all about it at her Big Goodbye Party. Everyone is invited,” says Leeds writer-performer Ruth Berkoff, introducing her hour of comedy, original songs, heartfelt sharing and even a rave.
“Whether you’re shy, neurodivergent, have accidentally put your foot in it or simply had to spend time with people that weren’t ‘your people’, this is a show for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in.” Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Terrington, terringtonvillagehall.co.uk.
Scarborough Crab: Jason Wilsher-Mills’s inflatable psychedlic crab installation at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, September 14 to January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm
LOOK out for a giant inflatable installation of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.
Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.
Setting up camp: Julian Clary is bringing his western-themed stand-up show A Fistful Of Clary to Harrogate and York
Gig announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm
JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”
Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.
York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play, Show & Tell at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
ALAN Ayckbourn’s 90th play and the Fangfest arts weekend lead Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the weeks ahead.
Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 5 to October 5
BILL Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will be the cast for the 90th play by Scarborough writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, a love letter to theatre.
In a delightfully dark farce that lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis, Jack is planning a big party for his wife’s birthday. Pulling out all the stops, he has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home. Unfortunately, Jack is becoming forgetful in his old age, rendering him unable to remember all the details of the booking.
The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees, desperately needing a well-paid gig – and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky, however, and something does not feel quite right. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Mealtime mayhem in The Tiger Who Came To Tea at the Grand Opera House, York
Children’s show of the week: Nicoll Entertainment presents The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 11.30am and 2.30pm
JUDITH Kerr’s picture-book story The Tiger Who Came To Tea is celebrating 15 years on stage in writer-director David Wood’s 55-minute production that returns to York this weekend, exactly a year on from its last visit.
The doorbell rings just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea. Who could it possibly be? What they don’t expect to greet at the door is a big, stripey, tea-guzzling tiger in a family show packed with oodles of magic, sing-a-long songs and clumsy chaos! Age guidance: three upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum, pictured in 2023
We will remember them: Allied Air Forces Memorial Day, Yorkshire Air Museum, Halifax Way, Elvington, near York, tomorrow (Sunday), from 1.45pm
THE Yorkshire Military Marching Band will lead the 1.45pm parade featuring standard bearers from 16 Royal British Legion and RAF Association branches in one of the biggest events in the museum’s calendar.
Representatives of the RAF will join with counterparts from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France in honouring the bravery and sacrifices of the allied air crews who flew from the airfield during the Second World War, many of whom did not survive. The day will climax with a 2.15pm service in the main hangar, under the nose of Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th. Open to museum visitors and invited guests.
Busted: Concluding the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal gig of the week: Busted, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today, gates open at 6pm
BUSTED close Cuffe & Taylor’s summer of outdoor gigs in Scarborough 22 years after first bouncing into the charts with the pop-punk energy of What I Go To School For and a year on from releasing Greatest Hits 2.0, an album of re-recorded hits with guests to mark the reunion of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.
Expect number one smashes Crashed The Wedding, Who’s David, Thunderbirds Are Go and You Said No to feature in Saturday’s set list, along with Year 3000, Air Hostess, Sleeping With The Lights. Support comes from Skinny Living and Soap. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/busted.
William Dalrymple: Reflecting on India’s impact on the ancient world in his Grand Opera House talk
History talk of the week: William Dalrymple, How Ancient India Transformed the World, Grand Opera House, York, September 2, 7.30pm
HISTORIAN William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world: exporting religion, art, science, medicine and language along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific, creating a vast and profoundly important empire of ideas.
Dalrymple explores how Indian ideas crossed political borders and influenced everything they touched, from the statues in Roman seaports to the Buddhism of Japan, the poetry of China to the mathematics of Baghdad. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Tales of a foster parent in her Peacock show at Pocklington Arts Centre
Comedy gig of the week: Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Peacock, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 5, 8pm
KIRI Pritchard-McLean has had a busy few years, hosting Live At The Apollo, fronting the BBC Radio 4 panel show Best Medicine, co-hosting the All Killa No Filla podcast, starting a comedy school and becoming a foster parent.
After a couple of the eggiest gigs of her career in boardrooms, a show about being a foster carer has been signed off, wherein she lifts the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance, left, and Janet Bruce: Making their Fangfest debutwith a magical and adventurous story for two to eight-year-olds, featuring music, games and puppetry, on both days at 2.30pm in the Fangfoss Hall orchard
Festival of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near York, September 7 and 8. 10am to 4pm
THE annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend.
The event features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, the Story Craft Theatre Company, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops in needle felting, wood carving, spinning and embroidery. Entry to Fangfest is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martin’s School.
Bjorn Again: Thanking Abba for the music at York Barbican and Connexin Live, Hull, on their 2025 tour
Gig announcement of the week: Bjorn Again, York Barbican, September 28 2025, and Connexin Live, Hull, October 29 2025
AFTER festival appearances at Wilderness and Glastonbury this summer, Bjorn Again announce a British and Irish tour from September 26 to November 2 2025, taking in York Barbican on the third night and Connexin Live, Hull, a month later.
Founded in 1988 in Melbourne by Australianmusician/manager Rod Stephen, the tribute show carries the endorsement of Abba’s own Agnetha Fältskog. Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, rocked-up, light-hearted ABBA satire, the show is in its 37th year, having seen more than 100 musicians and vocalists and 400 technical crew/support staff contribute to 5,500 performances in 75 countries. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk and connexinlivehull.com.
In Focus: 60 songs, 50 years, four concerts, two nights, add up to Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall
Elvis Costello: 60 songs from 50 years in four shows in two nights at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall in September
ELVIS Costello brings his new career-spanning presentation, 15 Songs From 50 Years, to Leeds City Varieties on September 2 and 3 for four unique performances over two days, all sold out.
Walking in the footsteps of Harry Houdini and beyond the long shadow of Charlie Chaplin, Frank Carson and Leonard Sachs at the Swan Street music hall, Costello will be joined at each 75-minute show by keyboard player Steve Nieve, his long-serving, Royal College of Music-trained cohort in The Attractions and The Imposters.
Each day, the 7pm soiree will feature an entirely different repertoire to the 9.30pm set list, the songs being selected from each of the five decades of Costello’s songwriting, whether solo or in the company of Flip City; American country rock band Clover; The Attractions; Squeeze’s Chris Difford; The Coward Brothers, with T-Bone Burnett; the Confederates; Paul McCartney; the Brodsky Quartet; The Imposters; Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint or the Roots.
A 15-song programme will be printed in advance of each concert with few, if any repeats anticipated but with the possibility of impromptu choices along the way. Costello. 69, and Nieve, 66, very occasionally take requests but should never be mistaken for a jukebox.
The third and fourth performances, on the second day, will “propose a deuce of delights”: two entirely different 15-song set-lists selected from half a century of popular songwriting craft.
“Leeds City Varieties Music Hall has always been known for magic, melody, mirth and mayhem,” says Elvis Costello
“The four shows are guaranteed to feature 60 different songs, but we suspect this is just the start,” predicts the shows’ publicity machine.
Those who wanted to attend all four contrasting shows in this exclusive engagement were able to obtain a special season ticket to include premium seats for each show in the front rows or boxes with exclusive use of the bar in between shows.
Asked about the involvement of his perennial cohort, Steve Nieve, Costello said: “Well, to paraphrase John Lennon, Steve Nieve will ‘leap over horses, through hoops, up garters and lastly, through a hogshead of real fire’ to bring his particular brand of musical magnificence to these performances.”
Costello added: “The City Varieties Music Hall has always been known for magic, melody, mirth and mayhem. These are all well within our grasp. By the way, had my father not taken a trumpet-playing engagement in London, just before my arrival into this world, I would have been a Chapeltown boy and this would be my hometown gig.“
In the wortds of the City Varieties blurb: “Unsurpassed in variety and voluminosity, Costello’s renowned refrains, romances, broadsides, bulletins and ballads are perfectly matched by Steve Nieve’s pulchritudinous and pulsating piano playing.
“The paragon of the profound and the peculiar, these premier performers present a penetrating pageant for perceptive and perspicacious patrons.”
For ticket updates on late availability, visit leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/costello-and-nieve-2024.
Regia Anglorum members Wilfred Somogyi, left, Catherine Stallybrass, Jenny Kell, Michael Stallybrass and Matthew Greatrex on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail acros the North York Moors. Picture: Valerie Mather
YORKSHIRE documentary, travel and portrait photographer Valerie Mather will produce a photo essay to mark the September 14 launch of the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail in the North York Moors.
To promote the launch, Valerie already has photographed the Regia Anglorum mediaeval reenactment group on the new trail in Upper Ryedale and at Rievaulx Abbey in their 12th century medieval costumes.
She has taken on the trail commission after her Fields, Folds and Farming Life exhibition, capturing the heart of farming on isolated Yorkshire moorland in a year in the life of Bransdale, drew 26,000 visitors to Nunnington Hall, the National Trust country house in Ryedale, last year.
“The trail images were taken at Murton Grange, en route to Rievaulx Abbey and at the abbey itself, with the kind permission of English Heritage,” says Valerie, whose photographs can be seen on the Gallery section of the trail website at saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com.
Regia Anglorum’s Jenny Kell, in the guise of an Anglo-Saxon pilgrim, on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather
“Regia Anglorum translates as ‘of the English’; their headquarters are in Canterbury, in a nod to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and they have members who gather from all over the country and dress in totally authentic costumes and shoes.”
Taking part in the photoshoot were Regia Anglorum members Jenny Kell, Catherine Stallybrass, Michael Stallybrass, Wilfred Somogyi and Matthew Greatrex; English Heritage volunteer Tony Powell; trail planning group members Kate Senior and Anne Stewart and Rievaulx Abbey visitors Louise Southwell and her children Agnes and Jim.
Starting and ending in Helmsley, the 41-mile trail links all the churches in the Benefice of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale, taking walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders on a scenic pilgrimage through the southwest of the North York Moors National Park.
“We hope to revitalise interest in our historic rural and hamlet churches and chapels,” says George Gyte, parochial church council secretary of the Parish of Upper Ryedale. “However, the trail is for people of all faiths and none, who love the opportunity that pilgrimage offers for spiritual experience and well-being, meeting fellow pilgrims and enjoying our beautiful countryside.
Regia Anglorum member Catherine Stallybrass, in the guise of a nun, climbs a style on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather
“There is something for everyone: those who are up for a challenge, those who seek places of peace, contemplation and prayer, and those want to hike and ‘stand and stare’ whilst absorbing the remarkable sights and sounds of our moors.”
George adds: “We’ve completed this new trail for walkers, runners, horse riders and cyclists, waymarked it and produced a guidebook with a foreword by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
“We’ve also produced a Pilgrim Passport, to be stamped at the end of each stage, and have created a lovely website: https://www.saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com. Our horse riders ‘version was produced for us by Bill Tait – aka ‘the Helmsley Cowboy’ – and the Ryedale Bridleways Group. The one for cyclists is thanks to John Ellison, a local cyclist.”
The trail is named in homage to the celebrated saint, Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx Abbey from 1147 to 1167. “He was one of the finest of scholars: a writer, spiritual director, poet, preacher, historian, adviser to monarchs, peacemaker and walker,” says George. “His teachings are emblematic of our mission and the renewed interest in pilgrimage.”
Matthew Greatrex’s young pilgrim and Jenny Kell’s Anglo-Saxon pilgrim, from Regia Anglorum, enjoy a rest on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather
To launch the trail, a Gathering Walk/Ride will be the focus of the Yorkshire Churches Day’s Ride and Stride and Heritage Open Days 2024 celebrations on September 14 to raise funds for the Yorkshire Churches Historic Trust and the renovation and repair of rural and historic churches in the Benefice of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale.
The Gathering Walk will start at 8.30am in the pastoral setting of All Saints Church, Hawnby, picking up striders and riders in the moorland villages of Old Byland, Scawton and Cold Kirby before descending the Cleveland Way to Rievaulx Abbey for a celebration service in the abbey nave with the Bilsdale Silver Band at 4pm, followed by a launch reception of fizz and canapés in the abbey café.
Walkers and riders are invited to walk all or part of the 12-mile route that day. “You can join in at several places and walk 12, seven, five or four miles or just a few hundred metres to end at Rievaulx Abbey for our service and reception,” says George. “Please bear in mind this is the North York Moors and so be prepared for all weathers! Walking boots are recommended.”
Regia Anglorum member Wilfred Somogyi’s young monk crosses the river on the Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail. Picture: Valerie Mather
The Saint Aelred’s Pilgrim Trail has been supported by the North Yorkshire Moors Association, Helmsley Town Council, North Yorkshire Council, North York Moors National Park, Diocese of York, landowners along the trail and the parochial church councils of the parishes of Helmsley and Upper Ryedale.
Exhibitions are to be mounted in churches on the trail route, with more details to be announced, and the trail organisers are looking into the possibility of exhibiting Valerie’s prints from the photo essay at some of the churches for the heritage festival week.
For more information about Valerie Mather’s photography, head to: www.valeriematherphotography.co.uk or valeriematherphotography on Facebook and Instagram.
Approximate timings for the Gathering Walk/Ride Day, September 14
Walking time of approximately 4 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours. Leave Hawnby at 8.30am. Arrive at Old Byland by 10am for drinks and cake. Leave Old Byland, 10.30am. Arrive at Scawton, 11.40am. Leave Scawton, 11.45am. Arrive at Cold Kirby, 12.45pm. Space in village hall for packed lunches and hot drinks. Leave Cold Kirby, 1.45pm. Arrive at Rievaulx by 3pm to 3.15pm. Gather at Rievaulx Methodist Church/Church of Saint Mary the Virgin to process to the Abbey
Service in Rievaulx Abbey nave from 4pm.
Regia Anglorum member Catherine Stallybrass’s nun is greeted by English Heritage volunteer Tony Powell’s monk at Rievaulx Abbey. Picture: Victoria Mather
York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play, Show &Tell. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
ALAN Ayckbourn’s 90th play and the Fangfest arts weekend lead Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the weeks ahead.
Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 5 to October 5
BILL Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will be the cast for the 90th play by Scarborough writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, a love letter to theatre entitled Show & Tell.
In a delightfully dark farce that lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis, Jack is planning a big party for his wife’s birthday. Pulling out all the stops, he has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home. Unfortunately, Jack is becoming forgetful in his old age, rendering him unable to remember all the details of the booking.
The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees, desperately needing a well-paid gig – and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky, however and something does not feel quite right. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum, pictured in 2023
We will remember them: Allied Air Forces Memorial Day, Yorkshire Air Museum, Halifax Way, Elvington, near York, Sunday, from 1.45pm
THE Yorkshire Military Marching Band will lead the 1.45pm parade featuring standard bearers from 16 Royal British Legion and RAF Association branches in one of the biggest events in the museum’s calendar.
Representatives of the RAF will join with counterparts from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France in honouring the bravery and sacrifices of the allied air crews who flew from the airfield during the Second World War, many of whom did not survive. The day will climax with a 2.15pm service in the main hangar, under the nose of Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th. Open to museum visitors and invited guests.
Busted: Concluding the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal gig of the week: Busted, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates open at 6pm
BUSTED close Cuffe & Taylor’s summer of outdoor gigs in Scarborough 22 years after first bouncing into the charts with the pop-punk energy of What I Go To School For and a year on from releasing Greatest Hits 2.0, an album of re-recorded hits with guests to mark the reunion of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.
Expect number one smashes Crashed The Wedding, Who’s David, Thunderbirds Are Go and You Said No to feature in Saturday’s set list, along with Year 3000, Air Hostess, Sleeping With The Lights On, Loser Kid and Everything I Knew. Support comes from Skinny Living and Soap. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/busted.
William Dalrymple: Reflecting on India’s impact on the ancient world in his Grand Opera House talk
History talk of the week: William Dalrymple, How Ancient India Transformed the World, Grand Opera House, York, September 2, 7.30pm
HISTORIAN William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world: exporting religion, art, science, medicine and language along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific, creating a vast and profoundly important empire of ideas.
Dalrymple explores how Indian ideas crossed political borders and influenced everything they touched, from the statues in Roman seaports to the Buddhism of Japan, the poetry of China to the mathematics of Baghdad. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Tales of a foster parent in her Peacock show at Pocklington Arts Centre
Comedy gig of the week: Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Peacock, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 5, 8pm
KIRI Pritchard-McLean has had a busy few years, hosting Live At The Apollo, fronting the BBC Radio 4 panel show Best Medicine, co-hosting the All Killa No Filla podcast, starting a comedy school and becoming a foster parent.
After a couple of the eggiest gigs of her career in boardrooms to social workers, a show about being a foster carer has been signed off, wherein she lifts the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Tribute acts at the treble: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now re-heat the hits at Milton Rooms, Malton
Tribute gig of the week: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 7, 7pm
THIS tribute triple bill brings together Coldplay It Again replicating the look, sound and spirit of a Colplay show, Stereoconics’ faithful versions of Stereophonics’ songs and Oasis Here Now’s devotion to the style and swagger of Oasis in their Nineties’ heyday, just as the Gallagher brothers announce their first gigs since 2009 for next summer. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Gerry Grant: Demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery
Festival of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near York, September 7 and 8. 10am to 4pm
TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend.
The festival features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, the Story Craft Theatre Company, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops in needle felting, wood carving, spinning and embroidery. Entry to Fangfest is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martins School.
Bjorn Again: Thanking Abba for the music in York and Hull on their 2025 tour
Gig announcement of the week: Bjorn Again, York Barbican, September 28 2025, and Connexin Live, Hull, October 29 2025
AFTER festival appearances at Wilderness and Glastonbury this summer, Bjorn Again announce a British and Irish tour from September 26 to November 2 2025, taking in York Barbican on the third night and Connexin Live, Hull.
Founded in 1988 in Melbourne by Australianmusician/manager Rod Stephen, the tribute show carries the endorsement of Abba’s own Agnetha Fältskog. Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, rocked-up, light-hearted ABBA satire, the show is in its 37th year, having seen more than 100 musicians and vocalists and 400 technical crew/support staff contribute to 5,500 performances in 75 countries. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk and connexinlivehull.com.
Christopher West and his six-year-old son, Edison, who are both participating in Spark: York’s Envisioning A Greener Piccadilly art competition
SPARK: York is hosting an art exhibition on Saturday and Sunday with a focus on Envisioning A Greener Piccadilly: Ideas For A Sustainable Future in the city centre.
The creative community venue, in Piccadilly, York, asked artists to respond to this theme with the aim of “cultivating community engagement and starting a dialogue about how the neighbourhood can evolve to better serve both the residents of today and future generations”.
This year’s exhibition builds on the success of last year’s competition at Spark, where participants imagined York in 100 years’ time and created a time capsule for the people of York in 2050, aligning with the United Kingdom’s net-zero target.
The time capsule is stored at the University of York’s Borthwick Institute and is registered officially with the Time Capsule Society in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Spark: York wants to “curate creativity and encourage visionary ideas for a more sustainable central street in York, especially in light of the significant developmental changes under way”. Sixteen artists have submitted work to the 2024 event, showcasing a diverse range of concepts, from lush green spaces teeming with wildlife to socially minded community areas and cutting-edge eco-tech solutions.
How will Piccadilly look in a greener future?
Various media will be showcased including watercolour, acrylics, lino print, digital art and mixed-media collages using natural and recycled materials. Submissions were made in two age categories: under 15 and 15+, highlighting collaborative efforts between parents and children, as well as contributions from artists across the region, including Leeds and Tadcaster.
The entries were evaluated carefully by an expert panel of Spark’s resident artists, including Leon François Dumont, Jessica Mallorie and Kat Olsson.
Leon said: “The judging panel were thrilled to see such imaginative entries. The artworks ranged from full street plans for a greener city, to abstract shapes and colours representing the moods and sensations residents might experience in a future Piccadilly, interconnected with nature. We’re excited for York to see them all exhibited together, to start conversations on a green makeover for the city.”
Envisioning A Greener Piccadilly: Ideas For A Sustainable Future, on show at Upstairs SHOW space, Spark: York, Piccadilly York, August 31 and September 1, 12 noon to 10pm. Entry is free and everyone is invited.
TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend in Fangfoss, near York.
The festival of practical arts features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery with Aaron Shooting Archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, Story Craft Theatre, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops.
Among the exhibitors will be Caroline Wagstaff, ceramics and pebble glass; Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, photography with a twist; International Feltmakers Association member Liz Riley, of Everything Felt, felting; Lorina Lynne, jewellery; Pete Thomson, of Spirit of the Wood, woodwork; Woodwrym, wood carving and trinket boxes; Shan Williams, woven items; Crafty Alfredo, ceramic mosaics; Laura Thompson, illustrations; Tanja Entwistle, glass; and Rosie Glow, terrazzo homeware, soaps and prints.
Rosie Glow: Maker of terrazzo homeware and soaps
Most of the stalls will be in The Orchard of Fangfoss Hall, making the 2024 event more centralised than in past years.
“This year there are more opportunities than ever for visitors to learn a new craft,” says event co-organiser Lyn Grant, of Fangfoss Pottery. “Over the weekend there’ll be a number of workshops, lasting about two hours each, for the public to participate in: needle felting with Brenda Christison, of Felty and Fabulous (10.30am, Saturday); spoon carving with Woodwyrm (11.15am each morning); yarn spinning with Catherine Djimramadji (September 8, 10.30am) and hand embroidery with textile artist Hayley Mills-Styles (September 8, 2pm, upstairs at Fangfoss Pottery).
“Although these are more suitable for older children and adults, there’s a workshop specially geared for children aged five and upwards on the Sunday. Hosted by Thread and Press at 11am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 3.30pm, this is to make and sew a Barn Owl Sock Puppet, decorated and painted.”
Gerry Grant demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery
A small charge applies for all these workshops, which must be booked in advance. Details can be found on the Fangfest Facebook page.
One of the youngest exhibitors, photographer Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, will demonstrate his lensball technique and talk visitors through his editing processes, wherein he transforms his original photographs into images with a modern twist. His work will be available as fine-art giclee prints, framed photographs and greetings cards.
To accompany their selection of replica medieval tiles across the weekend, Tanglebank Tiles will demonstrate designs and techniques in the medieval style. Gerry Grant will demonstrate Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery; Laura Thompson Design and Illustration, watercolour painting.
Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance, left, and Janet Bruce: Making their Fangfest debut
Story Craft Theatre are taking part in Fangfest for the first time. York theatre-makers Cassie Vallance and Janet Bruce will perform a magical and adventurous story for two to eight-year-olds featuring music, games and puppetry on both days at 2.30pm in the Fangfoss Hall orchard. Admission is free.
On the Teddy Bear Trail, visitors and trail finders will be asked to find the nine letters attached to some of the teddies, rearrange them to form a word and collect a prize at the finish point.
On the Sunday morning, at 11.30am, Haigha Lore will be enchanting The Orchard with Anglo-Saxon storytelling, songs, music, poems and ritual, using Anglo-Saxon, Middle English and modern English to weave together poems and extracts from the 5th to the 13th century to re-imagine the lost world of the dark ages in Tales of the Kings.
Archery at Fangfest
Look out for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, with a chance to meet the team and watch some of the dogs in training.
More information on the festival, including exhibitors, timings of activities and workshops, can be found on facebook/fangfest or on Instagram, fangfestfestival.
Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, ten miles east of York, September 7 and 8, 10am to 4pm.Entry is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martin’s Primary School, Fangfoss.
