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.
Give Piccadilly a green makeover: SPARK:York’s poster for this summer’s art competition
SPARK:York is launching an art competition to transform Piccadilly into an eco-friendly haven in York.
“Let your imagination soar, paint a sustainable future and win eco-friendly prizes, with the chance to star in an exhibition this summer,” says Paulina Lewicka, marketing coordinator for the creative community venue in Piccadilly.
Artists and creatives of all ages and abilities are encouraged to paint, draw or craft a sustainable, green paradise in the heart of York. Alongside prizes, participants have the opportunity to inspire others to consider the role of environmental sustainability in urban design.
Competition details:
Prizes:
20 finalists: Artwork showcased in an exhibition in the SPARK:York events space in late- August.
Ten shortlisted artists: Exclusive art masterclass with one of SPARK’s resident artists.
Winners of 15+ category and under-15 category: £50 SPARK gift voucher, £50 gift voucher for Heima (the eco-friendly homeware and hardware shop in Gillygate) and an exclusive art masterclass with a SPARK resident artist.
Submission deadline: August 4.
Last summer’s York In 100 Years art competition exhibition in the SPARK:York events space
Finalists and winners will be announced on SPARK’s social media channels by August 15.
Entries will be judged by an expert panel of SPARK’s resident artists, including Leon François Dumont, Jessica Mallorie and Kat Olsson.
Paulina says: “As our neighbourhood undergoes change and redevelopment, we’d like to imagine a greener, more sustainable Piccadilly. With this art competition, we hope to inspire a dialogue on what this part of York could transform into in order to best serve the local community.
“We invite local artists of all ages to participate and we’re looking forward to seeing how they will blend creativity and sustainability in their creations.”
SPARK hosted its inaugural art competition last summer with a theme focused on the future of York. The competition attracted 19 submissions from York artists and young talents who shared their visions of this history-steeped city in 100 years.
SPARK:York in Piccadilly, York
The event culminated in an exhibition showcasing all the entries. Visitors were invited to participate in creating a time capsule, where they could leave messages and mementos for the people of York in 2050, the year of the UK’s net-zero target.
SPARK collaborated with the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York to ensure the safekeeping of the time capsule.
For more information and to submit artwork, visit www.sparkyork.org/thoughts/art-competition.
SPARK: York: the back story
HOUSED in shipping containers in Piccadilly, SPARK champions the creative and independent community, providing a home for the next generation of entrepreneurs in York.
Discover food, drink, retail, events and entertainment with a Yorkshire flavour. The all-access facilities provide a comfortable space for individuals and groups to meet and relax.
Velma Celli: Vocal drag entertainment with chutzpah and cheek at Yorktoberfest, York Racecourse
BAVARIAN revelry and riotous Russian politics, Frankenstein in wartime and jazz era Joni, comedy and charity nights entice Charles Hutchinson to do battle with Storm Babet.
Festival of the week: Jamboree Entertainment presents Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Knavesmire Road, York, today, 1pm to 5pm; Friday, 7pm to 11pm; next Saturday, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm
YORKTOBEFEST returns for a third autumn season of beer, bratwurst, bumper cars and all things Bavarian in a giant marquee. Look out for the Bavarian Strollers, with their thigh-slapping oompah tunes and disco classics, and York’s international drag diva Velma Celli with her stellar singing and saucy humour.
Dancing is encouraged, as is the wearing of Lederhosen, Dirndls or any other fancy dress, with nightly competitions and prizes for the best dressed. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest.
Steve Cassidy: Playing hits spanning six decades at St Peter’s School tonight
Fundraiser of the week: York Rotary presents A Song For Everyone, Memorial Hall, St Peter’s School, Clifton, York, tonight; doors 7pm, concert 7.30pm to 10.15pm
YORK singer and guitarist Steve Cassidy and his band are joined by guest vocalist Heather Findlay to perform a “huge range of popular hits covering six decades”. Expect rock, ballads and country music. Proceeds from this fundraising concert will go to St Leonard’s Hospice and York Rotary Charity Fund. Box office: yorkrotary.co.uk/a-song-for-everyone or on the door.
Heather Findlay: Guest vocalist at A Song For Everyone. Picture: Adam Kennedy
Spooks at Spark: Halloween Makers’ Market, Spark:York, Piccadilly, York, today, 12 noon to 4pm
THE Halloween edition of Spark:York’s Makers’ Market features “spooktacularly” handcrafted work by independent makers. Taking part will be Wistoragic Designs, Enthralled Yet, Gem Belle, A Forest of Shadows, Kim’s Clay Jewellery and the Mimi Shop by Amelia. Entry is free.
Hejira: Celebrating the jazz days of Joni Mitchell at the NCEM
Jazz gig of the week: Hejira: Celebrating Joni Mitchell, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tomorrow, 6.30pm
JAZZ seven-piece Hejira honour the works of Canadian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter Joni Mitchell, mostly from the late 1970s, in particular Mingus from her “jazz period” and the live album Shadows And Light, recorded in 1979 with a Jazz All Stars line-up featuring saxophonist Michael Brecker and guitarist Pat Metheny.
Hejira is fronted by Hattie Whitehead, who – in her own way – has assimilated the poise, power and beauty of Joni’s vocals and plays guitar with Joni’s stylistic mannerisms. Joining her will be Pete Oxley, guitar; Ollie Weston, saxophones; Chris Eldred, piano and keyboards; Dave Jones, electric basses; Rick Finlay, drums, and Marc Cecil, percussion. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Go Your Own Way: The Rumours are true, they are playing Fleetwood Mac songs at the Grand Opera House tomorrow
Tribute show of the week: Go Your Own Way – The Fleetwood Mac Legacy, Grand Opera House, tomorrow, 7.30pm
GO Your Own Way celebrates the Fleetwood Mac era of Rumours and that 1977 line-up of Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie, Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood in this new tribute show. Dreams, Don’t Stop Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman, Everywhere, Little Lies and Big Love all feature. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Jonny Best: Piano accompaniment to Monday’s screenings of The Great Train Robbery and The General. Picture: Chris Payne
Film screening of the week: Northern Silents Film Festival presents The Great Train Robbery (1903) and The General (1926), National Centre for Early Music, York, Monday, 7.30pm
NORTHERN Silents artistic director and pianist Jonny Best brings musical commentary to a pair of silent cinema’s most famous railway chase films.
The 12-minute escapade The Great Train Robbery still packs a punch after 120 years, while Buster Keaton’s greatest achievement, the 80-minute The General, is both a brlliantly staged American Civil War epic and a comedy-thriller packed with visual humour, daring stunts and dramatic tension.
Keaton plays railroad engineer Johnny Gray, whose beloved locomotive, The General, is stolen by Yankees, stirring him to strive to get it back against the odds. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Eleanor McLoughlin as Victoria Frankenstein and Cameron Robertson as The Creature in Tilted Wig’s Frankenstein, on tour at York Theatre Royal
One for the Halloween season: Tilted Wig in Frankenstein, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday; 7.30pm October 24 and 26 to 28; 2pm, October 25 and 26; 2.30pm, October 28
TILTED Wig’s Frankenstein is an electrifying reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Gothic 19th century horror story, now set in 1943. While Europe tears itself apart, two women hide from their past at what feels like the very end of the world. One of them has a terrifying story to tell.
Adapted and directed by Sean Aydon, this new thriller explores the very fabric of what makes us human and the ultimate cost of chasing “perfection” with a cast featuring Eleanor McLoughlin as Doctor Victoria Frankenstein, Basienka Blake as Captain/Richter and Cameron Robertson as The Creature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Burning Duck Comedy Club welcomes Tom Lawrinson, Erin Tett and Mandy McCarthy to Spark:York
Comedy bill of the week: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Tom Lawrinson & Friends, Spark:York, Piccadilly, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm
AFTER Tom Lawrinson and Eryn Tett starred in Burning Duck’s inaugural Spark Comedy Fringe, promoter Al Greaves has invited them back to spark more laughs.
Absurdist alternative comedian Tett opens the show; Lawrinson, who made his Edinburgh Fringe debut with Hubba Hubba, is the headline act. In between come two shorter spots (wait and see who those “friends” will be), with guest host MC Mandy McCarthy holding everything together. Box office: burningduckcomedy.com.
Comedian Helen Bauer: Girl’s talk at The Crescent and Hyde Park Book Club
A word or two on women: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Helen Bauer: Grand Supreme Darling Princess, The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm; Hyde Park Book Club, Headingley, Leeds, Friday, 8pm
HELEN Bauer, Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nominee, Late Night Mash star and Trusty Dogs podcaster, heads to York and Leeds with a show about the women in her life, from her mother to her best friend and that one girl who was mean in 2008. Oh, and Disney princesses, obviously. Box office: York, wegottickets.com/event/581816; Leeds, wegottickets.com/event/581817.
One dalmatian, 100 more are on their way to the Grand Opera House in a new musical in November 2024. Picture: Oliver Rosser, Feast Creative
Spotted in the distance: 101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 5 to 9 2024, not 2023
A NEW musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians will arrive in York next autumn. Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is reimagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London. The cast and creative team are yet to be announced.
When fashionista Cruella de Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups. Smith’s story will be brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
In Focus: Political drama of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Government Inspector
Director Alan Park, back row, right, and his Settlement Players cast for Government Inspector at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: John Saunders
IN his first time in the director’s seat for 15 years, Theatre@41 chair and actor Alan Park directs the Settlement Players in David Harrower’s adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s Russian satirical exposé of hypocrisy and corruption in high places, prompted by a simple case of mistaken identity.
Park’s ensemble cast of eccentrics will undertake a fun, chaotic journey through 1980s’ Soviet Russia. “Communism is collapsing, it’s every man, woman and dog for themselves. What could possibly go wrong?” he asks, as the bureaucrats of a small Russian town are sent into a panic by news of the government inspector’s imminent arrival.
Harrower’s version premiered at the Warwick Arts Centre in May 2011 and transferred to the Young Vic, London, later that year. Now it provides “the perfect platform for Settlement Players’ hugely talented ensemble”, led by Mike Hickman as the town’s Major.
Andrew Roberts plays Khlestakov, accompanied by Paul French as his long-suffering servant, Osip. YSCP regulars combine with newcomers in Park’s company of Alison Taylor as the Major’s wife; Pearl Mollison, the Major’s daughter; Katie Leckey, Dobchinsky; Sonia Di Lorenzo, Bobchinksy; Maggie Smales, the Judge; Matt Pattison, Postmaster; Mark Simmonds, Head of Hospitals; Paul Osborne, School Superintendent; Adam Sowter, Police Superintendent; Florence Poskitt, Mishka, and Alexandra Mather, Dr Gibner.
Jim Paterson will lead a live band, made up of cast members, such as Pattison and Sowter, to help transport next week’s audiences to a 1980s’ provincial Soviet town full of eccentric personalities. Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
Made in Sheffield, on tour in York: Simon Beaufoy’s The Full Monty, packed with a star cast at the Grand Opera House
GHOSTS in gardens, men in hats and nowt else, kings in trouble, Halloween scares and pumpkins galore offer an autumn harvest for Charles Hutchinson and you to pick.
Yorkshiremen of the week: The Full Monty, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
CELEBRATING the 25th anniversary of Peter Cattaneo’s Sheffield film, The Full Monty takes to the stage in a national tour of Simon Beaufoy’s play, wherein a group of lads on the scrapheap try to regain their dignity and pride in a story of ups and downs, humour and heartbreak, resonant anew amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Leaving their hat on will be Danny Hatchard’s Gaz, Jake Quickenden’s Guy, Bill Ward’s Gerald, Neil Hurst’s Dave, Ben Onwukwe’s Horse and Nicholas Prasad’s Lomper. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Fiddler Ryan Young: NCEM concert
Fiddler of the week: Ryan Young & David Foley, National Centre for Early Music, York, Monday, 7.30pm
FIDDLER and 2022 MG ALBA Musician of the Year nominee Ryan Young brings new and exciting ideas to traditional Scottish music with his spellbinding interpretations of very old, often forgotten tunes. Joining him in York will be guitarist David Foley. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
James Lee’s Gaveston, left, and Jack Downey’s Edward II in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Edward II. Picture: John Saunders
Play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Edward II, Theatre@41, Monkgate, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
PHASE two of York Shakespeare Project offers the chance over the next 25 years to see works by Shakespeare’s rivals, led off by Christopher “Kit” Marlowe’s intimate historical tragedy Edward II under the direction of Tom “Strasz” Straszewski.
Expect themes of cancel culture, social mobility and celebrity to pour out of this modern interpretation of Marlowe’s 1952 work, starring Jack Downey as Edward II, James Lee as his lover Gaveston and Danae Arteaga Hernandez as his wilful Queen, Isabel, in this “fantasia of power and love”. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Fascinating Aida: Forty years of sassy satireencapsulated at York Barbican
Cabaret return of the week: Fascinating Aida – The 40th Anniversary Show, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.30pm
DILLIE Keane, Adèle Anderson and Liza Pulman, “Britain’s raciest and sassiest musical cabaret trio”, celebrate 40 years of Fascinating Aida travels in their typically charming, belligerent, political, poignant, outrageous and filthy new show. Much-loved favourites, such as Dogging and Cheap Flights, will be combined with fresh satirical numbers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Meanwhile, actress, presenter and writer Miriam Margolyes’s Oh Miriam! Live show on Monday has sold out.
Something wicked this way comes: Ian Thomson-Smith’s Macbeth and Sharon Nicholson-Skeggs’s Lady Macbeth in York Opera’s Macbeth
Opera of the week: York Opera in Verdi’s Macbeth, York Theatre Royal, Wednesday and Friday, 7pm; Saturday, 4pm
JOHN Soper directs York Opera in its autumn production of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1847 opera Macbeth, starring the highly experienced duo of baritone Ian Thomson-Smith as Macbeth and soprano Sharon Nicholson-Skeggs as Lady Macbeth.
Sung in English, it stays true to Shakespeare’s original play, complete with witches, ghosts, cut-throats and the political scheming of the Scottish court. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Lloyd Cole: Two sets in one show, one acoustic, the other electric, at York Barbican
Gigs of the week: Lloyd Cole, Tuesday, 8pm; Paul Carrack, Thursday, 7.30pm at York Barbican
LLOYD Cole plays two sets in one night on Tuesday, the first acoustic and solo, the second electric, with a band featuring two of his Commotions compadres, Blair Cowan and Neil Clark, as he showcases his 12th solo album, On Pain.
Sheffield singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player Paul Carrack, the soulful voice of Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics hits, returns to one of his most regular joints on Thursday. How long has this been going on? Oh, a long, long time. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Paul Carrack: Returning to York Barbican
Halloween days and nights: Hallowtween and Hallowscream, York Maze, near Elvington, York until November 4
HALLOWTWEEN is billed as the “UK’s only Halloween event for families with children aged ten to 15”. Venture inside four of York Maze’s Hallowscream scare houses but without the monsters that inhabit them at night for the shocks and thrills of Corny’s Cornevil, The Singularity, The Flesh Pot and a new haunted house.
Hallowscream fright nights promise fear and fun in five live-action scare houses, plus a new stage show, bar and hot food. Box office: hallowtween.co.uk or yorkmazehallowscream.co.uk.
The Bride, in Museums Gardens, part of the Ghosts In The Garden free sculpture trail in York. Picture: Gareth Buddo
Trail of the season: Ghosts In The Garden, haunting York until November 12
THE eerie sculptures of Ghosts In The Gardens return for the third time for haunted York’s spookiest season, as unearthly monks, a noble knight, Vikings, painters, archers, even a phantom peacock, pop up in translucent 3D wire mesh form.
Unconventional Designs have created a free trail of 39 sculptures, installed at Museum Gardens, The Artists’ Garden, Treasurer’s House, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, Middletons Hotel, St Anthony’s Garden, Barley Hall, Shambles, Clifford’s Tower, The Judge’s Lodging, DIG, Castle Museum Mill, Edible Wood and Library Lawn.
Professor Dan: Tricks and Treats at the Pumpkin Festival at Piglets Adventure Farm
Children’s festival of the month: Pumpkin Festival at Piglets Adventure Farm, Towthorpe Grange, Towthorpe Moor Lane, York, October 14, 15, 21, 22 and 28 to 31, then November 1 to 3
HERE comes the Pumpkin Patch (with a free pumpkin for every paying child), Pumpkin Carving Marquee, Catch The Bats Quiz, Professor Dan’s Tricks and Treats Magic Show at 12 noon and 2pm, The Bat-walk Fancy Dress Parade at 3.30pm, Gruesome Ghosts of York in the Maize Maze and Spooky Animal Encounters.
From November 1 to 3, the attractions will be Professor Dan’s eye-popping Magic Show (same show times), Gruesome Ghosts of York in the Maize Maze and Spooky Animal Encounters. Tickets: pigletsadventurefarm.com.
Out of luck: Bev Jones Music Company has had to call off Guys And Dolls, starring Chris Hagyard
Postponed: Bev Jones Music Company in Guys And Dolls, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 18 to 21.
LUCK won’t be a lady next week after all. Cast illness has put paid to the Bev Jones Music Company’s first production since Covid-blighted 2020. Claire Pulpher was to have directed a York cast led by tenor Chris Hagyard in Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ 1950s’ musical. Plans are afoot to stage the show next summer instead. Ticket holders are being contacted by the JoRo box office team.
Catrin Finch, right, and Aoife Ni Bhriain: NCEM preview of debut album Double You
Duo of the week: Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm
AFTER her award-winning collaborations with Seckou Keita and Cimarron, Welsh harpist Catrin Finch has formed a virtuoso duo with Dublin violinist Aoife Ni Bhriain, who commands both the classical world and her traditional Irish heritage.
Inspired by a multitude of influences and linked by the cultures of their home countries, they follow up last November’s debut at Other Voices Cardigan with a select few concerts previewing the extraordinary and original material from their October 27 debut album, Double You. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Paloma Faith: New album, new tour, both entitled The Glorification Of Sadness, in 2024
Looking ahead: Paloma Faith, The Glorification Of Sadness Tour 2024, York Barbican, May 12
NEXT spring, Paloma Faith will play York for the first time since her York Racecourse Music Showcase set on Knavesmire in June 2018, promoting her sixth studio album, next February’s The Glorification Of Sadness.
Her new songs will be “celebrating finding your way back after leaving a long-term relationship, being empowered even in your failures and taking responsibility for your own happiness”, following last year’s split from French artist Leyman Lachine. Hull Bonus Arena on May 3 awaits too. Box office: from 10am on October 20, ticketmaster.co.uk and seetickets.com.
In Focus: Chronicled and Summer Art finalists’ exhibitions at Spark: York, Piccadilly, York, today and tomorrow
Spark summer art under-15s competition winner Emily Saunders with her mother Samantha and Spark:York resident artist and judging panellist Leon François Dumont
SPARK:YORK, the creative community space in Piccadilly, York, is hosting two exhibitions this weekend, both exploring themes powerfully relevant to our communities today.
Chronicled is a pop-up show organised by the University of York’s Ukrainian Society, showcasing works by Kyiv street photographer Dima Leonenko.
His dynamic vision of everyday life in the Ukrainian capital during the Russianfull-scale invasion is reflected through his film photos. ”When I see a character or a scene that catches my attention, I just press the button and capture it,” he says.
On show from 12 noon to 10.30pm today and tomorrow, Dima’s exhibition will be accompanied by an interactive project that allows visitors to immerse themselves in the “war-life reality’’ of the Ukrainian people. The event takes place in Spark:York’s co-working space downstairs, with a drinks welcome, from 6pm to 8pm tonight.
The poster for Kyiv street photographer Dima Leonenko’s Chronicled exhibition at Spark:York today and tomorrow
Spark:York also will be showcasing artworks submitted to its summer art competition, set up to encourage York-based artists to imagine the city’s future 100 years from now and share their ideas, fears and hopes surrounding the impact of climate change on this historic city.
Leon François Dumont, Spark:York resident artist and judging panel member, says: ”In this art exhibition, we’ve witnessed a remarkable outpouring of creativity from both young and adult artists.
“From a city transformed by shipping containers to a bubble-like dome preserving York under water, these artworks by the finalists are a testament to the power of imagination.”
The exhibition can be viewed in Spark:York’s Show studio upstairs today and tomorrow from 12 noon to 9pm. Guests are invited to contribute to a time capsule created on the day by leaving a message and a memento for the people of York in 2050, the year of the UK’s net zero target. Spark: York hopes to pass the time capsule on to the City of York Council for safekeeping.
The VRAC (Vape Recycling Awareness Campaign) art installation SUCKERED – not – SUCCOURED in the making for display at Spark:York this weekend
At the front of Spark:York will be an art installation by VRAC (Vape Recycling Awareness Campaign), a York campaign group that has been been working with Spark:York over the past 18 months to collect used vapes that would otherwise end up being discarded, either in landfills or down drains, polluting waterways and ground water with toxic metals. An estimated 1.5 million per week are discarded in this way.
Group founder Mick Storey says: ”The SUCKERED – not – SUCCOURED installation, using some 3,000 used vapes, conveys a message about our responsibility to all our young people and the future generations yet to come who will inherit whatever future it is we leave behind us.”
Spark:York “hopes that both exhibitions can open a discussion around the future of our communities, as well as provoke reflections and meaningful actions that can help build a better world for us all”.
Entry to both exhibitions is free. For more information, head to: www.sparkyork.org/
NEWS ALERT: 26/10/2023
The York In 100 Years exhibition has moved to Spark:York’s pop-up space, where it will be on display until November 5.
Lowri Clarke, winner of the 15-plus categrory of the Spark summer art competition
NORTHERN Pole is a novel with a story behind the story – how the author came to write such an authentic-feeling novel.
But first, Northern Pole tells the story of Roman Kozynski, a Polish refugee arriving in Northern England after the Second World War, determined to build a new life for himself.
In 1940, 14-year-old Roman was ripped away from his family when the Gestapo arrested them in German-occupied Warsaw. Roman escapes, and we meet him in Italy, then in a resettlement camp in Northern England.
There were camps all over England and one outside of York in Sherriff Hutton. Roman meets and falls in love with Bridget, a headstrong Irish woman, and they embark on a passionate relationship. At the same time, Roman continues his search for his missing family. When he reunites with his mother, things do not go as expected, and all hell breaks loose.
The cover artwork for Julie Fearn’s Northern Pole
Northern Pole is beautifully written, its descriptive passages gorgeous, observations of décor, architecture and body language built with unerring precision and often devastating effect. The novel, with its twists and turns, never fails to grip.
The author’s family history influenced Northern Pole. When she inherited a series of documents written in Polish and even Latin – birth and marriage certificates – from her late father’s past and had them translated, a story began to form in her imagination – one that would dip in and out of the ‘truth’ that she says can never be known because the participants are long since gone.
But the novel is a tribute to all those whose lives are torn apart by war, who must leave everything behind, sometimes even their identity. Northern Pole is a timely reminder that little has been learnt from history when refugees still flee from tyranny. Above all, it’s a cracking good read.
Northern Pole is available from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle book.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=northern+pole+by+julie+fearn&crid or from a link on
Review by Lizzi Linklater, York poet and creative writing lecturer
Did you know?
POEMS by Lizzi Linklater are soon to appear in a 2023 anthology edited by Artemesia Arts and published by Mosaique Press. On the competition judging panel for the book were poet Roger McGough and Artemesia Arts co-founder and poet Sheila Scholfield Large.
Julie Fearn: the back story
JULIE is a Bradford-born, York-based independent author.
Northern Pole is her first novel, set in the 1940s and inspired by her family history.
Her father was a Polish refugee who made a new life in Bradford in 1946.
The book launch
THE launch event will be held at Spark: York, on Saturday, June 10, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
“Drinks and nibbles will be provided and you will be treated to poet Lizzi Linklater inviting me to read a small section from Northern Pole,” says Julie. “And I hope she will read one of her glorious poems to you all.”
Ben Moor and Joanna Neary: Mini-season of stand-up theatre and comedy at Theatre@41
MOOR, Moor, Moor and much more, more, more besides are on Charles Hutchinson’s list for the week ahead.
Surrealist stand-up theatre of the week, Ben Moor and Joanna Neary mini-season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today until Saturday
BEN Moor and Joanna Neary combine to deliver five offbeat comedy shows in three days in their Theatre@41 debut.
Moor contemplates performance, friendship and regret in his lecture about lectures, Pronoun Trouble, tonight at 8pm. Tomorrow, at 7.30pm, Neary’s multi-character sketch show with songs and impersonations, Wife On Earth, is followed by Moor’s Who Here’s Lost?, his dream-like tale of a road trip of the soul taken by two outsiders.
Saturday opens at 3pm with Joanna’s debut children’s puppet show, Stinky McFish And The World’s Worst Wish, and concludes at 7pm with the two-hander BookTalkBookTalkBook, a “silly author event parody show”. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Gunpowder Guy in Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain. Picture: Frazer Ashford
Alternative history lesson of the week: Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain, Grand Opera House, York, today at 1.30pm, 7pm; tomorrow, 10.30am and 7pm; Saturday, 3pm, 7pm; Sunday, 11am, 3pm
WHAT if a Viking moved in next door? Would you lose your heart or head to horrible Henry VIII? Can evil Elizabeth entertain England? Will Parliament survive Gunpowder Guy? Dare you stand and deliver to dastardly Dick Turpin?
Questions, questions, so many questions to answer, and here to answer them are the Horrible Histories team in Barmy Britain, a humorously horrible and eye-popping show trip to the past with Bogglevision 3D effects. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Hannah Victoria in Tutti Frutti’s The Princess And The Pea at York Theatre Royal Studio
Reopening of the week: York Theatre Royal Studio for Tutti Frutti’s The Princess And The Pea, today to Tuesday; no show on Sunday
YORK Theatre Royal Studio reopens today with a capacity reduced from 100 to 71 and no longer any seating to the sides.
First up, Leeds children’s theatre company Tutti Frutti revive York playwright Mike Kenny’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, set in a place where what you see is not what it seems: the Museum of Forgotten Things.
Three musical curators delve into the mystery of how a little green pea ended up there in an hour of humour, songs and a romp through every type of princess you could imagine. Box office and show times: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Artist Anita Bowerman and Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen at Dove Tree Art Gallery and Studio
Open Studios of the week: Anita Bowerman, Dove Tree Art Gallery and Studio, Back Granville Road, Harrogate, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm
HARROGATE paper-cut, watercolour and stainless steel artist Anita Bowerman opens her doors for refreshments and a browse around her new paintings of Yorkshire and Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen, prints and mugs.
“It’s a perfect chance for inspiration before the Christmas present-buying rush starts,” says Anita, who has been busy illustrating a new charity Christmas card for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance featuring the Yorkshire Shepherdess.
Rachel Croft: York singer-songwriter performing at Drawsome! day of activities at Spark:York as part of York Design Week on Saturday
York Design Week gig of the week: Drawsome!, Mollie Coddled Talk More Pavilion, Spark:York, Saturday, from 3pm
AS part of Drawsome’s day of workshops and an Indy Makers Market to complement MarkoLooks’ print swap exhibition of illustrators and printmakers, York’s Young Thugs Records are curating a free line-up of live music.
Taking part will be The Hazy Janes, Kell Chambers and Rachel Croft, singer, songwriter and illustrator to boot.
Breabach: First touring band to play Selby Town Hall in “far too long”. Picture: Paul Jennings
Welcome back of the week: Breabach, Selby Town Hall, Saturday, 8pm
GLASGOW folk luminaries Breabach will be the first touring band to play Selby Town Hall for almost 20 months this weekend.
“Leading lights of the Scottish roots music scene and five-time Scots Trad Music Award winners, they’re a really phenomenally talented band,” says Chris Jones, Selby Town Council’s arts officer. “It’s an absolute thrill to have professional music back in the venue. It’s been far too long!” Box office: 01757 708449, at selbytownhall.co.uk or on the door from 7.30pm.
Levelling up in York: Jazz funksters Level 42 in the groove at York Barbican on Sunday night
Eighties’ celebration of the week: Level 42, York Barbican, Sunday, doors 7pm
ISLE of Wight jazz funksters Level 42 revive those rubbery bass favourites Lessons In Love, The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up), Something About You, Running In The Family et al at York Barbican.
Here are the facts: Mark King’s band released 14 studio, seven live and six compilation albums, sold out Wembley Arena for 21 nights and chalked up 30 million album sales worldwide.
This From Eternity To Here tour gig has been rearranged from October 2020; original tickets remain valid. Box office for “limited availability”: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Writes of passage: Musician and now author Richard Thompson
Guitarist of the week: Richard Thompson, York Barbican, Monday, doors 7pm
RICHARD Thompson plays York Barbican on the back of releasing Beeswing, his April autobiography subtitled Losing My Way And Finding My Voice 1967-1975.
An intimate memoir of musical exploration, personal history and social revelation, it charts his co-founding of folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention, survival of a car crash, formation of a duo with wife Linda and discovery of Sufism.
Move on from the back pages, here comes Richard Thompson OBE, aged 72, songwriter, singer and one of Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 20 Guitarists of All Time. Katherine Priddy supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
That clinches it: Emma Scott’s Macbeth leaps into the arms of Nell Frampton’s The Lady in rehearsals for York Shakespeare Project’s Macbeth. Picture: John Saunders
Something wicked this way comes…at last: York Shakespeare Project in Macbeth, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 26 to 30, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
THE curse of Macbeth combined with Lockdown 1’s imposition to put a stop to York Shakespeare Project’s Scottish Play one week before its March 2020 opening.
Rising like the ghost of Banquo, but sure to be better received, Leo Doulton’s resurrected production will run as the 37th play in the York charity’s mission to perform all Shakespeare’s known plays over 20 years.
Doulton casts Emma Scott’s Macbeth into a dystopian future, using a cyberpunk staging to bring to life this dark tale of ambition, murder and supernatural forces. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ballet Black dancers Marie Astrid Mence, left, Isabela Coracy, Cira Robinson, Sayaka Ichikawa, Jose Alves, Ebony Thomas and Alexander Fadyiro in Mthuthuzeli’s The Waiting Game
Dance show of the week: Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday, 7.30pm
ARTISTIC director Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black return to York with a double bill full of lyrical contrasts and beautiful movement.
Will Tuckett blends classical ballet, poetry and music to explore ideas of home and belonging in Then Or Now; fellow Olivier Award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November contemplates the purpose of life in The Waiting Game. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
From Limpsey Gate Lane, August, by Sue Slack
Exhibition of the week: Fylingdales Group of Artists, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until November 30
TWELVE Fylingdales Group members are contributing 31 works to this exhibition of Yorkshire works, mainly of paintings in oils, acrylics, gouache and limonite.
Two pieces by Paul Blackwell are in pastel; Angie McCall has incorporated collage in her mixed-media work and printmaker Michael Atkin features too.
Also participating are David Allen, fellow Royal Society of Marine Artist member and past president David Howell, Kane Cunningham, John Freeman, Linda Lupton, Don Micklethwaite, Bruce Mulcahy, Sue Slack and Ann Thornhill.
THE York 50+ Festival opens on Saturday with more than 80 events on offer over the week ahead.
“This is the 16th annual festival organised by YOPA – the York Older People’s Assembly – and a small team of volunteers, and the door is now open for people to come together and enjoy themselves by engaging in events they know well and having tasters of events that tickle their fancy,” says festival lynchpin Sue Lister.
“It’s a fine way to shake off the gloom of Covid and join in events, either in person or by sharing online with people from all over the country and abroad. It’s good that the digital world can link people from far and near but we are a sociable species and we need to get together in person too.”
Learning IT skills at York 50+ Festival
Flying the flag for older people in and around York, the York 50+ Festival has “something for almost everyone” in the form of a wide range of social events and open days, talks, walks, sport and active leisure, workshops, classes and “chatty benches”.
“Event organisers are busy with last-minute preparations and there’s a buzz of excitement in homes across the city,” says Sue. “Now is the time to make sure you have a copy of the programme with details of the 80-plus events, either in hand or online.”
The full programme for the September 25 to October 3 festival can be found on the YOPA website at yorkassembly.org.uk/50-festival. Copies are available in all York libraries, community centres and around the city centre, as well as from the YOPA office at Spark: York and the Tourist Information Centre, Museum Street.
Women’s hockey at York 50+ Festival
“Do make sure you can access a copy in whatever format so that you can keep all the organiser and course details to hand for later use,” advises Sue.
Further afield, millions of people around the world are preparing to celebrate International Day for Older Persons on October 1, with more details at un.org/development/desa/ageing/international-day-of-older-persons-homepage.html.
“Across the UK, in cities, towns and villages, the focus will be on the skills, talents, knowledge and expertise of older people,” says Sue. “They have a vast store of lived experience to celebrate and share.”
The Men’s Shed at York 50+ Festival
Then comes Silver Sunday on October 3, with more information at silversunday.org.uk. “Initially launched as a local campaign to tackle loneliness and isolation, Silver Sunday is now a national day where people of all generations can come together by hosting fun and free activities for older people,” says Sue.
“It’s a day where older people can meet new people, visit new places, try new activities and connect with their local communities and the generations around them.”
Enquiries or offers of support for the 2021 York 50+ Festival or future events can be made to festival coordinator Mary Cannon on 01904 332613 or at yorkfiftyfestival@gmail.com.
“It’s a hugely popular annual festival,” says Sue. “Do get involved, make the most of it and enjoy yourself.”
