Spit Nolan: Armley Vintage Bogey Challenge

Once upon a Summer, before the internet, the flat screen television and the games console stole our souls, families used to enjoy the sunshine and make sport with each other.

If you are coming over all nostalgic for those halcyon days, or perhaps are curious about what our parents generation got up to, come down to Armley Gotts Park between 1pm and 4pm on the 6th July where  Interplay Leeds are hosting a Go Kart Challenge event with a funky 1960s vintage theme in honour of their latest play, Spit Nolan.

Local independent businesses (including myself!) will be selling fabulous handmade food and crafts, and there will be live music, dancing in  the Marvellous Tea Dance Tent , a retro sweet shop, giant board games, workshops teaching seed  sewing, bath bombs, button jewellery and bunting making and plenty of competitions from best costume to the bogey race itself.

There are still a number of free pitches available if you would like the opportunity to sell your crafty items or home-made food on the day.
Contact Angie on challengerace@interplayleeds.co.uk to find out more.

It’s Armley’s first ever community go-kart race  and aims to bring together people who would not normally do this kind of activity to celebrate the Spit Nolan story in the fictional ‘town’ of Cotton Pocket. If you have never built a bogey before, you can even learn from the Spit Nolan cast and experience Cotton Pocket first hand at the Carriageworks in Leeds on Saturday 27th July at 2.15 and 7.15!

Tickets are limited so call the Carriageworks box office on 0113 224 3801 to book. (Family discounts are available.)

More about Spit Nolan

The story is all about a gang of friends making something and putting a part of themselves into their bogeys.
Interplay do a lot of theatre performances in special schools for audiences of young people with a range of abilities, and through the research and development work with pupils and teachers they found the story resonated with pupils. Spit Nolan, the main character, is a boy who spends a lot of his time in hospital as he only has one lung. There is also a blossoming relationship between Spit and another patient of the hospital, which tugs on the heart strings. The physical act of building a go-kart with the characters draws young people into the story and excites audiences.

The author, Bill Naughton, was born in Ireland and moved to Bolton when he was five. The stories that make up his collected short stories called The Goalkeeper’s Revenge are all tales about childhood. One of the stories, The Reader, features a character called Bill, who is Bill Naughton himself. This story is woven into the story of Spit Nolan. Bill Naughton went on to write the famous Alfie, which was turned into the famous film (starring Michael Caine, or Jude Law – depending on how old you are!)

The playwrite, Mick Martin, is a Yorkshire born writer for TV, Film and the stage, currently based in Bradford. His work includes Once Upon a Time in Wigan, Frogman, Sunbeam Terrace, Broken Time and work for TV includes Footballers Wives. Mick has worked on a number of projects with Interplay, penning the short film Show and Tell, nominated for a Best Film Award in 2010.