Yorkshire Festival 2014: Be Part Of It!

As a proper Yorkshireman I’m not one for demonstrative outbursts of positivity. My vocabulary of praise normally stretches all the way from “it’ll do” to “that’s alright” with a whole fifty shades of grunt inbetween. If you’re really lucky I might allow myself an unrestrained “that’s bloody lovely, that is”, but only after a couple of pints and most likely I’ll be referring to the beer.

So it was a bit of a shock to the system earlier today when I almost let out a spontaneous cheer, Go Yorkshire! I say almost, I wouldn’t want to let you go thinking my senses had completely gone South.

I was in Trinity Church for the launch of the Yorkshire festival 2014. Over a hundred people had been invited – mainly winning artists and the local great and good (at one point I was trapped with a friend in a very tight corner by three Chief Executives, it was that kind of a do.) We’d assembled in The Angelica in the Trinity centre for a short speech before we were asked to “form a peloton” and be guided to the launch by a lady holding a white balloon.

On the way through the centre we were offered trays of parkin, “for Yorkshire energy,” and entertained by Hope and Social and choir singing their Festival song, The Big Wide, just to put us all in the spirit.

The church was full. The atmosphere was happy, chatty, expectant. And there were stalls around the church giving away some amazing Yorkshire food and drink – I had some Yorkshire rose chocolate on the recommendation of a very enthusiastic Alan Lane from Slung Low, who’d just been directing the morning’s proceedings (great work, and spot on about the chocolate!) and a pint of Withens Pale Ale, which definitely helped put me even more in the spirit.

The Festival Director, Henrietta Duckworth, stood up and delivered the presentation that made me want to cheer. It wasn’t that any of it came as a surprise – the reason I was at the launch was that I’d helped edit the copy that went into the brochure they were giving out, so have spent the last month avoiding conversations about the festival just in case I let slip any secret (I didn’t! But it has been a mighty struggle on occasion.) But actually seeing what’s planned up on screen in full colour and listening to some of the people talking about what they were planning to do – check out The Ghost Peloton, where dance companies are collaborating with Sustrans, a transport charity, for instance, and the crazy plan to pull a piano up the longest continuous ascent in the country, by cyclists – genuinely made me excited by the prospect.

There are 47 big projects and loads of fringe events over the hundred day festival. Best thing – beside the art of course – is that it really does feel like there’s something for everyone; fun stuff, arty stuff, thoughtful stuff, stuff that’s inexplicably odd, and stuff that looks like it’s a really good day out. Almost everything is free, and almost everything encourages you to “BE PART OF IT!” Even I’m going to give some things a go … maybe not that pulling a grand piano up a hill malarkey – sorry Hebden Bridge Piano Festival and iMove but I did my back in over Christmas, so maybe I’ll just sit in one of the pubs and watch?

The brochures are out now and the website is here so you can start planning your hundred day Yorkshire Festival. If I feel like cheering about it it must be alright (that’s Yorkshire dialect for bloody marvelous!)