Made in Derbyshire

Derbyshire poet laureate 2013-2015: Helen Mort

Made in Derbyshire

Rarer than Blue John and ten times as bright,
wild as the rain over Burbage at night,

stronger than leather from Lennon’s at Stoney,
clear as Mam Tor when the sky thins slowly,

sweet as the tarts that Bakewell refines,
older than the spirits of Magpie Mine,

lively as summer: a first well-dressing,
the streets all ribboned, the sun’s blessing,

more eloquent than a poem could be…
I can’t make the hills, but these hills made me.

© Helen Mort, Derbyshire Poet Laureate 2013-15

If you want to know what is happening in Derbyshire then Arts Derbyshire has a good calendar of events. If you are looking beyond the arts world then try Made in Derbyshire

If your Derbyshire event is not listed on either of these sites then write to:
editor@madeinderbyshire.org or
editor@artsderbyshire.org.uk

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

Calendar of UK Fringes - 2015

We don't claim that this list is complete or 100% accurate. If you know of omissions or inaccuracies tell us and we'll happily correct it. But as it stands this is the best list we can put together of Fringes that are actually happening in the UK in 2015. In one or two cases websites need updating. To get details of these events - either as a would-be performer or as audience - the World Fringe Network directory is a good starting point. You may need to do a bit of googling to find websites if the WFN links don't work.

March: Folkestone - a series of mini-festivals starting in March
April: Mayfield, E Sussex (30 April-3May)
May: Brighton (1-31 May)
        Pink Fringe (part of Brighton Festival and Fringe)
        Wandsworth (1-17 May)
        Chelsea (16 May-7 June)
        Bath (22 May-7 June)
        Oxford (22 May-7 June)
        Pulse, Ipswich (28 May-6 June)
        Maidstone
June: Grassington (12-27 June)
         Ludlow (13 June-5 July)
         Glastonbury (19-30 June)
         Barnstaple (25-28 June)
July: Greater Manchester (1-31 July)
        Buxton (8-26 July)
        Reading (15-19 July)
        Henley (20-26 July)
        Harrogate
        Llangollen
        Milton Keynes
        Oundle
August: Sidmouth (1-5 August)
            Camden (3-30 August)
            Edinburgh (7-31 August)
            Free Fringe Festival (Edinburgh, 7-31 August)
            Stroud (Bank Holiday weekend)
            Ventnor (11-16 August)
            Brackley, Northants
            Brecon
            North Berwick Fringe By The Sea
September:
October: Canterbury (17-31 October)
             Ilkley
             South Devon
             Windsor
November: Fringe! (London film festival)

Surprisingly there appear to be no UK Fringes in September.


Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

A UK Fringe Tour

Take a look at this link if you will: list of UK Fringes

This shows that there are around 60 UK Fringes. Edinburgh is in a class of its own in terms of size and reputation, of course. Second biggest is probably Brighton. Buxton may well be third. Our simple point is that you are never far away from a Fringe festival (not between May-September anyway). For those of you that do Facebook you might find the UK Fringe Festivals site helpful. If you visit the page please 'like' and 'share' it.

Chrome Hill - www.jamespictures.co.uk

Apparently it is going to snow an awful lot in Derbyshire over the next 24 hours. I'll try and put together a UK Fringe calendar for 2015 and post it here. It could be like the Observer Book of Fringes. It could encourage you to attend or perform in all manner of unlikely places.

Once you've done the UK you can get a bigger map and tackle Delft, Prague, the Azores, Reykjavik, Washington, Melbourne and Hong Kong.


Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

Magic and New Mills

This is the last Blog post I'm doing before attending a social media seminar organised by our esteemed friends at Arts Derbyshire. So look out for something even more exciting next week!

In last week's post we encouraged you to visit Arbor Low. This week we urge - is this much stronger than 'encourage'? - you to make your way to New Mills and its splendid Millennium Walkway (see picture above). Now New Mills is much more than a walkway: it is easily reached by bus or train from Buxton and has an interesting heritage centre as well as good walking by the River Goyt and the Peak Forest canal. Home to Swizzels-Matlow the sweet manufacturer and the current Mayor of the High Peak, Councillor Alan Barrow (see below for Alan in all his finery).

However, I hear you say, what news is there of the 'biggest summer open access arts festival in England'? Well, you may have come across copies of our brand new flyer (which doubles as an A6 poster - the side with the Belly Dance Flames pictured in all their gorgeousness).

Or if you've been keeping an eye on our website you'll see some much-loved friends are coming back to Buxton for Fringe 2015. The High Peak Orchestra is playing at St John's Church on Sunday July 12th.  So you'll be able to go straight from Fringe Sunday in the Pavilion Gardens to hear another whopping HPO programme. This year the programme includes Bruckner's Symphony No 6 and Rachmaninov's Paganini Variations for Piano and Orchestra with RNCM soloist Ryan Drucker. Dvorak's Festival Overture happily and appropriately completes the programme.  [Please note the date of this concert was changed after this Blog was first posted and this paragraph has been amended to reflect that - just to confirm, for your diaries, Sunday July 12th].

The ever-popular High Peak Magic Society are at the Palace Hotel on the 22/23 July. Close-up magic will be performed at your tables. It is always amazing and it always sells out.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

Fringe 2015 - up-and-running

Now that Christmas and New Year are out of the way we can all start to concentrate on planning for 2015 in earnest. There are a number of Fringe shows in the pipeline but an exciting and early entry has come from South African singers and drummers who will be at St Mary's Church from 8-11 July. This will be an exhilarating start to Fringe 2015.

There will be many, many artists and performers now planning their visit to Buxton in July. We hope to be helpful in reminding you of other Fringes that you might want to be part of - that are close geographically and chronologically to Buxton. From 13 June-5 July there is a friendly event in the beautiful town of Ludlow. Given that we start in Buxton on July 8th hopping from Ludlow to Derbyshire would be natural.

All the more so if performances could be scheduled at the Greater Manchester Fringe which runs for the whole of July. With over 20 venues on offer - and a simple train journey from Buxton to Manchester - it looks like good sense to try and schedule performances at both Fringes. 

In the spirit of public service blogging we may, from time-to-time, remind would-be visitors to Buxton of things that they might do (apart from Fringing). There is much to see and do in the town, of course, but there are also a great many exciting and inspirational places nearby. On Christmas morning I went for a short walk that took in Arbor Low - a Neolithic stone circle about 10 miles south of town. Not the easiest place to get to by bus sadly but a beautiful spot; I expect it is frequently described as 'awesome' and for once that would be right.

Not part of the Fringe - but happening on July 24th - is Eddi Reader singing in New Mills. Tickets will be selling like hot cakes. If you miss out there will be much compensation to be found in Buxton.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe