This month's 'Audlem' Gossip

Each month, the webteam writes an article about Audlem for the excellent Whitchurch and Market Drayton Gossip magazines.

The May article focussed on this month's Music & Arts Festival:

Audlem Festival this month and all free!

One of the best free events for many a mile is coming up in Audlem at the end of May.

The Audlem Music & Arts Festival will run from Thursday May 26th to 30th, the late May Bank Holiday and is the best completely free Music and Arts Festival in Cheshire, Staffordshire and North Shropshire!

There will be music to suit all tastes – Rock, Blues, Jazz, Choral, Classical, Jazz, Soul, Country etc – with 85 acts including a full day of choral music. There will be three outdoor stages so you can enjoy a drink with your music at The Lord Combermere, the Bridge Inn and the Shroppie Fly.

Add in an art exhibition featuring local and established artists' work and poetry, including a fabulous Poetry Slam with performance poets, and anyone coming to Audlem is in for a great time.

Sponsors, local businesses, Cheshire East Council, Audlem Parish Council and other supporters fund the event which attracts musicians and bands from across the country. Many return each year as they believe the Audlem Festival is just the right size, it's friendly and everyone really appreciates the music on offer.

Camping is available for £5 per night. Basic toilet facilities provided. The Campsite & Car park is in a field on Green lane, the A529 where it joins the A525 near centre of village.

The Audlem Festival began in 2000 as an idea by then resident Paul Moran. Paul had moved to Audlem for some peace and quiet having lived in inner-city Manchester for the last 30 years. Paul was amazed that such a small village had so many talented and in many cases full-time professional musicians and artists.

Paul decided that the Audlem Carnival, which continues to be held on the late May Bank Holiday, should join with musicians and artists to form a weekend of great music and art exhibitions combined. A team was assembled and since 2000 the whole project has developed into an annual treat for music and art lovers across the country, and festival attendance continues to grow.

Local musical talent and the expertise to organise such an event lies behind the Festival. Local enthusiasts also run FatPigeonLive which broadcasts a music show each week on YouTube and AudlemOnline at 8.00pm on Tuesdays. The team transforms local halls into TV studios and produces a weekly show that rivals the Jools Holland Show for technical quality and introduces new and established musical talent to new audiences.

There will be much more news to come over the coming weeks on AudlemOnline, the village website that runs extensive local news coverage every day of the year and you can check out the Festival website at audlemfestival.com

The Festival is the first of a series of major events this year which include Party on the Park, the Historic Gathering of Boats on the canal, the Audlem Transport Festival and the Audlem Beer Festival. Throughout the season, Audlem is bedecked with flags with over sixty flying all summer in the village centre.

The photo shows popular local musician Jim Kirkpatrick and Heavy Weather performing at FatPigeonLive last month in Audlem Public Hall.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.