Young Poets & Storytellers Competition 2022
WE’RE BACK!
After two years of only meeting online, we will be live in Mitcheldean from 15th – 17th July 2022.
More details of the programme available shortly, but there will be singing, dancing, poetry and storytelling – plus the new tug-of-war contest at the village fete between the White Horse and the Lamb Inn.
We look forward to seeing you in July, put the dates in your diary – Cheers!
Poetry Festival 2021
The spectacular success in adverse circumstance of this year’s Young Poets & Story-tellers Competitions will be celebrated at the online Poetry Festival from 2pm on Saturday 17th July, with the full awards ceremony and presentation of prizes held later in the year.
The advance programme looks like this:
2pm Introduction to the Poetry Festival including news of the competitions (but not yet the winners)
2.10 – 2.50 – Readings by Forest poets Annie Caville, Roger Drury, Val Ormorod and Carol Shepherd.
2.50 – 3.00 Paul Manning to introduce Maggie Clutterbuck and Dick Brice who will read from their new books due in September.
3.00 – 3.20 – Maggie Clutterbuck then Dick Brice.
3.20 – 4.20 – Readings by modern poets Tess Biddington, Ziggy Dicks, Jonathan Edwards, Ben Ray, Anna Saunders.
See the Mitcheldean Festival Facebook page for more details on how to log in.
Plans for 2022
There will be some evening singing performances online on Saturday 17th July 2021, but no concerts in the church due to the pandemic as already announced. Looking ahead to 2022, we would like to have your views on what kind of music you would like to come and hear in the future. There is a short questionnaire attached, please let us know your thoughts and preferences and email your reply to talktous@mitcheldeanfestival.fod.uk – we look forward to hearing from you.
Sorry, no concerts in 2021
We’re sorry to announce that, in view of the continued uncertainty around the ending of lockdown we have decided to abandon plans for our two showcase concerts this year. Although we had a number of artists who were interested in performing live the availability of the venue and terms of its use are still unclear.
We did consider a virtual concert like last year but several of our artists were unable to perform virtually this year so we have decided to skip the concerts.
Other elements of the festival will go ahead in a reduced or virtual format and we will tell you more about that in the weeks to come.
💻 We’re working on it…
Behind the scenes we’re working on plans for Mitcheldean Festival 2021.
The Young Poets Competition will be held online again this year and entries are now open.
The music element of the Festival is also being planned — we have a full roster of acts waiting to perform for you, but we don’t yet know whether it will be live performances or a virtual/online event.
If we go down the live route we hope to hold two concerts (one on the evening of Friday 16th July and one on the afternoon of Saturday 17th July) and a sing around session on Saturday evening.
If we have to stick to a virtual event there will be a single live-streamed concert on Saturday afternoon/evening on the Mitcheldean Festival Facebook Page followed by a sing around on Zoom from around 9pm.
And, of course, our annual folk walk will take place on Sunday 18th July.
We’ll post more news about the direction we’re heading in the next few weeks.
📝 Calling all young poets!
⛏ Socially-Distanced Folk Club at Lea Bailey Light Railway
On Thursday 23rd July between 6-8pm we will be holding an outdoor Folk Club session at Lea Bailey Light Railway on the edge of the Forest of Dean just 3 miles from Mitcheldean. The Lea Bailey Light Railway Society has preserved a section of narrow gauge mining railway along with locomotives and wagons on the site of a former gold and iron mine, which itself occupies the trackbed of the former Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway.
Limited seating will be available on a selection of wagons parked on the track but you may wish to bring your own folding chairs or a picnic blanket. Please note that there are no indoor toilet facilities available but there are plenty of secluded locations screened by bushes should you wish to answer a call of nature!
Optional themes for songs and poetry include mining, industry, railways, and the Forest of Dean.
Virtually Mitcheldean 2020
Join us on our Facebook page and Zoom for Virtually Mitcheldean Festival 2020 on July 18th from mid-day to 11pm. Here’s what we have planned. (Invitations to Zoom sessions will be posted nearer the time.)
Live on Facebook:
12:00-12:30 – Peter Vadiveloo (live from Melbourne)
12:30-1:00 – The Shaughnessy Brothers
1:00-1:30 – Jenny Shaw
1:30-2:00 – ReBil
2:00-3:00 – Young Poets’ Competition
Live on Zoom:
3:00-5:00 – Festival Ceilidh
Streaming on Facebook:
3:00-6:00 – video contributions from Strannik, Reivers’ Gallows, Nightingales Watch, Ged Wilson, Kev Minney and more
Live on Facebook:
6:00-6:30 – Tarion
6:30-7:00 – Anna my Charlotte
7:00-7:30 – Lucy Jarrett
7:30-8:00 – Bernard Hoskins
8:00-8:30 – Pauline Valance
8:30-9:00 – Rob Haligan
Live on Zoom
9:00-late – Mitcheldean Folk Club singers night (all welcome)
Mitcheldean Festival goes Virtual
Due to the on-going pandemic, we are unable to stage Mitcheldean Festival in the usual way this year – but all is not lost!
Instead we will be organising a number of virtual live and recorded performances that will be streamed to our Facebook Page between 12pm and 9pm on Saturday July 18th. Individual performances from our concert line-up will be opened by a guest singer from Melbourne Australia!
Winning entries for the annual poetry and storytelling competitions will be broadcast from 2pm, and there will also be some virtual barn dancing in the afternoon when people can bop about at home or in their gardens. The regular late-night club singing on Zoom will complete the day.
Please watch for further announcements of what’s on when, more details will be available in due course on this website and on the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MitcheldeanFestival/