Tim is a legend, and we’re really pleased he has agreed to travel all the way back to Heptonstall to entertain us again this year with his poetic music.
Make an appointment to join him on the Ruin Stage at 2.20pm.
We’re pretty sure that sometime soon, we’re not going to be able to afford this band as they’ve got a whole lot of momentum and all the ingredients to make a big splash. Hopefully, they’ll remember us kindly and come back to play for us in future years.. Last year their set was divine, we’re really excited they’re back!
The Tiny Minds are West Yorkshire based up-and-coming 3 piece, playing all original material, mixing blues, punk, psychedelia, pop and soul into a lively rock n roll cocktail.
The fresh, unique lyrics of singer/guitarist Duncan Foster cover themes from technological doom and dystopia to the paranoia and politics of relationships.
‘Dreamy pop-rock with influential swoon’ – DNA Festival.
It’s always good to have a bit of high energy on Festival day, and Revisit are guaranteed to get you in the mood to move.
REVISIT are a 4 piece band playing high energy Punk/NewWave style tracks of own composition and covers. Our own songs tackle politics and society just as good old punk did, but with a bright new sound we call “Bright Brit Punk” . Teamed with stagemanship, presence and attitude give a good visual show as well as solid melodies guaranteed to get your feet tapping.
Farrago is an exciting acoustic collaboration between two experienced musicians, Andy McDermott and Gayna Grimshaw.
Although described as English/Americana folk, they prefer not to pigeonhole it. Whether it’s a folk standard, a foot-tapping Celtic jig or self-penned, it’s all performed ‘Farrago-style’ that means music with a personality.
Andy & Gayna have a wealth of musical experience between them and have both been solo singers and performers in their own right, but when their voices come together, the harmonies are the highlight.
Andy plays guitar, mandolin and banjo whilst Gayna plays accordion and guitar.
Individually, they have worked ‘live’ and in studios for too many years to admit!
We believe everyone can sing, we are a non-audition community choir who come together once a week on Monday evening in the upstairs room at Central Methodists in Todmorden – and we aim to be a blessing to our community by singing uplifting songs including gospel, spirituals, world music, soul and sometimes pop. Ailsa Nicholson, our musical director, specialises in vocal technique and so everyone from a complete beginner to people who have sing for 20 years will get something out of this choir. Come along and enjoy our performance at 1pm on the Weavers Square stage, and if you like what you see and hear, we’d love to have you join us.
Find out more here.
We love this band, and after knocking us all out last year, they’ve agreed to come back to “the back of the slippy church” to do it all again. If you did’t catch their headline set last year, you really must make it to the Ruin Stage at 8pm..
The indie- pop quartet blend momentous melodies with wistful and insightful lyrics,“The songs are the most important thing in the world to me,” remarks Thomas Rylance, frontman and songwriting force of the band, “if they’re ever even a tiny fraction as important to other people, I’ll die a very happy man.”
The bands first single ‘Elizabeth’, an ode to misappropriated love with a nod to Her Majesty the Queen, was released to coincide with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Described by Lauren Laverne as “Adorable”, Hooting and Howling magazine remarked “It’s the sound of Morrissey taking some happy pills and prancing stark naked through a hilly glade, singing of romance”.
Have a listen:
Make sure your children are in Weaver’s Square in time for what promises to be the best entertainment at the festival this year.
Frolicked is an outdoor puppet theatre company. They create intimate and magical experiences for all kinds of unusual spaces and places. Their engaging, interactive performances include a host of memorable and beautifully designed puppet characters.
Don’t miss it!
Ben is a solo acoustic slide guitar player and singer, performing blues songs from the 1920’s onwards.
He’s been playing music and gigging since the 70’s, sometimes in bands, sometimes solo, and various genres from R&B to punk to avant-garde, but he’s always maintained a deep love of the simple country blues of artists like Son House and Robert Johnson, and the urban blues of Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
His first official show as a solo blues artist was in 2010 at Weymouth’s annual Lupus Festival. Since then he’s been gigging regularly in Yorkshire and beyond.
Ben appears on the Weaver Stage at 2pm.
We can’t wait!
Formed in 2014 Liverpool’s Takotsubo Men’s 7” single is just what we need as we get ready for five more years of Tory rule.
Their dizzying, frantic and raw post punk debut sees them become a modern-day Minutemen, tearing through three tracks in barely six minutes. Breathless, giddy and sweat-palm thrilling. No welcome outstayed. No B-side invited. Say it and f***k off!
Led by former Cecil frontman Ste Williams, the band also features Stuart Carswell’s pounding drums and Paddy ‘Clawhand’ Harrison on his unconventionally tuned guitars.
Takotsubo Men will be on the Ruin Stage at Heptonstall Festival and are currently working on more tunes scheduled for release before the end of the year. Expect a perfect eruption of distortion, bite and thrill. See you there!
Takotsubo Men appear on the Ruin Stage at 7.20pm.
Release date 29/06/2015 Record Label WAAIL Product Number WAAIL001
This year the festival theme is “the stories of Roald Dahl” and we are inviting you to create your very own drawing, poem or short story inspired by Roald Dahl.
Selected writers will have their work displayed on the day and also be in with a chance of winning £15, £10 or £5 book vouchers if they are placed in any of the categories. An overall winner will receive the fabulous Roald Dahl Treasury – An illustrated compendium of excerpts from all of his books and full reprints of 6 stories including Esio Trot and The Enormous Crocodile.
Local Children’s author Liz Flannagan has agreed to judge the competition and all prizes generously donated by The Book Case in Hebden Bridge.
There are two competitions to enter:
Drawing competition: (Year 2 and below): Draw your character (either an actual character created by Roald Dahl or your creation) on a sheet of A4 paper and send to the address below. Parents can help with some written character details if you wish.
Poetry and Writing Competitions (Year 3, 4 & 5 and 6, 7 & 8): Write or type your entry on sheets of A4 Lined or Plain paper (or use Microsoft Word for email entries). You can use Roald Dahl’s characters or your own imagined ones and can add a cover sheet and pictures if you wish – in fact we encourage it!
Meet the Judge
Liz Flanagan is a local author and has written a number of children’s books. Liz has very kindly agreed to judge the children’s writing and drawing competition. Until recently Liz worked at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre at Lumb Bank. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing. Liz Flanagan is the author of Cara and the Wizard, Starlight Grey, and Dara’s Clever Trap, see lizflanagan.co.uk for more information.
Closing date is 21st June 2015
Prizes will be awarded on festival day!
Download the Competition Entry Form and Roald Dahl Writing Guide to get started.
Ruin Stage |
|
| Artist | Start Time |
| The Lottery Winners | 8.20pm |
| Takotsubo Men | 7.20pm |
| Revisit | 6.20pm |
| Owter Zeds | 5.20pm |
| Brunelle | 4.20pm |
| The Tiny Minds | 3.20pm |
| Tim O’Connor | 2.20pm |
| Alex Roberts | 1.30pm |
| Sleepers | 12.40pm |
Weaver Stage |
|
| Catfish Skillet | 6.00pm |
| Zoe Stirling | 5.00pm |
| Pocket Hercules | 4.00pm |
| Farrago | 3.00pm |
| Ben Blue Waters | 2.00pm |
| Rayen | 1.30pm |
| Three Valleys Gospel Choir | 1.00pm |
On Festival Day we are planning to create a Treasure Trail that will take the children through the village, finding clues along the way. If you live in Heptonstall we would like you to help us create this Trail by volunteering to create a clue and place it in your window or in your garden.
These clues could take on any forms as long as they relate to Roald Dahl. It could be something as simple as a passage taken from a book to a masterpiece creation made from sticky back plastic and fairy liquid bottles – Blue Peter eat your heart out!
We cannot create the Trail until we know how many volunteers we have, so if you would be kind enough to register your interest at the Post Office as soon as possible. We will close the list on 15h May, this will give us good time to be able to liaise with everyone and create the Trail ready for July 4th.
Don’t worry if you miss this date, we still would like as many people as possible to decorate their gardens / houses just for the fun of it.
So get your thinking caps on and let’s get Creative!
If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely……..Roald Dahl
This year the Heptonstall Festival will be held on Saturday 4 July, in conjunction with the Heptonstall Festival Fell Race.
The festival is a family event held across the whole village of Heptonstall with activities happening throughout the day.
Highlights will include:
Information about artists, activities and the low-down on all the fun will be posted here in the weeks ahead.
The theme for the event is “all things Roald Dahl” so get thinking about your costume!
A fun time!
Despite the sun deciding not to shine (until Sunday morning!) the mood wasn’t dampened and the 2014 Heptonstall Festival went off with a bang! Reports of spontaneous fun and frivolity breaking out across the village were followed by confirmed sightings of amazing music, fabulous costumes and unbelievable magic.
The children’s parade was fantastic, with some properly scary and magical costumes in equal measure.
All were very pleased when between them the White Witch, Wizard of Oz and children were able to banish the particularly scary Wicked Witch.
All about the music
The Heptonstall Festival team are committed to bringing you the best in local music, performance and general entertainment whilst giving new artists a platform to perform alongside their more established peers. The mission was accomplished again this year with returning faces and new joining to give us a performance to remember.
The Lottery Winners closed the afternoon band performances for us, and confessed that this was “the weirdest place we’ve ever played”. By the end of their performance both the band and the audience were having the best time with everyone getting involved.
Last Chance Saloon Band on Weaver Stage
Tim O’Connor and Doc Rossi on Ruin Stage
James Paul on the Weaver Stage
Neil Bob Herd on the Ruin Stage
The Tiny Minds
The Lottery Winners
OK, not all about the music after all
There was plenty to see and do around the village on the day, with craft stalls, some delicious food and drink available.
It wan’t just the humans who had fun either, with the Scruffs Fun Dog Show drawing the crowds at the Social and Bowling club where kids and canine activities kept the crowds amused – pictures to follow!
A big thank you
We wouldn’t be able to put on the festival without the volunteers and helpers who come out on the day to help with stewarding, putting up marquees, setting up temporary steps, carrying heavy things and generally being awesome! You know who you are, and we really appreciate you!
If you’d like to get involved with next year we’re looking for people with all sorts of skills to help out throughout the year, as well as on the day. If you are interested in helping out or performing at the 2015 festival get in touch by emailing us here.
Big thanks to Craig Shaw for the wonderful photos from the day.
What could be better at a festival than a good cake? Don’t worry we’ve got that covered too. Craggs Cakes are coming and boy do they know how to make a good cake!
Craggs Cakes is a business owned and run by Josie & Paul Pemberton-Clarke. Started in the summer of 2008 the bakery is based in Top Land Business Park, at the bottom of Cragg Vale, near Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire.
The business specialises in artisan cakes, cookies, biscuits, brownies, flapjacks and treats. We try to use the best quality locally sourced ingredients, avoiding additives, wherever possible. Our focus is on small scale individualistic baking, where the taste predominates. ‘Hand baked’ really does mean that with us. We do have machines to make life easier – whisking cream by hand is not as exciting as a trip to the gym; and we don’t do that either – but we don’t have feeder machines and automation. The cake you enjoy from us will have involved hard graft! Whilst we do produce standard recipes such as a lemon drizzle cake, we do tend to research and develop products, which other bakeries do not produce, such as raspberry & blueberry lime drizzle cake, and marshmallow magic. If people want something different we try to provide it! A request from a close friend has resulted, after much experimentation, with a power bar, ideally suited to triathletes, fell runners, and those who wish to sate their hunger pangs with something additive free and full of good things.
Our product range changes seasonally, so we do produce goodies for Valentine’s Day, Easter, summer picnics, Bonfire Night; and Christmas sees us focusing on succulent rich, alcohol rich fruit cakes, Finnish biscuits, and biscotti.
Requests for birthday cakes are always welcome, but do try and give us a little warning! We make every effort to meet people’s individual demands. Wedding cakes do require detailed negotiation – we don’t want to disappoint. We want all our customers to be happy!
We love what we do and we want you to love our products. Cake really is the ultimate comfort food. It should put a smile on a face and leave a sigh of satisfaction. Happy days!
Visit their website here.
We try to make sure there’s something for everyone at the festival and this year we welcome Dinky Drinkerie who will be bringing their bar on wheels! They’ll be making the most delightful soft drinks for you all day, the only problem is going to be which one to choose?
Check them out on Twitter here.
There’s much more to Heptonstall Festival than just the music, magic and even children’s parade.. You’re going to be treated to some of the finest, funkiest food and drink available in the local area, and much of it produced locally too!
We’re going to highlight a few of them starting with:
Luddenden Valley Wines
Luddenden Valley wines is a fruit and country wines and liqueurs producer in Luddenden. They grow as much of thier own produce as possible, or source from local orchards, fields and hedgerows. They’ve been featured on the BBC’s Countryfile and praised very highly. They’ll be at the festival selling bottles of their wonderful produce.
Check out their Facebook page here.
Magic is in no short supply at the festival this year with Andy Bell returning to the bill for the second year.
It wouldn’t be the festival without this bunch – so we’re really pleased that they’ll be dancing for us again this year.
The Hebden Bridge Hill Millies are a Women’s Morris Dancing side based in Hebden Bridge, dancing in the Cotswold tradition infused with their own special magic. Accompanied by 4 fantastic fiddlers. They can sometimes be seen in Nora Batty disguise!
Inspired by the retro-futurism of 1980’s sci-fi, the dark, dystopian worlds of Blade Runner, Max Headroom, Tron and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, credited by many as the origin of the cyberpunk genre.
In 2014 work began on Le Néon Noir’s debut EP, featuring HARUKO’s first appearance as a credited performer, as well as guitarist J. W. Greenwood, drummer Carl Banks and, for live programming and synthesisers, Jim Atkinson.
This year they join us for the Heptonstall Festival..
One of the true highlights of the festival last year was the appearance of TIm O’Connor who almost sole the show. This year he’s back and bringing with him the super talented American Bouzouki player and guitarist Doc Rossi.
This promises to be a set not to miss!
Heptonstall Parish Website 