BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday discussed the availability of Nottinghamshire County Council grants for community groups and artists in the county, using Lambley Arts Festival as an example of what can be achieved.
Alan Clifford hosts the popular BBC Radio Nottingham afternoon programme
On the Alan Clifford show, Lambley Arts Festival vice-chair Russ Swan (also editor of dumbles.co.uk) and Notts County Council strategic arts development officer Diana Pasek-Atkinson joined in a discussion regarding the £1000 grant that helped Lambley relaunch its Cowslip Sunday celebrations in 2010. The county has identified this as a good example of what its funding can do.
Lambley Arts Festival relaunched Cowslip Sunday in 2010 with a parade through the village and a folk theatre production, Lambley Jack’s Cowslip Tales. This was followed in 2011 with a larger procession and another play, Lambley Jack and the Giant of Ploughman Wood, plus an art and craft fair. On both occasions an evening ceilidh rounded out celebrations of Lambley’s emblematic flower.
In addition to those events, Lambley Arts Festival has hosted professional touring theatre in the village hall (next one being The Jungle Book on 19 November 2011), held a series of workshops, and supported other arts-based activities locally. Plans are in preparation for Cowslip Sunday 2012, and these will be discussed at the Lambley Arts Festival annual meeting in the village hall on 22 November 2011 at 7pm.
The Tuesday 4 October 2011 edition of the Alan Clifford show can be heard until (11 October) through the BBC Listen Again service. The full three-hour programme can be found here, and the four-minute section of interest starts at about 1.24.45 (a click in the middle of the progress bar should be fairly close).
The Lambley Jack play is an integral part of Cowslip Sunday (pic: Mel Fletcher)