A NEW music festival is to go ahead this year in celebration of May Day and of Richmond's wealth of medieval and Georgian heritage.
The Richmond MayFest will take place from Saturday April 30 through to Monday May 2 and it is hoped it will be staged across the same weekend in future years.
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This event is one of the legacies from last year’s Celebrate Richmond 950 and the successful 950 Years of Music, which took place in Richmond Castle and the Market Place last October.
The 950 events were to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the commissioning of Richmond Castle.
The MayFest will be community event bringing together professional musicians and community groups with historical and traditional music at its heart.
It will take place in and around the town in venues from the Market Place to The Station to the Castle and most points in between.
Lots of events are totally free and there are reduced prices for local residents for all ticketed events.
Nine centuries of music will be celebrated throughout the town by professional musicians and community groups, including Richmondshire Orchestra and Richmond Choral Society.
Concerts, sessions, wandering minstrels, maypole dancing, medieval tavern and a ceilidh are some of the highlights of the weekend.
Dance acts including Darlington-based Blind Panic will perform at Sunday evening’s ceilidh in the Town Hall and there will be Morris dancers in the Market Place as well as Maypole dancing, including Maypole Workshops for schools.
Professional, local ensembles Trouvere will perform each day in the castle and around the Market Place and in the late afternoon of Saturday Pellingman’s Saraband are giving a concert in St. Agatha’s Church at Easby.
Over the three days, Historical folk duo, GreenMatthews present Jacobean and Tudor music and an evening concert in St Mary’s on Saturday – A Brief History of Music - and the Durham-based Ran Tanners will perform Georgian and Victorian music in and around the Market Place and the Station.
On the Saturday and Sunday Hautbois give performances of Great War Music and jester, Tom Fool, will be here to entertain throughout the festival.
The programme is not yet complete with more performers to be announced.
Any musicians who would like to take part are invited to get in touch with the organisers at richmondmayfest@gmail.com
For more information and tickets visit the recently launched website www.richmondmayfest.org and follow on Facebook for regular updates facebook.com/richmondmayfest
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