What's On in Hebden Bridge
and the surrounding area - 2026
The Sap and Sinew I Held - Florence Hutchinson
Preview Night
In a Land Gallery, Linden Mill, 6.30 pm
Join us for the opening of Florence Hutchinson's exhibition 'The Sap and Sinew I Held'
Florence will be showing a sequence of abstract oil paintings, from 2025-2026. She works spontaneously, in a multi-layered process of visceral mark-making, often drawn by emotional release. She creates a material dialogue using heavy-handed oil paint, cold wax medium, charcoal and ink.
Luddenden Valley Heritage Day
St Mary's Church, Luddenden, 10am
The Luddenden Valley Heritage Day takes place from 10am to 3pm and there is Free Admission. Feel free to drop in for some or all of the event.
Drinks, cakes and light lunches are available.
There will be talks on the 1901 Census (with access to all the local records), the Wainstall Waifs, Houses of the Luddenden Valley, and the Luddenden Corn Mill. A one mile guided History Walk around the Village will also be held. Exhibitions will cover 1901 in the Valley, including worsted manaufacturing, as well as 40 years of the St Mary's Parish Magazine.
Ambient Bowling
Delighted to announce the first Ambient Bowling gathering of 2026, on Saturday 13 June, 2-8pm.
Come try your hand at crown green bowls, have a drink from the Blue Pig bar, unwind to the ambient sounds emanating from the pavilion, and wonder at the idyllic location.
All welcome, including well behaved dogs on leads.
Suggested donation £3 (cash only venue).
All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the green and pavilion.
Hebden Bridge Bowling Club (along Hebden Water past the archery and cricket clubs).
what3words address: ///eventful.seasonal.disbelief https://w3w.co/eventful.seasonal.disbelief
Open Hardware LoRaWAN Workshop
10am at Bridge Rectifier
2-4 Stubbing Holme Road,
Hebden Bridge,
HX7 6EA.
Build your own open-source environmental sensor node and join a community network interested in monitoring flooding, air quality, and soil health in the Calder Valley. No experience needed. You take your kit home in a 3D printed case.
Free, food provided, limited places. Funded by the DATA Project (University of Leeds) and the Software Sustainability Institute, with support from Jo Walsh (current SSI Fellow).
Bridge Rectifier is volunteer-run. Donations to the space are always welcome. #LoRaWAN #IoT #OpenSource #OpenHardware #HebdenBridge #BridgeRectifier #EnvironmentalMonitoring #CommunityTech
Here's roughly how the day works:
Morning: two groups, two rooms, swap at midpoint. One group gets the context session (what LoRaWAN is, why community environmental monitoring matters, the Calder Valley story, the South Africa connection). The other group builds a sensor node on a breadboard, no soldering, pre-flashed boards, wire it up, power on, see your data on the dashboard. Then swap. Everyone gets both.
All 20 CubeCells will be pre-flashed with firmware and pre-registered in ChirpStack. Each kit bag has a device card. Participants wire four jumpers, plug in battery, attach antenna, power on. No laptops needed, no Arduino, no accounts. We'll have a few Pis and laptops in the space for anyone who wants to dig deeper, plus 3-4 raw unflashed kits on a side table for experienced people.
Afternoon: two rooms, free movement between them. Upstairs: soldering, building permanent monitoring nodes for deployment. Downstairs: community conversation about where sensors should go, who owns the data, what the real problems are. Signal-mapping walk up the Calder Valley mid-afternoon, for those that way inclined.
Saturday 13th June walk: still TBC. There's a question on the sign-up form gauging interest. If we can make it happen, we will walk along the Calder Valley visiting potential monitoring sites, with Meshtastic signal mapping.
Charlestown Open Gardens
A group of local gardens opening for charity 11 am - 4 pm
Refreshments are available in some gardens, and visitors are encouraged to travel by foot and by bus.
Full details and a map of the gardens can be located at charlestownopengardens.wordpress.com
Hobson's Choice for Hebden Bridge:
Hobson's Choice, is a darkly comic tale about a stubborn 1880s Salford based cobbler and his three headstrong daughters.
This northern classic, penned in 1916 by Harold Brighouse, is being staged at the Little Theatre from 15-20 June.
Passports, Assasins, Traitors and Spies
A talk by Martin Lloyd to the Todmorden U3A. 2pm
Todmorden Learning and Community Hub (Tod College)
In this talk Martin will reveal how three passports have played and influential role in the course of history. He will will explain about an attempted assssination which altered the regulations for issuing passports, the capture of a spy which caused a worldwide modification to the design of the document; and, for one person, the passport itself which turned into a killer.
The meeting start at 2pm at Todmorden Learning and Community Hub (Tod College) and is open to paid up members of the Todmorden u3a, but if you would to attend you can enquire by going to www.u3a,org.uk or by contacting membership@u3atod.org.uk
Rave In The Nave
St Thomas the Apostle Church, 2pm
Beats, lights & family vibes in a one of a kind church setting
Get ready for something truly special…
Momentum Collective presents: Rave in the Nave – a vibrant, family-friendly festival bringing music, community, and creativity together in the stunning setting of St Thomas the Apostle.
This is not your typical rave…
Think feel-good dance music, food and drinks, and a welcoming atmosphere for all ages.
Whether you're coming to dance, relax, eat, or just soak up the vibe, this is a day designed for families, friends, and the whole community.
South Africa. How the ANC was won for gay, lesbian and bisexual rights
Speaker: Peter Tatchell
Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, 3pm
Peter Tatchell reveals how he was an anti-apartheid activist in the 1980s and challenged the homophobia of the African National Congress of South Africa. He tells the inside story of how he persuaded the ANC to recant and embrace gay, lesbian and bisexual rights in 1987; later working with South African activists to draft the protection against sexual orientation discrimination that was enshrined in the post-apartheid constitution.
Peter has been a patron of Happy Valley Pride for 10 years, he has been campaigning for human rights for 58 years.
John Billingsley Book Launch
Hebden Bridge Library 7pm
Join us for a FREE in conversation between local historian and folklorist John Billingsley and bestselling author Amanda Lees to celebrate the launch of John's new book, 'Magical Dispositions'.
This wide-ranging survey of esoteric, magical and supernatural beliefs encountered in the Calder Valley from prehistory to the present adds to John's work on local cultural traditions.
Healthy Lunch for People + Planet
The Celt Kitchen - Calderdale Ecological Land Trust
Tezza B of Nelsons Notoriety
12-2pm, monthly
Wadsworth Community Centre
pay as you can, £12 suggested
Balsam pulling in Nutclough Woods
Join CROWS Volunteers On 27th June at entrance to the woods from Keighley road 10am Only one field left to clear before Nutclough will be Balsam Free, the only one in the valley
Come for as much time as you can spare. Even 30minutes would be great
Hebden Bridge Open Studios - Window Trail
70 venues in Hebden Bridge
As part of Hebden Bridge Open Studios (3-5 July), artists are displaying their work in the windows of 70 local venues in the run up to, and during the event.
Todmorden Orchestra
Summer Concert
Before Dawn
Todmorden Orchestra with soloist Claire Marsden
Saturday 27 June, 7:30pm
Todmorden Town Hall
£14 adult / £12 concessions / £3 under 16s
Book here
Programme
Mendelssohn - Ruy Blas
Reinhold Glière - Horn Concerto
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Info
Two Russian works showcase the rich orchestral tradition of the late Romantic era.
Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade weaves tales from One Thousand and One Nights, while Glière's lyrical Horn Concerto features talented young soloist Claire Marsden.
A BBC Young Musician brass finalist studying at the Royal Academy of Music, Claire has performed with orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic.
Hebden Bridge Vintage Fair
Hebden Bridge Town Hall, 10.30 am
Vintage Fair featuring independent vintage fashion & homeware sellers with a café and live music!
£2 entry, under 16s free
In a Land 1st Birthday
In a Land Gallery, Linden Mill, 12pm
Join In a Land for Open Studios and to celebrate our one year birthday, we will have cake!
In a land Gallery and studios hold monthly workshops and exhibitions so come and say hey and get involved!
Open Studios
The Methodist Church in Hebden Bridge (near the Co-op on Market Street) will host 28 different artists this summer. In addition, visitors can explore 12 shared studio venues and 20 individual studios across Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Heptonstall.
Heptonstall Hilltoppers Summer Concert
St. James The Great, Church Lane, 2-4 pm
Heptonstall Hilltoppers Community Choir will be singing a summer concert to support Shared Harmonies in a relaxed family-friendly and dementia-friendly atmosphere.
Tickets available at the door. Under 16s free.
Michael Crowley Book Launch
Hebden Bridge Library, 7pm
Remember Me to My Comrades is a series of uniquely personal accounts by International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) alongside a historical narration of their involvement.
Thursday, July 16th, is also the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Author Michael Crowley and researcher Tony Fox, through the generosity of descendants, have quarried letters and diaries from a fascinating selection of the 2,500 British Brigade volunteers who fought Franco's army against overwhelming odds. Material that, through their own words, transports us into the hearts and minds of the combatants, including those who never returned. Letters about the decision to volunteer, the rigours of the journey, battalion life, and the explanations to loved ones back home. The persuasive not to worry letters, the upbeat letters that begin, 'Revolutionary Greetings from Barcelona' and those that end, 'Remember Me to My Comrades.' There is a wealth of historical material here, but above all, this is a compelling and highly poignant publication.
Copies available from Barnthorn Publishing
Book your free spot at the talk
More info: 01422 288040
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe is on at St Michael's Church Hall HX7 5DS
1pm to 4pm
We mend electricals, garments, bikes and will have a go at most things! Repairs by donation only.
Refreshments and our famous cakes!
All welcome.
Classic and vintage cars weekend
Hebden Bridge Vintage Weekend is the Hebden Bridge Rotary Club's main fundraising event and is held at Calder Holmes Park in Hebden Bridge. It features classic and vintage cars, live entertainment, stalls of every description, a children's play area, food court and much more.
Running over the first full weekend in August, this event provides great entertainment for all the family attracting visitors from all over the North as well the residents of HX7 and surrounding area.
See website for more info
Mark Thomas:
40 In Stand Up Years
8pm Trades Club
What?! Mark Thomas has been 'standing up' for 40 years? Impossible!! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true; one of our oldest surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic as he takes his brand-new show on the road this autumn.
So, here's what he has done so far in numbers; performed comedy for 40 years, won 8 awards for performing, 4 for human rights work and 1 he invented for himself, made 6 series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4), written 6 books and 5 play scripts, made 5 series of the Manifesto for Radio 4, made 3 Dispatches for Channel 4, sued the police (and won) 3 times, curated and authored 2 art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and had 1 Guinness World Record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours.
If that's not enough, he's also walked 724km around the length of the Israel Wall in the West Bank, been credited with changing the law on tax avoidance, started a comedy club in Palestine with Dr Sam Beale and campaigned successfully for things like trade union recognition for cinema workers and getting multinationals to change their practices. You're right, there's more, but your attention is running out and we're running out of space. So, let's just say he's generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset the right people…which he is really, really good at.
This is a taster menu of political and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast as he tries to turn 'what the hell is going on' into a cogent evening of stand-up.
Graphic: Tracey Moberly and Greg Matthews