FESTIVAL NEWS

Curtain down on Festival fortnight: Selling more than 3000 tickets for over 50 events across 19 venues including a converted Routemaster bus, organisers are thrilled with the response to this year’s programme. Read more - 20 July 

All Aboard the Festival Bus! During this year’s Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, audiences will get on board a 1965 Routemaster bus for daytime events by local writers and performers including Dank Dance, Mytholmroyd writer Jill Robinson (author of the Berringden Brow series) and singer-songwriter Mabel Blue. Read more - 28 June

Open Gardens During the Open Gardens weekend on July 10 and 11 visitors will have access to more than 30 garden and allotment sites in Hebden Bridge, Heptonstall and Mytholmroyd. Read more - updated, 8th July

First week . . . If the drone of vuvuzelas or the din of roadworks are getting too much for you, sweeter sounds are available in the first week of Hebden Bridge Arts Festival. Read more - 21 June

Mainly for laughs! . . . Audiences at the 17th Hebden Bridge Arts Festival will be laughing all the way to the box office this year with a line up of top comic talent. Read more - 16 June

Hilary Mantel: We regret to announce that Hilary Mantel has withdrawn from Hebden Bridge Arts Festival and all other forthcoming engagements due to ill health.We know our audience will be disappointed, as are we, and indeed Hilary, but hope everyone will join us in sending her our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. People holding tickets for this event on Friday July 2 will be contacted about refunds over the coming days. Thank you in anticipation of your understanding. - 14 June

500 voices - Hebden Bridge Festival is now able to make available the score for Daniel Bath's specially commissioned piece for 500 Voices, Cross the River. Read more - 13 June

Box office opens - The box office for Hebden Bridge Arts Festival opens on Saturday, June 12 at 10.30am. Read more - 11 June

Cheers! Arts Festival Ale on the Pumps - Audiences at Hebden Bridge Arts Festival will be refreshed this year by its very own locally brewed beer. Produced by local specialists Little Valley Brewery, Festivale will appear in Hebden Bridge pubs, bars and venues from this weekend. Read more - 6 June

Festival caters for a wide range of tastes - Fancy a night out with Dracula or going on a photographic safari? Prefer a night of music and comedy washed down with a special pint of ale? This year’s Hebden Bridge Arts Festival promises a mixed programme of one-off events designed to capture the imagination and stimulate the senses. Read more - 31 May

World-class Literature Line Up - Literature fans with an interest in the Tudor period face a wealth of riches at this year’s Hebden Bridge Arts Festival. Topping the bill, Hilary Mantel will be appearing at Hebden Bridge Picture House on Friday 2 July. reading from her Booker Prize winning novel Wolf Hall, a fictionalised portrait of Thomas Cromwell, and novelists Alison Weir and Suzannah Dunn Read more - 24 May

Highlights of opening weekend
Jumping jive and blistering bhangra are highlights of the opening weekend of Hebden Bridge Arts Festival. A packed programme of dance, classical music, street entertainment, children's events, comedy and a parade will get the 17th annual Festival underway on June 26 and 27. Festival co-ordinator Rebecca Yorke said: "There's a real mixture of events on the opening weekend and we are confident we will be able to set toes tapping and put smiles on faces." Read more - 19 May

Countdown to Festival Programme Launch - Festival organisers are busy making the final preparations for the launch of the 2010 Arts Festival brochure which takes place this Friday.  Special guests will get the first glimpse of the brochure at an exclusive event on May 7 and the programme will become available online and in brochure format over the weekend. Read more - 2 May

Funding Success for Festival - Hebden Bridge's artistic roots and historic routes will be celebrated when the town's Arts Festival gets underway on June 26 - thanks to a grant from Arts Council England. Read more - 20 April

Don't miss the festival bus - The Hebden Bridge Arts Festival is calling for artists to get on board their own Routemaster Fringe. The Festival has acquired an old London Routemaster bus all fitted out ready for performances. Read more - 30 March