It all started in 1964 ...
when Dr
John Coope decided to do something about the
social breakdown that he was witnessing all around
him. He decided that the town should hold a festival
- music, singing, dancing, drawing & painting
- in fact any form of artistic achievement that
brought people together for collective enjoyment,
and ultimately for the enjoyment of a wider audience.
The 1964 Festival was a roaring success and we
have been holding them every few years ever since.
But more than festivals - Bollington
now has a huge range of organisations which were
either started by Dr John or came about as a result
of his inspiration and encouragement.
See
Organisations for the full list. |
WELCOME to the Happy Valley 'Arts' pages. In this set
I hope to cover all art forms that are active and, indeed,
thriving in Bollington. There are so many arts based groups
in Bollington - it is commonly noted that the town is exceptional
in the breadth and quality of artistic achievement; quite
unlike any other place of similar size (see box, right).
Most, but not all, of the performing arts are based at
the Bollington Arts
Centre (BAC) in Wellington Road. The BAC
has its own web site
which
provides information on their forthcoming programme. This
includes external amateur and professional performers as
well as Bollington groups.
The lists below attempt to identify every arts based group
and individual artist in Bollington. If you know of others please
let me know. Each of the groups has one or more pages
in this set as well as a short entry in the Organisations pages
(which are mainly for contact purposes). Individual artists
and performers also have a page in this set if I have sufficient
information. Those performing professionally may also have
an entry in the Business pages.
Performing arts
groups
Bollington Light Opera Group (BLOG)
Bollington
Festival Players
Bollington Junior Festival
Players
Bollington Festival Choir
Bollington Brass Band
Bollington Corps of Drums
Bollington Festival Music
Theatre
Bollington Festival Opera (group
now defunct)
Art Groups (drawing, painting,
etc)
Bollington Art Group
46th Annual Exhibition, 25th to 27th June, at the Civic
Hall.
Artist's home page
Photography
Bollington Festival Photography
'One Year On' - an exhibition of photographs
from the 2009 Festival
Bollington Arts Centre, 30th May - 27th June, 2 - 4pm
on weekend afternoons and during other events at the
centre.
Writing Groups
Library Writing Group
Outside groups recently performing or exhibiting in Bollington
Macclesfield Male Voice Choir with
Tetiana Goncharuk on piano
Forthcoming events
Folk Music Weekends - May and October
[If you have an arts event coming up in Bollington
please send me the details for free promotion on this
site - email me]
