Organisers celebrate success of Drayton Arts Festival on its 10th anniversary
Organisers of the Drayton Arts Festival have celebrated a "very successful" week of events thanks to a "huge amount of support" from the local community.
Despite not being awarded a grant of £8,000 from Arts Council England for this year's festival, organisers decided to go ahead anyway as to not disappoint the community.
The team had an "exciting" and "ambitious" programme planned for the extra-special occasion, with all events either being free entry or at a low cost, to ensure access for everyone.
The Arts Festival was held in Market Drayton between Wednesday, October 25, and Sunday, November 5, featuring live music performances, as well as theatre, children's events, arts and crafts, exhibitions, workshops and more.
Suzanne Edwards, organiser of the arts festival said it was thanks to the huge amount of support from the local community and the sponsorship received from businesses, that pretty much all events were carried out as planned.
She said: "The news that we had not been awarded the grant came two weeks before the start of the festival, with all the publicity already sent out. We decided to go ahead so not to disappoint the community.
"We sadly had to cancel the jazz recital and ceilidh but, with generous support of sponsorship from David Wilson Homes, McCarthy & Stone and public donations, we managed to host the rest of the events without making a loss.
"The festival concluded with a 10th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service at St Mary’s Church hosted by the Rev Catherine McBride."
Organisers of the arts festival booked an animatronic T Rex Dinosaur, ECO VR Workshops and a Drag Queen Storyteller.
And community partners set up a 'Halloween Fun and Live Music Day' in town for families and children, as well as an 'Art, Craft and Activity Day for Adults' at the Beacon Centre and 'Family Art Workshops' in the gym at the Grove.
Market Drayton Library and The Zone Community Hub planned a range of activities for all ages and Junior Amdrams planned performances of Annie Jr at the Festival Drayton Centre during the week.
The arts festival team planned their annual community concert, a Whitchurch Band Concert and an art exhibition at The Grove School, displaying paintings by school children from the 2014 to 2024 Calendar Project.
There were also a selection of sketches and poetry created by 93-year old Irene Stasinski during her lifetime.
There was also a disco for those with special needs and their carers at the Royal British Legion.
"With proceeds from raffles, we raised more than £700 towards the Replacement Kiln Fund for the Grove and, from sales of the schools’ calendar over 10 years, we have raised over £15,000 for local schools," Suzanne added.
"We would like to thank everyone who came to the festival and hope they enjoyed it.
"The team also want to thank members of the Rotary Club for all their help and support with setting up exhibitions and serving refreshments during the week."
