& CULTURE Getting ready for a very special week T
THE Royal Armouries in Leeds has announced it’s biggest-ever Easter Tournament.
Tickets have gone on sale for a weekend of authentic medieval jousting, with teams from France, Poland and Australia competing against Team England.
There will be two live shows each day from Friday, March 30, until Monday, April 2. This year will see more world-class female jousters in action than ever before, as well as world champion Phil Leitch from Team Australia.
The Easter Tournament is the highlight event in the Armouries’ holiday programme and tickets always sell out fast. It’s £25 for a single day family ticket for Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and £39 for a family ticket for the grand finale on Monday. Individual tickets range from £6 to £14. Entry to the museum is free and it’s open from 10am until 5pm every day.
Visitors to the museum on the weekend of March 24 and 25 will have an opportunity to see the home team knights in training for the tournament. After the tournament, on April 7 and 8, the Armouries is hosting a War of the Roses themed weekend that will include battle re-enactments and a medieval encampment.
For details of how to book seats in the outdoor tiltyard for the shows visit royalarmouries.org HE eagerly-anticipated Mrs Sunderland Festival 2018 promises to be the biggest in its history, with entries up and more than 3,000 performers taking part.
Now in its 129th year, the 11-day event, based at Huddersfield Town Hall, provides the region’s gifted and talented with the chance to showcase their abilities in song, speech and music.
The festival, from February 14 to 24, also offers members of the public the opportunity to see and hear everything from large-scale choral works to virtuoso individuals competing for a coveted trophy in one of the many classes. Tickets for sessions cost from as little as £4 and there’s no need to book in advance for most events.
There are, however, major concerts, for which seats should be booked – an Opera for All performance (before the festival); Kirklees Young Musician Contest; and The Last Night Concert.
In recent years the festival has grown to include a variety of workshops; an event for special needs schoolchildren and the pre-festival mass choral work, which this year is taking works from well-loved operas and being led by Huddersfield’s celebrated conductor Thom Meredith.
Mrs Sunderland organisers have worked hard to bring the festival into the 21st century in order to ensure its survival and future success. As committee member Hilary Scholes explains: “We have tried to make the festival more relevant, to young people especially, with new classes and events.
“The festival has developed a lot and has become an inclusive 21st century event. To keep increasing the numbers that take part is really good.”
One of the selling points of Mrs Sunderland is that it now caters for participants of all ages, from under-fives to nonagenarians.
There are classes in everything from solo instruments and dialect speaking to Disney songs and jazz. The festival also aims to reach all sections of the population.
Next year, for example, there are plans to host a workshop for
Opera for all on Sunday, February 4 – choral singers from the area have signed up for a fullday opera workshop that will culminate in a concert at 5pm (tickets are £4 and £10).
Special Needs Day, on Wednesday, February 14, will bring hundreds of children from Castle Hill School, Longley School and Ravenscliffe High School into the town hall for workshops and
Children’s Singing Workshop The Mighty Sky on Thursday, February 15, for Key Stage 2 children. Children from local schools and their teachers have been learning songs for this event, which will also include an evening concert at 7pm (tickets are £5 for adults, children free).
Kirklees Young Musician Contest, Sunday, February 18, at 2pm showcases eight virtuoso instrumentalists in a concert-