Leominster Festival has been awarded a grant of £6,051 from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund by Herefordshire Community Foundation – ensuring that creativity plays an important role in local community celebrations for Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will ensure that thousands of people from communities all across England will have the opportunity to take part in exciting creative events – all in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. From puppetry and story creation, through to making crowns, carnival and art trails, there will be a huge range of exciting activities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in.
In Leominster, the funds will be used to support additional activities for the Family Fun Day which is taking over the Grange on Saturday 4th June. This will include the spectacular EVERYBODY DANCE and their domed aerial rig, opportunities to take part in arts and craft activities with local artists, the ECHO ColourFest Fun Run through town and Leominster Museum’s 50th anniversary tea party. The Jubilee weekend is set to be a fantastic splash of colour, fun and creativity bringing together new partnerships formed across the community to celebrate together.
Festival Trustee, Wendy Coombey said of the latest announcement, “’This new funding means we can strengthen our plans for bringing culture alive in Leominster and make the Queen’s Jubilee weekend even more special. This year the Festival includes the ever-popular Broad Street Pub Quiz on Friday 3rd June, the fantastic Family Fun Day on Saturday 4th of June and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra as they return to play the Priory Church on Sunday 5th June. This funding will help us deliver some truly magical moments including the big reveal of an amazing, larger-than-life Leominster Roars Lion puppet created by Fetch Theatre and students from Earl Mortimer College at the Family Fun Day. We hope the whole town will gain something fun and inspiring from this year’s Festival and cannot wait to see everyone out enjoying themselves”.
Darren Henley, Chief Executive at Arts Council England said “The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund is a wonderful example of our ambition to give everyone the opportunity to participate in and experience the arts, culture and creativity – made possible thanks to National Lottery players. This June, we’ll see communities across England coming together to celebrate a historic milestone for this country. I’m excited to see these projects brought to life in villages, towns and cities across the country as our wonderfully creative communities celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.”
Rosemary Macdonald, CEO, UK Community Foundations, said: “For community foundations, people and places are the priority and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is a unique opportunity for people to get together and celebrate in their communities. We are proud to have connected Arts Council England with local organisations whose imaginative and exciting projects and collaborations with professional artists will bring communities together to enjoy marking this milestone moment in our history.”
Made possible thanks to National Lottery players and administered by UK Community Foundations on behalf of the Arts Council, the Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will support a huge range of projects throughout England. Forty-four community foundations have been awarding grants across the country.
HM The Queen Elizabeth II is the first monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, having overtaken Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch in 2015. Her reign has been marked by a commitment to public service, reflected by her extensive programme of engagements at home and abroad, and support for over 600 cultural organisations, charities, military associations, professional bodies and public service organisations.
Leominster Festival 