What a Wonderful World Festival

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Local people have produced some amazing photographs, including Brian Eyler's  winter view of Sycamore Gap, for our exhibition My Northumberland capturing evocative images of Northumbrian landscape and wildlife. The exhibition is open now in the Playhouse Gallery. Some of the finest shots have been made into a 2025 Calendar which is on sale now at the Playhouse box office.

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With Jane Burn, winner of the Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year 23-24,Catherine Ayers, Peter Edge, Paul Mein. Mike Pratt CEO of Northumberland Wildlife Trust.  With music from Lindisfarne’s Rod Clements. NB Rod Clements has had to withdraw as he has broken his leg but we are delighted to announce that excellent guitarist, Clifford Blakey, will be performing instead.

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Following the success of last year’s Watershed, local young people present two newly-created pieces interweaving music, dance and drama, examining the importance of clean air for future health and prosperity.

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Expressive movement led by the ever popular Virgina Kennedy - all welcome. 

Free - donations welcomed 

Following the success of last year’s Watershed, local young people present two newly-created pieces interweaving music, dance and drama, examining the importance of clean air for future health and prosperity.

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Charting the course from the unsettling gaze of an owl to a tree that talks, storyteller, Malcolm Green will guide us on a quest from science to story. Through encounters and surprising tales, we will scratch the veneer of our separate lives and dare to edge a little closer to that more-than-human world.

Adults and children over 7.  This is a FREE event but get your free ticket below

With Paul Mein, Poet-in-Residence at Hauxley, Catherine Ayres, Peter Edge and Mike Pratt CEO of Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

 Film adaptation of the classic children’s book by Dr Seuss - children 6 and over

  Students from Alnwick’s Duchess’s Community High School present a specially-created science show to increase our understanding of how the world works and how it is changing.  This is a FREE event but get your free ticket below

 The air reflects our changing climate in so many ways: in the quality of the air we breathe, in the development of windpower as a vital green technology, and in the way birdlife responds to the changes. Come to listen and discuss with three expert speakers, pick up information and leave with hopeful messages and positive steps you can take. 

ONE TICKET FOR ALL THREE TALKS 

Dr. Laura Keast, who led a study to investigate air quality outside Newcastle schools, looks at how does dirty air affects our health. Is it only an inner-city problem? How does it relate to climate change? What’s the good news?  

Laura is passionate about how the environment we live in impacts our health, particularly climate change and air pollution.

ONE TICKET FOR ALL THREE TALKS  See Above

Alasdair McDonald, Chair in Renewable Energy Technology, University of Edinburgh

As wind energy is becoming more and more important for our transition away from fossil fuels we need to talk about it more often and understand it more fully. Alasdair teaches his students how to design and build wind turbines and wind farms. 

In this talk he’ll cover how wind turbines work, why they look the way they do and what is in store for the future of wind energy. He can’t wait to answer your questions.

ONE TICKET FOR ALL THREE TALKS  See Above

Beth Chamberlain, RSPB Senior Policy Officer for Climate Change Adaptation.

As our climate changes, birds and all wildlife have to respond. What are the implications of the changes we are seeing? Is it all bad news? Beth works within the RSPB’s policy team to influence decision making from policymakers around how the UK adapts to climate change. A particular focus of her work is trying to ensure that we help nature and in turn give nature a chance to help us, by encouraging interventions such as peatland restoration and other high quality nature-based solutions. 

ONE TICKET FOR ALL THREE TALKS   See Above

 Kathryn and Amy Thatcher in a special concert that expresses her love of the Northumberland landscape, people and wildlife. 

The intuitive musical interplay between Kathryn and Amy is born out of a long-standing creative friendship. Kathryn's pipes marry beautifully with Amy's exquisite accordion playing. A cascade of jigs, reels, heart-wrenching airs, together with percussive clog dancing makes for an irresistible mix.

"No one has evoked the landscape and traditions of Northumbria more affectingly than Kathryn Tickell." The Observer.

Raising our voices together:

An inspiring day of singing led by Janet Wheeler renowned choir leader and composer with the opportunity to take part in a world premier alongside award winning choir Voices of Hope.

An award-winning composer, Janet writes mainly for voices. Her wide-ranging output reflects her continuing career as choral director as well as her long involvement in music education. Whatever the genre, her expressive approach to word-setting, detailed attention to musical structure and love of harmonic surprise give a characteristic twist.

Janet’s music is increasingly being performed by choirs across the UK and internationally, both amateur and professional including the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus and I Fagiolini. Contemporary yet always accessible, Janet’s music has been described as ‘dynamic’, ‘uplifting’ and ‘highly singable’.

A fantastic afternoon of lively music from young and old . The concert is free but usual entry charges to Alnwick Garden apply.

The inspiring story of British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.

Voices of Hope in concert including world premier of “Timing is Everything” by Janet Wheeler.

Voices of Hope is an award-winning chamber choir based in the North East of England. They won the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year in 2016 and continue to be one of the most sought-after choirs in the country. They have performed in distinguished venues including Sage Gateshead, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Cardiff Millennium Centre and Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo.  Additionally, Voices of Hope have contributed several broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and have been televised on BBC 4.

“Voices of Hope are a choir that have earned their place at the top table in the musical world“.  John Rutter, Composer