Kirkstall Online

In the run up to Kirkstall Festival 2012 we’re asking you to take pictures of everything and anything you love about Kirkstall and your community. These can be artistic, sentimental, fun, odd…anything goes (so long as it’s legal and family friendly!)

These images will be printed and displayed at the festival in our Photo Forest, creating The People’s Exhibition of memories and experiences from the people of Leeds.

We need lots and lots of photos to go into the Photo Forest. Think about what you love, go and take a picture of it, repeat for as many times as you like, and send the pictures to us at tpeleeds@gmail.com. We’ll upload them to the blog at www.tpeleeds.blogspot.com and print them out to display in the Photo Forest. You’ll be included in the credits and retain all rights to your picture, don’t worry, we’re not vultures!

Organised by Kirsty Ware, who also did the People’s Exhibition at 2011 Light Night, the Kirkstall Festival Photo Forest will display your photos in an innovative setting in the festival grounds, its going to be incredible and we’d love your photos to be part of it – remember, your photos can be anything and everything!

(photo right by Dawn Cobe)

The first photographs of Kirkstall Festival have been uploaded on our facebook page.

Hooray summer is with us again! As always, we have planned a full day of entertainment for all the family at our 31st annual Kirkstall Festival. The Abbey grounds will be full of performers, music and food to suit all tastes. We will have the 33rd Regiment of Foot on the Main Field, a bird of prey demonstration, Majorettes, Punch & Judy, Fairground, Tea Dance Marquee, refreshment marquee, music all day on the main stage (including the amazing Hope&Social), a youth stage and much more.

The 2011 Kirkstall Festival will take place on Saturday 9th July in the picturesque grounds of the 12th Century Kirkstall Abbey. The Festival is probably the largest community festival in Leeds run entirely by volunteers. Last year attracted around 15,000 people. It is not a Rock Festival, or a county show, by an event that will entertain people of all ages with events including:

We will have more than 100 stalls for you to find a bargain, and don’t forget we have our festival church service which begins at 4pm. There is entertainment all day in the Cloisters and suitable music in the Nave of the Abbey so you can close your eyes and relax. Canoes on the river (current permitting), tag rugby on the Burley Rugby Union field, and a tennis competition in the tennis courts. Yummy food, Asian, Thai, Caribbean, not just burgers. Free car park on the field opposite the Abbey, but we would rather you walked or took a bus. All in all a good day out for all the family, everything starts at 11am. I do hope you can be with us.

Visit www.kirkstall-festival.org.uk for more details!

At last years spectacular 30th Kirkstall Festival, you may have noticed the Leeds Movie Makers group recording the event throughout the day. We’re delighted to say that the DVD of the festival is now available for everyone to own.

The two-DVD box set consists of nearly 2 hours of viewing pleasure taken from the setup through to the festival day itself, and features the behind the scenes setup of the festival, the procession, church service, and many of the events and activities that went on throughout the day.

At only £5 its exceptional value and maybe you’ll spot yourself, your children, or grandchildren on there! Drop us an email to kirkstallmatters@ntlworld.com to get your copy.

(photo by Ted Wilson)

The latest issue of Kirkstall Matters magazine has just been published and includes a bumper photo special from this years 30th anniversary festival. If you’re a member of the KVCA (and if not why not?) it will be coming through your door over the coming days, or you can buy the magazine from all good local newsagents.

The cover is now in sumptuous full colour and have several pages of full colour photos in the magazine itself. Tom Tollet also reviews this year’s Classical Fantasia and we interview Matthew Guy about Kirkstall Online.

We’ve also made a number of changes to the format and presentation of the magazine that we hope you will like, but we’d love to hear your thoughts! What would you like to see?

Happy reading!

Girls enjoying the festival - photo by Lorena Liberti

To add to the sixteen galleries of photos already posted, we have now added more to Kirkstall Online.

The following galleries were submitted by:

Lorena Liberti

Jamie Williamson

Gareth Underwood

Philip Brewster

Simon Murray

Vidya Padmanhabhan

Michael Park

Morris Dancers at Kirkstall Festival - photo by Vidya Padmanhabhan

Over 60 people (including two MPs) attended the Sixpiece exhibition hosted by Exposure Leeds and Kirkstall Valley Community Association (KVCA) which showcased photographs of this year’s 30th Kirkstall Festival with photographs from over 30 photographers.

You can even download this great Exposure Leeds commemorative desktop from Flickr