Wath gears up for its annual festival next month
WIRELESS may have been cancelled this year but music enthusiasts can rely on the enduring Wath Festival for entertainment – albeit without the international artists.
Arrangements for the weekend, which begins on Friday May 1, are well advanced, with a three day programme of events.
The festival pivots around the a focal point in the town’s history - the death of Thomas Tuke, who died more than 200 years ago.
He was a yeoman who left vast wealth – £20,000 at the time – to local charities, with a stipulation that 40 dozen bread loaves should be thrown from the church each Christmas day, to aid the poor.
That is marked by the reading of his will, with bread thrown from the parish church tower on Saturday May 2.
The festival was started in 1973 by a local Morris dance team, to celebrate the area’s customs and welcome in spring – it remains one of the earliest festivals on the calendar.
This year’s lineup features an opening show at Wath Rugby Club with Barnsley’s Barsteward Sons of Val Doonican, who’s music can be as thought-provoking as it is humorous.
Community music and arts feature on Saturday, from 10am in Montgomery Square, with students from several schools among the performers.
Barnsley influence returns, with a performance by the Frumptarn Guggleband.
Sunday will feature a ceilidh and closing concert with Anthony John Clarke and duo Jackie Oates with John Spiers, big acts on the folk circuit.
That will take place at the Holiday Inn Express hotel, in Manvers.