For the tenth year in a row, Derbyshire Dales based company Longcliffe Quarries Ltd is delighted to partner with the long-standing annual Wirksworth Arts Festival. Longcliffe is making a major contribution to the cost of the shuttle buses to ensure visitors can easily travel around during this 10-day celebration of the arts.

Each year in September the Festival, which is a registered charity managed by a volunteer Board of Trustees and an army of local volunteers, presents up to 10 days of visual and performance arts. Events include art exhibitions, comedy, music, dance, poetry, literature, storytelling and drama. This year the Arts Festival takes place in a range of venues in the town from the 11th to 21st of September.

During the first weekend (13th and 14th of September) the famous Art and Architecture Trail occupies two full days with 140+ artists exhibiting in 70 venues, including many public buildings and residents’ own homes. This year the Festival welcomes back the Community Celebration on the 21st of September at the National Stone Centre.
Longcliffe’s donation will help cover the costs of two shuttle buses that run through the town continuously each day of the Art and Architecture Trail, allowing the estimated 3,000 visitors to see as much art as possible. The buses are wheelchair accessible, free to use and the Trail Guide includes an accessible venue map.

Paul Baker, Chair and Member of the Festival Board of Trustees said: “Wirksworth Festival originated centuries ago to celebrate the birthday of St Mary. The tradition largely fell out of favour, but in 1979, with a £1000 grant from the Town Council a small group of people organised two weeks of community events, with a programme on a folded piece of blue paper. In 1994 a group of local artists decided to show artwork in their own homes during the Festival and invite artists from outside the town to show their work in venues offered by townsfolk – with a folding map and venue guide the Art and Architecture Trail was born!

“Since then, the Art and Architecture Trail and the Festival have grown and grown, attracting increasing numbers of visitors from the local area and further afield to see the variety of talent on display. Now the Festival relies on local sponsors like Longcliffe to ensure this popular Derbyshire event is always a big success.”

Longcliffe Group Managing Director Paul Boustead added: “Our community programme actively supports a variety of projects with a total of around £80,000 donated each year. We are pleased to be able to support this important local arts event once more and hope the buses enable many visitors to celebrate local arts in all its forms.”

The Wirksworth Arts Festival is a registered charity. For more information about the Festival visit https://wirksworthfestival.co.uk/ or email [email protected].