Tewkesbury's Medieval Festival

Medieval festival will be the biggest and best yet
24 June 2008
Gloucestershire Echo


Tewkesbury's Medieval Festival is a major event in the town's annual calendar and one that attracts participants and visitors in their thousands. This year the festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, July 12 and 13 at Lincoln Green Lane, as part of Tewkesbury's Over the Rainbow - a week-long series of events to mark the year anniversary of the summer floods.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the medieval festival and, in celebration, a bigger than ever programme of activities is promised. Following a procession through the town, a full scale joust will be staged by a group named Destrier (the medieval word for a knight's horse), along with a display of skills at arms.

Well-known actor and historian Robert Hardy will be giving a talk on the history of the English long bow. On Saturday evening, Theatre of Alchemy will be staging a spectacular fire show in the vicarage garden and the medieval market is planned to be bigger than ever.

Re-creations of the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 featuring armies of more than 2,000 re-enactors from all over Europe take place at 4pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday. Guided walking tours of the battlefield take place at 7pm on July 3 and 13. For more information, please contact 01684 855040.

If you're trying to get fit, take yourself along to Cascades for an early morning gym and swim. The leisure centre is open from 6.30am to 9am every weekday. As ever, a full programme of films and live entertainment is to be found at the Roses Theatre.

Something that promises to be of interest to Laurel and Hardy fans is on Thursday, July 10 when a new play by Bob Kingdom, Stan Laurel Please Stand Up, is given its world premiere. The play was written with assistance from the funny man's daughter.

The maze of alleyways that lead from Tewkesbury's three main streets has a fascinating story to tell. You can learn how they came to be built and what it was like to live in them in days gone by on a guided walk - for details call 01684 855040.

Over the Rainbow will culminate on July 20, the first anniversary of the floods, with the largest and most spectacular firework display that Tewkesbury has ever seen, a special service in the Abbey, a party in the Abbey grounds and two concerts.

People are invited to gather around the Abbey at noon on July 20 to create a sea of people where the flood waters were last year. Its aim is to prove to the world that Tewkesbury is back in business.