Tapton Lock Festival 2022
Over the weekend of the 10th & 11th September we delivered the 10th Anniversary Tapton Lock Festival. Together with our partners, Derbyshire County Council Countryside Service we went that extra mile and make it an event to remember.
The first noticeable difference was the beautiful bright red and yellow Big Top circus tent that greeted visitors as they walked down the drive. It was the base for some of the artist led workshops and the stage. The programme was busy both days with lively entertainment including performances by local young people who had taken part in a recent partnership project with Adverse Camber called Our Stories, Our Places, Our Futures.
Audiences also enjoyed performances from around the world, a result of our partnership with the Chesterfield BME Forum. Over the last 12 months we’ve been working closely with them to make the festival more culturally diverse and without a shadow of a doubt we achieved our ambition. As well as bringing exhibitions raising awareness of the history of the Polish, Asain and Afro Caribbean communities there was some amazing food to sample and stunning performances including music and singing courtesy of Polonia Chesterfield, Ukrainian dancing by Derby based Hoverla, African dancing brought to us by the Chesterfield and District African and Caribbean Community Association and last but not least, the festival was closed with a spectacular Chinese Lion dance that thrilled and excited the crowd!
We welcomed back the ever-popular climbing wall and ‘have a go’ canoes, the latter free of charge for the first time this year and unsurprisingly, was busy! Some things never lose their popularity and the circus skills workshops and bubbleologist went down a treat as always.
For art lovers, there was an exhibition of artwork in the Visitor Centre. It was made by Y6 pupils who attend this year’s Tapton outreach school, St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Chesterfield. After a visit to the canal where they did some pond dipping, they worked with artists to create some eye catching images inspired by all the mini beasts they found.
There was so much to see and do this year and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our contributors and supporters including the performers, workshop artists, stall holders, food providers, dedicated volunteers and the funders, without which the festival simply wouldn’t happen.
2022 really was a festival to remember and we look forward to the next 10 years!
