Leamington enjoys another successful history celebration

Thousands of people of all ages have delved into Leamington’s history through talks, walks, exhibitions, workshops and shows as the town’s second history festival spread across the area.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Jun 2013, 08:00 BST
MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).
MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).

The two-week programme, put together by local history group Heritage Matters, still has another weekend to go - but already organisers have hailed it a bigger success than last year’s inaugural event.

Among them is Jenny St John, who said: “More people were clued up on what the festival was offering this year, so we had interest from the word go.

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“We had been able to hand out fliers to just about every school in Warwick district, so we reached well over 1,000 families.

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MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).
MHLC-20-05-13 Teatro play May60 Teatro Theatre School, are performing a series of plays that were performed at the Jug and Jester when it was a theatre during the 1800s as part of the Leamington history festival. Members of the cast,Tom Phillips, Lizzi Gill and Marylin Dixon (all actors).

“We also had more volunteers, including students from Warwick University and Warwickshire College.”

New this year was Backspace - a sub festival about the history of the computer games industry in the town - which attracted more than 3,000 people to its main exhibition on the first weekend alone.

Ms St John said: “Because of the interest generated by Backspace, more people were able to see what else was going on.”

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She said that more than 40 people went on one of the guided historical walking tours, of which there were 12 over the two weeks - all of them coordinated by Michael Pearson.

And a talk by Stas Librowski on ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ - about wealthy Victorian women in Leamington who chose to opt for financial independance - sold out, with crowds packing into Vinteas tea room to enjoy tea and cake during the event.

Among the highlights of the festival’s final weekend are a tour of Leamington station today (Saturday) at 2.30pm, a performance by Teatro theatre company outside All Saints’ church on Sunday at 2pm and a guided tour of Foundry Wood at 2pm. www.leamingtonlooksback.co.uk

Related topics:LeamingtonVictorian