Street theatre and Jubilee jive dance on the bill for Leamington history festival

With just one month to go, organisers and volunteers are working hard to ensure there is plenty to do for people of all ages over the two weeks running from May 27 to June 10.

Among events recently announced are ‘tasters’ of theatre productions, with Teatro performing a snippet of The Gut Girls by Sarah Daniels at the former Alf Jones butcher shop in Clemens Street and Heartbreak Productions staging a part of their production of The Railway Children – appropriately at Leamington station.

Listening to Leamington will give people the chance to hear the anecdotes and memories of the people of Leamington in a radio broadcast commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Mass Observation movement.

There will also be a South Town festival, a vintage clothes fair, a Right Royal Romp jive dance in Jephson Gardens, as well as a jazz picnic and numerous walks and talks, tours, workshops and film screenings.

And organisers Jenny St John and Fiona Henderson, of local history group Heritage Matters, are particularly excited about hosting Tony Benn and Roy Bailey at the Spa Centre on May 27.

Ms St John said: “The idea of their event is to get people thinking about how people have made a difference and contributed to history. It’s to inspire people to believe they can still do that.

“There is so much happening – we have more than 50 events and people are still organising more. Most of them are free.

“We have more than 30 volunteers who have been absolutely fantastic. We have been so lucky. People have been positive and enthusiastic.”

Most events are free but tickets must be booked for the evening with Tony Benn and Roy Bailey. They are available online.

A full programme is expected to be printed and distributed around libraries, community halls and other public spaces around Warwick district during the next week.

Meanwhile, visit www.leamingtonlooksback.co.uk and follow the festival’s Twitter feed: @leamlooksback