Sunday, July 13, 2008

The 28th Kirkstall Festival

Entertainment was in abundance at the 28th annual Kirkstall Festival on Saturday 12th July. There was: edutainment in the form of narrated battle re-enactments; live music from a number of performers on the main stage as well as the brass band playing in the abbey ruins; spectator sports with rugby, football and tennis competitions; and thrillertainment on the noisy adrenalin inducing fairground rides. Apart from this there were an array of information stands, stalls, tombolas, and of course fabulous festival food from around the world.

The festival is held in the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey, built by Cistercian Monks in the 12th Century. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the Abbey slowly fell into ruin. Today these are accompanied by a Leeds City Council run visitor centre and museum. The site of the Abbey made a spectacular backdrop for the festival, which was visited by several thousand people from within and beyond the local area. It was really good to see representation from Leeds Met, including a stall run by the Sri Lanka 2008 volunteers, charity tombolas, and of course the Student Union run refreshment tent, all of which helped to make this another successful community event.


Above - Edutainment via a historic re-enactment


Above - The lure of live music

No comments: