Shining A Light on Sowerby Bridge’s Heritage and Everyday Creativity Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th February 2024

Glow 2024 will shine a light on the everyday creativity and heritage of Sowerby Bridge through two days of art, music, performance, food, family and community activities. Building on the legacy of Fire and Water’s Winterlight Festival, Glow aims to be a beacon for Sowerby Bridge’s folk to come together and celebrate what makes the town special and imagine ways we can build a brighter future together through art, community and culture.

The event is focused around the Fire Station Theatre space in the Fire and Water building launched as part of the Sowerby Bridge High Street Heritage Action Zone and will include a series of artist commissions reflecting on the town’s living heritage, live music from Punjabi folk band Anjaana, Kirsty’s Singalong Party, machine-music maker Game_Program, and street band Ski band, plus family activities including lantern making and the chance to feed the Fire and Water Dragon, with fireworks finale on the Sunday provided by local business Skyblazers. See below for details on the programme

2pm - 10pm (Saturday) and 2pm - 7pm (Sunday) - at The Fire Station Theatre, Hollins Mill Lane, Sowerby Bridge

Part of the Sowerby Bridge High Street Heritage Action Zone cultural programme. Free To Attend thanks to funding from Historic England, Calderdale Council, and Arts Council England.

---- Programme ----

ART AND HERITAGE COMMISSIONS (Saturday and Sunday 2 - 7pm)

Explore the ground floor of the Firestation building through site-specific artwork, film, audio, installations, experiences and performances

Turbynes - Rosie Freeman and MARF create an audio visual installation exploring Sowerby Bridge’s relationship to work

Folklore Tapes - ‘Echo of Light’ (Sam McLoughlin, Mary Stark, Bridget Hayden and David Chatton Barker) present a new performative installation exploring the relationship between the building’s former use as a fire station and the heritage of the local mill industry

Edible Archives - Step into their 'Drinking Sowerby Bridge' experience, and pick up a unique mocktail inspired by the industry and waterways of the town.

Michael Powell - invites you to contribute to his an evolving installation collecting people’s memories of Sowerby Bridge

Armelle Skatulski - dance inspired print and textiles developed through a collaboration with a local cloth maker

Chemaine Cook - a performance and installation developed through family connections in Sowerby Bridge

LIVE MUSIC

Saturday (in the Fire Station Theatre 7 - 10pm)

Technical Difficulties - a taster of Sowerby Bridge’s eclectic open mic including fun and fizzy culture-clash electronica from Mho, Miss Airedale’s wry and melancholic surrealist pop, darkly humourous alt-folk troubadour Secret Pockets, woozy alt-country mavericks Horsebox, the two-headed electro-pop juggernaut of Cherryade, and Untitled Woman’s Ethereal songs of love and longing.

Game_Program - Hypnotic and danceable retro hardware electronica from Cowtown frontman and drummer of Leeds/Sowerby Bridge’s synthpop group Holodrum https://gameprogram.bandcamp.com/

plus afterparty at The Blind Pig with Yellow Goose Dance (seven piece Latin dance band) and DJs ’til late Sunday (outdoor stage 2pm - 7pm)

Kirsty’s Singalong Party - human jukebox takes your requests and invites you to singalong for a poptastic party https://www.kirstynewton.com/

Anjaana - Bradford’s legendary Panjabi Folk / Banging Bhangra band formed in the late 70s and having since performed at hundreds of weddings, parties and events across the UK and India. https://anjaana.co.uk/

Skiband - saxophone, sousaphone, trumpet, accordion and drums street band play a selection of tasty ska, calypso, reggae and rock ‘n’ roll tunes, with visual humour and anarchic improvisation. https://www.facebook.com/theskiband

Paeder Long - Solo bagpipe set from Red Hippo leader and Welfare State International musical director

PLUS

• Sharings of short theatre works-in-progress developed by Hayley Doherty with the Fire & Water Playgroup
• Illuminated Window Display from Frank Darnley working with Sowerby Bridge schools
• The Fire and Water Dragon
• Mexican Street food from Terra Tacos
• Finale Fireworks display from Skyblazers
• Lantern making workshop for kids