Smiles of fun as festival proves a hit
Reporter: MARINA BERRY
Date published: 30 May 2011
Photo: Chris Sunderland
ART ATTACK... Katie Whittaker (7) made her mark on the colouring wall
TITAN the robot rolled into town over the bank holiday weekend to announce art and entertainment for all in Festival Oldham’s street extravaganza.
The annual celebration brought a real treat for families to Oldham town centre, when everything from street theatre and carnival music to balloon modelling, dance from community groups, and storytelling, courtesy of 21-year-old Oldham woman Kirsty Green, was on offer.
The event celebrates Oldham’s proud past and bright future, and a packed programme of offerings filled both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Saturday saw a space age arts zone to tease the creative side out of youngsters but it was Titan who proved the star of the weekend.
He sparked much competition in the children’s tent as youngsters built their very own robots, and a bunch of Victorian Time Travellers brought some of the borough’s history to life.
Baby Opera sessions at Oldham Lyceum were aimed at six to 18 month-olds, whose musical imagination was sparked by the use of touch, texture, sight and sound, and all three Saturday sessions were full to brimming, with 75 babies and their parents taking advantage.
It was a first time at the festival for “Baby O,” run by Scottish Opera, and one of the organisers, arts development officer Rachel Wood, said: “It was a big success. For under two-year-olds to experience opera in Oldham – fantastic.”
The children’s tent, set up in front of Primark, saw youngsters pile in on both Saturday and Sunday to create robots and aliens to show off in the culmination of each day’s activities — a Children’s Art Parade.
They went down a storm, with the help of maracatu artists Juba Do Leao on Saturday and Oldham Percussion Academy on Sunday.
Contributors too numerous to mention included the theatre show Air Aquarium, which focuses on eco-issues, Oldham Lees Band, the Invisible Men, and comedy acts from the Bread and Butter Theatre Company.
A weary but ecstatic Rachel said as Festival Oldham closed yesterday: “What picks Oldham’s street festival out from the rest is that our audience absolutely love it and embrace it.
“Its great to see people in the town centre all weekend, and we had crowds for absolutely everything.”
Two days of showery weather failed to dampen the spirits of stoic Oldhamers, and Rachel summed up the street festival, which has been running in the town under various names since 1997 in one word: “Fantastic!”
She said thousands had turned out not only from Oldham but from further afield during the course of what was a “great weekend,” and promised work would start immediately on planning the 2012 Festival Oldham.
Scheduled for the first weekend in June to co-incide with the Royal Golden Jubilee, she said it would also reflect the fact it was an Olympic year, adding: “We are already looking for exciting shows to bring to Oldham.”
