Darnhill Festival to return to Heywood this July

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Darnhill Festival

The popular Darnhill Festival will return to Argyle Parade, Heywood, this year on Saturday 2 July.

Organised by Cartwheel Arts on behalf of Darnhill Festival Association, this year’s theme is ‘connection’ - connection to each other, to stories, to play and to the earth.

Over the coming months there will be 40 community workshops taking place, allowing locals to create carnival arts which will be displayed in the annual parade during the festival.

On the day itself, the School of Samba will lead a procession which will set off at 12 noon from Argyle Parade.

The procession will bring a riot of music, dance, costumes and colour as it winds its way around the Darnhill estate where carnival art from local schools, young people from Rochdale Youth Service and the Darnhill Community Café will come together to celebrate the theme of connection.

The parade will be followed by a full programme of entertainment and activities for families and children, including: have-a-go circus skills workshops from Skylight Circus Arts; multi-activity sessions from Link4Life; Samba dance workshops with Danny Henry; Playground of Illusions – an installation of fun visual illusions; bouncy castles; face painting and art tents.

Cartwheel Arts Festival Coordinator, Vicki Greer said: “We are so excited to be having a full festival again this year. It was reat to come together for our Arts Week last year, but residents constantly asked us about the parade.

“The festival clearly plays an important role for the community and it has been really sorely missed. After two years with no festival, we are really looking forward to coming back with a bang.”

Darnhill Festival Association Secretary, Kathleen Chorlton, added: “On behalf of all the members of the Darnhill Festival Association, I would like to extend a warm welcome to residents, friends, and families at our 17th summer festival.

“Ever since the festival was cancelled in 2020 we have been keen to hold the full festival again as soon as we could and we know that residents have missed the parade.

“We have recruited some new volunteers to the Festival Association over the last couple of years, but we are always looking for more to help us take it through the coming years so I am appealing for anyone interested in joining us to speak to a DFA member; we will be on our tombola stall in front of the library and look forward to meeting you.”

The Darnhill Festival is an annual celebration of community which, until Covid-19 struck, had been running for 16 consecutive years.

The event is free to attend and is made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England, the National Lottery Community Fund, The Guinness Partnership, Curious Minds, Grow Wild, Rochdale Borough Culture Network and Heywood Township.