Latest news with #UKCityofCulture2025
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
King Charles III and Queen Camilla to visit Bradford
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will meet performers and involved with 2025 UK City of Culture at Bradford Live during a visit to the city royal party will be welcomed by eight musicians from the Paraorchestra, an ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled the venue, the King and Queen will watch a rehearsal by local school pupils of 'Sing, Dance, Leap' an education programme in schools across the city run by the Royal Ballet and Opera with Northern Ballet and Opera King will meet children who have been supported by The King's Trust, as well as one of its alumni, Steven Frayne, the Bradford-born musician formerly known as Dynamo. He will later visit Cartwright Hall, an art gallery and community space in Bradford's Lister King last visited Bradford in 2022, shortly after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council said: "It's wonderful to have His Majesty back in Bradford, and to have the Queen accompanying him, so soon after his last visit."We know the Royal Household has a special place in many hearts right across the district, and it's lovely to see this reciprocated."It's already such a big year as the district celebrates being UK City of Culture 2025. "This year our amazing Cartwright Hall is also hosting the Turner Prize and Antiques Roadshow, along with a wider programme of exciting exhibitions and events. "Our city centre has truly been transformed recently and to also have the opening of Bradford Live marked in this way too, is fantastic."We look forward to welcoming them to the district and hope they enjoy their visit." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Leader Live
06-05-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Wrexham county gears up for 'City of Culture 2029' bid
The UK City of Culture is a competition run by UK Government DCMS – Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Every four-years, the designation of 'City of Culture' is given to a city in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneration for the year. The Stiwt, Rhos (Image: NQ) Wrexham staged a remarkable UK City of Culture 2025 campaign, coming runner-up to Bradford, who hold the UK City of Culture 2025 title. The county announced shortly after missing out on its intention to bid for the 2029 award which would see the delivery of a year-long programme of cultural events staged in the County Borough. This time, Wrexham's bid will cover the entire county, and not just the city centre, and winning the competition would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for a transformational change. The Trust comprises of cultural and community leaders drawn from the Wrexham area and across Wales who will lead the vision to nurture Wrexham's creative potential and fulfil its mission to turbocharge Wrexham's cultural ecosystem by collaborating, connecting, promoting and investing in Wrexham's unique, diverse people. The new title would bring investment, jobs, pride and an international audience to Wrexham during a year of culture in 2029 and beyond. A spokesperson said: "We believe 2029 is Wrexham's opportunity to host this prestigious title and shine a spotlight on our unique culture and heritage, while investing in a bright future for the region." MOST READ While the bidding process for the competition has not yet been opened, it is anticipated that it will open within the next few weeks. Further details will also be confirmed, including an emphasis for a specific cause such as nature or scientific improvements across the county. Community drop-in sessions have been held at various locations, including Brymbo and Rhos, over the past few weeks to gage interest and support from local residents. As soon as the bidding process has been confirmed, Wrexham will be ready to showcase why it is the next worthy winner.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
UK City of Culture: CBeebies panto to hit the stage in Bradford
Stars of CBeebies are to perform their annual Christmas panto in Bradford as part of the UK City of Culture 2025 famous Alhambra Theatre has been revealed as the location for the filming of a brand new musical version of Cinderella which will take place in the show will be filmed at the Alhambra in October and the resulting programme will be broadcast as the centrepiece of this year's CBeebies Christmas are due to be released to the public at 10:00 BST on Friday 2 May and will be available from the theatre's website, according to the BBC. Last year's performance of Beauty and the Beast was filmed in Edinburgh and starred Rhys Stephenson, Evie Pickerill and Justin details about this year's recording in Bradford, including its cast, would be released in the summer, a BBC spokesperson CBeebies stage shows from previous years are available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘My players are Olympians': meet Bradford legends the Black Dyke Brass Band
It's the smell that hits you first. One hundred and seventy years of slide grease and valve oil hang pungent in the air. Outside, it's just another old West Yorkshire building, the sandstone blasted dark by wind, rain and industry. Inside, the walls are lined with certificates and plaques. I'm in what was once the summer house of textile manufacturer John Foster, in Queensbury, outside Bradford. Foster's monumental Black Dyke Mills complex is around the corner. Its heavy machinery is long gone, replaced by gyms, kitchen-and-bathroom businesses and a 'giant charity warehouse'. But the brass band Foster established here in 1855 is still going strong. It's a big year for the Black Dyke Band: they feature prominently in Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 celebrations, playing in its opening ceremony and headlining the Big Brass Blowout this week, billed as 'Bradford's brass legends'. It's not just hype. They were the band on the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, they've been both Oscar- and Grammy-nominated (the former for Babe: Pig in the City) and they tour all over the world – last year visiting Japan for sell-out dates. They've also already earned their place in the finals at the Royal Albert Hall of this year's hotly contested National Brass Band Championships. Nick Childs, the band's musical director, arrives to find me squinting at black and white photos. He points out treasures, from a snap of composer Edward Elgar at a Black Dyke performance in 1921, to a huge earthenware jug commemorating the band's 19th-century contest wins. Don't fall for the sentimentality of that Hovis advert: brass bands came from the tough-love worlds of mills and mining. Childs is Welsh, the son of a leading euphonium player. As teenagers, he and his brother became virtuosos on the same instrument – 'the cello of a brass band' – but their father was strict. 'He said that before I could go to music college, I had to have a proper job. So I worked down a coal mine for five years.' The industry wasn't to last much longer. 'In 1984 I played with the band that marched out of Grimethorpe Colliery with Arthur Scargill. And I also played with the band that, 30 months later, marched back in and we hadn't got anything.' He pauses. 'That was a tough time.' How did the bands survive? 'The community. Black Dyke is the most successful brass band in the world,' says Childs. 'They've won more championships than any other. But the lifeblood is concerts – and these are based around your community. When the band are practising, we get people knocking at the door to come in and listen.' As Childs and I talk the musicians are arriving for the evening's rehearsal and starting to warm up. Keith Britcliffe has played cornet with Black Dyke for 30 years. When he began, women weren't able to join. That changed in 1999. 'It ruffled a few feathers,' he says. Tenor hornist Alison Childs was the second woman in the band and is its longest-serving female member (she's also married to Childs – who got the MD job after she joined, he stresses). Presumably it was a pretty macho environment? 'Yeah. But I didn't get any hassle from the band members here,' she adds quickly. 'Some of the older players wouldn't speak to me if they saw me in the street with [band] uniform on' she says. What was that about? 'I think it was tradition,' she suggests diplomatically. 'All the men from Black Dyke worked in the Black Dyke Mills. So there weren't any women around.' Today just over a quarter of the band's members are female. They include Alison's daughter Rebecca Childs, a primary school teacher who marvels that her mum's generation 'fought their way and were like, 'Don't look at me – listen to me play'.' Alison nods. 'I'm glad I carried on being a nuisance,' she giggles. Rebecca has played baritone in Black Dyke for three years. Who taught her? 'Who didn't?! Mum started and then when things got really heated, Dad stepped in. And Uncle Bob! And Dave, my cousin.' Uncle Bob, I realise later, is Robert Childs, another renowned brass band conductor. His son, David Childs, has been described as 'the Roger Federer of the euphonium'. The Childs dynasty is an extreme example, but Black Dyke is full of families. Garry Reed plays trombone and has been in the band for '20-odd years'; his bass trombonist son Adam joined five years ago. He started learning the cornet 'at five or six maybe', worked his way through various band instruments before settling on trombone. 'Then a local band rang my dad, and said, 'we need a bass trombone player. Would your lad do it? It's in three weeks.' And he went 'yeah'.' They both cackle. 'So in three weeks I had to learn how to read bass clef and then I had to learn the test piece and then I did my first contest.' How did it go? 'We came first!' Do they see more of each other thanks to Black Dyke? 'We also work together,' Adam says sheepishly. Garry runs a plumbing and heating business. How do they fit it all in? 'If I didn't work for myself there's no way I could do this,' he explains. 'I'm very careful what jobs I take on a Monday and Thursday – the evenings we rehearse.' Fixing leaking pipes is a long way from the Royal Albert Hall stage. 'It's almost like living a double life,' says Adam. Niall Thompson, another cornet player, works for the civil service and tells me that some of the things the band does sound so incredible that he doesn't tell his colleagues about them. 'You don't want to be going, you know, 'I was on Pyramid stage at Glastonbury last weekend' because it sounds absolutely ridiculous.' 'It's like you're making it up,' agrees his percussionist wife, Logan. She now teaches drums for the same local music service that taught her to play at the age of four. Everyone I speak to has previously played with other bands. How does Black Dyke compare? 'It's just a different level,' Garry grins. 'There's much more focus on the musical side of things,' explains ex-army cornet player Jon Hammond. 'The finer details matter. We try for that perfection rather than a good performance.' That much is obvious in the evening's rehearsal. The band whizzes through arrangements of Tchaikovsky and Barry Manilow, a new collaborative piece with local bhangra outfit Punjabi Roots Academy, a bit of Delius ('a Bradford boy,' Childs reminds us) and a percussion-driven number by brass band composer Peter Graham. There's a half-smile on Childs' face as he conducts. 'What dynamic are you, back row?' he checks at one point. The cornets shift in their seats like schoolkids. 'Fortissimo,' someone mumbles. 'Fortissimo? In your dreams.' The volume on the next run-through is blistering. Praise is understated ('Nothing wrong with that'). So is criticism. 'We'll have a good look at that, please,' he instructs after some coordination problems. 'That didn't sound like us.' The speed and discipline of rehearsal is astonishing. 'It's really fast-paced,' Jon agrees. 'And this is stuff we're seeing for the very first time.' Childs is demanding with good reason and proven results. 'All of my players – whether they're dog walkers or plumbers or music people – they may be amateurs, but they're Olympians.' They're also playing instruments owned by Black Dyke, which is funded solely by ticket sales, donations and sponsorship. Nothing, though, is more valuable in this world than the time and energy of those unpaid musicians. Their 'Olympian' standard was cultivated through early access to free music lessons – and, as several players impress on me, brass bands are now more vital than ever in providing music education. Experienced band members train beginners and less advanced players in a lively ecosystem of junior bands. 'We've got a lot of brass bands around us,' Becky explains, 'which is great, because the community will come in and you can go, 'it's OK that you can't be taught in school. Come down at half seven, we'll give you an instrument, we'll give you music, we'll give you uniform. Don't you worry about it.' We're really lucky.' She smiles sadly. 'But we know not all communities have that.' The Big Brass Blowout is on 11 April; the Black Dyke Band with Richard Hawley is on 12 April; both concerts in St George's Hall, Bradford Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
BBC News
09-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Neglect fears over 'at risk' empty Bradford city centre store
A landmark art deco former department store in Bradford has been added to a list of notable buildings in Britain considered to be currently "at risk".Sunwin House had been "one of the most modern and stylish looking shops in Britain" when it was built in 1936, according to The 20th Century the charity warned that the building, whose architectural style was inspired by Germany's Bauhaus art movement, had stood empty for nearly 15 years and was in danger of "creeping neglect".A spokesperson for the society added: "With Bradford in the spotlight as UK City of Culture 2025, hopes are high that Sunwin House could find the impetus required to dazzle once more." Sunwin House, which was most recently used as a TJ Hughes department store after the firm went into administration in 2011, is one of 10 buildings featured on The 20th Century Society's "risk list" for list also includes the former National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield, the Grand National Rollercoaster in Blackpool and the East Stand at Newcastle United's St James' Park stadium. Oli Marshall, campaign director for The 20th Century Society, said: "For a 90-year-old building, it survives in remarkably good condition internally and externally, but having sat empty for 15 years there are fears that creeping neglect could threaten its future."Despite the demise of department stores in recent years, there had been "some really imaginative and encouraging" approaches to re-using them such as co-working office spaces, hotels, gyms, university campuses, food markets, studios and repair shops, Mr Marshall said."We've even seen some recently with pop-up skateparks and go-kart tracks."Mr Marshall added: "Despite the challenges these buildings can present - their sheer scale, deep floor plates, high energy costs - with the right vision and a sympathetic developer, it can be done." 'Innovative re-uses' Si Cunningham, chair of Bradford Civic Society, said it was "concerning" to see Sunwin House added to The 20th Century Society's "risk list"."But it also can be helpful having a national group bring some attention to the building," he said."Bradford is not the only city struggling with former department stores, and we are seeing more and more innovate re-uses elsewhere."Mr Cunningham said that once new city centre music venue Bradford Live opened, "there could be renewed commercial interest in that part of the city"."We know there is a shortage of quality hotel space in Bradford. In the right hands, Sunwin House could be a destination in its own right," he reporting by Chris Young, Local Democracy Reporter. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
