price Roger and sturgeon” width=”1024″ height=”940″ />
Watery celebrations come to the Forest of Dean from May 2 to 12 as The Wye Valley River Festival wends its way down river from Hereford, cialis where it launches on April 29.
Bank Holiday Monday, May 2 sees a family breakfast barbeque and ceremonial canoe launch at Bishopswood with festival flags carried down to Lydbrook Tump, where the entertainment lasts from 1pm to 5pm. Alongside the annual riverside Tump Fair, this year there’s the added excitement of a visit by the River Festival’s performers, the Water Ones, wrangling in a comic chaos of pouring and spilling, singing and dancing. There will also be a Giant Samovar, dispensing tea in a time-honoured symbol of hospitality. Traditionally used to heat and boil water for tea, a Samovar (loosely translated from the Russian as self-boiler) would take pride of place at the table at times of festivity and celebration. Designed by And Now especially for The Wye Valley River Festival, the pure copper, celebratory Samavor has been built by one of the leading moonshine still makers in Arkansas, USA, using traditional copper working skills. There’s also the River Arts and Entertainments (A&E) Health Check Laboratory, a comic performance installation with serious undertones, working interactively with communities in a fun, thought-provoking manner. Alongside this the Caravan of Myths and Legends, sponsored by Puzzlewood, Stuffed full of books and a focus for mystery, wonder and intrigue with Coleford writer, performer and storyteller Roger Drury, who will also be leading a sensory storytelling walk earlier in the day. Lydbrook Band performs a special concert and there’s also singing and a youth theatre performance in the Garden Café – look out for pirates!
During the festival there’s an opportunity to see an amazing sound installation created with help from the Forest of Dean community. Musician, composer and audio-visual artist Dan Fox will be out collecting the voices of local children and adults, stories, animal noises, birdsong and sounds of the river to bring the “voices of the Valley” to his audio visual installation, Cymbals of Redbrook, on the Gloucestershire village’s disused railway bridge that spans the River Wye between England and Wales. The installation can be experienced from May 2 to 8 (12noon to 10pm) and includes an avenue of cymbals suspended from tall poles across the bridge. At night the installation comes alive with LED lighting synchronised with the audio.
On Thursday, May 5, from 11am to 7pm Redbrook also hosts a visit from River Festival performers and two of the caravans which make up the Festival’s travelling Wye Serai – the Caravan of Curiosities and Hydrosities and the Caravan of Fact and Wonder. Later in the evening there’s live music at The Boat Inn.
Meanwhile The George Choir from Newnham will be performing as part of the Wye Valley River Festival at Ross-on-Wye on May 1; at Tintern Old Station on May 6 and at Llandogo on May 14. The Lydbrook Band are represented at several events, with the full band coming together to play at the grand finale in Chepstow on May 15. The Forest of Dean Male Voice Choir are also performing at the finale.
The individual caravans and A&E Laboratory which make up the Festival’s travelling Wye Serai will meander through local schools, towns and villages between Hereford and Chepstow from May 4 to 13 and venues include Main Place, Coleford, where the Caravan of Myths and Legends will be making a special appearance on May 12.
Making a splash along the river, from Hereford to Chepstow, The Wye Valley River Festival runs from April 29 to May 15. The fabulous, free, family entertainment is all part of a fantastic and creative programme put together by artistic directors Desperate Men as part of an initiative led by the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership.
Find out more at www.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk or pick up a free programme at any of the festival events. Twitter: @wyebeauty #wyevalleyriverfestival; Facebook: www.facebook.com/ wyevalleyriverfestival