Registered charity 1163258 ## **Annual Report 2024** ## **Summary of Activities** ## **Celebrating Shakespeare 26-28 April** This was the eighth annual weekend festival to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday. The programme featured five events starting with an entertaining evening of improvised Shakespeare scenarios by “Shake It Up Shakespeare” which appealed to a wide age range. The annual free concert of songs and sonnets in St. Mary’s was at packed capacity of 200 people. There was a workshop of Elizabethan songs and dances, followed by the traditional Shakespeare Ceilidh. The last session on Sunday was a story telling session about the stories behind Shakespeare’s plays with Giles Abbott, which was slightly less successful than the other events. There were around 400 attendances over the weekend festival with positive audience feedback. ## **Monthly Shoreham Catalyst Club** Shoreham Wordfest works in partnership with Ropetackle Arts Centre to support Dr David Bramwell’s monthly spoken word salon, inviting three people to speak about one of their passions. Subjects and speakers are varied, informative and entertaining. The events are being held in the Arts Centre foyer initially while the club becomes established, with regular audiences of 60 to 70. ## **Poetry Posts** Inspired by the late Marilyn Stafford, Wordfest has established four town centre public posts for locally created poetry. Submissions are invited and chosen quarterly for displays on the London and Brighton bound platform 1 at Shoreham Station, and the Poetry A-Board at The Shoreham Centre. The poetry is complemented with a suitable image and the posts are a valuable way to promote local creativity. ## **Tackling The Issues** Inspired by some of the discussion sessions hosted by Shoreham Wordfest, Ropetackle Arts Centre invited us to collaborate with a series of discussions on topical issues of concern. Sessions on Health and Housing followed, and an international discussion on Ukraine and Gaza during the annual Wordfest. The series ran for the year, but attendances declined. Topical debates will continue as part of the regular programming for both Ropetackle and Shoreham Wordfest. Registered charity 1163258 ## **Heritage Week: Adur Connected September 2024** Once again, following the success of last year’s Cultural Heritage Trail, Shoreham Wordfest worked again with the Shoreham Society and Marlipins Museum to create a series of banners focusing on transport and other connections across the town. Several other venues participated as part of the national Heritage Open Days. ## **Annual Festival: Making Waves 30 September to 20 October** Another ambitious programme of talks, authors, drama, walks, discussion and song for the 13[th] annual Wordfest. There were 28 events, with 2,304 tickets sold, drawing an audience from across the South-East region and beyond. Headline events included: Hugh Bonneville in conversation at St. Mary de Haura, Caroline Lucas, former Brighton MP and leader of the Green Party with her book, “Another England”, and the third highly successful “Fatal Shore” crime writing festival. Kate Mosse talked about her last book in the Joubert family chronicles, “The Map of Bones.” The first all day History event, focusing on Sussex social history, was very well received along with the second theatre trail at Marlipins museum, featuring ghostly tales of Sussex. Unfortunately, we could not get a good audience for the former Children’s Poet Laureate Joseph Coelho and have concluded it is difficult for us to attract children and families to our events. It is also difficult to attract a large audience for new writers, but the smaller events focusing on translation and comedy writing were appreciated by those attending. ## **Concluding Remarks** Shoreham Wordfest continues to keep to its original mission of supporting literary and creative arts with an annual festival in the autumn, as a counterpoint to the annual Adur Arts Trail in June. The annual programme now includes the Celebrating Shakespeare weekend in April, the monthly spoken word Catalyst Club and the series of poems on display in high profile public positions. The activities are supported by an enthusiastic team of volunteers with the two roles of Festival Director and Operations Director increasingly occupying much of their time throughout the year. There is a question of capacity particularly for the Autumn Festival which this year stretched over three weeks. New volunteers continue to be recruited and they are making a contribution to programming and the overall direction of the festival. The Trustees are all actively involved with the festival and keep an active oversight. Costs have increased but the charity turned over a small profit on the year’s activities. **Rosalind Turner, Festival Director** horeham RDFEST registered charity 1163258 Annual CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLANO AND WALES Independent examln•rfs report on the accounts S'll o klsq IT nnfL- % r ChAFIty r Iiranyl 11£71¥8 I rekx¥i to ￿￿t￿￿e¢S on my th8 cwts cl the￿*￿e ¢￿)ty llhoTrusfifor Ihe ywwd•Ji i /1 b*is olr8wt 8Gc¢NdHrwwdhttw Chartss Act2011 llhaAcri. xler seC1K￿ 145 of tr*2011 ActaThJ in carrying rny exWn1nati(￿. 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