Jubilee Tower tours, Locked Up at The Dana, and Twelfth Night at Attingham - Issue #004
The Folk Festival and the Steam Rally have the town to themselves this weekend, so here is what is worth putting in the diary for the week after.
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— Featured · Music —
The Hollies’ former frontman plays an acoustic solo set at the Morris Hall
Peter Howarth. Photo: Fatsoma / Morris Hall.
Peter Howarth, former frontman of The Hollies, brings an unplugged solo show to the Morris Hall on Bellstone — classic hits alongside songs from his album Evermore. Over 35 years in music and theatre, including a celebrated turn as Roy Orbison in the West End.
Friday 2 October, doors 7pm, on stage 8pm. £20 plus £2 booking fee. 15+, under-18s must be with a responsible adult.
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— Can't Miss · History —
You can climb the Jubilee Tower midweek this time
Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, Ditherington. Photo: English Heritage.
The Flaxmill Maltings is the world's first iron-framed building, which makes it the great-grandfather of every skyscraper going. The Jubilee Tower on the roof is normally a weekend-only climb.
For Skyscraper Day, English Heritage is opening it midweek: Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 September, tours on the hour at 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. £5 for all visitors, members included.
It is a short climb and a long view. Give yourself a minute at the top rather than turning straight round — looking back over the town from the roof of the building that started it all is the whole point of going up.
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— Can't Miss · Culture —
Over 100 tattoo artists set up in the cells at Shrewsbury Prison
The queue outside The Dana at a previous Locked Up. Photo: Locked Up Shrewsbury.
Locked Up returns to The Dana for a fourth year on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, with more than 100 artists from the UK, Italy, Canada and the US working out of the cells and the wings.
You do not have to be getting tattooed to make a day of it. There is live music, a live graffiti show and traders throughout, and a fair bit of the appeal is simply being turned loose in a Victorian prison with something going on in every wing.
£15 a day, over-18s only.
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— Can't Miss · Family —
The Pantaloons play Twelfth Night on the lawn at Attingham
The Pantaloons’ Twelfth Night on tour. Photo: Alford Manor House.
Outdoor Shakespeare in front of the mansion at Attingham Park on Saturday 5 September, 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
The Pantaloons do Shakespeare with live music, audience participation and a fairly loose grip on decorum. Twelfth Night is the one with the shipwreck, the twins, the disguises and the yellow stockings, and it carries well for older children who would not sit through it indoors.
It is a deer park in early September, so take a rug and a layer more than you think you need. Ticket prices are on the booking page.
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Two ways to get more from The Bridge
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— Shrewsbury History This Week —
Coleham's pumping station is shut while its volunteers rebuild it
Coleham Pumping Station was built in 1900 to house two beam engines made by Renshaw's of Stoke-on-Trent in 1897 and 1898, and was opened by the Mayoress of Shrewsbury in 1901. Coal-fired boilers drove the town's sewage uphill until 1970, when electric pumps took the job. It is Grade II listed and looks far more like a chapel than a piece of Victorian sanitation.
The Shrewsbury Steam Trust, which has been restoring the engines since 1992, says it is not in a position to open to the public at the moment. It is replacing cast-iron pipework and valves with steel, the chimney needs repointing, and contractors need the run of the site.
So this one is a heads-up rather than a recommendation: do not turn up expecting a steam-up day. The Trust will post open days on its own site once the work is done.
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— Town Wins —
A woodland ceiling at the Royal Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury artist Charlotte Tisdale has hand-painted winding leaves and creatures across the ceiling of a dermatology clinic room, for patients who spend up to 45 minutes looking straight up. Funded by Lingen Davies Cancer Support. Read on
183 miles around her own town. Anna Fraser ran a marathon a day around Shrewsbury for seven days straight, 17 to 23 August, turning 47 partway through, for Severn Hospice, Lingen Davies and The Harry Johnson Trust. Read on
The Severn Bridges 10K still has room. Sunday 6 September, 10am from the Quarry, looping the park and out along the Severn before coming back over the town's bridges. £17, or £15 if you are affiliated. Read on
The Abbey Foregate garden is looking for three leaders. Shrewsbury BID's new community garden, on the disused plot between Hair 21 and the railway bridge, needs volunteers — and three garden leaders at roughly half a day a week. Leader roles close on 5 September. Read on
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Cheers,
Albert