Stone’s first Puppet Festival will be held in August, with around 20 of the best puppet companies and professional puppeteers from across the UK set to descend on the town.
The festival will take place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th August. There will be lots of professional shows in the Crown Hotel and lots going on in Market Square too, including demonstrations, workshops and puppet storytelling in the library on the Saturday. Saturday will also see a grand opening parade led by larger-than-life puppets – including the giant Punch and Judy above – local musicians, puppeteers and local schoolchildren. The High Street and Market Square will be decorated with hundreds of balloons and bunting and it promises to be a wonderful sight!
The festival aims to work with local schools and community partners to get local people involved in all aspects of the festival – there will be opportunities to build puppets, volunteer at the event and even perform in a show.
The festival is being organised by local puppeteer and Little Bit of Stone writer David Leech, in co-operation with the British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild, which has a tradition of staging puppet festivals in the UK and celebrates its 90th anniversary this year
In the weeks running up to the festival there are plans to enable local schools to benefit from puppet-making workshops conducted by professional, experienced teams at no cost to the schools themselves. The puppets produced by the children will then be collected and then, by arrangement with individual traders, the aim is to display the puppets in local High Street shop windows or for the children to take part in the opening parade with their creations.
An exhibition of historical and contemporary puppets will be on view in the Assembly Rooms in the Crown Hotel on both days, where people will have an opportunity to learn how to operate various types of puppets and take part in regular talks and demonstrations to show how the puppets were used.
David said: “We’re now busy arranging for performances from puppeteers near and far, with a mix of free and ticketed performances. There’ll be something for everyone, including families, enthusiasts and puppetry professionals.”
Look out for more information and updates on the Stone Puppet Festival Twitter account and Facebook page.
David Leech, Festival Organiser was born and raised in Stone and attended Christ Church and Alleynes schools. His hobby developed into his career as a professional puppeteer and puppet maker having worked in children’s theatre and television for over 30 years and performing in Canada, the US and Spain. He is the official historian for Pelham Puppets, a published author and now produces the new range of Pelham Puppets for the toy trade. He returned to Stone in 2013 after spending most of his working life in Dorset and Wiltshire. He is married with two grown-up children and two grandchildren.