Barnaby’s fun-filled family line-up of events

For ten days from Friday 17 to Sunday 26 June, Barnaby Festival fills Macclesfield town centre, Cheshire with more than 100 events, over half of which are free and many for families and children, including music, comedy, street theatre, science and more. With its ‘Space’ theme this year’s festival is set to be ‘out of this world’ with plenty of fun for all the family and packed full of exciting and activities to take part in.

Image by Simon Brown www.travellingsimon.com

Key family events include:

BARNABY CARNIVAL PARADE

Saturday 18 June, 1pm-2pm

Starts and ends Market Place, Macclesfield SK10 1EB

FREE

Get ready for lift off and push your imagination to the outer limits for the ‘Space’ themed Barnaby Carnival Parade. Costumed Maxonians take to the streets and ten thousand stars shine bright as the vibrant carnival winds through the town centre. Colourful characters promenade their handmade creations of giant puppets and elaborate push-floats. Music fills the air, the samba band sways, jugglers and jesters entertain the crowds.

 DEEP SPACE AND SOLAR LAB

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June, 10am-5pm

Town Hall, Macclesfield SK10 1EA

FREE

Discover objects from deep space, learn about space science and retrieve images from over a dozen remote telescopes across the globe in real time. View the Northern Lights – in Macclesfield!  Experience the Planeterrella, a scientific experiment which creates these mysterious lights in a vacuum chamber.  Plus talks about the sun’s effect on earth and the search for life.  It’s all at the lab!

 STREET TREATS

Saturday 18 June, 10am-5pm and Sunday 19 11.30am-5pm

In and around Market Place, Macclesfield SK10 1EB

FREE/Pay what you can

A host of eccentric, extraordinary and engaging street entertainment in and around the cobbles of Macclesfield’s Market Place including:

STREET TREATS: THE POETRY TAKEAWAY

The world’s first Mobile Poetry Emporium. Everything’s prepared fresh on the premises, by our team of talented Poet Chefs. We’ll write and perform a personalised poem for you, then wrap it up for you to takeaway!

STREET TREATS: SMOKE by Plunge Boom

A man moves amongst the public. Gradually smoke begins to creep from out of his trouser leg. Next, it arises from his collar, then his sleeves. What starts as a tiny wisp, ends up as an all-consuming plume. Help him before he completely disappears! Interactive street theatre from Plunge Boom (CBeebies’ Mr Bloom).

STREET TREATS: STOP ME AND TRY ONE

Look out for the Quangle Wangle’s Hat!  Find the hat and you’ll find a local poet who will be happy to read a poem for you on the subject of your choice: something funny, sad or for a rainy day.  Don’t be shy – poets don’t bite!

STREET TREATS: L’HOTEL by Circo Rum Ba Ba

L’ Hotel parks ceremoniously at its latest destination: Macclesfield. The only hotel to come to you! This charming, eccentric, tiny venue erupts into glittering cabaret, dances and wakes to clattering kitchen choreography. Acrobatics, globe walking, dead celebrities, French finesse, trumpeting and mime mayhem – an enchanting show for all ages.

STREET TREATS: THE WHALE by Talking Birds

Ahoy there shipmates! Beneath the gleaming, silvery surface of the Whale, there be surprises for intrepid sailors that climb into its belly! Fun for all ages and fully accessible. Prepare to dive!

STREET TREATS: LIVE HANGMAN by Mufti Games

A life-sized version of the classic game! A malevolent gameshow host with a dodgy suit and 8-foot high gallows invites you to solve a mystery phrase. The fate of the condemned is in the audience’s hands.

STREET TREATS: TWO OLD MEN by 2Faced Dance Company

A tale of two eccentric friends created and danced by this internationally acclaimed Company. Gasp, laugh and cry as companions take you on a life-long journey…all the way to the pub. A fusion of break, street and contemporary dance, twenty minutes of adrenalin-fuelled, heart-in-mouth acrobatics.

GRAFFITI CLASSICS

Sunday 19 June, 7-8pm

St Michael’s Church, Market Place, Macclesfield SK10 1HW

Tickets: £12 / £8 (under 18)

A comedy cabaret string quartet of 16 strings, 8 dancing feet and 4 voices with one aim: to make classical music wickedly funny. It’s a concert, a gypsy-folk romp, an opera, a stand-up comedy set and a dance show all rolled into one! From Beethoven to Bluegrass, Bach to Brahms, Strauss to Saturday Night Fever, this is no traditional string quartet!

LA LUNE

BARNABY FESTIVAL COMMISSION from the award-winning, Macclesfield-based WILD RUMPUS

18-25 JUNE

Christ Church and Lawns, Bridge Street Macclesfield SK11 6ES

www.lalune.org.uk

The spellbinding story of La Lune unfolds over eight days. A remarkable Astronomer has brought the stars and the moon down to earth, and Macclesfield is full of starlight. But an old magic has been uncovered, and all is not well. If we work together, can we save the town? An adventure in four parts.

www.lalune.org.uk

LA LUNE: THE ASTRONOMER’S STORY

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June

10:00, 11:30, 14:00, 15:30, 17:00, 18:30

Ticket: £8/ £6 (early bird SK10 & SK11 residents only)

Let us take you to the heart of La Lune: immerse yourselves in this compelling story of secrets, friendships, and discovery. An incredible 45-minute experience from award-winning LAStheatre, suitable for adults and children (aged 4+), set in the atmospheric interior of Christ Church.  Find out why the town is filled with stars, what’s happened to put Macclesfield in such peril, and how you can help the Astronomer with his quest. Book your tickets for this adventure of a lifetime.

LA LUNE: THE OBSERVATORY

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June, 10am-9pm

FREE

Christ Church’s spreading lawns are filled with two days of music, film, experiments, street food and stars. There’s hands-on science at the Space School and the glorious eduPOP science band Being 747, plus leading children’s authors Kiran Millwood-Hargreaves (Girl of Ink & Stars), Ben Newman (Astrocat), Abi Elphinstone (Dreamsnatchers) and Rosie Wellesley (Moonlight Bear). Enjoy star-making, music, storytelling, and space-themed family films as the sun goes down.

LA LUNE: FOLLOW THE ROVING MOON

Saturday 18 – Saturday 25 June

Venue: Mystery locations

FREE

A beautiful moon appears in Macclesfield’s evocative roofscape; but as dusk falls each evening, it mysteriously moves elsewhere. Follow the roving moon around the town, using the hashtags #lalune #macclesfieldmoon and #barnabyfestival to tell us where you’ve spotted it. Your sketches, photographs, videos, stories and poems documenting its nocturnal circuit will be gathered on www.lalune.org.uk

LA LUNE:  THE MOON RISING

Saturday 25 June, 8.45-9.30pm

Christ Church Lawns, Bridge Street, Macclesfield SK11 6ES

FREE

If there was ever a night to stay up past bedtime, this is it! Tonight sees the spectacular culmination of La Lune, when we must save the town and make the moon rise once more. Bring your friends, your families, and your stars to Christ Church, because if the whole town gathers, the Astronomer may be persuaded to return. Breathtaking and beautiful things happen as the midsummer sun sets, and they’ll stay with you forever…

 The Planetarium (at La Lune)

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 June, 10am-6pm

Bridge Street, Macclesfield SK11 6ES

£2 (pay on door)

Wow! Enter the inflatable outdoor Planetarium and science dome for an exhilarating, educational experience for budding astronomers and star-gazers.  See the sky in 360 degrees, and take a voyage of discovery that’s out of this world!  Films begin on the hour.

MACC-POW! Mini (But Mighty) Comic Art Convention

Saturday 25 June, 10am-4pm

The Old Sunday School (Whitaker Room), Roe Street, Macclesfield SK11 6UT

FREE

Macclesfield’s first ever comic-art convention celebrating comics and artists from around the world and embracing amazing local talent in a collision of comic-book coolness! Join local cartoonists Marc Jackson and others cosying up to great creators and international names. In association with Makers Place and Incubation Arts.

THE PLANET’S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

Saturday 18June, 10am-12:45pm

Macclesfield Library, Jordangate, Macclesfield SK10 1EE

FREE

Macclesfield Music Centre brings this unique, interactive event back to Barnaby. Professional musicians demonstrate the unique features of each instrument and children get hands-on in this mini music festival.

SPACEPOD CHALLENGE

Saturday 25 June, 1pm-3pm

Market Place, Macclesfield SK10 1EB

FREE

Celebrating Macclesfield’s long association with astronomy and aerospace engineering, this competition invites teams to create a solution to a ‘real’ SPACE problem.  Witness the teams test their inventions to land a pod full of delicate scientific equipment on surface of another planet (an egg!) live in the Market Place where Dr Lucy Rogers, science writer and space engineer will lead the judging.

Tickets for all events, as well as the complete listings for the Barnaby Festival 2014, are available at www.barnabyfestival.org.uk and from the Visitors Information Centre in Macclesfield Town Hall.