Catfoot Theatre Company 

Lambley Arts Festival Launch Event

Lambley Arts Festival kicked off in style on Saturday 4 July 2009 with a day of arts activities for young and old.

Taking place at the Village Hall there was …

Junk Percussion with Victor Scott
Storytelling and Pottery from Madge Spencer
Street Theatre from Ruth Dawes and Stephen Jon
Live Music from John Crawford and Richard Mecia
Watercolours and Art Demos from Christine Smith and members of Lambley Art Group
Spinning and Weaving from the Notts District Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Puppetry from Cath Connolly
Mural Art from Emily Fossey and staff from Lambley Primary School
plus scrumptious teas and cakes from Lambley W.I.

Along the Main Street in Lambley we also had a wonderful Spring Dressing from Sarah Chapman.

With loads of visitors and the sun shining we really couldn’t ask for a better way to kick off an Arts Festival for Lambley.

We also had some excellent feedback, with people commenting on the atmosphere and buzz, plus the range of activities available.

“Very impressive”
“A fab day – something for everyone”
“Excellent atmosphere, keep up the good work”
“Fab scones”

Check out You Tube for some clips of what went on that day and for all those who were involved – THANK YOU.

Children’s Summer Workshops

In August 2009 Lambley Arts Festival ran a short series of workshops for children and young people at Lambley Village Hall.

Tuesday 11 August – Scarecrow Making with Kerry O Brien
Wednesday 12 August – Shadow Puppets with Cath Connolly & Customise your Clothing with Donna Rumble-Smith
Tuesday 18 August – Junk Percussion with Victor Scott

Great fun was had by all as shown by the feedback …

“Excellent workshop – great family fun”
“We had a real good laugh and loads of fun”
“Fantastic! We all loved it.”
“My girls really enjoyed it and everything was great”
“Good fun for the children”

Special mention needs to be made of the Scarecrow Workshop. Families and children made some wonderful scarecrows, which were then displayed all around Lambley. They quickly became a major talking point in the village, especially the pub and the hairdressers! Everybody enjoyed having them around.

So the seeds are now sown for a proper Scarecrow Festival in Lambley. Watch this space.

Storytelling Cafe, 1 October & 12 November 2009

Set in the relaxed surroundings of The Coffee Shop at Floralands on Catfoot Lane, open in the evening just for us, Storytelling Cafe were two great evenings of stories set in the heart of the countryside.

Hosted by professional storyteller Graham Langley, described by The Times as “a storyteller for the 21st century”, Storytelling Cafe was an intimate evening of stories, yarns and lashings of cake and gateaux for adult audiences.

The main storytellers for each evening were Xanthe Gresham, Ruthie Boycott-Garnett and Wilf Merttens, plus floorspots from local storytellers such as Emma Carlton and Gary Keane.

Both evenings were very successful and very well received. Word certainly got round for the second one in November as we doubled our audience. People were enthusiastic in their comments …

“Fantastic value for money – great venue. Stories were entertaining and very varied in style, performance and content”
“Very cosy venue – welcoming with tea, coffee and cakes! All storytellers were wonderful, different, funny, unique”
“Space – great; cost – spot on; facilities – super; content – awesome”
“All brilliant – really enjoyed the evening – more please”
“Excellent value for money. Uplifting – a good range of talent – great stimulus for the imagination. A very good venue – lovely cakes”

Programming now well under way for more storytelling in for 2010.

The Last Snow Rider, Sunday 10 January 2010

We are delighted that Lambley, through the Arts Festival, is now part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Village Ventures professional touring circuit. Our first production was Northumberland Theatre Company’s delightful family show The Last Snow Rider by Ann Coburn, held in Lambley Village Hall.

Set in a world where ice and snow are in retreat, Jack has to help Freya, the last snow rider to rediscover her power and defeat the wicked Winter Witch. He therefore has to go on a journey from his own back graden to the frozen North Pole. Filled with songs and movement this really was a great show for all ages.

It was even more timely as the whole country was experiencing one of the worst winters for over 30 years and so Lambley was blanketed in the white stuff. However, the snow and ice may have deterred some people, but we still managed to get a respectable audience of just under 50 people and they loved it …

“Excellent show. Well performed. Good use of space – great lighting and set, innovative direction. Really enjoyed it.”
“Great family performance. Price absolutely fine. Top refreshments – thanks Lambley WI. Great evening entertainment – more of the same please”
“A brilliant family entertainment – a magical play well performed”
“Excellent to have on the doorstep. Thank you so much.”
“What a joy to have live theatre brought so close to home and to see an audience of all ages. Lovely hot chocolate too!”
“Absolutely delightful – great. Well done too the WI”
“Everything brilliant”
“Brilliant, magical. Excellent standards”
“Great value, fabulous performance. Would really appreciate more! It was for all ages and the weather was perfect. Thanks for organising it.”

As you can see Lambley W.I. got great reviews for their refreshments.

We also had a lovely display of paper snowflakes in the Village Hall reception made by the children of Lambley Primary School.

So all in all a great night and Lambley Arts Festival looks forward to programming more Village Ventures in the future.

For more details about Village Ventures please go to…

NTC Touring Theatre is a professional small-scale touring theatre company based at the Playhouse, Alnwick, Northumberland. Established in 1978 the company’s artistic policy is to provide professional touring theatre of the highest quality, particularly to theatreless zones in rural areas where access to live theatre is otherwise limited.

For more details about the company please visit