We’ve just published this year’s exciting schedule of events for Goosfest – so take time now to browse what’s available and note what takes your fancy.

Tickets for this year’s GOOSFEST festival of music and arts are on sale from August 8th, but you can register an alert for individual events before that date, as demand is expected to be high.

All bookings can be made online on or after that date via this website and from August 8th, a telephone support number will be made available for those requiring help with online bookings.

What’s On

Here’s a see-at-a-glance summary of everything we’ve got in store for this October’s festival:

• Friday October 7th – join BBC radio 4’s cop-turned-comedian Alfie Moore for his latest stand-up tour show. ‘Fair Cop Unleashed’ is based on a dramatic real-life incident from his police casebook – 8pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Saturday October 8th – a welcome return visit by world-renowned saxophonist Snake Davis and his band – 8pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Sunday October 9th – former ‘Hi-de-hi’ actor Jeffrey Holland stars as ‘Stan Laurel’ in a one-man show ‘And This is My Friend Mr Laurel’ – 7.30pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Monday 10th October – the hugely enjoyable Swettenham Arms lunch with musical entertainment between each course – 12.30pm.
• Tuesday October 11th – an array of up-and-coming stand-up comedians in the legendary Goosfest Buzz Comedy Night – 8pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Wednesday October 12th – a talk by educationalist Frank Vigon on the history of political cartoons – 10.30am St Luke’s Parish Church, Goostrey.
• Also on Wednesday 12th – ‘Breathe Out Theatre’ presents ‘Sylvia vs the Fascists’ – an unconventional and comic retelling of Sylvia Pankhurst’s fight against the pre-WWII British establishment – 7.30pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Thursday October 13th – the much-loved Yellow Broom afternoon tea and recital by Royal Northern College of Music musicians; this year The Eos Duo (clarinettist Laurel Saunders and harpist Angharad Huw) – 2.30pm The Yellow Broom, Twemlow.
• Friday October 14th – go Greek with our ‘Mamma Mia’ supper and concert combo, with memorable songs from one of the UK’s leading ABBA tribute bands – 7.30pm Goostrey Village Hall.
• Saturday October 15th – pipes, fiddles, lyres and voices from Kathryn Tickell and her band The Darkening conjure up fiery Northumbrian music as part of their nationwide tour – 8pm Terra Nova School.
• Sunday October 16th – globe-trotting Bridgewater Hall organist Jonathan Scott returns to Goosfest for a spectacular concert recital – 4pm St Luke’s Parish Church, Goostrey.

Painting workshops

This year’s Goosfest also includes two workshops for budding painters. On Saturday October 8th, from 10am to 4pm, Peak District artisan Terry Baker is holding a pastel painting workshop in the beautiful countryside setting of The Orchards Farm. And the following day, Sunday 9th, Derbyshire landscape painter Susan McCall is running a guided art workshop from 11am to 4pm in the area around The Orchards Farm and Bidlea Dairy, including developing sketches with her in the Barn studio.

And for children, we have three performances of ‘Twisted Tales for Terrible Children’ on Saturday October 15th at Bidlea Dairy and Ice Cream Parlour. Storytelling children’s entertainer Gav Cross puts his own funny twist on some well-known children’s stories.

Free events

The first Goosfest weekend has three free events, so please take this opportunity to enjoy what has been organised for anyone to visit:

• Art Exhibition by 16 North West artists – Saturday October 8th and Sunday 9th – 10am-4pm – The Orchards Farm, Twemlow Lane. Combine your visit with being able to buy refreshments and ice cream at the adjacent Bidlea Dairy.
• Flower Festival of autumn colours by Goostrey Flower Club – daily from 10am Friday October 7th throughout Goosfest – St Luke’s Parish Church.
• Farming heritage exhibition by Goostrey Parish Archive – Saturday October 8th – 10am-4pm – The Crown (a former farmhouse) conservatory.

So, take a look at each event page in the events section here at Goosfest.com, for further information, and put an alert for tickets on your preferred events.

We look forward to seeing you.

Your Goosfest needs you!

In the meantime, if you’d like to be involved in any way, please get in touch. There are only a few of us on the Goosfest Committee and we need more help if we’re to continue in the years ahead. If you don’t fancy joining the Committee itself, there are other ways in which you can support the festival. We’re looking for:

• Practical help for events – helping to set up staging, chairs, tables etc for events in the Village Hall and at other venues
• Someone with experience in stage lighting, or a willingness and interest to learn, to assist our current lighting director
• Home cooks who might be willing to prepare a hot meal or buffet item, to be delivered to the venue for the artiste(s) on the night.
• Volunteers to help staff the bar (there’s a rota so even if you can support one event, it would be appreciated. The larger the team of volunteers, the fewer times we’ll need to ask for help)
• Accommodation for a performer. If you have a spare bedroom that a weary artiste could retire to, rather than a long journey back home after a performance, let us know. We appreciate that accommodating artistes depends on personal willingness to host, according to any local health-protection requirements at the time. Hopefully, the environment will be more conducive to hosting guests next year.

Got an idea for an event?

If you’ve got any ideas for future workshops, or other events you’d like to see at a future Goosfest, please drop us a line. We can only provide the entertainment that Goostrey prefers if we know what Goostrey wants! Contact us at info@goosfest.com or click here.

Thanks again to everyone who helped organise Goosfest 2021, supported us and attended the events. It was great to be back, after last year’s enforced cancellation, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.