Greystoke Arts Festival opens next Friday with a charity supper and preview night at St Andrews church in the village. Eden based potters make bowls, ladies from the village make soup. Buy a bowl of soup on preview night and keep the bowl as a permanent reminder of the night. All proceeds go to a third world hunger charity – last year £1400 was raised.

The festival is organised by a group of Cumbrian potters, members of Ceramics North, many of them working from studios in the Eden valley. Potters like Mary Chappelhow, Arwyn Jones and Gwen Bainbridge at Brougham Hall, Stuart Broadhurst and Joanne Edwards of Askham, Bob March from Soulby, Roma Short, Hunsonby, Claire Farley, Newton Reigny, Bob Park, Greystoke and Sue Sharpe, Alston. The original idea came from Geoff and Christine Cox, potters from Penruddock and organisers of Potfest but the group as a whole have now taken on joint responsibility for the event.
Preview night in St Andrews is on Friday May 4th and the festival continues until Sunday the 13th. On Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday 16 potters will be selling their work in the church while 6 textile artists will have theirs in the village school where they’ll also give demonstrations and run hands on workshops. All the artists have been asked to make a special piece to be exhibited in the church for the rest of the week.

The intention is to grow the event year on year by including a new craft group in another part of the village each time and the group would welcome any Cumbrian craft makers especially those working in the Eden valley to come and see what they‘re doing in Greystoke this year with a view to joining in next year.

For further details see www.greystokeartsfestival.co.uk