Loughborough’s Second Bell Festival
25th, 26th and 27th October 2024
Contact: info@charnwoodarts.com
‘The bell is a unique symbol of Loughborough,’ says Shirley Novak, CEO of Charnwood Arts, ‘specific to the industrial heritage here but at the same time representative of the modern-day community of the town. Bells feature in every culture and community, calling people to come together in good times and in bad.’
This year’s Bell festival celebrates the diversity of the town’s people and their connection of with bells through their collective culture.
Spread over three days, the festival is based around the Charnwood Arts Hub on Rectory Road Loughborough, and kicks off on the 25th October with an address from the Mayor at 5.50pm, followed at 6pm by a peal of bells from All Saints Church followed by a film projection by Event Engineering on to the side of Charnwood Arts building (27 Rectory Place, opposite the Rectory Museum) which will include local community art, celebratory films and vintage footage from our partners Taylors Bell Foundry. (Loughborough has a long history of associations with bells. Since 1859, the Loughborough Bell foundry has cast more than 25,000 bells that are hung in over 100 countries around the world.)
Throughout society and culture all around the world, a bell has a multitude of symbolic meanings and purposes. Bells can symbolise beginnings and endings, a call to order, or even a command or a warning. Loughborough Bell Festival gives the community a chance to think about its local heritage.
In many cultures and religions bells are revered as a source of divine power and cosmic energy and their sound signifies a creative power. Charnwood Arts wants to harness this energy to celebrate Loughborough, in a way that the town recognises encompassing all that the Bells represent.
In the weeks leading up to the festival Charnwood Arts will be hosting a number of creative workshops with the theme of Bells, and during the weekend there will be a mobile Belfry for people to try, Rectory Museum will be open to the public, a dressing of the willow bell (sculpture by Nita Rao), pop up creative spaces and stalls hosted by local groups.
We will be hosting an exhibition in our building, including artefacts from Taylors Bell Foundry, and community art created throughout the build-up to the Bell Festival weekend. More information as to how you can join in this will be available on our website and social media in the run up.
This year’s festival is staged with support from Arts Council England, Charnwood Borough Council, and organisations involved in the Bell Festival include All Saints with Holy Trinity Church, and John Taylor’s Bell Foundry.
