Events | Knutsford Town Council

20Sep2023

Knutsford at Home

Knutsford was a mini ‘Ideal Home Exhibition’ on September 16^th, with its home and interior design shops hosting its second Knutsford at Home Event.

The event was a collaboration between home and interior shops and businesses in the town centre and coordinated by Knutsford Town Council. It offered shoppers a ‘menu of inspiration’ including talks from artists such as Diane Marsland in Holly Johnson Antiques, a Fired Earth pop-up in Detaljer plus Farrow and Ball talks from the Arthur Lee team. The full list of shops taking part was Aperture Doors, Arthur Lee Interiors, Detaljer, The Flock of Arts, Havwoods, Holly Johnson Antiques, Kendal Quality Carpets, Oka, Sofas and Stuff, Susie Watson Designs and Terzetto Stone.

Holly Johnson co-owner of Holly Johnson Antiques said, “This was our second Knutsford at Home event and our most successful! Having Diane Marsland as our artist in residence for the day proved a real draw with guests finding her talks informative and inspiring. We also enjoyed watching customers both new and existing enjoy our showroom and its range of antiques.”

Lyndsey Dyson, of Havwoods, said: ‘’At Havwoods we really valued the Knutsford at Home event, and meeting with both new and existing customers discussing our latest flooring and cladding collections. Many visited our showroom and the Routemaster bus on the day, and we felt there was a great atmosphere present.’’

Lillie Carter of King Street newcomer Aperture Luxury Doors said, “This was an exceptional event by Knutsford Town Council. It’s great to be part of a community where we support each other as businesses to keep Knutsford at the forefront of retail.”

Sandra Curties, Knutsford Town Council’s Town Centre Manager, said, “These events are all about promoting Knutsford as a destination shopping venue and offering a bespoke shopping experience that cannot be replicated online. We loved the way our shops worked together and seeing visitors mapping out their day using the flyers was fabulous. We look forward to a better and bigger event next year.”

16Aug2023

Cafe on the Corner joins Taste Knutsford

One of Knutsford’s much loved and well-established cafes, Café on the Corner, have joined Taste Knutsford. Taste Knutsford is a walking food and drink tour which visits around seven venues sampling from a range of independent venues.

Taste Knutsford was established in 2018 and promotes and supports a range of independent venues in the town centre including:

April’s Kitchen
Cranford Café & Sandwich Bar
Dexter and Jones
Evuna
Morgan Edwards
Hot Cocoa
King Street Kitchen
Real Fruit Creamery
Courthouse Cheshire
The Market Hall Butcher
The Market Café
The Tea Room
Detaljer
Tatton Perk

Seho Karakas, owner of Café on the Corner said, “We are excited to join the Taste Knutsford team and meet the tour guests. We are offering a brunch or lunch option which combines the best of British with the best of Turkish!”

Sandra Curties, Town Centre Manager, said, “We love arranging these tours. The feedback we receive from guests regarding the tours is always positive with guests leaving very full! Our tour guides are knowledgeable about each venue and the town, encouraging guests to stay, linger and spend in Knutsford.”

Any small regional or independent hospitality venue can take part in the tour and if you wish be a tour guest you can book via www.tasteknutsford.co.uk Private tours for 8 or more can also be arranged.

9Aug2023

Knutsford at Home

If you are looking for interior design advice and inspiration, then look no further than Knutsford on September 16^th, when the town holds it’s second Knutsford at Home event.

The event is a collaboration between Knutsford’s home and interior shops and businesses in the town centre and will offer shoppers, inspiration, advice, and ideas as we move into the autumn and winter seasons.

The day’s programme is full of interesting talks, presentations, one-off offers and in some cases fizz and goody bags.

The businesses taking part are Aperture Doors, Arthur Lee, Detaljer, Flock of Arts, Havwoods, Holly Johnson Antiques, Kendal Quality Carpets, Oka, Sofas and Stuff, Suzy Watson Designs, and Terzetto.

Sandra Curties, Knutsford Town Council’s Town Centre Manager, said, “The day’s programme is fantastic and ideal for all home enthusiasts. You can book a talk and pick up gardening advice from RHS member and ex-Head Gardener of Tatton Park Sam Youd at Sofas and Stuff, create a mood board at Susie Watson Designs and even hop on a Havwood’s Routemaster bus to find out about all things flooring”.

Ben Whittaker of Flock of Arts said, “We are delighted to be taking part in this event and love the collaboration with the other interior shops. We will be focusing on the importance of colour and style when choosing a frame as well as showcasing our eclectic range of antiques”.

Lyndsey of Havwoods, said, “We are excited to finally bring our famous Havwoods Routemaster Bus to Knutsford. You will find the bus outside the Lost & Found providing an additional location for us alongside our Regent Street Showroom, which is open for visitors to discover our beautiful range of luxury wood flooring and cladding products.”.

A full programme can be picked up at any participating shop plus Knutsford Library, The Curzon, Knutsford Railway Station, and other shops within the town centre. Those interested can also follow Knutsford Town Council’s Facebook page and the event’s Instagram page Knutsford at Home.

26Jul2023

Civic Sunday Parade

Residents of Knutsford are being encouraged to come out to see their Town Mayor, Cllr Peter Coan, at his Civic Sunday parade on Sunday 30th July. The Mayor of Knutsford will be processing through the streets for the first time since he became Mayor in May.

The parade assembles at 1.30pm at King Street Car Park and sets off at 1.45pm processing down King Street, up Minshull Street, along Princess Street, taking a left down Church Walk and across the Moor before heading up to St Cross Church where the Civic Service will take place led by Reverend Paul Deakin

The parade will be led by Warrington Brass band and include dignitaries and Town Mayors along with Chairs from Town and Parish Councils across Cheshire.

Town Mayor Cllr Peter Coan said: “My Civic Sunday is open to anyone who wants to attend. All are welcome to join me as I parade through the town with my fellow councillors and Cheshire dignitaries and the church service is open to everyone! Please feel free to come along. Let’s hope the sun keeps shining for us all!’

During his term of office, Cllr Coan is raising funds for Knutsford GROW and for UK Men’s Sheds Association.

For more information about the above events contact the Civic Events Officer on 01565 653929 or email laura.phillipson@knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk.

27Jun2023

Family Fest added to Knutsford’s summer events calendar

A new family friendly event, Family Fest, is coming to Knutsford this summer taking place across the town’s shops, restaurants, and community spaces. The Town Council has collaborated with local businesses to organise a day jam packed with activities.

On the 5^th August, attendees keen on sports can enjoy family workouts with Chris Nicklin of Nxstep Gym and join in a sledge track push Challenge at Nxstep Gym. There will also be a party time session full of party games and dancing hosted by Cheshire based party planner, Bunny Business at Charlton Lodge.

For the creatives, Knutsford Olde Sweet shop will be holding a fancy-dress competition, judged by Woody from Toy Story and Knutsford Town Mayor Cllr Peter Coan, alongside free face painting. Mini and Moi will have craft workshops and hair braiding. There will also be a colouring competition judged by Buzz Lightyear at Hal Whittakers – colouring sheets can be collected during the week leading up to the event from Hal Whittakers or Sabrina’s Baby and Toddler Boutique.

For families who would like to slow down the pace there are story time sessions at Knutsford Library and Waterstones. Wine and Wallop will be screening the classic family film, Toy Story at their pop-up cinema.

Knutsford Fire Station will appear with their fire engine on Princess Street outside The Lost & Found (pending any emergencies). Families can view the fire engine and meet the fire fighters. At Lost & Found attendees can enjoy live music, street food plus there will be a family photographer available to take a family portrait.

Julia Chard owner of Knutsford Olde Sweetshop said “We are so excited about this summer event. Family Fest is full of fun activities for kids of all ages and interests. It’s great to be taking part in another fabulous Knutsford community event.”

Sandra Curties, Town Centre Manager said “There is so much in the programme for Family Fest and as most activities are free it is a brilliant purse friendly day out during the school holidays. For some activities spaces are limited so keep an eye on social media and look out for flyers with instructions for prior booking”

Businesses taking part include;

Nxstep Gym
Mini & Moi
Knutsford Olde Sweet Shop
Wine & Wallop
Hal Whittaker
Sabrina’s Baby & Toddler Boutique in Knutsford Market Hall
Waterstones Knutsford
Knutsford Library
Lost & Found
Bunny Business

The event is kindly sponsored by Bunny Business.

20Jun2023

Knutsford Music Festival 2023 a Great Success

Knutsford’s own music festival took place last weekend for its sixth edition, bringing an array of concerts to venues across the town! The event was a scorcher too, as the sun shone over Knutsford for the festival weekend.

The festival, which was launched back in 2017 by Knutsford Town Council, returned between 8^th – 11^th June with a varied programme to please all musical tastes! Many of the events were free of charge and hosted in a variety of cafes and bars in the town centre.

A fantastic folk programme ran for its fifth year alongside BBC Radio’s Mark Radcliffe, who once again curated an outstanding programme of folk artists from the UK and beyond to entertain hundreds of attendees in St John’s Church and Knutsford Little Theatre.

Friday Night Blues was back for a second sell out event, after the event also sold out in 2022. Blues artists from near and far performed at the stunning Brook Street Chapel Hall to a captive audience.

Music on the Moor was back on Saturday 10^th June, the festival’s free event on the Moor which brings four hours of live music and activities for all ages. The event featured eight local artists and bands who performed a variety of original material, as well as an African drumming workshop and a children’s arts and crafts workshop. More music hit the Moor on Sunday too, with free performances from City of Chester Brass Band and the Worleston School of Music.

Attendees were quick to praise the various events; Richard Wright spoke of Music on the Moor which featured the Northwich Uke Club, saying it “was brilliant – thanks to everyone who put this event on”. Mat O’Rourke enjoyed folk sensation Katherine Priddy, commenting “She was mesmerising, it was a fantastic night of music” whilst Lynn Moseley enjoyed the Budapest Café Orchestra closing the festival commenting “What a treat! Thank you”.

Fringe events including a beautiful harp concert in Knutsford Methodist Church, the Music Train from Chester to Knutsford which arrived at The Angel at King Street, as well as programmes of music all weekend inside the Lost and Found, the Courthouse and The Builders Arms ran alongside the main programme, filling the town with music for three days.

Alex Brown, Events Officer at the Town Council, said: “A huge thanks to everyone who was involved with the festival this year – it was a fantastic weekend once again with music in all corners of the town centre. Thanks again to Neptune Ltd, Slater & Gordon and Knutsford Hearing Centre for sponsoring the event and helping to make the weekend possible!”

The Town Council welcomes any feedback or suggestions for how the event can be improved for 2024. Simply email alex.brown@knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk. To find out more about the other events organised by the town council, check out their events calendar on their website now: https://www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/events-calendar

2Jun2023

Knutsford Music Festival Full Programme Announced

Knutsford Music Festival returns with a bang this month with an exciting line up set to take stage and a full programme of fringe events around Knutsford. The three-day festival will take place from 9thth to 11th June with a special pre festival concert on the evening of the 8th.

Festival organisers at the Town Council have arranged a brilliant night of blues and a classical music evening as well as collaborating with BBC Radio’s Mark Radcliffe to bring a line-up of incredible folk music to the festival.

A sold-out special one-off show will kick of the weekend at Thursday 8th at Knutsford Little Theatre with a folk compilation from Mark Radcliffe & Friends.

Friday showcases folk musician Georgia Ruth with support from Chris Fox & John Parker at St Johns Church at 7.30pm. Over at Brook Street Chapel there will be ‘Friday Night Blues’ at 7.30pm featuring Simster & Small Blues Duo, Southern Fried Groove Queens with a headline performance from troubadour Sean Taylor.

During the afternoon of Saturday the 10th there will be a free open to all event on the Moor from 12 – 4pm featuring live music and activities for all ages. In the evening, Katherine Priddy will headline ‘Folk at the Church’ with support from The Weeping Willows.

Sunday’s line up includes the folk performance from Budapest Café Orchestra at Knutsford Little Theatre starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets for all headline events can be purchased via www.knutsfordmusicfestival.com .

Throughout the weekend there will be some fantastic fringe events popping up in establishments throughout Knutsford and Knutsford town centre. With everything from Americana rock to community choirs there will be a gig to suit every musical taste.

The fringe events include;

Friday 9th June
6pm Luson at The Lost & Found
7:30pm Lucas Marks & The Glorious Unknown at The Lost & Found
8pm Nelson Peach at The Angel

Saturday 10th June
11am Knutsford Beats on Regent Street
1pm Phoenix Voices Choir on Regent Street
1pm All Day Music at The Lost & Found
4pm Dexter’s House Jazz Bad at Dexter & Jones
7:30pm Gus Glynn at The Tea Room
And Music all weekend at The Courthouse from The Courthouse Live Sessions

Sunday 11th June
11am Knutsford Star Choir on Regent Street
From 3pm a dynamic selection of music from Simon Sackey, Blue Walker and Kojo

You can now see all events planned on our gig guide: Knutsford Music Festival 2023 Gig Guide.

1Jun2023

Charity head shave for Christie Hospital!

A charity head shave at Knutsford Market Hall has raised over £1,500 for Christie Hospital.

Local resident Kevin Jardine volunteered to take part in the head shave, with Pino Tracanna, the Market Hall Barber. The shave took place on Saturday 27th May and was a fitting finale to the market hall’s Love your Local Market fortnight of promotions.

Kevin said, “I was delighted to take part in the charity head shave and raise money for Christie’s. Like many people, I have lost friends and family to cancer, and this is a cause close to my heart. To exceed the target is amazing. I would like to thank everyone who donated, including my friends who didn’t think I had much hair in the first place! A huge thanks to Pino, the market hall barber, the wonderful Christie Bears and Sandra Curties for organising.”

The charity head shave originally had a target of £750 which was soon exceeded, and the total raised so far stands at £1,560. The shave was run in partnership with local fundraising group Christie Bears. Group member Val Pallister, said, “We loved getting involved in this fundraising event. Kevin was an absolute star. We fundraise throughout the year by holding several events, having a presence at various community events and via our knitting group. Please follow our Facebook page, Christie Bears Knutsford to find out more ”.

It is not too late to donate – the fundraising page is still open and can be found at: https://shorturl.at/aBIQ3

Knutsford Market Hall is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8am to 4pm. Traders are as follows – Style Loft Boutique, The Market Butcher, M&J Cards, Jonty’s Fruit & Veg, The Market Café, Sabrina’s Baby and Toddler Boutique, Slipped Discs, NYX Cat Crystals, Radchester’s Garden Ornaments, The Market Hall Barber and Med Olives. Coming soon is a Thai stall – Kanom Thai.

24May2023

Flash Fashion hailed a success

May 20^th saw Knutsford hold its third and most successful to date Flash Fashion event. The spring sunshine brought residents and visitors alike into the town to shop for the latest spring/summer womenswear.

The day also saw the event’s first catwalk show held at The Lost and Found. The show was introduced by Councillor Stewart Gardiner and kindly compered by Nikki Cartwright of Detaljer. The models were volunteers or friends of the boutiques taking part with dressers from Knutsford Academy and it proved the perfect way to start the day and the staff at the Lost and Found were the consummate hosts providing welcome drinks and discounted breakfast for guests.

Sandra Curties, Town Centre Manager, said, “This was our first catwalk show and it was lovely to see the venue packed out – it was standing room only when the show commenced – with people enjoying their goody bags and taking photos of their favourite outfits, before venturing into town.”

Pauline Leadbetter, owner of Chalk 33 on King Street said, “This was my third Flash Fashion event and the most successful. My customers enjoyed the fashion show and as soon as it finished my shop was busy all day with new and existing customers. The day raised awareness of the Chalk 33 brand. What a lovely day for Knutsford.”

Roberta Dyer, of Roberta Beauty Redefined said, “We really enjoyed taking part in this event on both a personal and professional level! I tried my hand at modelling for The Edit for the catwalk show and afterwards had pop-ups at both Cocaranti and Willow Boutiques. This worked great for both raising awareness of the Roberta brand and selling the Dermalogica range. All in all, a fantastic day, and a true collaborative event across the town’s boutiques”

A selfie frame was placed in Cotton Shop Yard for shoppers to enjoy and a competition was run in partnership with Pulse of Perfumery for the ’best selfie’ taken on the day. This was won by local resident Lauren Leach who is to collect her bottle of fragrance from the King Street Perfumier direct.

Sandra Curties, continued, “We have received extremely positive feedback from everyone involved on the day. We do these events to raise the profile of Knutsford as a shopping destination, increase footfall in the town, increase both revenue, and brand awareness for those involved and so far, it seems all criteria was met.”

Flash Fashion was sponsored by Knutsford Dry Cleaners which is celebrating its 30^th year in business this year. Mobberley Dental practice sponsored the catwalk show.

19May2023

Knutsford Music Festival’s Fantastic Folk Line Up

Next month Knutsford Music Festival will return for its sixth year starting off on the 8^th June with an exclusive pre-festival event at Knutsford Little Theatre from Mark Radcliffe & Friends. This one-off show, hosted and featuring BBC Radio presenter Mark Radcliffe, will not only launch the music festival but is also one of four acts in the Folk programme of the long weekend event. This opening night is close to selling out so act fast to secure tickets.

The Town Council is again working with Mark to host a weekend of leading folk acts, at Folk in the Theatre/Folk in the Church.

Starting on Friday the 9^th June at 7:30pm at St John’s Church, Welsh musician Georgia Ruth will be headlining. Using folk influences to create a truly unique sound, her debut album Week of Pines won the Welsh Music Prize in 2013 and was nominated for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The support act will be Chris Fox & John Parker Folk troubadour and bassist duo.

Katherine Priddy will headline on Saturday 10^th, again at the beautiful St John’s Church, at 7:30pm. The Birmingham-based artist who emerged onto the Folk scene with her long-awaited debut EP ‘Wolf’ in 2018 will be joined by Australian Alt-Country duo The Weeping Willows.

Closing the weekend, and the final night of the folk programme is Budapest Café Orchestra bringing gypsy and folk flavoured music in their own surprising way. Doors open at the Little Theatre at 7pm with the event starting at 7:30pm.

Mark Radcliffe said ‘Once again thanks to the council, St.John’s and Knutsford Little Theatre for supporting me in my ongoing mission to brink the very best folk and acoustic artists to our little festival. I really urge you to come. I promise you music and entertainment of the highest standard and we need you there. We want to keep this going and without you backing us – we can’t do that. So come. You won’t regret it’.

Tickets for all the Knutsford Music Festival Events including all Folk performances are available at https://www.knutsfordmusicfestival.com/buytickets. The festival also includes evenings of classical music and a Friday Night Blues session, alongside a variety of performances in local businesses. Programmes with full details of events will be available from venues around Knutsford very soon.

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