‘For the Love of Wetherby’ is a project that came to fruition during lockdown when the arts and culture sector was forced to go dark due to the pandemic. Two local theatre directors planted a seed of an idea that has since grown and is now ready to bloom thanks to support and funding from Leeds 2023. The project focuses on the identity of Wetherby as a ward  of Leeds and part of  Leeds 2023. It’s a collaboration between the lead artists John R. Wilkinson and Ali Pidsley, and the community to share stories they want to tell. The project is now at the stage of collating memories and stories of this historic town located in West Yorkshire via a call out to anyone who wishes to take part in this legacy project.

 

Wetherby-born John R. Wilkinson and Ali Pidsley were keen to keep on working and using their skills and knowledge to help give the people of Wetherby a voice and an outlet for creativity by sharing their stories, real or imagined, of the area.

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Wilkinson and Pidsley are proud of Wetherby and are frustrated at having had to venture outside the area and travel across the country to find opportunities to feed their creative ideas with one of them working at York Theatre Royal in North Yorkshire and the other living and working in London pre-pandemic. With almost two years in and out of lockdown due to COVID, they have had plenty of time to come up with creative ideas, but this time closer to home, and as part of this project, they are running free writing and storytelling workshops in the new year for the residents of Wetherby as a way of sharing their knowledge and experience for free whilst collating some heart-warming stories of the town.

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Anyone interested in this community project can find out more and express their interest by subscribing to the dedicated email newsletter or by emailing the team wetherbyarts@hotmail.com or at the earliest opportunity so their stories can be captured and shared by March 2022.

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 Ali Pidsley apidsley1@googlemail.com  07894 240982

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For more information about the project and the workshop, head to the full press release. 

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Publicist: Sofia Cann

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