A Day At The Lake

30 April, 1 & 2 May 2016 11am-9.00pm www.dayatthelake.org.uk

Early Bird tickets £12 adults, £6 child, under 3s free.

Wild Rumpus, producers of the award-winning Just So Festival are proud to announce A Day At The Lake, an ambitious, large-scale outdoor experience. For one weekend only, Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire will be reimagined as it was in the late 1800s as an excursion place for thousands of day trippers.

A Day At The Lake will welcome an audience of 15, 000 over 3 days to watch some of the most spellbinding outdoor arts and performance in the UK today. A series of spectaculars on the lake, to be revealed in the  months leading up to the event will include a recreation of Carlos Trower, “The African Blondin's” daring tightrope walk by Chris Bull, high-wire walker otherwise known as 'Bullzini' of the Bullzini Family. Accompanying events on the shore will include outdoor theatre, literary events, storytelling, orchestras and dance from regional, national and international artists, authors and performers. Audiences can enjoy a reimagined day at the lake on rowing boats, walks and steam trains while enjoying world class outdoor arts.

Rudyard Lake is a Staffordshire beauty spot with an amazing past as one of the early examples of mass tourism in the UK. Known as “the Blackpool of the Potteries” the two and a half mile long lake is situated near Leek on the Staffordshire-Cheshire border. Designed by engineer John Rennie, work started in 1797 with completion 3 years later to supply water for the expanding canal system, a vital artery for the industrial revolution. It still supplies this water today under the management of The Canal & River Trust. The arrival of the North Staffordshire Railway in 1849 and excursion trains from Manchester and the Potteries led to it becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations of the time.

Up to 20, 000 people a day would visit to watch cutting edge spectacles and incredible feats including Captain Webb who hosted a “Grand Aquatic Fete” in 1877 to demonstrate his prowess in being the first person to swim the channeland Carlos Trower, “The African Blondin” a celebrated tightrope walker who walked across the lake a hundred feet above the water in 1864 and 1878, drawing huge crowds 30 years after the abolition of slavery in the UK. Visitors to the lake included John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald who named their son Rudyard Kipling after the beauty spot where they first met.

A Day At The Lake will be the first event of this scale at Rudyard Lake for over 100 years and marks the first Staffordshire Day on 1 May 2016 – a day of celebration of the heritage of Staffordshire to mark 1000 years since the county was first mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.

Michael Symonns Roberts (winner of the Forward Prize, Costa Poetry Prize and Whitbread Poetry Award) has been commissioned to write a new poem inspired by events at The Lake to mark the occasion.  

Audiences who would like to share family memories of Rudyard Lake can contribute their stories to The Rudyard Lake Archive by emailing hello@wildrumpus.org.uk.

Sarah Bird and Rowan Hoban, Directors of Wild Rumpus say “from the first time we saw Rudyard Lake and heard the glorious stories that surround it we became enraptured with the idea of recreating some of those magical spectacular events that used to take place here. We hope that the audience get as swept up in the experience and the romance of the Lake as we have been”.

James Berresford Chief Executive of VisitEngland says “I am delighted that this large-scale outdoor event is taking place at Rudyard Lake in the spring. Undoubtedly attracting additional visitors and providing a welcome boost to the local visitor economy; the experience will be a cause for celebration for the wonderful heritage of Staffordshire, marking the inaugural Staffordshire Day.”

Mark Winnington, Cabinet Member for the Economy at Staffordshire County Council says: “We are incredibly excited to be supporting this spectacular event which will not only celebrate and bring the past to life of one of our hidden gems but will bring a host of colourful, vibrant and dramatic high quality arts and cultural events to our communities and beyond!  The event will provide a welcome boost to our already booming tourism sector, attract even more visitors and coincides with our very first ever Staffordshire Day on 1 May when we'll be celebrating our great county.”

A Day At The Lake is delivered in partnership with The Rudyard Lake Trust, The Rudyard Lake  League Of Friends, The Canal & River Trust, Staffordshire County Council and Enjoy Staffordshire.

Sign up to the newsletter at www.dayatthelake.org.uk and follow A Day At The Lake on Facebook and Twitter at #dayatthelake

For media information, images, interviews and press tickets contact:

Gemma Gibb gemma.gibb@wildrumpus.org.uk 07958 700 818 @GemmaGibb

USEFUL LINKS

Rudyard Lake Archive http://rudyardlake.co.uk/

Rudyard Lake League of Friends http://www.rudyardlake.com/index.htm

The Potteries http://www.thepotteries.org/did_you/002.htm

Enjoy Staffordshire http://www.enjoystaffordshire.com/Leek-Rudyard-Lake/details/?dms=3&venue=6026625

Canal & River Trust https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/destination/83/rudyard-lake

The African Blondin http://theafricanblondin.com/

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. A Day At The Lake will take place on 30 April, 1 and 2 May 11am – 9pm at Rudyard Lake, Staffordshire ST13  8XB
2. A Day At The Lake will be a large scale outdoor event for all ages, with an audience of 15,000 over the three evenings.
3. Early Bird tickets cost £12 per adult, £6 per child. Under 3s go free. www.adayatthelake.org.uk
4. A Day At The Lake marks the first Staffordshire Day on 1 May 2016.
5. 30 December 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of Kipling's birth and 2016 marks the 80th anniversary of his death on 18 January 1936
6. Wild Rumpus CIC is a social enterprise, based in Cheshire, who organise large scale family outdoor arts events in mostly natural landscapes. They produce the multi award-winning Just So Festival(National Outdoor Event Association's Large Festival of the Year 2015), and other productions in 2016 include The Lost Carnivaland a unique participatory theatre event at Barnaby Festival. Wild Rumpus believe in the power of a wonderful moment to change the way that audiences engage in the arts together and their mantra is “if we don't give you goosebumps we are not doing it right”.
7. The Bullzini Family perform bespoke, site specific high wire walks with stories, wowing crowds across the world and at Just So, Glastonbury and Shambala Festivals in the UK.