​Season of Light and Hope continues in the run-up to Christmas

Art, drama, music and spiritual sustenance is here to bring festive cheer to Bury residents as Christmas draws near.

We continue our focus of light and hope, through which we’ve celebrated the festivals of Diwali and Chanukah, including an exploration of the role that light plays across different faiths. As the season moves forward, a number of streamed events are taking place over the coming days for all the family to tune into and enjoy for free.

Highlights still to come within the Bury Town of Culture Light and Hope season include:

• Thursday 17 December - a pre-recorded service from Bury Parish Church will be streamed, on the day that the annual Greater Manchester Police and Bury Council Carol Service would usually take place. While people cannot attend the service in person, going digital means that everyone can get in! The service will be available through the Town of Culture Facebook page – and you don’t need to have a Facebook account to view the stream. https://www.facebook.com/BuryCulture

• Friday 18 December - Bury Art Museum presents the launch of “Thank Art: Winter’s Drawing In”, a figure drawing session with Edwardian(ish) visitor assistant Archibald Croaker with original songs by Magpahi and Black Jack Barnet inspired by the museum’s collection. Tune into Bury Art Museum’s Facebook page at 4.30pm with your drawing materials at the ready! https://www.facebook.com/buryartgallery/

• Also on Friday 18 December - Footlights Bury take to the stage. The young performers shared their story in October on the Town of Culture social channels in a crowd-sourced performance of “You Will be Found”, and on Saturday at 7pm we will broadcast a recording of a special performance they have put together for this occasion on the Town of Culture Facebook page.

• Sunday 20 December – in conjunction with The Met, we bring you “A Very Bury Christmas” – a free online celebration of the best of Bury’s community creativity with a mix of live performances and moments captured from throughout the year. You can view this through the following links (again, you don’t need a Facebook account to access the streams) https://www.facebook.com/BuryCulture & https://www.facebook.com/metbury

All of these are free to watch, and don’t worry if you miss them live as the videos will remain on the Town of Culture Facebook pages after they stream; if you missed last weekend’s performances by Bury Choral Society and Bloco Ashe Samba band, then check them out!

• Finally, there’s a free family stream of “Little Darlings” available from 22 to 24 December. For more details and to view the stream, visit https://themet.org.uk/event/little-darling/

Councillor Jane Black, cabinet member for the cultural economy, said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to bring even more light and hope to people this December as we showcase the creativity of our borough. This richness is demonstrated by the variety in performances we’re able to enjoy and by giving groups a platform to share their talents online I hope this will brighten up December evenings, giving everyone something to lift spirits and a smile”

ENDS

Press release issued: 16 December 2020.