Pickering hand in bid for ‘UK Town Of Culture’

Pickering Town CIC (PTCIC) are leading the bid with support from Beck Isle Museum, St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Ryedale Festival, English Heritage and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Carrie Brackstone, PTCIC Operations Manager said: “The deadline was tight but we quickly managed to draw a good bunch of creatives and volunteers from the Town into a workshop to ask them what ‘their story’ of Pickering would be in order to form the bid. The workshop was a tremendous success with representation from Beck Isle Museum, Pickering Memorial Hall, Ryedale Festival, Kirk Theatre, Pickering Book Tree, Pickering Castle and Pickering Rocks.

“Pickering has a wealth of creative talent and a strong ethos of community volunteering. Over the past three years, we have proved as a small Town that we can make big things happen on a shoe-string; imagine what we could achieve if we were given a bigger budget!

“We also have some brilliant venues in our Town; a heritage railway, a motte and bailey Castle, our Church with its beautiful wall-paintings and a cosy theatre venue. We also have our Market Place which we close twice a year to host larger events like Pickering 1940s Weekend and Pickering Rocks.”

Joy Andrews, North Yorkshire Councillor for Pickering added: “Pickering is a small Town that packs a mighty punch. In many ways, our rural location has given us an advantage as our local musicians and artists have had to hone their skills independent of any formal training. This is evidenced by the thriving live music scene in Pickering and the proliferation of Art Groups at our Memorial Hall. Pickering talent is abundant and home-grown and with support from the PTCIC volunteers, the sky is the limit.”