Septembayr - The Ayr Festival

Main Programme 2012
Neil Oliver Date: Tues 25th September, 7.30pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Tickets: £15 Conc £10 One of Ayr`s most famous son`s returns to his home town to entertain an audience of fans and enthusiasts in Ayr Town Hall. Neil qualified as an archaeologist in 1988. In 2005 Neil became the lead presenter on the highly acclaimed BBC2 series Coast. The programme, now about to enter its 8th series, looks at both the natural and social history of the British coastline. In early 2011 Neil took viewers on a journey, A History of Ancient Britain, quickly followed by A History of Celtic Britain. He has also written a book to accompany the series, which was published in Autumn 2011. Buy Tickets Street Day NOTE CHANGE OF DATE... Date: Sat 8th September, 11am-3pm Venue: Newmarket Street, Ayr FREE EVENT Join us in Newmarket Street for a fun day compered by Jackson Nash cabaret artist and Elvis impersonator who will be performing throughout the day, plus entertainment from: Karen Douglas School of Dance, FIB Youth Theatre, Dalmellington Junior Band, Jennie Campbell School of Dance, Be Enchanted and Magic Malky Winchin Date: Sat 8th September, 7.30pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Tickets: £10, £8 and £5 A wonderful tale of life in Ayrshire in the 1950s. Winchin tells the story of two young Ayr lassies, Annie and Lizzie. It’s 1952, King George VI has just died and the nation awaits the forthcoming Coronation. Ayr is a hive of industry and a world of glamour and dreams await the younger generation in the town’s many Dance Halls and Picture Houses. Follow the girls as they come of age, get their first job in Gray’s Factory and fall in love… Winchin will bring back memories to those who lived through those heady days of post war freedom and humour abounds in this poignant tale of the best days of your life. A love story from the past that can be enjoyed by all generations Buy Tickets One Act Evening Date: Wed 12th September, 7pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Chambers Tickets: £5 A night’s entertainment from two local companies, one being Ayr’s oldest drama group, The Ayr Fort Players and the other, one of Ayr’s newest, Hipshot Theatre Company! The Ayr Fort Players will be performing from the comedy ‘Alarms & Excursions’. Written by Michael Frayn who wrote the West End hit, ‘Noises Off’, this piece entitled ‘Alarms’ - here we are presented with gadgets that won’t function and people that don’t communicate with each other leading to misunderstandings and a plethora of comic situations. In contrast, Hipshot Theatre Company are presenting a dramatisation of several poems from the works of Ayrshire man John Rodie. Hipshot’s performers will be celebrating John and his works - in his nineties, he is still churning out poetry! Buy Tickets		Number 5 Barber Shop Quintet Date: Thurs 13th September, 7.30pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Chambers Tickets: £10 An evening of song in various styles, with guests Hazel Keay (soprano) and Andrew Thom (Piano). Number 5 debut at the Ayrshire Festival in 1998 caused something of a sensation; they were invited back to perform at the closing concert, and repeated their success the following year. Since then they have appeared at many venues and developed a large and eclectic repertoire. Buy Tickets Septembayr Swings Date: Fri 14th September, 7.30pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Tickets: £18 SPECIAL 2 FOR 1 DEAL ON ALL TICKETS Swing with Jim McMail and ‘Kings of Cool’ Big Band. Special Guest Lisa Martin and comedian Bert Allan. Singing waitresses will be serving the refreshments at the event provided by Class Cocktails The show is sponsored by Zysis Events. Buy Tickets Tom Hingley Book Reading and Acoustic Set Date: Wed 19th September Book Reading Venue: Carnagie Library, Ayr, 7pm Acoustic Set Venue: Wellingtons Bar, Ayr, 9.30pm FREE EVENT Tom Hingley was born in 1965 in Abingdon, Oxford, the seventh and youngest child of an Oxford Don. He rose to fame in the early 90s as lead-singer with Inspiral Carpets. He is a visiting lecturer at Salford University and tours constantly as a solo artist and with his band The Lovers. Carpet Burns is Tom Hingley’s account of his life as lead singer of Inspiral Carpets, one of the big three bands of the Manchester movement who, along with The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, changed music for a generation. Tom’s own words provide an account of what it felt like to be in the eye of a pop hurricane and what happens when the hits end and the arguments kick in. “This is a fascinating and unique book about a unique and fascinating life. Memoirs are made of this.” - David Quantick “Oh my God! Every band is the same. I couldn’t put it down.” - Peter Hook Aleksander Kudajczyk Date: Thurs 20th, 7.30pm Venue: Holy Trinity Church, Ayr Tickets: £10 and £8 Aleksander Kudajczyk plays music by Mozart and Chopin. When university cleaner Aleksander Kudajczyk put down his mop to play a few notes on a grand piano he thought no one would hear him. But he his talent was heard! and he graduated from lowly cleaner to concert pianist after a spellbinding performance of Chopin compositions played to an empty room. He arrived in Britain in 2006, and landed a job cleaning Glasgow university law department. He saw no need to mention the fact he had studied at one of Poland’s finest music academies. But the unwitting public performance so enraptured his online audience that he is now playing packed venues. Tickets on the door.		The Trial Of Alice In Wonderland Date: Sat 22nd September Venue: Old District Town Court, Ayr Town Hall 11am and 12.30pm Childrens Tickets: £5 (adults accompanying free) The Queen of Hearts has gotten herself into a bit of a kerfuffle, someone has stolen her tarts and heads are going to roll! Alice stands falsely accused and must defend herself, but the trial is a mess. The Dormouse keeps wiping jam on everything, the Mad-Hatter won’t stop offering the jury tea and the Cheshire Cat is popping up everywhere to cause mischief. How are they ever going to reach a verdict? Come along, join the jury and decide for yourself in this action packed adventure in Wonderland. A magical interactive show for all the family to enjoy Buy Tickets Pirates and Fairies Themed Story Telling Date: Mon 24th September, 2pm Venue: Ayr Town Hall Chambers Tickets: £5 Come along to our fabulous Storytelling Show and let our real life Pirate and Fairy take you on a magical journey. Sail the seven seas on the Good Ship Enchanted, Sparkle like a Fairy Princess on our treasure hunt and join in all the fun of the fair on a marvellous circus adventure. A wonderful interactive Storytelling Show for all the family. Buy Tickets Scotland Bloody Scotland Date: Wednesday 26th September Venue: Ayr Town Hall, 7.30pm Tickets: £5 Terrifyingly true tales of incredible horror presented by Davy The Ghost, comedian, storyteller, historian and author, appearing as William Burke Esq. hanged 28th January 1829. Laughter and horror guaranteed! *'The Ghost With Most'*, Evening News fringe 2011 Laughter and horror Buy Tickets