THIS WEEKEND: Plenty to whet the appetite at Tamworth Food Festival

THIS weekend, Tamworth’s first ever food festival takes place during a packed weekend of activities for the whole family.

The eagerly-anticipated festival comes to the Castle Grounds on Saturday September 12^th and Sunday September 13^th, amid a host of other events and entertainment for people of all ages.

More than 60 of the region’s finest artisan food and drink producers will descend on the Castle Grounds bringing top quality and unique delicacies for people to sample and buy.

Tamworth’s Town Team, Destination Tamworth, has joined forces with Ashby-based ‘Food Gusto’ to showcase the best the town and wider Midlands region has to offer in the way of culinary delights.

The festival will include a cupcake competition, for which people are invited to bring their best cupcake creations to the main marquee by 11.30am on the Saturday. This will be judged by international personal chef Simon Smith, who will also be cooking live throughout the day.

Street entertainer Mark a la Carte will add to the atmosphere on Saturday, while local vocal group The Jays will provide live music throughout the Sunday.

And it’s not just the Tamworth Food Gusto Festival that will be drawing the crowds; there is plenty more besides to entertain families.

The first day of the festival coincides with the annual Stars and Stripes line dancing day, which will see hundreds of people dancing the day the away to live music while raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Music starts at 11am and will include everything from country classics to pop hits. All are encouraged to get involved and have a go.

Sunday is also national Heritage Open Day and will again see a large number of Tamworth buildings throwing their doors open to the public free of charge, alongside a whole host of events, all designed to honour and show off the town’s rich history.

Free entry to Tamworth Castle (which must be booked in advance), an 80^th anniversary display of Reliant cars, wartime stories of Tamworth families revealed in a new book and a brand new open air theatre performance are among the highlights of this year’s event.

Other attractions include exhibitions in the Town Hall, walkabout characters including the Town Crier, Thomas Guy, medieval gravediggers and a Peeler, opportunities to climb the double helix spiral staircase at St Editha’s Church and tea and cake in the Thomas Guy Almshouses.

There will also be Green Badge guided tours of the town centre which must be booked in advance through Tamworth Tourist Information Centre on 01827 709581.

The weekend also sees the exclusive performance of a brand new play, devised and performed by the people of Tamworth as part of a unique project taking place in the town this year.

Tales of Tamworth, directed by Simon Quinn of Fired Up Theatre, will be performed under the Town Hall at 12noon on both Saturday and Sunday.

“Tamworth really is the place to be during the weekend of September 12^th and 13^th,” said Tourism and Town Centre Development Officer Stacy Birt.

“A lot of hard work has gone into organising all of these events and we hope lots of people will come and enjoy them. Tamworth has so much to offer and we are very fortunate to have such a wide and varied programme of events.

“It is a great testament to the area that so many businesses are lending their support to our first ever food festival and we hope that this too will become a popular feature of the events calendar.”

Entrance to the Tamworth Food Gusto Festival area will be charged at £1 per adult while under-16s (accompanied by an adult) get in free.