Tag: Fenland

St George’s Fayre 2025

Posted on by Lucy Amos

Below, you’ll find our full programme of events, including the infamous St George’s parade.

During the Parade – Starting at 10am from Robingoodfellows Lane

Same Sky puppets – An extraordinary procession of magnificent giant puppets! Witness the legendary St George and an enchanting princess puppet come to life in a vibrant community celebration. In the weeks leading up to the Fayre, Same Sky will be hosting local workshops to craft and prepare more extraordinary parade elements with the community for them to proudly display during the parade.

Enchanted Flower Globe – Meet Floris, the joyful flower nymph who lives inside this magical and unique mobile microclimate. Her magical world is filled with butterflies and charm, magic and wonder. The globe will also be at the market place when not performing in the parade – come and meet Floris and the creatures she lives among.

Plus – Look out for the giant March Hare created by local artist Cary Outis!

Drop-in activities in the Dome, 11am – 4pm

Potting and Planting workshop – Learn how to start a herb garden on your windowsill. Discover the pleasures of using home-grown herbs in your cooking while learning about growing your own food.

Wildflower Seed ball creation – Create your own wildflower seed balls. Perfect for enhancing your garden’s biodiversity, supporting community green spaces, or giving as thoughtful, sustainable gifts.

Herbal Tea Tasting – Try a selection of naturally grown herbal teas while learning about their various health benefits. Learn about how these natural remedies can lead to a healthier body and mind.

WiseUp RiseUp DJ Workshop – On-the-day bookable sessions, with 15 slots available on a first-come, first-served basis. Hands-on interactive sessions learning the basic of DJing on industry standard equipment with experienced industry professionals.

Selling vintage fabrics (outside the Dome) – Browse the sustainable fabrics by ‘byKatyMac,’ an eco-conscious designer specialising in slow fashion. Discover unique garments and theatrical costumes crafted from vintage and pre-loved household textiles.

Plus – More free, drop-In activities to be announced!

MarketPlace Arts, the new name for MarketPlace, a statement from Creative Director and CEO Rob Drummer

Posted on by Lucy Amos

I wanted to explain these changes and share how we’ve arrived at this point as well as celebrate the brilliant support we’ve had getting here. Since I joined the organisation in January 2024, I have been deeply inspired by the projects with our communities and the growing of new relationships across Fenland and West Suffolk.

MarketPlace is currently in its third phase of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places Programme which by spring 2026 will mean 11 years of co-creating a diverse range of activities, events and projects with communities across Fenland and West Suffolk. Since the beginning we have been supported by a consortium of partners, led by Babylon Arts who all invest a huge amount of time and resources into our programme.  

Following the decision by trustees of Babylon Arts to close the organisation by September 2025, we were informed that reluctantly Babylon would be stepping away from the MarketPlace programme as of 31st March 2025. In order to secure our funding from Arts Council England and to continue delivering our programme, MarketPlace Arts has constituted as a charity in its own right.

As well as moving our administrative office from Ely to March, the team will be working more frequently in each of the market towns across Fenland and West Suffolk year round. We are especially grateful to the town councils of Chatteris and Wisbech, and our partners in Brandon and Mildenhall for helping us look for a base and are keen to find workspace in Whittlesey and Newmarket by spring 2026. Our small but dedicated team already travels across the region, working on a series of projects year round and we can’t wait to have even more of a presence as the year progresses. 

For any of you who have been following the past 12 months of our work, you hopefully have seen some of the incredible events our communities have co-created. We’re on a mission to meet more people, produce larger, more surprising and diverse activities and can’t wait to get stuck into the next year. This is an exciting time for culture in Fenland and West Suffolk and we are looking forward to being useful in supporting everyone who lives, works and studies here access high quality creative activity. 

Rob Drummer

Creative Director & CEO 

Centre Stage

Posted on by Lucy Amos

Project Overview

Centre Stage puts the people of Wisbech in the spotlight, celebrating the diversity of the people that call this historic town their home. The project draws inspiration from a remarkable unfinished painting in the Wisbech and Fenland Museum’s collection. This project is a powerful narrative of Wisbech’s living history, bridging past and present by celebrating the community’s rich diversity and ongoing story.

Historical Inspiration

The project is rooted in an unfinished painting by Alfred Balding, depicting Wisbech Market Place during the celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. This artwork features many of the town’s residents within a still-recognisable market place backdrop, with many locals having paid for the privilege of being featured.

Contemporary Vision

CentreStage aims to capture a contemporary snapshot of Wisbech through photographic portraits representing the diverse communities that make up the town. These portraits will be housed within a unique, theatre set-inspired model that reimagines the market place for the 21st century.

Community Collaboration

The project will be created through a collaborative effort involving the community of Wisbech, lead artists Electric Egg, and a professional set designer.

Exhibition Details

The final interactive installation will be shared and displayed at the Wisbech & Fenland Museum in October 2025, featuring the new portraits alongside the original 1887 painting.

Want to get involved or find out more?

Email us at hello@marketplacearts.org.uk

Light Up The Town

Posted on by Lucy Amos

The Light Up The Town project successfully brought communities together across Fenland and West Suffolk, transforming local towns with stunning light projection art during early 2025. Collaborating with SDNA Moving Image, the project illuminated public spaces and historic buildings, creating magical evenings that brought residents together during the transition from winter to spring.

We saw over 1,500 of you visit the light shows that lit up buildings in Chatteris, March, Wisbech, Whittlesey, Brandon, Mildenhall, and Newmarket in early 2025.

West Suffolk Light Shows

The West Suffolk leg of the project featured three captivating evenings:

  • Brandon came alive on Tuesday, 25th February at the Town Council’s Old School House on Market Hill
  • Mildenhall was beautifully illuminated on Wednesday, 26th February at St. Mary’s Church
  • Newmarket concluded the West Suffolk shows on Thursday, 27th February at St. Mary’s Church

Fenland Light Celebrations

The Fenland towns followed with their own spectacular light displays:

  • Wisbech kicked off on Monday, 3rd March at Museum Square
  • March hosted its event on Wednesday, 5th March at the Town Hall
  • Chatteris shone brightly on Thursday, 6th March at the Church of St Peter & St Paul
  • Whittlesey concluded the series on Friday, 7th March at Saint Mary’s Church

Community Response

The free, family-friendly events drew significant community participation. Residents enjoyed the experiencing the mesmerising light projections that transformed familiar local landmarks into canvases of artistic expression.

The project successfully achieved its goal of reconnecting communities, offering a unique and uplifting cultural experience that celebrated local heritage and creativity.

Fen Voices performance

Posted on by Lucy Amos

On a beautiful Summer’s evening community writers and their family and friends from across Fenland and Suffolk met for the first time at the Fenland Orchard’s Project, Wisbech to hear local actors bring a new verse drama to life.

These first-time and returning writers joined facilitator Belona Greenwood’s Voices of Forest & Fen online workshops to research and create historical and modern stories from the Fens which were then woven into a verse drama – Fen Voices – which took inspiration from Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, 

An audience member described the event as ‘…moving, unexpected…’ whilst the writers enjoyed seeing and hearing the fruits of their labour, meeting with the other people who shaped it, making new friends and meeting new people with shared values. “It’s all about people and place, and this was brought together well. Feels like the start of something, not the end.”

Read Belona’s blog introducing the original project

Wisbech Rose Fair

Posted on by Lucy Amos

We returned to Rose Fair, with lots of creativity and fun for everyone to get involved with in and around the town centre.

We reunited with the brilliant Mandinga Arts who took part in the parade and performed their brand new show ‘Pansy Postal Service’ at in the church gardens, complete with human flowers. Their bright and imaginative costumes were the perfect addition to the parade.

Artist Karin Forman held drop-in creative sessions in the sensory garden where people could make their own intricate paper flowers to take home.

Plus, we unveiled our street art sculpture which was installed in Horse Fair shopping centre, designed and spray-painted by the local community in our public workshops with Artist and Illustrator Nick Shove.

Rose Fair spraypainting workshops

Posted on by Lucy Amos

The community got stuck into our drop-in spray painting sessions at REMO in Wisbech, guided by street artist Nick Shove in the lead up to Wisbech Rose Fair.

These drop-in workshops were free and suitable for all ages. White umbrellas were used to spray on the colourful designs. These were then built into a giant sculpture which was on display during Wisbech Rose Fair.

Art Road Trip

Posted on by Lucy Amos

MarketPlace has partnered with The National Gallery for Art Road Trip as part of their 200th year celebrations. Together we have curated a two week creative programme designed to bring art and creativity to communities in Wisbech and Mildenhall. This July, we are welcoming an art studio across multiple locations in both towns, along with a range of free, open to all, hands on creative workshops.

The travelling studio will be stationed at various locations across Wisbech from 2-6 July and Mildenhall from 9-13 July, with free workshops and interactive activities for all. We’ll be encouraging everyone to get creative, inspired by the theme of ‘Look up and take to the skies’ in Mildenhall, and ‘More than meets the eye‘ in Wisbech. Two incredible artists from The National Gallery, Chioma Ince and Alex Bowie will be facilitating these sessions, exploring a variety of techniques and practices.

The Art Road Trip mobile studio will be at the following locations in Wisbech: 

  • 2nd – 3rd July: Outside the Oasis Centre (St Michael’s Ave, PE13 3NR) – drop in between 10-4

  • 4th July: Peckover House (N Brink, PE13 1JR) – drop in between 10:30-4:30

  • 5th – 6th July: Market Square (PE13 1DT) – drop in between 10-5

The Art Road Trip mobile studio will be at the following locations in Mildenhall:

  • 9th July: Mildenhall Hub Plaza (Sheldrick Way, IP28 7JX) – Camera Obscura making drop-in workshops between 10-12 and 2-4

  • 10th July: Mildenhall Lodge Care Home (St John’s Cl, IP28 7NX) – Zoom in and discover: expressive marks of Van Gogh drop-in workshops between 10.30-12 and 2-4

  • 11th July: Mildenhall Hub Plaza (Sheldrick Way, IP28 7JX) – Life in the Sky: exploring with sculptural materials drop-in workshop between 10:30-12 and History of Cyanotypes: using the sky to make art workshop between 1-3:30

  • 12th July: Mildenhall Museum (6 King St, IP28 7EX) – Sky Stories: concertina book drop-in workshop between 10:30-12.

  • 13th July: Market Place (IP28 7EF) – World building in the wind: transforming the market square into a new imagined world all day drop-in between 10-4

Drop in workshops include making stories from the sky, exploring sculptural materials, printing with the sun and transforming the market square into a new imagined world. Mixed age groups welcome. Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Community Workshops Throughout June

Wisbech:
We will be working with artist Ann Bellamy and using found pictures from local charity shops to explore the theme ‘More than meets the eye’. Ann will be working at Peckover House and across Wisbech before the Art Road Trip starts in July.

Mildenhall:
We will be running community creative writing workshops in June exploring the theme of ‘Look up and take to the skies’. The theme reflects Mildenhall’s celebration and commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Great Air Race from Mildenhall to Melbourne in 1934. The writing that comes from these sessions will then be available to inspire anyone who joins us in July for Art Road Trip.

Later this year we will be exhibiting a series of the artworks across both towns, developed with the communities and with an accompanying guide. More details on the exhibition will be shared later this year.

Chatteris Quilters

Posted on by Lucy Amos

Chatteris Quilters runs every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. The group evolved from the positive response to quilting workshops held in Chatteris during the Autumn. These workshops were introduced based on feedback received from the community during the Chatteris Midsummer Festival in June 2023.

So far, the six sessions have been led by facilitators Susie Batchelor, Karin Forman, and Marian Savill. Each facilitator brought a unique perspective on textiles, inspiring the group to explore new ways of using them. The group has made pin cushions using English paper piecing, recycled fabric beads, patchworked postcards and sewing books. The group was also invited to bring along their own projects to work on.  

As the sessions are drop-in, and each week has a different activity, it doesn’t matter if you miss one. You can just slip back into the group with no worries of catching up!

If you’d like to join Chatteris Quilters, come along to our next series on Tuesday 9 & 23 January, Tuesday 13 & 27 February, and Tuesday 12 & 26 March 2024. Each runs from 2-4pm with refreshments provided.

Contact us for further information

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