Crowdfunder campaign launched

Can you help us raise money for the Kirkgate Centre? During the pandemic much has been developing within the Kirkgate to keep the centre up to date and serving the community’s needs. We have had an anonymous donation which has paid for half of the building to be painted, finally saying good bye to our glossy pinky/purple! We are now …

New chair sought for Cockermouth charity

A lively Cockermouth charity with ambitious plans for the future is looking for a new chair to lead its Board of Trustees. Kirkgate Arts and Heritage runs Cockermouth’s Kirkgate Centre entertainment venue as well as a host of other arts and heritage activities throughout West Cumbria. The previous chair, Marion Bowman, is retiring after 8 years on the Board and …

Windows On Kirkgate’s World

Cockermouth’s community and entertainment venue, the Kirkgate Centre, has raised £17,000 to replace 13 of its large ground floor windows. The new windows have been custom-made by local firm Thomas Armstrong to the high standards required by the Conservation Area regulations that cover the historic centre of Cockermouth. ‘During the lockdowns of the past two years we have been working …

New Faces At Cockermouth Charity

Two new Trustees and a Company Secretary have been appointed at a popular Cockermouth charity. David Thomas, a retired NHS Finance Director who recently moved to Cockermouth, has joined the Board as Honorary Treasurer. Helen Hardy, Science Digital Programme Manager at the Natural History Museum in London, will help develop Kirkgate’s local history collection. Cockermouth resident Rob Higgins, a solicitor …

Dear Diary: School children follow Dorothy’s journey

A class of excited school children have followed Dorothy Wordsworth’s life’s journey from Cockermouth to Dove Cottage, Grasmere. On a special trip last week organised by Kirkgate Arts and Heritage, All Saints’ Primary School Year 6 children aged 10 and 11 travelled through the Lake District to the cottage that Dorothy and William Wordsworth shared and where they both wrote …

Cockermouth entertainment centre calls for more government support

A Cockermouth charity is calling on the government to provide more support to community arts and entertainment venues hit by the rising numbers of Covid cases. ‘Small venues such as the Kirkgate Centre which are so important to small towns like Cockermouth have had nearly two years of struggling to survive,’ said Chair of Kirkgate Arts and Heritage Marion Bowman. …

Letter Published In The Guardian, December 24 2021

Dear Editor, Dorothy Wordsworth’s rare achievement (Editorial, 19 December 2021) as the other great writer in the Wordsworth family and an early environmentalist is the focus of a year-long celebration of her life in the town where she was born on Christmas Day 250 years ago – Cockermouth, Cumbria. The centrepiece of the project, supported by our local councils, the …

Festive revels at Cockermouth’s Kirkgate

Cockermouth’s Kirkgate Centre is getting into the swing of Christmas with a string of mid-winter entertainments to carry the town through the festive season and beyond. Leading the pack are the young performers of the Kirkgate Youth Theatre on Thursday 9 December at 7pm, with an original show, Sparkles of Light. Building on their street theatre act from last summer’s …

Dorothy Wordsworth to Light Up Cumbria’s Christmas

A specially commissioned artwork representing Dorothy Wordsworth is to be part of the town centre Christmas lights in Cockermouth, Cumbria. The ‘Portrait of Dorothy’ is being switched on at a major outdoor event on November 21. The portrait is a light installation that will stand on a temporary plinth in the middle of Cockermouth’s Main Street near Wordsworth House where …

New Leader at Cockermouth’s Kirkgate

Cockermouth’s entertainment and cultural hub, the Kirkgate, has appointed a new General Manager to take forward its revived programme of creative arts, entertainment and community activities following the closures caused by Covid-19. Emma Heys, of Greysouthen, will take up her new post with the charity next week (September 13). Ms Heys has had a long association with Kirkgate Arts and …