Kirkgate Quarter Chronicle August 2026

Welcome to the August edition of the Kirkgate Quarter Chronicle.

Are you all set for the solar eclipse tomorrow? Don’t forget this week is the peak time to see the Perseid meteor shower too, keep your eyes peeled on Wednesday and Thursday night for a spectacular show. The busiest time for the shooting stars is between 2 and 4am, and it looks as if we’ll be blessed with some clear skies.
Sue and Trish in the Chamber of Trade tent at Cockermouth Show, letting everyone know about our new fund raising campaign, and what’s coming up at Kirkgate.
This month we launch our ‘Pay for a Pane’ fund raising campaign. If you came along to Cockermouth Show you will know all about our latest plans for the centre. We were very fortunate to receive funding a number of years ago to replace the delapidated windows on the car park side of the building. That made a world of difference! We made the leap from single glazed sash windows to double glazed (but carefully designed to fit with the building and surrounding conservation area). No more draughty, rattling windows in the Egremont Room, better noise insulation in the auditorium, and a much tidier looking exterior. Now it’s time to finish the upgrade and sort out the very large windows on the back gable end, and the windows along the beck side of the building.

Thanks to a generous donation to the project from the Benny Walker Foundation we are able to make a start on these remaining windows, but we need your help to reach the final total.

There are a variety of window panes, so we are offering the chance to sponsor each size of pane here. If you would like to donate more, you will be given that option during the process.

If you feel you can’t stretch to a whole pane but would like to donate a different amount you can do that through our donations page.
There’s lots to be looking out of the window for this month in Cockermouth (did you see what we did there?), as we also welcome the female cyclists taking part in the Lloyds Tour of Britain. The course begins on the 19th of August, right here in Cockermouth! The riders will cover 635.8km (395 miles) of roads, with a total ascent of 8895m, travelling through Cumbria, Lancashire, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy and Powys, before crossing the finish line in Warwickshire.

Speaking of bicycles, we wonder how many of you have abandoned pedal power and now have a collection of sporty bits and pieces gathering dust (I’m certainly guilty of that! – editor). Give your unwanted sports and outdoor gear a new lease of life at our September Kirk Kit event.

Click here to find out more about registering to sell at Kirk Kit.
You might have noticed a change when you book online recently. We are now able to offer protection for your bookings! Until now refunds were only available to members of our ‘Friends of Kirkgate Arts’ scheme, but you can now add refund protection to any ticket booking. Terms and conditions apply, so it is still certainly worth considering becoming a ‘Friend’ for this perk! ‘Friends’ are entitled to a refund whatever the reason for their cancellation. Find out more about the scheme here.

@Home@Kirkgate

It’s birthday month in the office in August, with two of our staff team turning the big 5 0!

We’d like to wish both Emma and Katie a very…
Katie is taking advantage of a free Saturday night in August to have a birthday bash at the centre.

“It might seem a bit of a busman’s holiday to celebrate at the Kirkgate, but this year- as I’m turning 50, I was bullied into it by other relatives! There’s three of us reaching the half century this year, and my older brother is only 18 months ahead (he avoided any sort of party at the time, so he’s roped into this one!). The last couple of years have been difficult for a lot of my family, and we all agreed that we needed something positive to get together for. So it will not only be a birthday celebration, but also a celebration of friends and family, and coming together to eat, drink and be merry.
Photo from 46 years ago!! I loved that awful yellow dress, ah- the 70s 🙂
We’ve got a playlist at the ready, some embarrassing photographs to put on the big screen downstairs and we’ll be pinning up the bunting and the fairy lights!”

We now have some swanky new leaflets to spread the word about using the centre for events, if you know somewhere that might like a handful do get in touch. Take a look at the inside of our ‘party’ leaflet below, you might recognise a couple of faces…
contact us about hiring the Kirkgate for your event here
We can accomodate all sorts of different events and uses, for public performances, private parties, meetings, exhibitions, cinema screenings and more. The income from these hires is vital in supporting the ongoing financial security of the centre, and Kirkgate Arts & Heritage, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the prices. Few venues offer the facilities and level of support that we are able to, thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers.

First Ever Volunteer Awards@Kirkgate

As you will already know Kirkgate Arts & Heritage would not exist without it’s team of decidated volunteers. From projectionists, to envelope stuffers, sound engineers to film programmers. There are many ways our volunteers support events and activities at the centre, and beyond, and we want to thank them for their hard work and dedication.
We are opening nominations for our first Volunteer Awards! If you know of a volunteer that has gone above and beyond to make your visit to the Kirkgate the best it can be, or if there is someone that you feel has made that extra effort behind the scenes, do please let us know.
Nominate a volunteer here
Anyone can nominate, whether you are a customer, visitor or even a volunteer yourself. We will be closing the nominations at the end of September. Once we have the full list of nominees our panel of judges will deliberate, cogitate, and select the recepients of our very first Volunteer Awards.
We’re not specifying any categories, as our volunteers do so many varied jobs. These awards are special, they are to recognise that extra something that has made a real difference- either to a customer, to the organisation, to the building… Someone who deserves that extra round of applause for being amazing!

Kirkgate History and Heritage

Since this month’s newsletter features Kirkgate’s venue options, I’ve investigated some of the previous venues from Cockermouth’s past.

The Globe and the Sun (now called Seth’s Bar) both had generous assembly rooms, advertising public and private events, but Cockermouth also had at least 3 other halls which were regularly used for dances and events.

The Drill Hall- part of what is now the leisure centre- was built to provide space for young men to train for military purposes and included a gymnasium for physical fitness. It also hosted events, including one such in 1891, where a one-armed trapeze artist was invited to perform. Whilst the gymnast did not attend, there were demonstrations in the horizontal bars, musical dumbbells, quarterstaff combat, and a ladies Indian clubs routine. This entertainment was followed by a dance with a live band.
The Public Hall on Station Street, mentioned below, was one of many former entertainment venues in the town.
The Royal Assembly Rooms occupied the large building, now offices and housing, behind the Wordsworth fountain on the Crown Street roundabout. As any fans of Austen or Bridgerton know, public assembly rooms were well-used for social gatherings and dances mostly amongst select classes of people. They were also used for ticketed events and entertainments.
The West Cumbria Times on 12th December 1874 describes the following event, which must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Wonders commence at 8. Visit of the well-known and world-renowned Professor Cristo. The greatest organophonic ventriloquist ever known, hindoo illusionist and anti-spiritualist.
Grand secrets of the ancient Egyptian magicians and the startling wonders of the modern spiritualists fully explained and learned by him in Japan, China, Hindostan and Arabia, in which countries he was well-known as the man of wonder or music throatman.”

Professor Cristo travelled around the UK in the 1870’s, where a key part of his act was to reveal the techniques used by spiritualists to fake ghostly visitations and unworldly phenomena.
The third space, which operated until the mid-20th century was the Public Hall, once stood to the left of Oxfam. Policeman’s balls, local theatre and music were all hosted here regularly.  Does anyone remember attending an event here?

Eloise Stott
A Policeman’s Ball, a very grand affair!, held in the Public Hall.

Kirkgate Quarter


Do you run a local business or organisation that would like to feature in our newsletter? We love hearing local stories, and supporting everyone and anyone who is active in the community we all love. If you’d like to feature in our Kirkgate Quarter Chronicle then get in touch with katie@thekirkgate.com for more information.

EMMA’S LETTER
It sounds as if another heatwave is on the way this week, which makes me even more glad that we installed the new ventilation system. It does make a big difference, although it is fighting hard in the really hot weather! The fresh air coming in feels much better than being in a stuffy, stale, hot room. We can’t go as far as super-cooling air-con but this is still a vast improvement on the comfort of the auditorium compared to years gone by.

I’m so pleased at the response to our latest funding appeal, after speaking to lots of people at the Cockermouth Show it’s really encouraging that people want to help support our lovely centre. The new windows will be a game changer for those backstage areas, and the stairs leading up to the auditorium. If you visit in the winter you’ll know where our cold spots are! Double glazing will not just smarten up the centre but will also help us to keep the heat in (and out in the warmer months!).

So it’s another month and another step forward in making the Kirkgate Centre the best it can be, both inside and out. We want the quality of the performances we stage to be framed by the building looking (and performing) the best that it can. Of course we also pride ourselves in having top notch volunteers! I’m looking forward to seeing what responses we get to our volunteer award nominations, and I have no doubt the judges are going to have a tough job on their hands selecting the winners.

Emma Heys
Chief Executive