Kirkgate Quarter Chronicle December 2025

Welcome to the December Kirkgate Quarter Chronicle, and with it all the best Seaons Greetings! Do you like our festive picture above? Thanks to local artist Aisling for creating this lovely image.

It would usually be around this time that we’d be putting our feet up and saying ‘that’s a wrap!’ for the year, but not this year. If you’re looking for something fun for New Year’s eve, we’re keeping up the momentum right down to the last second of 2025 with a one off NYE extended cabaret show. Look out for details in the coming days…

We won’t keep you long this month, as we know you’ll be busy getting the sprouts on 😉

Just a few words about a couple of recent, particularly touching, moments at Kirkgate.
What an incredible year 2025 has been at Kirkgate Arts. The building has been transformed thanks to significant investment, we’ve had all sorts of crazy events on to celebrate our 30th, and this year also saw us playing a crucial part in a national heritage project that nobody ever expected to be so emotional.

I think our Helen will definitely need a few days off this Christmas, to reflect on the moving comments we’ve had about Our Freedom Then and Now. Scroll down to read more from Helen, and Jessie- one of the artists who helped us bring the project together in such a beautiful way.
‘It has been an honour to work with Jessie McMeekin, J P Worsfold and Dave Camlin on the Our Freedom: Then and Now project. We have had so much wonderful and powerful feedback. A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the project, came along to see the shows and the volunteers who helped make it all happen. It is moments like these that make it all worthwhile.
The show on Sunday the 14th December was recorded and we will share the video once it’s been edited.’ Helen Johnston

The card reads:
“As a citizen of Poland, I was particularly moved by the show. It presented a beautiful perspective on the freedom where emigrants from central Europe found home in the UK. And this event is celebrated 80 years later, being still important.”
‘Working on this project has been absolutely fascinating. It’s been incredible to be able to dive into the archives and view original photos, letters and even concert programmes dating from Cockermouth’s wartime years. What really captured my imagination were the first hand accounts of people who remembered what it was like living in the town as an evacuee, or who lived at Camp Moota when it was a POW camp and then a YMCA hostel. It brought that period of history to live so vividly. And something which will stay with is the extraordinary power of the moments in the creative writing workshops where people were invited to share what they’d written about what Freedom means to them now. It’s felt like a real privilege to be entrusted with those stories to share them and tell them, and so exciting to do that in collaboration with musician JP Worsfold, and the singers in the scratch community choir led by Dave Camlin.’ Jessie McMeekin

EMMA’S LETTER

or is it….?
Well, it turns out Emma is on her festive holidays, so it’s down to me to fill in and write a letter to you all. But what to type? There’s so much to say!

I’ll leave it for another day to tell you all about the stuff and things we’ve got in store for 2026, and you already know what a crazy busy fantastic year 2025 has been (my favourite was Alligator Gumbo, and the FABULOUS outfits in the audience!). Do keep an eye on your inbox for our Twelve Days of Christmas, a selection of treats coming soon.

What I’m going to share with you is the reason I’m in the building this week, a bit of a clean and tidy and reset after a very special event. But this event isn’t one you will have seen on the website, as it was a private hire of the centre for a winter solstice wedding.

I can feel my eyes filling up just thinking about it. What a beautiful bunch of folks, and oh my word they made the place look so very pretty!! (If you still need a Christmas tree do pop along and collect the one outside the centre- it’s waiting on the railings for a new home after doing a great job on our stage) I’m hoping we can share some photo’s with you in the new year.

A bit of a theme of the day was light coming from darkness, with it being the point in the year when the days are at their shortest, and how we all bring lights to each other’s lives. Events like that remind me why I love the Kirkgate so much, it’s not just a building, and events here are not just events. It’s a place to come together and shine together. To bring that light into all our lives, through sharing experiences.

Whether it’s a party, a gig, a film, an exhibition- whatever it is you come here to enjoy, it makes you part of the extended Kirkgate family. Never more apparent than seeing the emotional impact of the Community Musical event, from creation to performance. Not a dry eye in the house after JP Worsfold’s song was brought to life by the choir.

I’m certainly glad we’ve now turned the corner to gradually lighter days, and I hope this Christmas brings all of us much light and joy. Have a wonderful time, whether it’s filled with tinsel and parties, or cosy peace and quiet. May your light twinkle brightly!

lots of love!
The Kirkgate Pixie xx