Arts festival lines up fun for young visitors

Rollercoastival 2017 programme unveiled

A circus in a suitcase, an exquisite corpse, a Pied Piper and the stories of Roald Dahl will all be on offer for Scarborough youngsters next month.

A list of events and activities aimed squarely at children and young people will form part of this year’s Coastival arts festival from 18^th to 19^th February.

Rollercoastival 2017 will see 10 special events for youngsters alongside the main Coastival festival.

Suitcase Circus at the Scarborough Campus of Coventry University offers youngsters aged over six the chance to learn circus skills with award-winning performer Pete White. Sessions run at 10.30am and 1.30pm on Saturday 18^th February. The sessions are free but advance booking is required.

‘Exquisite Corpse’ is a surrealist drawing game, for youngsters aged over seven. It will be held at Scarborough Library on the Saturday at 9.30am and 12.30pm – again booking is required.

The library is also the venue for interactive and animated storytelling of the Stories of Roald Dahl. Sessions are on the Saturday from 11am to 12noon and 1pm to 2pm, for children over four.

Fancy joining in the writing and performing of a brand new song? Youngsters aged eight to 11 can do just that by joining Songlines, with community musician Sam Dunkley. There’s a workshop at the Spa Promenade Lounge on the Saturday from 10.30am to 1.30pm and then a performance at Scarborough Railway Station later the same day, at 3.30pm. Sessions are free but must be booked in advance.

The Pied Piper invites children of all ages to join Adrian Spendlow to pick up an instrument (or make their own) and join in a musical trail with a story at every stop. Sessions, at the Spa, are on both the Saturday and Sunday from 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

‘What’s in the Box’ offers children over five the chance to create a picture box from their own happy memories at the Spa Regency Room from 10am to 12noon and 1pm to 3pm on both days.

Also in the Regency Room on both days there will be art drop-in sessions with Wendy Belshaw and Katie Braida from 10am to 12noon and 2pm to 4pm.

Storyteller Ian Douglas will present two sessions during the weekend. He’ll be in town and at the Spa foyer between 11am and 5pm on the Saturday telling tales for all ages. Then on the Sunday Ian invites youngsters aged over five to meet Madam Bridget and hear tales from her caravan at the Spa foyer from 11am to 12noon and 2pm to 3pm.

Also of interest to youngsters will be two highlights of the main Coastival festival. One will be an exciting and ambitious bid to recreate Scarborough in 3D in the game Minecraft. It is a community effort including schools, colleges, community groups and individuals, painstakingly creating Scarborough in Minecraft and culminating in a huge Minecraft event over the Coastival weekend at the Spa.

On both days of Coastival a Horrid History Walk will set off from the blue police box on Sandside at 4pm for a tour of Scarborough’s darker past, for which a ticket will be needed.

Three fringe events have also been arranged. At Wardle and Jones bookshop on Bar Street there’ll be fairy-tale telling from 10am to 11am on the Saturday for youngsters aged four to eight and on the Sunday from 11.30am to 12.30pm, a limerick writing workshop with Antony Wootten for children over eight.

On the Sunday from 11am there’s an opportunity for anyone over seven to join in with SCAMPS – the Scarborough Accessible Music Project – for a singing and signing taster.

For more information on Coastival visit www.coastival.com