Join the early birds to the Birthday Parade in search of the Golden Sonnet!

 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…?  Many people recognise this line as Shakespeare’s work, maybe even that it is the beginning of one of the Bard’s most famous sonnets, but do you know which one? Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets in all, and that one is number 18.

Visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon for Shakespeare’s 453^rd Birthday Celebrations on 22^nd April should be on the lookout for this or the many other sonnets of Shakespeare being distributed to the crowds as they gather along the route of this year’s Birthday Parade through the town centre. From just after 9:30am students of the Bard’s former place of learning, King Edward VI School, will give away hand held Birthday Celebration flags and scrolls bearing Shakespeare’s sonnets.

There are 10,000 scrolls, each with a Sonnet printed inside and individually cut, rolled and secured with the seal of ‘WS’ denoting William Shakespeare.  Each is a keepsake in its own right of this special day marking the 453^rd birthday of the town’s most famous son.  But there is more to entertain and excite spectators as they carefully break the seal to discover which sonnet they have and whether they have a prizewinning ‘Lucky Sonnet’.

The Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon, Juliet Short said: “We wanted to present people with a memento of their visit to the 453^rd Birthday Celebrations, as last year’s free Shakespeare masks were such a success.  The sonnet is a perfect link to the rich legacy left to us all in William Shakespeare’s writing.

“I have to say a huge thank you to the teams of volunteers armed with scissors who have made the Lucky Sonnet scrolls a reality.  Our volunteer ‘cutting crews’ have cut out all 10,000 scrolls to give them the look of an old, handwritten document; and the three evenings spent rockin’ and ROLLIN’ at the Town Hall saw all the scrolls individually rolled and sealed, ready to deliver.”

Local businesses and organisations in Stratford-upon-Avon have generously donated a fabulous array of prizes ranging from a refreshing cup of tea during the Celebrations weekend, free entrance to local exhibits, as well as beauty treatments and other products.

One very fortunate recipient will open the ‘Golden Sonnet’ containing a superb collection of hospitality prizes gathered together from its business members by Shakespeare’s England, the official destination management organisation for Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa and the surrounding towns and villages. It includes an overnight stay at one of Stratford-upon-Avon’s top hotels, the Welcombe Hotel, Golf Club and Spa, entrance to Shakespeare’s Family Houses, a visit to Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall and a chance to visit the RSC’s exhibition, ‘The Play’s The Thing’ at the Swan Theatre .  All the lucky winner has to do is be there, in the right place at the right time!

Town Clerk, Sarah Summers added: “In organising Shakespeare’s Celebrations, we at the Town and District Councils depend very much on the support and goodwill of every organisation in and around Stratford-upon-Avon, so we are especially grateful to all the local businesses who have been kind enough to provide us with prizes for our Lucky Sonnets.

“Each winning scroll contains a paper slip with details of the prize and when and where it should be claimed.  Each slip is embossed with the Town Council’s badge as evidence of its authenticity – it can’t be replicated, so only the genuine article will suffice!

“There is no obligation to tell us if you win a prize, but we’d particularly love to hear who gets to enjoy the ‘Golden Sonnet’. So, if you are happy to talk to us so we may publicise your good fortune, please let the various organisations know who you are when you claim your prizes.  Good luck and have a great time celebrating with us on April 22^nd!”

The Bard is acknowledged as a writer of a particular style known as the ‘English’ or ‘Shakespearean’ sonnet – but he didn’t actually invent it and he wasn’t the first to write sonnets in the English language. The Shakespearean or English sonnet typically has 14 lines, structured as three different rhyming four-line sections, followed by a two-line rhyming couplet to conclude.

The sonnet has been used by many poets in many languages since it was invented in the Middle Ages, reputedly by a Sicilian writer, Giacomo da Lentini.  During the reign of Henry VIII, English poets such as Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, introduced it at court. Since then poets have found new and various ways to use it– it’s been a love poem, an elegy, a nature poem, an argument, a poem of remembrance, and more besides, according to the website, www.interestingliterature.com.

For a full list of the organisations who have kindly donated prizes click this link: Thank You Lucky Sonnets Prize Givers. It will also appear on the printed programme available at the Birthday Parade on Saturday 22 April 2017.

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare! Busy times behind the scenes as the Parade comes to town

Shakespeare’s 453^rd Birthday Parade will be the focus of festivities on the morning of 22 April 2017, entertaining crowds with a colourful, musical spectacle that winds its way through town centre streets in honour of Stratford-upon-Avon’s celebrated son, William Shakespeare.  But for the Parade to run like clockwork, planning behind the scenes must start months in advance.

Every year, hundreds of people take part in the procession which begins shortly after 10 o’clock and continues until midday when it reaches Holy Trinity Church.  All walks of life are represented – from local community groups and schoolchildren to civic dignitaries and famous and learned folk from literary and theatrical arenas around the world.  Marching bands keep everyone moving along; the Quill representing Shakespeare’s legacy is held aloft and flags are unfurled amid cheers for the Bard on his Birthday.

It all appears seamless, but this success comes down to the detailed organisation of every operational aspect of the event, coordinated each year by Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council. Cllr Juliet Short, Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon said:  “We are always delighted when it’s clear that the dedication and hard work needed to stage a successful event has paid off.  We depend on the cooperation and goodwill of so many people throughout the community.  We all deserve to indulge in a little glow of satisfaction when the crowds leave with smiles on their faces.”

The tasks to be managed are many and varied, including inviting and briefing distinguished guests, recruiting and preparing around 35 stewards who direct the crowds and participants, organising  hundreds of people representing community groups in the procession, contacting businesses and other bodies wishing to purchase a flag position along the route, liaising with media to ensure coverage, keeping spectators safe and making sure they have flags to wave, sprigs of rosemary to wear, sonnets to unroll and, this year, prizes to win.

Town Clerk, Sarah Summers, said: “A dress rehearsal before the big day is logistically impossible, but expertise and experience combine to bring the Parade to fruition on time and in order.  This year, the procession will follow the traditional route through the town centre, starting from the Great Garden at New Place around 10.30am.

“Volunteers will be distributing hand-held birthday flags and 10,000 Sonnet Scrolls, each individually rolled and sealed, to the crowds assembling along the route from 9.30 in the morning. It will be exciting to hear who has been lucky enough to receive our wonderful ‘Golden Sonnet’ – and there will be other lucky winners too.

“We’re delighted to have musical entertainment from West Midlands Fire Service Band and also from Coventry and Warwickshire Rock Choir as the spectators gather.

“We have a newly discovered ‘Mr Shakespeare’ this year who will be collecting the Quill from Shakespeare’s Birthplace and carrying it along Henley Street to meet the main procession. In time honoured fashion, he will hand over the Quill to the Head Boy of King Edward’s School – the post is held this year by Oliver Gardner – as the traditional ceremonies commence at 11 o’clock.”

The traditional placing of the commemorative wreath will be followed by the unfurling of the Big Birthday Banner and the Unfurling of Flags along Bridge Street, High Street and Henley Street.  The Beadle and Town Criers from neighbouring towns call for ‘Three Cheers for William Shakespeare’ as cannon streamers shower the crowds. The Parade will move off towards Holy Trinity Church at about 11.20, accompanied by the ATC Band, Coventry Corps of Drums and the West Midlands Fire Service Band. Participants and members of the public wishing to lay floral tributes join the procession as it makes its way along High Street, Church Street and Old Town.

As midday approaches and the last of the well-wishers file into church past the Bard’s final resting place, the town centre will already be returning to normal as roads open to traffic and crowd barriers are packed away.   Another Birthday Parade successfully concluded!

Sarah Summers continues: “The team is already working to build on the foundations of our success with ambitious plans for a new and bigger event in 2018.  We hope to introduce carnival floats and walking literary pageants which will process through town.  It promises to be a great weekend which should have something in store for everyone.  We’ll be unveiling more detail in the coming months!”

The Shakespeare’s Celebrations initiative, led by Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council calls on the support and involvement of several key organisations working to make the Birthday festivities sustainable for future generations to enjoy. Alan Haigh, who is responsible for staging the Birthday Luncheon, Holy Trinity Church, King Edward VI School, The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratforward BID and Stratford Town Trust all contribute in various ways.  The result is a whole weekend of family entertainment and activities, many of them outdoors and most of them free of charge.

To find out more about the Birthday Parade, and what’s on where throughout Shakespeare’s Celebrations visit www.shakespearescelebrations.com

A weekend of festivities throughout the town marking Shakespeare’s 453^rd Birthday

Celebrations for Shakespeare’s 453^rd Birthday in 2017 bring family entertainment and fun activities to Stratford-upon-Avon for the whole weekend around 23^rd April, the Bard’s acknowledged birthday.

On the morning of Saturday 22 April the focus is the traditional Birthday Parade as hundreds of people take to the streets in a procession full of sound and spectacle.  Brass bands, people in period costume, dignitaries and VIP guests join with community groups and schoolchildren, among them students of Shakespeare’s own King Edward’s School, to make their way through the town centre to Holy Trinity Church to lay flowers on Shakespeare’s grave.   Traditional ceremonies take centre stage as the procession pauses to witness the handing over of the Quill representing Shakespeare’s legacy, and the Unfurling of Flags along Bridge Street, High Street and Henley Street.

This year, there will be free flags to wave and 10,000 scrolls bearing some of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets will be distributed to the crowds. One lucky person will be fortunate enough to be handed the ‘Golden Sonnet’ with a fabulous prize attached.  Shakespeare’s England, the official destination management organisation for Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa and the surrounding towns and villages, has helped secure a great hospitality prize from its local business members which includes an overnight stay at one of Stratford-upon-Avon’s top hotels, the Welcombe Hotel, Golf Club and Spa, entrance to Shakespeare’s Family Houses, a visit to Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall and a chance to visit the RSC’s exhibition, ‘The Play’s The Thing’ at the Swan Theatre .  And all the lucky winner has to do is be there, in the right place at the right time!

Central as it is to the proceedings, the Parade is not the only show in town on Shakespeare’s Birthday Weekend.   The Shakespeare’s Celebrations initiative, led by Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council calls on the support and involvement of several key organisations working to make the Birthday festivities sustainable for future generations to enjoy. Holy Trinity Church, King Edward VI School, The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall, The Shakespeare Birthday Company, Stratforward BID and Stratford Town Trust all contribute in various ways.  The result is a whole weekend of family entertainment and activities, many of them outdoors and most of them free of charge.

The annual Shakespeare Birthday Luncheon will be taking place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bridgefoot, after the Parade.  Entrance is by ticket, priced at £45 and obtained, subject to availability, from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Box Office.

In 2017, the RSC is holding events in and around its theatres, as part of the annual Birthday Celebrations on 22 April including the return of two showings of Wondrous Strange, presented by Mimbre, an outdoor acrobatic Shakespeare-themed performance, and a range of free activities for the family.  There will also be live music, poetry reading aboard the chain ferry by RSC actors, a chance to visit two current exhibitions and enjoy the fruits of a collaborative project involving young people from Coventry and Warwickshire who have worked with theatre professionals for the past three months to bring the RSCs heritage to life with special events created by young people, for young people. The Shakespeare Birthday performance will be Julius Caesar in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at 7.15pm.  For more detail visit https://www.rsc.org.uk/events/shakespeares-birthday-celebrations

 

Also on Saturday 22 April, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will be hosting more circus fun, featuring professional entertainers from Fool’s Paradise.  Spectacular rope walks, interactive hoola-hooping and spellbinding contact juggling are just some of the acts in Shakespeare’s Circus, compered by the larger-than-life American showman Barnum, who has an audacious plan to ship Shakespeare’s Birthplace to his museum of curiosities in New York.  The free, family-friendly programme will run all day in Henley Street, outside Shakespeare’s Birthplace, with plenty of opportunities to join in and take part in circus skills workshops.  There will also be song, dance and theatre performed by local community groups including Morris dancing and country dancing. Stratford-upon-Avon (CV37) residents can enjoy free entry to the Shakespeare houses and a slice of birthday cake, whilst stocks last.

 

There will be theatrical promenade performances in the garden at Shakespeare’s New Place; the annual Knights and Nymphs Children’s Garden Party will take place at Hall’s Croft and Harvard House will open its doors to the public free of charge to mark the Bard’s Birthday.

For more details visit www.shakespeare.org.uk

The U.K.’s longest serving and much-loved drama critic, Michael Billington will present The Shakespeare Birthday Lecture on 21 April, (4-5pm, tickets £10 via www.shakespeare.org.uk) in conversation with Professor Michael Dobson (University of Birmingham).

Visitors are invited to celebrate the first anniversary of Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall, which opened its doors, exactly 400 years after the death of its former pupil, William Shakespeare. The Schoolroom will be adding will be adding an essential birthday ingredient to this year’s celebrations as it gives out hundreds of balloons throughout the day (Saturday 22 April).  With each balloon there is the chance to win one of ten family tickets to visit the attraction, which will also be carrying out special tours and introducing new family focused activities.  Visit www.shakespearesschoolroom.org  for more information.

You can find out more about the Celebrations at www.shakespearescelebrations.com