The last two years Roots & Blues Weekends have been such a great success and so many people have said how much they enjoyed Robbie McIntosh's tuition and company, that we thought we should do it one more time. We called Robbie and asked if he would like to be our guest at this year's event. Robbie said that both musically and socially, he would love to be there as he has enjoyed these weekends so much.

We are very happy to announce that our guest tutors for 2018 are the wonderful guitarists, Robbie McIntosh & Michael Messer

Robbie McIntosh is well known for his guitar-work with some of the world's great artists, including; Sir Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Mark Knopfler, Sir Tom Jones, Cher, Paul Carrack and many others. Earlier this year Robbie released an album called “Thanks Chet”, which is a tribute to the sound that revolutionised rock ’n’ roll as we know it. A pivotal figure in the history of rock, Chet Atkins inspired millions of players the world over. Robbie will be teaching acoustic lead, rhythm, slide, and very likely some Chet Atkins style picking. This is a masterclass with a true master of the guitar.

Michael Messer will be teaching slide, lap steel and open tuned guitar. Michael’s reputation as a virtuoso slide, lap steel, singer and blues innovator are well known. Michael has released ten albums, toured worldwide, has a successful line of MM guitars and a series of slide guitar tuition DVDs. His current band, Michael Messer's Mitra, is breaking new ground playing an exhilarating and accessible fusion of blues and Indian classical music. Their highly acclaimed album, Call Of The Blues, was released in 2016. Johnny Cash was a fan of Michael Messer's music and wrote the sleeve notes for his album Rhythm Oil, a rare honour shared only with Bob Dylan on the Nashville Skyline album.

The last two years Roots & Blues Weekends have been such a great success and so many people have said how much they enjoyed Robbie McIntosh's tuition and company, that we thought we should do it one more time. We called Robbie and asked if he would like to be our guest at this year's event. Robbie said that both musically and socially, he would love to be there as he has enjoyed these weekends so much.

We are very happy to announce that our guest tutors for 2018 are the wonderful guitarists, Robbie McIntosh & Michael Messer

Robbie McIntosh is well known for his guitar-work with some of the world's great artists, including; Sir Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Mark Knopfler, Sir Tom Jones, Cher, Paul Carrack and many others. Earlier this year Robbie released an album called “Thanks Chet”, which is a tribute to the sound that revolutionised rock ’n’ roll as we know it. A pivotal figure in the history of rock, Chet Atkins inspired millions of players the world over. Robbie will be teaching acoustic lead, rhythm, slide, and very likely some Chet Atkins style picking. This is a masterclass with a true master of the guitar.

Michael Messer will be teaching slide, lap steel and open tuned guitar. Michael’s reputation as a virtuoso slide, lap steel, singer and blues innovator are well known. Michael has released ten albums, toured worldwide, has a successful line of MM guitars and a series of slide guitar tuition DVDs. His current band, Michael Messer's Mitra, is breaking new ground playing an exhilarating and accessible fusion of blues and Indian classical music. Their highly acclaimed album, Call Of The Blues, was released in 2016. Johnny Cash was a fan of Michael Messer's music and wrote the sleeve notes for his album Rhythm Oil, a rare honour shared only with Bob Dylan on the Nashville Skyline album.

A unique opportunity to hear two of this country’s finest musicians playing together, solo, and with some guests in an intimate relaxed “unplugged” type of performance. Book early to avoid disappointment!

Join BBC Radio’s voice of cricket, Aggers, in his first solo show as he takes us on a trip down memory lane, recounting tales from a wonderful and entertaining career on the field and in the box, with film footage, audio clips and photographs on our big screen.

Paint your very own masterpiece on canvas to take home or sell as a great fake on the black market! A fun art evening with cheese, wine & all materials included. Absolutely no experience or skill required. To secure your place in art folklore please visit www.cheeseandwinepaintingclub.com

A welcome return for the ultimate bluesman Chris Smither as he showcases his new album Call Me Lucky. Offering commentary on the human condition with a wink of an eye he pulls from deep in the soul and a couple of surprise covers along with digging deep into his back catalogue. He remains a significant songwriter and an electrifying guitarist — an American original — who draws deeply from folk and blues, modern poets and philosophers.

Joining Chris will be The Suitcase Junket, a young American songwriter and musician, who will play a short opener set of his music that is rooted in the salvaged sounds of mountain ballads, blues manifestos, American juke joints and back porches.

103 album releases, 123 single hits and the equivalent of 20 years spent in the UK charts. Britain’s Ultimate Pop Star, Sir Cliff Richard is celebrating 60 years in the music industry and he wants to invite you to the most fabulous big screen party of the year! The 60th Anniversary Tour will be broadcast LIVE to your local cinema on Friday 12 October 2018, with special encore screenings on Sunday 14 October in celebration of Cliff's 78th birthday.​ Featuring a selection of his greatest hits across six decades, this will be​ Cliff Richard's most exciting tour yet. His incredible energy and passion on stage will sweep you off your feet and be sure to have you swaying in the aisles. ​ ​ News on other countries coming soon!

Courtney Marie Andrews spent over nine months of 2017 on the road, with multiple trips across the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. That’s nothing new for Andrews, though. She’s been touring relentlessly since leaving her Arizona hometown at 16. It’s a life that inspired much of her 2017 breakthrough album, Honest Life. While that album’s themes spoke to the isolation and rootlessness inherent in a life on the road, most of its songs were actually written during an intentional, extended break. The success that followed its release, however, didn’t afford her the same break to write the material for her new album.

Although May Your Kindness Remain was predominately written on the road — in the van, in hotels, and in the homes of family and friends — it’s not a road record like its predecessor. That is, it’s not so much inspired by her life on the road so much as it is by the people she’s met along the way. It’s an inward reflection on the connectivity of their stories and her own. “More than anything,” she says, “it got me thinking about my childhood, and the people around me that I’ve known, and the stories that come from my family. It became clear how many people are struggling through the same issues.”

A dance workshop for anyone living with dementia, along with family, friends and carers. The session, led by Elaine Harvey (Dance Lecturer York St John University), is completely free of charge and open to everybody, whatever their level of ability, including those who may wish to remain seated throughout. No dance partner is needed. Tea and coffee are served afterwards to provide an opportunity for people to chat. Places are limited, so advance booking advised.

Emily Barker’s latest album Sweet Kind of Blue was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis with Grammy winning producer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) and an all-star cast of Memphis session players. The success of the album, with its seamless mix of soul, blues, country and folk influences, and the globe-trotting tours to support it helped land Emily the accolade of UK Artist of the Year 2018 at the recent UK Americana Awards held at Hackney Empire in London.

Emily Barker is perhaps best known as the writer and performer of the award-winning theme to BBC crime drama Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. She has released music as a solo artist as well as with various bands including The Red Clay Halo, Vena Portae and Applewood Road (with whom she released a remarkable album of original songs recorded live around a single microphone, which was dubbed “flawless” by The Sunday Times) and has written for film, including composing her first feature film soundtrack (for Jake Gavin’s lauded debut feature Hector starring Peter Mullan and Keith Allen).

Following the critically acclaimed West End run, this ‘utterly irresistible’ (The Sunday Times) new production of Funny Girl stars Olivier Award-winning Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice. Funny Girl brought global fame to Barbra Streisand 50 years ago, boasting some of the most iconic songs in film and theatre history, including People and Don’t Rain On My Parade. Half a century later, this 'exhilarating embrace of a production’ (The Independent) comes to cinema screens after wowing critics and audiences alike in London’s West End.This iconic musical tells the story of Fanny Brice, whose vocal talents and comedic ability see her rise from Brooklyn music hall singer to Broadway star.

A collective that has recently wowed audiences at Carfest North, Chris Evans’ BBC Children in Need Festival and in July, hosted their third sell-out show at The Great Yorkshire Fringe.  Alongside playing at the world famous Cavern Club for George Harrison’s 75th Birthday celebrations and launching their second album ‘without the Tassels’; they’ve had a pretty exciting year! So, we’re thrilled they’re back in Pocklington to present a "riot of both festive and non-festive classics” for a night to remember.  Expect the unexpected from these little instruments and don’t forget to bring your tinsel for a right old party.

Featuring:

Rick Witter & Paul Banks (Shed Seven Acoustic)

An acoustic set by Shed Seven founding members Rick Witter and Paul Banks. The duo come to PAC following on the band’s triumphant sell-out show to over 8000 people at Castleford Bowl. Expect all of their classic anthems such as Going For Gold, Chasing Rainbows and Getting Better plus songs from their acclaimed new album Instant Pleasures.

The Howl & The Hum

The York-based 4-piece embarked on their first headline tour in England in Spring and followed this up with appearances at Latitude, Live at Leeds and the BBC Biggest Weekend. The band combine dark hypnotic pop with post-punk influences, pierced with lyrics that make you call your mum the next morning.

"A seriously great band, from whom you will be hearing a great deal more in the coming months." - Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

Jade Helliwell

Jade has a distinctive sound of British Americana and country. In 2017 she won the prestigious British Country Music Award ‘Female Vocalist of The Year’

Featuring:

The Eskies

A unique brand of folk noir/gypsy jazz/sea shanty and swaggering stage spectacle, The Eskies are one of the best emerging artists from Ireland. With notable performances at Glastonbury, Cambridge and Camp Bestival we are excited to welcome The Eskies to Handpick’d!!

Thea Gilmore

Furiously individual singer/songwriter and former Brit Award nominee. 'Britain has spawned very few world class female songwriters, but Gilmore is already in a league of her own' (Q Magazine). She has received acclaim and admiration from her peers such as Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and Martha Wainwright. 

Seafret  

Having gone down a storm at our 2016 Platform Festival Seafret are returning having gathered a huge fan base, with over ten million Spotify streams and have previously supported the likes of Hozier, Kodaline and James Bay. 

Coco & The Butterfields

Colourful, energetic & crowd-stamping, CoCo and the Butterfields express the intimate vibrance of a village folk fair with powerful vocal melodies and an undercurrent of driving beatbox to deliver catchy songs resonating in a stadium-filling urban pop vibe. 

Matt Abbot

One of the rising stars on the UK's spoken word scene, Matt is a unique and engaging performer and has rapidly established himself as one of the leading political poets of his generation. Humorous and harrowing, celebratory and confrontational; a vital poetic voice for our times.

The Dunwells

Emotionally driven anthemic rock-pop from Leeds based brothers. The band have built a large US fan base following appearance on Late Night With Jay Leno and performances at Lollapalooza, SXSW and the Bonnaroo Festival, as well as sold out shows across the UK.

Buffalo Skinners

One of our favourite bands whose uplifting performances are 60’s rock folk and blues styled.

"Fantastic" - Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2

Dan Webster Band

Popular York based singer-songwriter Dan Webster is a maverick in the folk music world, influenced by sounds and storytelling of American and British traditions, Americana and Rock and Roll. Dan has three albums to his credit; the latest hitting number 3 in Amazon's Folk Chart.

Please visit our website for further info, stage times and full listings for the festival.

Described as gypsy folk & roll, Holy Moly and the Crackers are one of hardest working bands on the circuit with a growing and loyal fan base. Over the past two years they have toured the UK extensively with festival appearances including Glastonbury, Cornbury, Larmer Tree, Underneath The Stars and Towersey.

Holy Moly and the Crackers’ song Cold Comfort Lane has been used as one of the main featured songs in the new Hollywood blockbuster Ocean’s 8.

Something amazing happens when Ireland’s Hothouse Flowers step onto the stage. There is a sense of musical adventure, an impulse to reach new heights and depths in music where the unspoken aim is that the band and the audience become one and the world becomes a different place for a while. Hothouse Flowers are a rock n’roll band, a traditional band, a soul band. a jam band with their own brand of jam on both sides of the bread! Their much anticipated new album Let’s Do This Thing is released this Autumn.

She Productions will transport you back to the swinging sixties with their sell-out original musical. Inspired by Hull’s own 1960s girl-band, Mandy & the Girlfriend, It’s Different For Girls celebrates five young women that battled to make their mark on the music scene. With a score that is a mix of well-known covers, sixties standards and original music you are sure to be entertained!

“A fun rock 'n' roll musical with catchy numbers and a positive message” British Theatre Guide

Jason is delighted to announce that he is extending his Amazing Midlife Crisis Tour into 2019 with a final series of dates. This is a tour with a twist!! These intimate evenings will be a unique opportunity to see him like you’ve never seen him before!

Celebrating his 50th birthday and with a wealth of tantalising tales under his belt, this autobiographical show will zigzag back and forth through his life, with stories about Neighbours, Ten Good Reasons, Kylie, Joseph, I'm A Celebrity, Strictly and much, much more. Hear some new stories (and possibly one or two you’ve heard before!) plus some of the songs you know and love for a night like no other!

After releasing a weekly folk song for a year, BBC Radio 2 spins and glowing press reviews, Joshua Burnell & Band take to the stage to launch a brand new album. Josh and his band won The Great British Folk Festival audience poll for favourite act by an overwhelming majority. An exciting emerging artist whose talent shines out!

Brilliant musicians, thrilling performers, free-thinking visionaries and all-round good chaps as well…small wonder Lau are regarded as the epicentre of the new folk boom. And they’ve got shelves groaning with awards (BBC RADIO 2 FOLK AWARD WINNERS, BEST BAND, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2015 THE HERALD), a forest’s worth of ecstatic reviews and breathless plaudits from excited audiences in various outposts of the world ringing in their ears to prove it.

Lau comprises Kris Drever (vocals, guitar), Martin Green (accordion, wurlitzer, keys, electronics) and Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle) and together they effortlessly bridge the seemingly diametrically opposed worlds of acoustic folk tradition and post rock – electronics.

‘Lau are a remarkable band – the most musically adventurous trio in British folk exquisite and hypnotic, musicianship at its best.’

THE GUARDIAN

Cluster-bombed with yoghurt on 'Taskmaster', half-killed on 'Bear Grylls' Celebrity Island', Watson returns to what he's best at: being indoors.

Inspired by the mostly alarming state of the world his children are growing up in, and a genuine, urgent desire to do something about it, this show is about empathy. 99 percent of the world's population is made up of other people: why can't we understand them? As scrawny and impassioned as ever, one of the UK's most beloved and thinnest acts offers some suggestions, with his usual notoriously high joke- and-rant-per-minute rate.

Award winning Jazz guitarist Martin Taylor teams up with acoustic and slide guitar virtuoso Martin Simpson The pair shares the stage throughout the performance – adding to each other’s songs and instrumental pieces, taking them to sublime new heights.This is an unmissable evening with two guitar playing legends working in harmony.

Fresh from sold-out 2017 shows during which they performed Wishbone Ash’s seminal 1972 album Argus in its entirety and following hot on the heels of a Spring 2018 tour featuring 1974’s There’s the Rub, Martin Turner (founding member of Wishbone Ash) and his band return to perform another classic album from the vintage years of Wishbone Ash – 1970’s iconic Wishbone Ash debut album.

An imaginative piece of comic theatre for all the family! Climate change is massive. Bees aren't. Our fuzzy little friends need our help. The bees are dying and without them, we will too. Multi award-winning theatre company ThisEgg, invites you to save the world - one bee at a time.

Having sold out London’s Royal Albert Hall earlier this year performing as a trio, Nick will head out solo in September on an initial 18-date run at much more intimate spaces across the UK and Ireland, including towns that Nick has never previously performed at. These shows bring the evolution of Nick’s touring of his second album, Wake Up Now, on a full circle journey from five-piece, to trio, and now right back to just Nick and his guitar.

★★★★★ ‘Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production.’ (Daily Telegraph)

Broadcast live from London’s West End, see Ian McKellen’s ‘extraordinarily moving portrayal’ (Independent) of King Lear in cinemas.

Chichester Festival Theatre’s production received five-star reviews for its sell-out run, and transfers to the West End for a limited season. Jonathan Munby directs this ‘nuanced and powerful’ (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play.

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two ageing fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

Multi-award-winning drama The Madness of George III will be broadcast live to cinemas, in National Theatre Live’s first ever broadcast from Nottingham Playhouse.

Written by one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Lady in the Van), this epic play was also adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film following its premiere on stage in 1991.

The cast of this new production includes Olivier Award-winners Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Wolf Hall, NT Live Coriolanus) in the title role, and Adrian Scarborough (Gavin and Stacey, Upstairs Downstairs, After the Dance).

It’s 1786 and King George III is the most powerful man in the world. But his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic as he succumbs to fits of lunacy. With the King’s mind unravelling at a dramatic pace, ambitious politicians and the scheming Prince of Wales threaten to undermine the power of the Crown, and expose the fine line between a King and a man.

5.00pm Gates Open

5.30pm Bonfire Lighting

6.30pm Fireworks

8.00pm Close

Please note Sparklers are NOT permitted on the site.

The event takes place at WEST GREEN, next to Pocklington School.

Our annual Christmas Comedy Gala, which has sold our for the last twelve years, features:

The Noise Next Door take audience suggestions and the cheeky and charming quartet, transform them into fantastically funny scenes and songs in the blink of an eye with a perfect blend of ludicrous characters, witty one-liners, epic stories, and explosive physicality.

Venue favourite Tom Binns (aka Ivan Brackenbury Hospital DJ) is an award-winning and critical acclaimed character comedian.

Lee Ridley AKA Lost Voice Guy may not be able to talk, but he definitely has something to say! He won the BBC New Comedy Award 2014 and Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year.

Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and the self-dubbed “Lie-In King”, Seann Walsh is “unquestionably the best observational comic of his generation (The Guardian).  

Returning from his run in America, where he made his USA television debut appearance on Conan, Seann Walsh is back on tour in the UK.

This disheveled, fiery, animated, fiercely idle, millennial man child is one of best live comedians to have come out of the UK.

Seann made his acting debut starring in Comedy Central’s sitcom Big Bad World, this was quickly followed up by the lead role in Monks (BBC One), he utilized his physical comedic abilities in Sky’s silent comedy, Three Kinds of Stupid, which led to him producing, writing and starring in his own silent comedy web-series The Drunk. He also wrote and starred in his own Sky short for Sky Arts and is now co-starring in Jack Dee’s brand-new sitcom Bad Move (ITV one). He recently made his feature film debut as the children’s nemesis in family film, 2:hrs. Seann is quickly on his way to becoming one of the UK’s best comedy character actors.

Team captain on Virtually Famous (Channel 4) and a regular on Play To The Whistle (ITV), other TV appearances include: One For The Road (BBC 3), Live At The Apollo (BBC 2), The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV), Tonight at The London Palladium (ITV), Celebrity Juice (ITV2), 8 Out Of 10 Cats (Channel 4), 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4), Alan Carr’s Chatty Man (Channel 4) and Russell Howards Stand Up Central (Comedy Central) 

Seann can currently be heard hosting his weekly radio show News-Ish on Fubar Radio.

Join us this Christmas for the pantomime of your dreams! Help Prince Valentine defeat the evil fairy, Malevola and wake Sleeping Beauty with true loves kiss. Sleeping Beauty promises to be our funniest and most spectacular pantomime ever! Packed with songs, slapstick, silliness, audience participation and all the fairytale magic of traditional pantomime! This fun-filled extravaganza is guaranteed to delight the whole family.

Steve Harley, the original Cockney Rebel, and his Acoustic Trio, will play an intimate, unique and atmospheric show. He will be accompanied by his Cockney Rebel band-mates of long-standing, Barry Wickens [violin & guitar] and James Lascelles [piano and percussion]. The set will be built around tracks from any or all 13 of Steve’s original albums and will include all-time favourites like Mr Soft, Judy Teen, Mr Raffles, Sebastian, and of course the world-wide classic hit, Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me).

When Nick's girlfriend dumps him at graduation, he has a colossal meltdown in front of the entire university. He's convinced his life is over, but his best mate Shane has the perfect solution: three days at an epic music festival. With the help of "festival aficionado" and certified oddball Amy, Shane tries to get Nick to embrace the music, the mayhem and the mud. From the creators of the Inbetweeners comes The Festival, a movie about friendship, growing up, and going mad in a field.

The Searchers remarkable career continues. With such classic hits as, Sweets For My Sweet; Needles and Pins; Don’t Throw Your Love Away; Sugar and Spice and When You Walk In The Room, they have contributed enormously in establishing the UK as the world’s leading nation in the music industry. There is no doubt that the decade that gave us The Beatles as well as The Searchers and many others was very special and will go down in history as being the most imaginative period of music creativity and expression.

With total record sales in excess of 50 million, The Searchers still have great appeal to audiences of all ages. They tour the globe as much today as they have done throughout a fantastic career spanning 5 decades.

Their special ‘solo’ concert is a highly entertaining show and has been enthusiastically and warmly received throughout the world. Combined with anecdotes and reminiscences, this fully self-contained concert includes all their famous hits, plus many album recordings, B-sides and a selection of other collector and well known favourites.

Don’t miss The Searchers live in concert!

Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty-year-old best friends in Los Angeles, are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey’s ex-boyfriend shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action, on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious-but-charming British agent, as they hatch a plan to save the world.

Broadcast live in HD from the beautiful and iconic Globe Theatre in London, this new production is directed by Blanche McIntyre and stars Will Keen (The Crown, Wolf Hall) as Leontes, Priyanga Burford (W1A, Marcella) as Hermione and Annette Badland as Old Shepherd. A reconstruction of an open-air Elizabethan playhouse on the bank of the River Thames, the Globe Theatre has become a significant part of the national and international theatre landscape, celebrating Shakespeare's transformative impact on the world. The Winter's Tale is Shakespeare's great play of the irrational and inexplicable, illustrating how uncontrollable emotions can range across gender, country, class and age.

Since releasing her debut as a teenager nearly 20 years ago, the Oxfordshire-raised, Cheshire-based singer and songwriter Thea Gilmore has gained global acclaim for making music not only of extraordinary beauty, but of rare honesty and insight.

In 2009 Thea released ‘Strange Communion’ an immediately acclaimed collection of seasonal songs ranging from joyful to meditative, from introspective to darkly humorous. The album contained ‘That’ll Be Christmas’ which became the most played festive song on BBC Radio 2 that year and was described by Chris Evans as ‘the best Christmas song in years’.

Her 2018 acoustic Christmas Party UK tour will feature material from ‘Strange Communion’ laced liberally with the occasional diverse, highly individual versions of a Christmas classic. Enjoy the superb musicianship always on display from Thea’s band and at the heart of the show - Thea's spine-tingling, pure-toned voice guaranteed to leave you moved, exhilarated and spellbound.

Unavailable for some five years, finally now in 2018 Thea is set to release a ‘deluxe’ reissue of ‘Strange Communion’ in November with four brand new bonus tracks.

Tough actor Jack Skipton returns from filming to care for his ageing aunt and begins an incredible odyssey through the NHS, from cancelled GP’s appointments, wrongly booked scans, frustrated consultants, and abusive home carers, who smoke on the door step! Jack’s story is hilarious and heart-breaking, as he and his aunt take on the health service in order to get the right diagnosis, and the right care! Godber’s take on our health service is both tender and true, as he investigates what we deserve, and what we receive. Take a deep breath, because This Might Hurt!

Emos Ruth, Nat and Liv spend their days working dead-end jobs in Hull, and nights playing open mic nights. But Nat's Gran being diagnosed with Dementia causes them to take a new direction. Generations clash and come together in this tale of finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places.

A new musical by Elizabeth Godber and Smashing Mirrors Theatre