Louth's fantastic Friendship Festival will provide inspiration

The third annual event will take place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 5 starting at 11am, going on until 4pm and will feature dozens of local organisations and interest groups making themselves known to anyone seeking a pastime, friendships and a wider social network.

Founder, Amanda Watts said: “This is the first time we have done it across the town having got so big that our one single venue at the Priory Hotel was bursting at the seams, so this is much better.

"Last year so many people wanted to participate, but we did not have the room, so we took the decision to contact more venues and the response has been fantastic."

Amanda explained: “It is all about friendship. I had started a book club and found most people that joined were new to the area and a lot were very nervous about joining a club, were a bit shy and just wanted to make friends.”

That was the main driver for Amanda launching the first Friendship Festival.

She said: “There is so much going on in the town, it is rich in clubs and groups, but people don’t always know about them or are shy. Some of these groups find themselves operating in isolation, so this is a really good opportunity for organisations to collaborate. It is exciting to see them come on board – it’s very positive.”

Amanda said people can walk around the town to the venues where there will be lots happening, with music, singing, dancing, sports clubs and charities.

The nine venues are St James’ Church, the Methodist Church, The Priory Hotel, Park Gallery at Spout Yard, the Museum, the Jazz and Folk Club, Corner of Creations, Hammond House Art Gallery, and the Orme Almshouses. Groups setting their stalls out for new members will range from the Chess Club and Lincolnshire Wolds Honey, to the Can’t Sing Choir, the Football Fun Factory and the Bell ringers, Cocoa Encounters to Louth Textile Group, the Photographic Society to the RAF Cadets and the Men’s Shed, plus many more.

There will be free yoga sessions to try, paper plane making and an art show by Marzena Wilkes. There will be children’s activities in the museum, music by Nicky Haxby and Mak & Co at The Priory, art workshops, Alpaca wool spinning, plus a series of performances at the Jazz and Folk Club kicking off at 11am with a chance for visitors to discover various instruments.

Amanda is proud of the fact that the festival is run on a shoestring, with a small grant from the Town Council. It is free to enter and there is no charge for groups to have stall.

The Coop has donated a Fairtrade products hamper as a prize for a festival trail competition, with a map which anyone can pick up from any of the venues around the town for just £2. The challenge is to visit each location and answer a couple of questions about the venues, as encouragement for people to visit all the sites.