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June 2009

June 2009: Events, activities performances and more...

June 2009: Events, activities performances and more... 

 
Leicester Early Music Festival
17 May – 6 June
Various venues
Prices vary
Situated in Leicester’s old town, the festival is a unique award-winning event. Explore the beauty and appeal of early music with a series of concerts for all of the family. Associated activities include workshops suitable for musicians and non-musicians alike. Find out more>>
 
 
The Spark Children’s Arts Festival
25 May – 7 June
Various venues
Prices vary
A 14 day feast of circus, theatre, dance, music, puppetry and sculpture for children and young people
aged 0 - 13 years. A chance to try all kinds of different acts – both as spectacle and as hands on participation during the summer half term and the first week of June. Find out more>>
 
 
2Funky Arts Event – Urban Legacy
1 – 30 June, 10am – 5pm
The Peepul Centre
FREE admission
A stunning photographic exhibition celebrating the success, history and influence of black and urban music in Leicester. Open to all.
 
 
The Ugly Duckling’s Dancing Cabaret
1 June, 11am & 1pm
The Y Theatre
£6.50 adults / £5 children / £4 schools
Two well-loved tales The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lakeintertwine in a sunny mix ofdance, song, live music and video. A wonderful introduction to dance for ages 4+ and their families. Find out more>>
 
 
Looking for Yoghurt
2 – 4 June
The Peepul Centre
Tickets £4
Part of The Spark Children’s Arts Festival, this is a unique collaboration between performers and artists from the UK, Japan and Korea, bringing their cultures, skills and languages together. For 7+ years. Find out more>>
 
 
Abba Mania
2 – 6 June, Tue – Sat 7.30pm, Sat matinee 2.15pm
Curve Theatre
Tickets £8 – £18.50
With all your Abba favourites sung live, this is your excuse to party, reminisce or simply be entertained by some of the best music there has ever been. Find out more>>
 
 
Girl in a Blue Dress
4 – 6 June, Thu – Sat 1.30pm, Fri 10.15am, Sat 11am
Curve Theatre
Tickets £4.50 & £9
Inspired by Picasso’s most playful paintings, Girl in a Blue Dress is a wordless cavalcade of theatrical surprises, moved along by a lively and light-hearted musical score. Find out more>>
 
 
Leicester Society of Artists: Art of Sport
6 - 28 June
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery
This year's artistic challenge is sport, interpreted by the LSA artists in a wide variety of intriguing ways in paint, metal, fabric, print and mixed media.
 
 
Salerosa in The Cuban Fusion Project
6 June, 8pm
The Y Theatre
Tickets £10
Join Salerosa for an explosive evening of Latin jazz favourites, sizzling salsa grooves, original compositions and popular chart topping songs all fused with pulsating Afro-Cuban rhythms.
Find out more>>
 
 
Leicester Riverside Festival
6 & 7 June
Bede Park, Mile Straight & Western Boulevard
Family fun on and off the water. The event offers boat trips, live music, stalls, displays and an exciting choice of activities for children, making it a funpacked weekend. Find out more>>
 
 
PROSTaid Dragon Boat Race
7 June, 10am – 5pm
Riverside Festival – River Soar
Join us on our third thrilling annual dragon boat race at the Riverside Festival! Ten oarsmen and a drummer all in a boat – are you up to the challenge? Avoid disappointment and enter your dragon boat early! Find out more>>
 
 
The Full Monty: Leicester Amateur Operatic Society
8 – 13 June, Mon – Sat 7.30pm, Sat matinee 2.15pm
Curve Theatre
Tickets £12 - £14
A stage production that has all the humour, pathos and heart of the original film combined with a memorable, toe-tapping score. Contains nudity and strong language. Suitable for ages 14+.
Find out more>>
 
 
Pot Fair
8 – 13 June, 9am – 6pm
FREE admission
Humberstone Gate, Leicester City Centre
Hosted by Leicester Market. Goods on offer include porcelain and pottery, figurines, crystal glass, fine china and a range of stainless steel cookware at bargain prices.
 
 
Never Forget – with the songs of Take That
9 – 13 June, Tues – Thurs 7.30pm, Fri 8.30pm & Sat 4pm & 7.30pm
De Montfort Hall
Ticket prices vary
Direct from its acclaimed West End run, this is a spectacular story of ambition and betrayal bursting with life, laughs and great songs. Packed with poptastic Take That anthems, including the charttopping smashes Relight My Fire, Pray, Back For Good, Babe and of course, Never Forget.
 
 
RainbowsWalk of Life
14 June, 9am – 6pm
Start & finish at Victoria Park, (pass through) Abbey Park, Braunstone Park & Bede Park
A 15 mile walk around Leicester’s scenic city parks, helping to raise money for Rainbows Children’s Hospice in Leicestershire. Registration desk opens at 9am, walk starts at 10am. Find out more>>
 
 
The Star Keeper
16 – 18 June, Tue & Thu 10.15am, Tue & Wed 2.15pm, Wed 7pm
Curve Theatre
Tickets £4 & £8
An award-winning epic fantasy, direct from Quebec, Canada. As the show has no words, this is visual poetry with universal appeal featuring finely chiselled puppets, original scenography and bewitching music. Find out more>>
 
 
An Inspector Calls
16 – 20 June, Tue – Sat 7.30pm, Wed, Thu & Sat matinees 2.15pm
Curve Theatre
Tickets £8 – £22
Stephen Daldry, the director of the academy award-winning blockbuster The Hours, brings  the smash hit West End and Broadway production of JB Priestley’s legendary compelling drama to Curve. Find out more>>
 
 
Italian Market
18 – 20 June, 10am – 6pm
Eastgates, Clock Tower, Leicester City Centre
FREE admission
Roam through the warm ambience of the Mediterranean with sunripened olives, palma ham, cakes from Sicily, and loads more products from the heart of Italy.
 
 
The Big Session Festival 2009
19 – 21 June
De Montfort Hall & Gardens
Ticket prices vary
The Big Session Festival is now in its fifth year at De Montfort Hall and has grown year-on-year to provide family friendly festivalgoers with the best of acoustic, folk and roots music. There’s a proper session bar, providing you with the opportunity to bring along your own instruments and join in the sessions hosted over the weekend. Find out more>>
 
 
TLC in the Park
20 June, 10am – 4pm
Abbey Park
FREE admission
This is a fantastic day out for the whole family. At 10am there’s a 3km fun run, then at 11am a 1km TLC Toddle and Wheelchair Wizz. There’s also a nursery rhyme trail and lots of stalls.
 
 
Kite Flying Club
20 June, 3pm – 4pm
Spinney Hill Park
Bring your kite along and join in the fun - for FREE!
 
 
High on Harmony
20 June, 7pm
The Y Theatre
£10 / £8 concessions
Enjoy four part unaccompanied a cappella singing from Ivy League, the Ladies Barbershop Youth Chorus. Aged 8 – 25 years their modern repertoire matches the spirit of the chorus. Find out more>>
 
 
Art & Architecture
23 June, 24 July & 25 August, 1pm – 2.30pm
Leicester Cultural Quarter
No charge
Discover Leicester’s Cultural Quarter on a guided tour led by Jasia McArdle. On this inspirational journey you’ll find out more about this hidden treasure and its art and architecture, including CQart: musical bollards, granite floor scapes, the children’s trail and more. Find out more>>
 
 
Teen Read Expo
24 June, 10am – 6pm
De Montfort University Student Union Level 1
Author talks, workshops, displays, competitions and awards – a great day out centred on books.
 
Schools and Youth Festival Leicester-Shire Arts in Education
24 – 27 June
Curve Theatre
Ticket prices TBC
Puppets & Parades 24th June, Jason & the Argonauts 26th June and Youth Dance/Theatre Showcase 27th June. Find out more>>
 
 
Farmers Market
24 June, 29 July & 26 August, 8am – 4pm
Market Square, Leicester City Centre
FREE admission
Great value, great tasting locally produced food, direct from the growers and producers.
 
 
Little Shop of Horrors
25 June – 4 July
The Little Theatre
Times and ticket prices vary
Business blooms at Mushnik’s Flower Shop when an exotic potted plant called Audrey II arrives. It turns out to be a carnivorous, mean, green intruder from outer space, filling that little shop with ‘lotsa’ horrors. A singing plant, a daring hero, a sweet girl and a demented dentist. Find out more>>
 
 
Funfairs
25 – 28 June
Thurnby Lodge
£0.50 entrance fee, £1 children’s rides, £1.50 adult’s rides
Rides for all ages including old favourites like the waltzers and dodgems, plus newer, faster and scarier rides! Plus a range of stalls from candyfloss to hook a duck.
 
 
Rowlatts Hill Fun Day
27 June, 10am – 4pm
Colemans Neighbourhood Centre
Rowlatts Hill fun day will be opened by Cllr Draycott MBE and has loads of FREE activities from the climbing wall to face painting, from DJing to Mendhi art! Food and refreshements are also available. 
 
 
Veterans Day
27 June, 11am – 4pm
Newarke Houses Museum
£1.70 for activities
Meet a veteran and listen to their fascinating stories and experiences. Learn what it was like to be a World War Two soldier with our historical interpreter and create your own wartime plane. Refreshments available. Find out more>>
 
 
Vaisakhi Football Tournament
27 & 28 June
Victoria Park
No charge
Take part or enjoy it from the sidelines. This is an event that attracts teams from far and wide.
 
 
Urban Steam Rally
27 June 1pm – 5pm & 28 June 12pm – 5pm
Abbey Pumping Station
Adults £3 / accompanied children free / a small charge for train rides
Leicester’s only steam rally. A jam-packed event with the sights and sounds of steam, engines, locomotives, preserved vehicles, cycles, motorbikes and our first ever auto jumble! At 3.30pm each afternoon, marvel at the sight of the three massive Gimson beam engines working in steam together – possibly the only place in the world that this can be seen. Find out more>>
 
 
The Saturdays – Plus Special Guests
28 June, 7pm
De Montfort Hall
Tickets £20 in advance
The Saturdays are one of the success stories of the last year. In nine months, they have had four top 10 singles and a top 10 album – their debut Chasing Lights – which has now gone platinum. As well as being sassy, talented and purveyors of some of the most instantly likeable songs you’ll have heard, these girls just wanna have fun - adults are going to love them just as much as kids! Find out more>>
 
 
 
Kahani Sapnon Ki - Our Dream Story
30 June – 4 July, Tue & Thu – Sat 7.45pm, Wed 7pm, Thu & Fri matinees 2.30pm
Curve Theatre
Tickets £3 & £5
A refreshing musical adaptation of the film in a unique fusion of multi-lingual drama, dance and music.
 
More to do this Summer...
Igniting Ambition
Various venues
A five year cultural programme of summer festivals and events in the East Midlands building up to the staging of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, principally funded by the Legacy Trust UK.
Find out more about Igniting Ambition>>   |  Igniting Ambition events>>
 
 
LoveSport
On now until 4 October
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery
FREE admission
This interactive sporting experience lets you shoot for goal in Penalty Pressure, slam-dunk in Hectic Hoops basketball or Go the Distance in the Tour de France. Get active and have a go!
Find out more>>
 
 
The Really Sweaty Show - a LoveSport event
Every Saturday until 26 September
Session 1: 10.30am, Session 2: 1.30pm
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery
Get your tracksuit on and get active. Join in our warm up and get your heart pumping in the show that investogates our sporty bodies. Find out more>>
 
 
Something wonderful happens on Sundays...
Highcross Leicester
St. Peter's Square
From 12 noon
From 21st June right the way through to September you can enjoy live entertainment from street
performers‚ musicians‚ and artists as well as exciting offers and competitions for all the family.
And right now you can park for just £2 on Sundays (see terms and conditions) giving you even more of a reason to visit Highcross this Summer. Find out more>>
 
 
Toddler Times - Under 5's
Weekly drop-in sessions
Leicester Libraries
FREE admission
Toddler times are weekly drop-in sessions held at local libraries where you and your under 5's can play with toys and puppets, enjoy storytelling time, create with craft's, join-in with rhymes and singing. The toddler time assistant can also help with choosing books. Contact your local library to find out when and where the sessions take place. Find out more>>
 
 
Written Repercussions - Inspiring Creativity in Young Minds
On now until 21 December
Leicester Libraries
Young people in Leicester aged between 12 - 19 years are invited to let their imaginations go wild this summer in an on-line story challeneg organised by the city's library service. It's your task to take the story further. Find out more>>
 
 
Weird Fiction
Leicester Libraries
Summer Scheme for children aged 11+ tying in with the libraries new collection of weird fiction.
Find out more>>
 
 
Bands on Parks Season
On now until September
Various parks
A season of popular community brass band concerts taking place this summer varying from brass and silver to youth and steel pan bands. Find out more>>
 
 
FREE Swims
16 years and under
60+ years (city residents only)
Various Leicester City Council pools
Got some spare time over the summer holidays, why not take the kids swimming? Under 16's and older people can now swim fro FREE! For more details simply pop in to any Leicester City Council Leisure Centre. Enjoy Swimming, have fun... and get fit! Find out more>>
 
 
Playschemes in Leicester
There's a whole range of indoor and outdoor activities for school-age children during the holdidays. Some also run outings to local attractions. Contact your local SureStart Children's Centre, or drop in at: The Children's Information Service Drop-in-Centre. Freephone 0800 952 5678.