Next Saturday 26th October Penrith will turn the clocks back 400 years for the annual celebration of the Winter Droving now in its thirteenth year with a return to a bigger market with a dedicated art village, more street performers than ever before and plenty of free activities for all ages. But 2024 could be the last Winter Droving through the streets of Penrith.
As ever this jam-packed day of festivities will end in the magical torch lit procession where visitors will have the opportunity to form part of this age-old spectacle and be a part of one of the biggest free festivals in Cumbria. Lanterns, performers and hundreds of members of the public weave their way through the streets as dusk arrives, with thousands lining the street to welcome them. Previous processions have seen thousands of people lining the streets to watch while this charming market town turns into the centre of the celebrations and welcomes in the darker half of the year.
This year Eden Arts have brought together a fantastic spectacle of carny booths hosting weird and wonderful curiosities and entertainers, street performers, musicians and activities with an Irish contingent of performers gracing the streets, with thanks to funding from Culture Ireland.
If you’ve ever wanted to see A Strange Thing, visit a faerie museum full of faerie fossils, dance to the light of the disco tractor, make a marvellous mask, cheer on your favourite team in the Drover’s Cup, and then witness the unique spectacle that is the procession then the Winter Droving is the place to be next Saturday.
Eden Arts the charity that created The Winter Droving claim the Droving is a valuable event in the town's calendar generating £1.7 million for the local economy in 2023 with the 20K plus visitors that attend each year.
However, the 2024 event has been extremely challenging for Eden Arts with the organisation facing a financial deficit due to increased costs and reduced funding, The organisation claim the reduced funding is largely due to a decrease in the support from Westmorland and Furness Council since the transition from Eden District Council. As a result, the future of the festival in Penrith is in doubt.
It’s understood Eden Arts could even be planning to head North out of town along the M6 to Carlisle working with Cumberland Council on future projects that could see events like the Droving delivered in the city or other parts of Cumberland.
Adrian Lochhead, Director of Eden Arts, said ‘we know how valued The Winter Droving is by locals, visitors and of course the local businesses that it benefits. However, as a charity, Eden Arts cannot continue to create the Winter Droving without sufficient funding. With a significant shortfall in 2024 we are once again highlighting both the need for the council to reconsider and for visitors to help where they can to ensure the future of this well loved event’.
In response to the claims by Eden Arts around decreased funding by Westmorland and Furness Council a spokesperson for Westmorland and Furness Council said: “Westmorland and Furness Council supports Eden Arts and values its work contributing to arts and cultural activities in the Eden area.”
“The council, and its predecessor Eden District Council, has provided significant funding support to Eden Arts over many years.”
“In the current 2024/25 financial year the council has maintained the core funding to Eden Arts of £20,000 and this has not been reduced or decreased.”
“In addition, a one-off uplift payment of £5,000 has been allocated that the council suggested could go towards Winter Droving, along with a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) contribution of £10,000, making a total funding contribution from Westmorland and Furness Council of £35,000 in the current financial year.”
“Last year, in addition to the core funding and NPO contribution, Eden Arts were awarded a one-off payment of £25,000 towards the costs of Winter Droving 2023, from the council’s Culture Recovery Support Fund.”
“The Culture Support Recovery Fund was set up to help organisations in Westmorland and Furness with their continued delivery of arts and cultural activities and to ease the combined impacts of the cost of living crisis, energy price increases and ongoing post-pandemic recovery.”
“In total the council awarded £250,000 under the Culture Recovery Support Fund to 11 organisations across Westmorland and Furness, to help maintain the area’s cultural infrastructure.”
“The council made clear that this was a one-off contribution and never intended to be recurring funding and should not be considered as such.
“It would therefore be incorrect to suggest that specific funding for Winter Droving has been removed, as the additional funding allocated last year was only ever a one-off contribution to support organisations through a particularly difficult period.
“The core funding for Winter Droving has been maintained and, beyond the £35,000 funding that has already been allocated to Eden Arts for 2024/25, the council does not have any money budgeted for additional funding, under a Culture Recovery Fund or similar, in the current financial year.”
“None of the other organisations that benefitted from additional support under the Culture Recovery Fund last year have enquired about that funding being repeated in 2024/25, understanding that this was a one-off contribution.”
“The council notes that Winter Droving successfully secured additional funding support from a private sponsor and local businesses for 2024/25 and is pleased to see that this year’s event will go ahead.”
“We also note that Eden Arts has set up other funding streams, including a lottery scheme, to raise money towards future Winter Droving events and we wish them continued success in securing any additional support required in addition to the core funding provided by the council and other funding partners.’’
The special Winter Droving lottery has been set up for people to play, with a cut from the proceeds going to the event, or alternatively donate to Eden Arts, the charity that runs the Droving, details of which can be found on the Eden Arts website or by searching for “Winter Droving lottery”.There will be a special lottery draw for those playing the Winter Droving lottery with some generous prizes from local businesses including a thermal journey spa day with afternoon tea at Low Wood Bay Resort and Spa.
The Winter Droving will take place in Penrith town on Saturday 26th October with a jam packed line up of street acts, bands, a fun fair and huge market made up of hot food, gifts and charity stalls with a dedicated arts market this year. These charity stalls will offer an array of activities to get involved including mask making from A Wilderness Way. The market and funfair will be open from 11am, followed by all the other shenanigans from midday.
The Drover’s Cup is also returning, often a highlight of the afternoon with the egg-throwing mayhem and haybale racing through the streets. The competition begins at 1.30pm on King Street and involves a series of challenges which test speed, agility, precision, strength, determination and a huge dose of self-deprecation. There is even a new finale to the infamous games with the introduction of the aptly named rodeo bull.
The programme this year includes fantastic musicians such as BAAB, the Commoners Choir, Tryckster, The Maybe Band, Nobody’s Friends Shanty Group, Melanie Baker, AJ and Ant, Åsa Larsson, Jamie Henry, Baybeat Street Band, Maz & The Phantasms and Street Beats to name a few, along with street performers such as The Penrith Twining Association, Nula Hula, Logy, Darryl Carrington, Felicity Footloose, Punjabi Roots, Duo Devour, Fanzini and Symmetry Circus plus much more more.