Gearing up for Festival of Christmas

This year is the 19th Beverley Festival of Christmas, which takes place on Sunday 14 December from 10am-4pm.

Following the multi-million pound redevelopment of the Saturday Market and Market Cross areas of the town, Beverley now boasts a location that is second to none in the North of England, and the perfect venue for the festivities.

This year, the festival will be officially opened at 10am by special guest stars, who will also be joined by special guests from the cast of A Christmas Carol, a new adaptation by Hollywood actor and Beverley resident Vincent Regan, which will be coming to the new East Riding Theatre this Christmas.

As usual, the festival will feature the Victorian Christmas Market, with over 120 stalls offering local and seasonal crafts and produce. Stalls will be located throughout Saturday Market and Wednesday Market, all festively linked with various musical performers, bands, street artists and other interesting activities.

As ever, the family friendly festival will cater for all ages. There will be a children's area outside Lloyds Bank, with traditional Victorian fairground rides, Father Christmas and his reindeer, and face painting. The older members of the family will enjoy the wonderful birds of prey display, classic car show and spectacular civil war re-enactment.

A parade will head through the town at 10am, with Father Christmas and his real life reindeer leading the way, followed by marching bands, Bernese mountain dogs, steam punks, children's characters and much more.

A cut price park and ride will be operating to the town centre from Beverley racecourse throughout the day, starting at 8.30am, with the last bus returning to the racecourse at 4.30pm. This is great value for money at only £1 for adults, and children travelling free.