10th annual DH Lawrence Festival hits record numbers

A record number of visitors flocked to Eastwood last month to take part in the 10th annual D.H. Lawrence Festival with over 7,500 people taking part in the two-week celebration - a 66% increase on last year’s festival.

Over 70 events took place in and around Lawrence’s hometown of Eastwood during the festival, with help from over 50 local voluntary groups, schools, businesses and organisations including The D.H. Lawrence Society, Ashfield District Council, The University of Nottingham and the Creative Eastwood Booktown Group.

This year’s Festival paid particularly celebration to the centenary of one of Lawrence’s most famous novels, Sons and Lovers, with a wide array of special events taking place to celebrate the book.

Festival highlights included...

• A film screening of the classic Oscar winning film adaptation of Sons and Lovers at Eastwood Comprehensive, hosted by D.H. Lawrence Festival patron BBC Radio Nottingham presenter John Holmes.

• Over 400 people from Eastwood and Brinsley were used as extras in the film when it was filmed and a number of these extras came together during the 2013 festival to share their experiences, travelling from as far away as Australia.

• D.H. Lawrence experts from the University of Nottingham also worked alongside students from Eastwood Comprehensive to deliver a unique street theatre performance using the actual buildings where scenes from Lawrence semi-autobiographical novel took place.

 

Cabinet Member for Arts, Leisure and Culture at Broxtowe Borough Council, Councillor Ian Tyler, said: "The success of this year's D.H. Lawrence Festival is a credit to the D.H. Lawrence Heritage team and all those within the community who volunteer their time, knowledge and expertise to make the Festival a celebration that D.H. Lawrence would be truly proud of.”

The annual D.H. Lawrence Festival is supported each year by a number of well-known faces including actors Robert Lindsay and Lynda Baron; Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero; Nottinghamshire Screen writer William Ivory; BBC Radio Nottingham presenter John Holmes and Director and Producer Professor Christopher Miles.

Plans are already underway for the 2014 Festival programme which will celebrate the significance World War One played in Lawrence’s life as a writer.