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Walton Arts Festival 2026


An invitation from Lightspeed to Join them at the Festival
We’re delighted to team up with @LightSpeed Broadband as a sponsor for the Walton Arts Festival. Catch the LightSpeed team at the Festival Market on Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. From the market, you'll be well-positioned to experience a whole host of musical and artistic events taking place in the centre of town! On Sunday, the Lightspeed team will be up at the Naze for all the exciting events happening. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend, and we can’t wait to see you the
Sep 18, 20241 min read


A Massive Thank You to our Many Festival Supporters
It’s finally arrived…the Festival is next weekend, the 20-22nd September! And before it happens, we’d like to extend a big thank you to our many supporters in and around the town. Our small but effective team of volunteers has worked tirelessly, and for free, to create what is shaping up to be a fabulous weekend of music, art, crafts and family fun. None of this would have been possible without the support of the many shops, Emmanuel and All Saints churches, pubs, café’s,
Sep 16, 20242 min read


Updated Festival Programme Now Online
We’re getting close to the Festival weekend (20-22nd September) and we’ve got some important updates to share with you. We’re in the process of doing another print run of the Programme and will incorporate the changes there. Meanwhile, the latest updated version of the programme is downloadable at www.waltonartsfestival.com. Due to an administrative error, we had listed Kopy Katz as playing at Revved up on Saturday. They are not! Our bad, and apologies to the band. If you r
Sep 16, 20241 min read


DJs, Dancing, Disco and Dogs at the Walton Arts Festival
Some music you listen to and some you just have to make the moves. If you’re a mover then the Festival has plenty for you. Walton Pier is the place to hang out on this Saturday 21st September with Light and Lyrics Disco DJ Pat Feasey out the front of the new pier from 5pm. Warmed up and ready to go, Dogshow begin their set at 7.30pm. Would you believe it, FREE electronic music and dancing on Walton Pier with a band said to traverse the genre-fluid astral planes creating mus
Sep 16, 20242 min read


Award-winning Saxophonist Derek Nash to Open the Walton Arts Festival
We’re delighted to announce that British Jazz Award-winning Derek Nash – one of the best known jazz musicians in the UK - will be opening the Festival at East Coast 5 at 7pm on Friday the 20th. Derek, who lives locally, is a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, arranger, record producer and engineer. He is leader of six bands, each with its own unique sound and featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the UK today. Derek will be “sitting in” with J2Z, the jazz band already
Sep 16, 20241 min read


Take the Bruff with the Smooth
The Bruff Bar has been supporting the arts for a while so it’s hardly surprising that there’s barely a moment that’s it’s not going to be busy on the Festival weekend 20th-22nd September.. On Friday night it hosts She Brings the Rain (8.30-10pm) before launching into Saturday with Shed doing a lunchtime session (1-2.30pm). At 3pm the poets take over with Gordon and Blossom conducting the Bruff Experiment. And then there’s more live music from 4pm with Rhianna and Colour & S
Sep 15, 20241 min read


Trains and boats and planes – Getting to the Walton Arts Festival
Well, the planes might be going a bit far and are not particularly ‘green’, but just think of all the ways you can be at Walton Arts Festival September 20-22nd. If you’re really local, walking is the obvious choice, but then climbing aboard the push bike is a great option if you’re a little bit further away. There are buses, of course, which are handy if you’re coming from the Clacton, Thorpe and Colchester directions. There’s a bus every 20 minutes from Clacton and every
Sep 13, 20241 min read


Start Your Day With a GONG!
The Between the Tides Walton Arts Festival kicks off on Sunday the 22nd September with a resounding GONG WITH THE WIND under Walton Pier 7.00 am. Performed by the irrepressible and extraordinarily talented her&her, Cydnei B and Catherine Shrubshall. Start your day with some good vibrations.
Sep 13, 20241 min read


When We Wore our Hearts on a Sleeve
Celebrating the days of vinyl, Format Records are digging out their favourite album sleeves and the albums and the stories behind them as part of the Walton Arts Festival 20th-22nd September. They may not necessarily be classic or iconic designs, just the sleeves that Format love, so be prepared to be surprised. Remember when… It seems unbelievable, but those of us old enough to recall some of our favourite albums (yes, album or "LP") sleeves are now witnessing new generation
Sep 12, 20241 min read


Between the Streets - the Walton Arts Trail
Reflections of the Sea by Sarah Stratford Wright Impressionist, realist, surrealist, modernist…? Whatever your choice in art, it will be here somewhere at Between the Tides, the Walton Arts Festival 20-22nd September, With some 40 events, workshops, demos and installations, an Arts Trail created by the Walton Art Network will be a feast for any art lover with a few hours to spare for wandering around the town and taking everything in. Mermaid by Simply Twisted By artists with
Sep 12, 20242 min read


What Shall We Do This Weekend Mum?
What a choice! No time to sit around and get bored. On September 21st you can start your Saturday with a quick visit to a special Walton Market where there are games for the young ones and even a tea cup ride for the tinies. Then, pop into the Library at 11.15am for some story telling – Sand Between My Toes and The Naughty Seagull – with authors Caroline Cross and Lucy Mitchell. Of course, that’s only possible if you can avoid the Sandcastle Competition on The Leas Beach.
Sep 12, 20242 min read


Hot off the Press - Festival Programme
The Between the Tides Wallton Arts Festival is fast approaching and a beautifully designed and printed Programme (with map) is with the printers as I write. We'll be distributing the printed and folded A5 Programmes around the town as soon as they're available but meanwhile, as a subscriber to the Festival mailing list, we thought you might like a sneak preview! So here's an A4 version for you to use now if you wish. You can print it out and hopefully it let you plan your
Sep 11, 20241 min read


Inspiring Harmonies at the Walton Arts Festival
If you love listening to beautiful songs sung with rich harmonies, then make a date to hear the local choirs and a cappella singing we have lined up for you on the 21st and 22nd September at the Walton Arts Festival. It’s all free and offered with the kind support of Emmanuel Church who are great supporters of the Festival. Tendring Male Voice Choir On Saturday between 5 and 6pm you can hear the Tendring Male Voice Choir sing part of their extensive repertoire at Emmanuel Chu
Sep 8, 20241 min read


What are you in the Market for?
Preserves, bakery, handmade goods, recycled goodies, music, activities for the youngsters….? Well, it will all be here in Walton’s Millennium Square for a special Between the Tides Market on Saturday, September 21st from 10am-4pm. Expect around a dozen market stalls selling artisan and handmade items. And by artisan we mean local producers who have made all their own produce, whether it’s a jar of jam or a cupcake. The Festival market starts at 10.00 am and goes on all day
Sep 6, 20241 min read


Rock Around the Clock - Twice!
Rock never died, if anything it’s just waking up. And you can kick off almost 48 hours of rock music on Friday, September 20 at 9.00pm when The Landed play a session at the Victory. Ever popular locally, in the words of their website they ‘somehow manage to mix the new wave edge of The Police with Fleetwood Mac’s sense of melody, the harmonic choruses and homegrown feel of a group like Noah And The Whale with the symphonic rock of ELO’. Says it all. On Saturday the 21st at 1.
Sep 4, 20242 min read


Sunday on the Naze – fun for all the family
What a way to spend a Sunday morning! And it all kicks off at 10am, Sunday the 22nd September. It’s all happening on the ground, in the air and everywhere in between. The in between bit is two sessions of parachute making before all the participants see their favourite cuddly toy fly sedately (we hope) from the top of Naze Tower to the ground. Parachuting Teddy Bears first session starts at 11am with a follow up at 1pm. The teds will be flying at 12.15pm and 2.15pm. But y
Aug 23, 20242 min read


The sand between your toes
If it’s happening Between the Tides there’s plenty of opportunity to get the sand between your toes at the Walton Arts Festival, 20th-22nd September. You can start with Saturday morning the Sandcastle Competition when there are prizes for the best sandcastle or sand sculpture. Organised by Frinton Rotary, you can register from 9.30am from at M&M’s beach hut 100 on The Leas promenade and begin building at 10am. Judging is at noon and prizegiving is at 12.30pm. Children und
Aug 23, 20242 min read


Not a rocker? There’s more on offer at Walton Arts Festival
We’ll almost guarantee, there will be music for your taste at the Walton Arts Festival, 20-22nd September. In a purely chronological order, here are some of the alternatives to ‘mainstream’ music. First off we have some smooth jazz from J2Z at East Coast 5 on Friday night from 8.00pm. A lively, local jazz trio, they play your classic jazz standards and bring the ‘jazz lounge’ style to more modern numbers from movie themes to soul. Great easy listening. Alternatively at t
Aug 23, 20242 min read


LOCAL STORY TELLERS & WRITERS FEATURE AT WALTON ARTS FESTIVAL
Local writers from Tendring Community Writers Group are featuring throughout the event packed programme at Walton Arts Festival 20-22 September 2024. They kick off their activities with a book launch of an anthology of stories about Tendring’s coast, including poems, fiction and historic non fiction at 5pm at The Nose Bookshop, 28 Newgate Street. Saturday at 11.15 it’s Seaside Storytime with readings for children 12 years and under at The Library, Walton High Street with M
Aug 22, 20242 min read


Sunday on the Naze is up in the air - literally!
Between 10am and 2pm East Anglian Kite Flyers will putting on one of their spectacular Kite Displays. You never know quite what might be flying above your head. It could be a tiger, or an astronaut or a whale, you’ll just have to wait and see. Then there will be two sessions of Parachuting Teddies. At a £5 workshop children can design and make their parachutes for their teddies who will then be parachuted from the top of the Naze Tower (the teddies, not the children). Works
Jul 31, 20241 min read
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