The Maiden City Festival came to a colourful close with the Crimson Player’s Pageant on the morning of the 322nd Annual Relief of Derry Commemorations, a day of celebrations.
And yet… throughout the week our photographers and video people were capturing images of the Festival. These are now being sorted and labelled, ready for upload. You can find some of the photographs already on our Flickr Channel and we are hoping that the first of the video will be on our YouTube Channel very soon.
So there are still hours of enjoyment to be had at the 2011 Maiden City Festival. Check on our Facebook page for up to date information. We’ll try to update from time to time here too.
We’ve been busy since the last post. At the end of November we launched a new mini website containing a Tribute to William Love. This was a selection of original compositions and arrangements by Londonderry man William Love, who grew up in the Fountain and played in many of the bands around the City. The Festival was delighted to have the Black Skull Corps of Fife & Drums playing these tunes and more at a a very special concert in the Memorial Hall. More can be found by clicking on this photo’s caption. This was taken when we unveiled a commemorative plaque close to where his home once stood on Wapping Lane.
Then, just this past weekend a new site was launched in time for the Anniversary date of 18th December, the Shutting of the Gates, when apprentices closed the gates against soldier’s loyal to King James. The impact of this spontaneous defiance was to lead to the siege of Londonderry 1688-1689, the consequences of which were of European importance. The Festival’s presentation of the Siege Story in St Columb’s Cathedral, itself of great historic significance to Siege times, is a ‘promenade’ style performance as each actor leads us to the next step along the Siege Story. We hope you enjoy, and perhaps even think about coming to see a live performance at the Maiden City Festival 2010.
Work continues on the development of the series of microsites around the Maiden City Festival. The Derrys site was launched for Remembrance Sunday. For the Commemoration marking the 321st Anniversary of the Shutting of the Gates in December the Festival will launch The Siege Story, recordings of the five part ‘promenade’ performance of the story of the siege of Londonderry. We are hugely appreciative for the support of the Dean and Chapter of the historic St Columb’s Catherdral for hosting this event.
