HuG – Foxlowe’s Green Arts Festival

Hygge – the Danish word that translates into something like cosiness, and the word that inspired the name of HuG for our annual green arts festival, where we work together with the Foxlowe to help raise funds for their energy efficiency schemes – originally from the idea of ‘hugging’ the building with insulation.

This year’s HuG, organised by Moorlands Climate Action, will take place on Saturday 24 June with a great line up of stallholders, performers and activities for all ages, with a special theme on the vital importance of bees and pollinators. So, we are very pleased to welcome the amazing Pif-Paf Bee Cart, an exciting accessible walkabout theatre piece for audiences of all ages. This is thanks to OUTSIDE, the dynamic new community arts programme created by and for the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

There will be a wide range of stalls showcasing a variety of arts and crafts using different materials produced with an environmental approach and ethos, such as a workshop making notebooks using recycled materials, along with local nature and environmental groups such as Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Swifts of Leek, and Friends of the Earth.

Celebrating Leek’s award of Bee Friendly Town status, Cllr Bill Cawley will unveil a new bilberry bee wood sculpture. Made by the Moorland’s own award-winning winning artist, sculptor and craftsman Anthony Hammond, the beautiful public art piece will then be permanently sited in Birches Garden in Leek.

Other outdoors events will include weaving and spinning, and wood whittling and bodging demonstrations. There will be activities for children and families, and musical entertainment all day. With poetry readings and a book stall, the spoken and written word will be represented too. There will something for everyone!