Authors/speakers who appeared at the 2005 Peak Festival included Clare Short, Tariq Ali, Matthew Parris, Gervase Phinn,
Brian Turner, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, Clive Aslet (Country Life Editor), James Geary (Editor of Time Magazine),
Roger Protz (Editor of CAMRA), Jane Fearnley Whittingstall, Colin Tudge, David Rothenberg, David and Ben Crystal,
Martin Gurdon, Mark Gwynne Jones, E A Markham, Meg Hutchinson, Wendy Holden, Dugald Steer, Martyn Ware (Human League),
Russel Senior and Nick Banks (Pulp), Mark Waddington (CEO of Warchild), Nick Temple (Editor of Global Ideas Bank),
Susanne Garnett (Director of Village Aid working in Africa).
Events included Literary Lunch, Real Ale Dinner, Panel Discussion including '500 ways to change the world',
Presentation of local book of the year award, cheques to charities (funds raised during the festival).
Festival Summary 2005
The Country Bookshop Peak Festival was launched on Friday 18th November, with
an evening of local authors and the presentation of the award for the
Country Bookshop Local Book of the Year. This year the winner was 'The Hike'
by Don Shaw.
An especially warm welcome was extended to The Dowager Duchess of
Devonshire, who had always been supportive of Country Bookshop events, never refusing a book signing
session, said Geraldine Rose, Director of Country Bookshop.
Linda Scammell, from Country Bookshop, was thanked for all her hard work, along with her team of little
helpers, and to all Country Bookshop staff, organising raffles for Country Bookshop charities throughout the festival.
They were pleased to be supporting local writing with Country Bookshop's Local Book of the Year and also pleased to
have organised events on issues of national and global interest with Clare Short and Tariq Ali.
The judges of the Country Bookshop Local Book of the Year, Emma Harrison, Elaine Blair, Christine Low and Mike Hennessey,
then gave a short review of the short-listed books and Christopher Pennel, talked about Friends of the Peak District,
and then announced and presented the award and donated a year's subscription to the winner.
Thanks were given to Roma, from Fresh Basil in Belper for donating and arranging the impressive display of cheeses; David
Allingham for donating his 'Leatherbritches Real Ale', brewed at Bentley Brook Inn. His book 'Tales by Mr A, a Country
Innkeeper' was launched at the Festival; Nellie Shepherd for the dazzling decorations; Steve Marsh for his classical guitar.
The evening was a great success thanks to the efforts of our very good friends and everyone at Country Bookshop who
helped to make it so, said Geraldine.
On the following Friday it was Clare Short, who finally arrived forty minutes late - but the audience commented that
after she had spoken and then stayed for over one and a half hours of questions, it was worth the wait. It was an
intelligent audience who asked pertinent and searching questions. Clare Short gave a real insight into the workings of
this government - well she should know.
The festival saw some great authors and events, a wizard, Dugald Steer, visited the shop on Saturday morning and in the
afternoon a slide show and talk on seven English gardens by Andrea Wulf, including Chatsworth, and the Editor of Country
Life, Clive Aslet, talked about landmarks of Britain; the Europe Editor of Time Magazine, James Geary, juggled, without
dropping a ball, whilst at the same time talking about aphorisms; a talk from the Editor of The Real Ale Guide, Roger Protz;
performance poetry from Mark Gwynne Jones; shadow puppetry from the Babbling Vagabonds. There were talks on Gardens, British
architecture, birds, and the former feature editor for the New Scientist, Colin Tudge, talked about why trees matter, the
English Language; A E Markham, Professor of Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, talked about his new book; a
Shakespeare Miscellany performance from David and Ben Crystal; the 1980's music scene from 2 ex-Pulp (Nick and Russell)
and Human League member (Martyn Ware) and Chaired by Martin Lilleker, Sheffield based music journalist;
Jane Fearnley Whittingstall on how to be a good grannie; The Dowager Duchess and coffee with TV Chef, Brian Turner.
So, the festival covered a lot of areas and there was sure to be something for everyone.
On the last Sunday of the Festival the Literary Lunch hosted two guests, Matthew Parris and Gervase Phinn, both excellent
speakers. Gervase, born raconteur, as usual, had everyone in stitches whilst relating his stories and anecdotes of his
life as a former north Yorkshire school's inspector. Matthew Parris spoke about converting a house in Spain, the subject
of his new book. He ended his talk saying that in all his seven years as MP for West Derbyshire he never envisaged a
festival such as this to be possible in West Derbyshire and added that he would support Country Bookshop in any way
that he could. Gervase Phinn also acknowledged and thanked Country Bookshop for organising such a festival.
All of the authors enjoyed being part of the festival and meeting other authors (some of which might lead to further
collaboration) and some of them expressed a wish to come back with their families and spend more time in the
Peak District for the next festival.
On the final day a panel discussion on '500 Ways to Change the World' nicely would up the festival. Nick Temple who
edited the book of the title and who also edits www.globalideasbank.co.uk chaired the discussion with Mark Waddington,
CEO of Warchild (www.warchild.org.uk) Susanne Garnett, Director of Village Aid (www.villageaid.org) and
Sridhar Gowda, trustee of Gnana (www.gnana.org) promoting literacy in rural India.
Many of the themes repeated throughout the festival were aired. Some spoke of change on a global scale as they were
very concerned about global warming and carbon emissions whilst others spoke of change to the arms trade that kept half
of the world in poverty. Some suggested small personal changes that were easier to make, walking instead of driving,
shopping locally and buying locally grown, organic produce, recycling, etc. After the meeting a few students from
Lady Manners' School decided to set up a group at school to discuss the issues that could change their lives.
£800 was raised from fundraising throughout the festival. Cheques were presented after the meeting to Village Aid,
NSPCC and Gnana. And so to the next festival, 25th May to 7th June - the planning has already begun.
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