Chalke Valley History Trust (CVHT) has been awarded £260,000 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure the Chalke Valley History Festival and its Festival for Schools have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.

CVHT, owner of Chalke Valley History Festival, is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

The Chalke Valley History Festival is a unique celebration of history that includes talks, performance, music, living history, and story-telling, covering a very broad range of subjects from the deep past to the near present, and through many different perspectives. It is the largest festival in the UK (perhaps the world) devoted entirely to history and attracts a local, regional, national and international audience. The festival is owned by a charitable trust set up to promote the understanding and inspiration of the past to the widest possible audience of all ages but especially children through the Chalke Valley History Festival for Schools which runs concurrently.

In the decade since the festival has been running, we have brought a major cultural event to south-west Wiltshire – there is no rural-based cultural festival of this scale anywhere else in the area.  It attracts some 25,000-30,000 people annually and also provides a large number of jobs and boosts the local economy; we use local businesses as far as we possibly can.

Over a week, visitors enjoy a blend of talks, discussions and debates, alongside a vast through-the-ages living history encampment featuring interactive events and, at the weekend, air displays of historic aircraft. The festival is noted for the range of performers it attracts from leading academics and nationally renowned figures to the best living historians. In addition to political, social, economic and military history, experts in the history of art, music, theatre and literature educate and entertain the audience.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 festival and the attendant costs already incurred, without the funding from the Arts Council Culture Recovery Fund we were planning a greatly reduced festival for 2021 which would not have included the Festival for Schools. This funding will enable us to mount the Festival, including the Festival for Schools, with social distancing measures in place (provided, of course, that holding a festival at all complies with Government guidelines) from 21-27 June 2021.

Festival Director, Jane Pleydell-Bouverie, said:

“We are absolutely delighted and so grateful to have received funding thanks to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. We passionately believe that it is only by learning about the past that we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future so this grant will enable us to continue to mount the Festival for Schools alongside the main Chalke Valley History Festival programme.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:

“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery. 

“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this Government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”

Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:

“Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages. This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”

“It’s always one of the highlights of my summer” ~ CHARLIE HIGSON

From Monday 24th to Sunday 30th June, a usually quiet field in Broad Chalke, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, will come alive and be transformed into the world’s largest festival entirely devoted to history. Spread over 60 acres, it is a unique combination of talks, discussions and topical debates, plus a vast living history encampment, where the very best living historians – all experts in their field – bring history to life with their extensive knowledge and passion for their subjects. The Festival also boasts a range of interactive tents and activities such as SOE Commando training and Secret Agent Training; as well as archaeology walks, vintage vehicles, a book store, shopping emporium, a bar, fine dining and street food.

This summer, over 150 talks and debates will be delivered by eminent historians, writers and commentators. Speakers already confirmed include: Victoria Hislop, Michael Wood, Mariella Frostrup, Niall Ferguson, Kate Williams, Max Hastings, Elif Shafak, Ian Kershaw, Kwasi Kwateng, Neil Oliver, Antonia Fraser, Ben MacIntyre, and Olivette Otele. Plus, appearances by Ken Tout, a veteran of one of the most famous tank engagements of WWII, and John Jammes, French resistor and winner of the Croix de Guerre, promise to be particularly special events.

During the week, The Schools’ Festival enables pupils and teachers to get out beyond the classroom and experience history in a new way. The Festival provides a full programme of curriculum-based subjects, delivered with expertise and a fresh, interactive and immersive approach. Now in its 7th year, with increased numbers of children and schools attending each year, the Festival welcomed nearly 2,500 pupils in 2018. The Schools’ Festival for 2019 will run on Tuesday 25th June (for Years 6,7 & 8,9), Wednesday 26th June (for Years 10 & 12), and Thursday 27th June (for Years 6,7,8, & 9).

The 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings will also be marked at Chalke Valley this year, and there will be a special D-Day morning to commemorate all those who fought in the Normandy campaign. For the first time, the Festival will also be recreating a World War II trench. The scene will be set in late June in 1944 and members of the public will be thrown into a fly-on-the-wall scenario that will demonstrate the equipment, conditions and dangers facing British troops on the Normandy frontline.

In addition, the festival weekend will see an exciting new programme of living history events, showcasing the age of the Anglo Saxons and Vikings, right the way through to the Second World War.

Brand-new themes for 2019:

Exploration: how exploration and navigation has changed, demonstrating the techniques of the Vikings, Tudor explorers such as Drake and Raleigh and also Captain James Cook. Historic Home: exploring the changing ways in which we live. From the Vikings to the Age of Chivalry and from the Tudors to the Stuarts, living historians will be showing how clothing and dressing has changed over the centuries, and how cleanliness and attitudes to hygiene have also progressed.

Historic Farming: a major theme for this year, demonstrating a wide variety of different rural crafts and farming techniques, comparing ancient to modern day, from sheep driving, traditional sheering, haymaking and a series of connected skills from a wheelwright to hurdle maker to traditional blacksmithing.

The Royal Anglians: the Festival weekend falls on Armed Forces Day, which this year will be centered round the local cathedral city of Salisbury. To tie in with this event, the Festival will play host to over twenty current British Army infantrymen from the Royal Anglian Regiment who will be transformed into British infantry from 1944. Using their current skills, they will be demonstrating both what has changed in the intervening years and what has remained much the same with a series of events that will showcase equipment, weapons, tactics and infantry skills.

The full programme outlining the full range of activities, and giving more details about the talks and debates taking place, plus more information about the Schools’ Festival, will be announced in due course, and tickets will go on sale on 30th April.