Make a date for some Christmas cheer!

Published Tuesday, 1st December 2020

Cultural Services staff at Hartlepool Borough Council have teamed up with local musicians and performers to bring some much-needed Christmas cheer to residents with the launch of a Virtual Advent Calendar.

A selection of songs and pantomime clips have been recorded and these are to be posted online each day throughout December.

With performance venues forced to close by COVID-19, the initiative – funded with money from the Arts Council Venue Recovery Fund – is also providing vital income to local creatives whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by the pandemic.

Susan French, Performance Venues Manager at Hartlepool Borough Council, and her team have worked closely with well-known local musician and promoter James Leonard Hewitson to bring together a range of artists, production and technical teams.

Others taking part include Tees Valley panto company AJ Productions; Hartlepool-based technical production team Artistic Solutions; Fierce Gingers Productions, a Hartlepool-based all-female camera crew whose members recently graduated from the Northern School of Art in the town; local performers The Jades; Rob Irish, Vicky Sandison, Georgia Fletcher and Olivia Crawford.

Virtual Advent Calendar

Georgia Fletcher (left) and Olivia Crawford, with, inset, Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher.

Susan said: “The twin aims of the Virtual Advent Calendar are to relieve some of the pressure on our hard-pressed local creatives – including production and technical staff - many of whom had have no income whatsoever for some considerable time, whilst also bringing some Christmas cheer to local people after a very difficult year.

“We are unable to stage our popular pantomime at Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre this year due to COVID-19, so at least the clips we will be releasing online mean people won’t miss out altogether.

“Local artists have also put their own spin on some much-loved Christmas classics and I’m sure that their not-too-serious efforts will bring a smile to people’s faces.”

Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher, Chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Regeneration Services Committee and the authority’s Culture Portfolio Holder, said: “This is an excellent idea which I wholeheartedly endorse at an extremely difficult time for the whole performing arts industry.

“I hope people will support the initiative and get in the Christmas spirit by logging on to view the daily videos that will be released online."

The videos will be posted on Hartlepool Borough Council’s Facebook and Twitter accounts at www.facebook.com/HartlepoolCouncil and www.twitter.com/HpoolCouncil at 7.30pm daily.

A competition which involves Hartlepool residents sharing images of their decorated homes/Christmas tree is also being held as part of the initiative. It gives people the opportunity to be crowned Hartlepool’s Best Dressed Christmas Tree/Home with one star prize (to be delivered on 22nd December), 11 runner-up prizes and 50 pairs of Easter Panto tickets up for grabs. The competition closes on 15th December. Entries, including a name and contact number, should be emailed to borough.hall@hartlepool.gov.uk