In the Community

‘Cirencester History Festival is a charitable organisation and a true all-town collaboration.

Our plan is to attract big names to Cirencester and put it on the festival map, but also to provide a platform for local people and organisations, and to celebrate our community. We’re very proud to work with local schools and charities to make sure everyone can enjoy the fun, creativity, learning and bonding that a festival can bring.’

Jess Yarrow, Festival Producer

Collaboration

Our festival involves over 40 local organisations pulling together across 17 venues. Our devolved approach means we can provide a platform for local cultural organisations while benefitting from their experience and expertise.

‘Collaborating with the History Festival has raised our society’s profile and helped us reach a much wider audience. Our recent Croome lecture was our best attended ever’

— Cirencester Archaeological and Historical Society.

Outreach

Not many people know that the festival includes a whole series of off-programme outreach events. This year, we have secured funding to repeat our advertised workshops – from historical cookery to codebreaking, chocolate making and ancient grains – for charity partners, in parallel free sessions.

We have also linked our creative and charity partners to provide off-programme events such as artefact handling sessions and private trips to exhibitions. These events take place during festival week, and beyond too.

‘We had 12 children and their families from The Churn Project and Cirencester Opportunity Group come along to make ancient (chicken and veg!) pies as part of the Cirencester History Festival outreach programme. It meant 12 families went home with a meal on Friday night. One mother, who had escaped a difficult domestic situation and was until recently without an oven, said it had given her the confidence to start cooking for her daughter again. It really, really meant a lot’.

— Sarah Edmonds, Cotswold Cookery School.

Schools and Families

By partnering with Cirencester College we are able to offer trips to curriculum-adjacent talks as well as student volunteering opportunities and backstage access to interview speakers.

Thanks to generous funding by The Organic Farm Shop and the Woodroffe Benton Foundation, we are now able to offer £5 youth tickets to under-22s across the whole talks programme.

‘Volunteering was such a rewarding experience. I had multiple opportunities to speak with and learn from distinguished historians and archaeologists … The entire experience was extraordinary, and has made me extremely passionate to connect everyone with history’

— Year 13 student, Cirencester College, 2024

Our 2025 festival includes 17 family events for half term and Halloween, most of which are free or heavily subsidised. This year we have added more free drop-ins to our family programme, which helps remove barriers to access.

2024 impact report

Download our 2024 impact report to find out what we’ve learned from last year’s festival and how we’re adapting for 2025.

Download PDF

‘We felt incredibly proud to be part of the History Festival. It has been a catalyst to make new connections in our local community, which have extended well beyond the week of the festival‘

— National Trust at Chedworth Roman Villa

With huge thanks to Cotswold Cookery School, The Living Memory Historical Association, The Long Table, Emma Kay, Sufiya Ahmed, Cirencester Opportunity Group, The Churn Project, Cotswold Lakes Brew Co, the Daniel Bingham Foundation and the Bathurst Estate for making our outreach work possible. And to The Organic Farm Shop and the Woodroffe Benton Foundation for their support helping young people access the arts, culture and heritage by subsidising all our 2025 youth talk tickets.

Please get in touch if you would like to help us provide even more free or subsidised content in 2025, whether by volunteering or making a donation. email: di@cirencesterhistoryfestival.org