Fundrasiers & Community Events
We put on two major fundraising events every year with the help of our dedicated volunteers, several key supporters and Friends of Inkwell. These events are fundamental to what we do as they celebrate our wonderful and diverse community, raise crucial funds for our project and improves awareness about our services, they also serve to break down the stigma attached with mental health.
Both our Bonfire Night and May Day events have proved to be huge successes year after year and are definitely worth noting down in your diary.
Bonfire Night
The Old Shoulder of Mutton Pub was once a thriving hub of the local community so when Inkwell took over the premises it was imperative that it remained at the heart of LS7. Bonfire Night at the Shoulder was a tradition we wanted to keep and in true Inkwell style we added a touch of our own magic to the event. In 2010 a stunning sculptural addition to the bonfire was created taking the form of a 25ft Phoenix structure. In the following years, this Inkwell tradition was continued with a 30ft Dragon sculpture in 2011, Viking Longboat in 2012 and Icarus structure in 2013.
As well as the beautiful and spectacular outdoor attractions, wholesome vegetarian food and homemade cakes were on sale in the warm art space inside.
Inkwell May Day
May day at Inkwell is now a firm fixture in our diaries and is the highlight of our calendar of events. Described as ‘the start of the North Leeds Summer’ so far we have held three events since starting in 2011. Making use of our lovely spacious garden there is plenty of room for numerous attractions and activities. The garden comes alive with handmade colourful bunting and decorations, with live music on our outdoor stage, a Real Ale tent, craft stalls, circus workshops and children’s activities. May day is a family friendly event for people of all ages. If the sunshine gets too much for you outside, you can relax indoors with some vegetarian food and live acoustic music for some gentler entertainment.
Mayday is a joyous celebration for our community here in LS7, our friends, artists and supporters. It is the biggest event we hold annually. For three years running, as well as the other activities and attractions we have hosted an open annual May Day exhibition of our resident artists and local artists work. The range and styles of work produced here at Inkwell is diverse and wonderful and our annual show showcases the amazing talent we have here.
Midsummer Festival
We are currently developing and planning another annual fundraiser to be held each year. Our Midsummer Event was trialed in June 2012 and this year we are working towards a bigger more ambitious plan to celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.
Our trial event was ‘A Midsummer’s Masquerade’, a magical masked medieval event with live music, homemade food, entertainers and real ale. Inkwell was transformed into a dreamy, enchanted venue, with lighting effects and decorations with a woodland, Midsummer theme. With lots of colourful and fun craft activities for guests to take part in, mask making proved very popular on the day.
Costumes, masks, twinkly lights, folk musicians and tasty food were all added to by the spectacular Olympic Torch passing that evening. Crowds gathered in the street to watch the torch bearer and the evening wound down inside our art space with some dancing and more live performances.
If you would like any more information about our upcoming events or want more information about how you can volunteer or help out on the day please get in touch.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog for regular updates about what’s happening here at Inkwell.
We would like to thank everyone who has helped us at our events so far, from many volunteers, supporters and donations, to our visitors who have helped us raise much needed funds so we can continue the work that we do. We look forward to seeing you again at our future events.
