Now in its 21st birthday year, the recent Prescot Festival is celebrating yet another roaringly successful showcase of musical and artistic talent.
Founded in 2005, the 10-day cultural showcase on Merseyside continues to thrive and expand, with combined audiences of 2,000 people. This figure equals the previous best audience turnout at the 20th anniversary Festival last year in 2024. Rain failed to dampen spirits as an even larger number (estimated at around 5,000) braved the weather at Prescot Carnival, an affiliated event during the Festival week, organised by Prescot Town Council.
Brass favourites Wingates Band, classic British & US light music from Phoenix Concert Orchestra, and musical theatre sensations Annamarie Newton and David Lee were among the acts on this year’s programme. Over 100 singers from across the region formed the ‘Prescot Festival Chorus’, giving a fine rendition of Mozart’s moving Requiem. The Choral Spectacular evening concluded with a thrilling first Festival performance from 6-piece local a capella group Hope Street Consort. Jazz returned to the Festival in a terrific concert at Prescot’s R.C. Church, given by Lymm-based Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats. This year also saw a successful post-Festival concert given by the outstanding Choir of St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford, a College with strong ties to the city of Liverpool, as part of their Merseyside tour.
The 2025 programme saw further Festival collaborations with Prescot’s new Shakespeare North Playhouse. Soprano Laura Hudson dazzled in her Festival return visit in a programme of afternoon opera solos and soliloquies inspired by the Bard of Stratford-Upon-Avon, in the delightful sunshine of the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden. Meanwhile, in the venue’s studio theatre, Emily Parr dazzled audiences in the world premiere ‘Two Steps Back’, a prequel to her own remarkable one-act one-woman play ‘No Coward Soul’, staged at last year’s Festival. Other church-based venues played host to Liverpool Bach Collective in Choral Evensong, primary school choirs and instrumentalists, a classic film night (the comical 1977 BBC ‘Play for Today’ Our Day Out), a barn dance with live band ‘Two Left Feet’ (!), and a talk from the ever-popular local historian Ken Pye.
“Many of our acts this year were return visitors, and they excelled themselves in the sheer quality of their performances,” said Artistic Director Dr Robert Howard. “It was also a delight to welcome so many new faces, not only on stage, but among our audiences, and in the formidable team of volunteers and organisers, too—it’s impossible to overestimate their role in ensuring a community festival on this scale runs so smoothly.”
Preparations are already underway for the 22nd Annual Prescot Festival of Music & the Arts, set to take place from Friday 19th to Sunday 28th June 2026. Eager audiences can keep up to date with Arts in Prescot’s year-round programme of events at prescotfestival.co.uk.
ENDS
Photo: Barn Dance at the 2025 Prescot Festival (credit: Alan Humphreys Photography)
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