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Thornton Artisan Festival 2026

Thornton Artisan Festival 2026 to Celebrate Local Creativity and Community Spirit

A brand-new celebration of art, craft, food and community is set to bring Thornton to life this summer as the Thornton Artisan Festival 2026 takes place from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th June at the Thornton Community Centre and Grounds, Main Street, Thornton.

Organised by the Community Events Committee supported by local artists and crafters, and residents McSmith Events.

The three-day festival aims to showcase the area’s creative talent while uniting residents and visitors for a vibrant, family-friendly weekend.

The festival has been designed with a clear purpose: to promote local talent and independent businesses, boost community pride, attract visitors to the area, and support small creative enterprises and local food producers.

All profits will go towards funding new central heating for the Community Centre, with £24,000 needed to complete the essential replacement of a failing 53-year-old system.

Festival organisers promise a lively and inclusive atmosphere, with the Community Centre and its grounds transformed into a hub of creativity and entertainment.

The Featured Artists Gallery in the Main Hall will display a curated exhibition of local art, photography and sculpture, while the Craft & Makers Market in the Sports Hall will showcase handmade goods from talented artisans and independent creators.

Outdoors, the Artisan Food & Drink Zone will celebrate local producers offering quality food and refreshments, and a Children’s Zone will keep younger visitors entertained. A Community Gallery Wall and live music will add to the weekend’s festivities, ensuring there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

The festival will open on Friday evening with a special ticketed performance by one of the UK’s best-known Celtic music bands, Govannen. Tickets are priced at £20 and must be pre-booked via thorntonvillage@aol.com.

Daytime entry to the festival on Saturday and Sunday is free, with funds raised through stallholder fees, sponsorship, advertising and a community raffle. Organisers are currently seeking prize donations and sponsorship from local businesses to help support the event. Sponsorship offers valuable promotion and visibility while directly contributing to the improvement of the Community Centre.

Artists, crafters, entertainers, food vendors and sponsors are all invited to get involved in this exciting new community venture. Those interested in booking a stall, donating raffle prizes or becoming a sponsor can request further details and a booking form by contacting thorntonartisan@gmail.com.

For updates and announcements, follow the festival on Facebook at Thornton Artisan Festival and on the village website www.thorntonvillage.org.

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St Peter’s church, Thornton – working party

We will do an hour tomorrow morning (Saturday 14th February) from 10 am just clearing up the fallen branches and twigs.

Paul is going to ‘trim’ the ‘hedge’ by the lychgate that is over hanging the path.  So there will be that to clear away as well.

Hope some of you can join us.  Do wear warm clothing and stout shoes and gloves.

Thank you.

Shirley

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Workshop – Thornton Community Centre

Sunday March 1st 10.15-11.30

We have something a little bit different at Thornton Community Centre.

St Peter’s Church would like to invite you to a (free) workshop where you’ll create little metal charms called Milagros. Their full meaning will be explained on the day but they have a spiritual connection.

Our time together starts and ends with contemporary Christian song and a period of reflection or prayer.

Leading us will be the talented artist Hayley Fern from St. Johns Church, Hugglescote – some of you may recognise her from her pilgrimage to draw all the churches in the Leicester diocese.

https://www.instagram.com/hayleydrawschurches?igsh=MTE1cHVnYWw4MWFyOA==

Please do join us for a very creative hour or so. No age restrictions.

No charge, all materials provided and no experience required!

Please contact Delia if you have any queries on 07796391859

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Thank you – Thornton Nurseries

Thank you Ben from Thornton Nurseries for supplying the plants and planting up the four planters along the driveway at Thornton Community Centre this week.

They look great. The plants have certainly been very well ‘watered in’.

In a strange anomaly it was discovered last year when some long lost plans of the centre were located in the Parish Council offices, that the driveway is not part of the lease agreement between the Community Centre and the Parish Council and therefore the maintenance of the borders is actually the responsibility of the PC.

The PC have worked within a very limited budget to get the borders tidied up to enhance the approach to the centre, and have relocated four large planters (donated by Bardon quarries) from the approach roads to the village where they had remained ‘unloved’ and ‘unkempt’ for a few years, onto the the borders on the understanding that they are maintained by the Trustees of the centre.

The trustees approached Thornton Nurseries for plants and Ben has kindly supplied and planted them up for the Centre at no charge.

Thank you so much for your Community spirit in helping the trustees maintain and improve the facilities at the Centre for the community and visitors to the many events planned over the next few months.

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Clear Out Sale – Saturday 28th February, Thornton Community Centre LE67 1AH (11am to 2pm)

Our first event of the year, raising funds for Thornton Church,
St Peter’s.

Please come along to our Clear Out sale, and help us to raise money for essential repairs for our church whilst at the same time finding yourself new treasures and gifts.

There will be 21 tables over two rooms full of a huge variety of beautiful bargains.


Bacon and sausage baps, and tea and coffee will be available from the ‘café’.


Its also a lovely chance to meet up with friends.
What’s not to like!


Entrance 50p per adult.


Every penny of profit will go to the repair and maintenance of our beautiful church.
There are currently a couple of tables left.

Please contact me (Shirley Garlick) soonest if you would like to sell your own items – 07925 170803
A Friends of St Peter’s fundraising event

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Sarah’s Paper Theatre – Thornton Community Centre

Sarahs Paper Theatre proudly presents a rare performance of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’

An English Toy Theatre play made and hand coloured from Victorian printed sheets, a charming atmospheric delight for the senses. It is a happy tale of how Jack rescues the fairies from the giant’s castle by climbing a beanstalk grown from magic beans.     

Sarah is among a handful of paper & toy theatre maker-performers in the UK, a specialist of the craft with a repertoire of handmade shows based on short stories and fairy tales performing at a wide range of UK venues as well as international festivals.  https://sarahspapertheatre.co.uk/

Available for paper theatre workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions and talks.

Show 25 minutes. Suitable for aged 8 years +  

The evening will also feature a brief introduction to Victorian toy theatre before the show with a Q and A and a look behind the scenes after the show. Theatre style seating in rows, limited to maximum 30 tickets.

The performance date is Friday 30th January 2026 in the Meeting Room in the Community Centre, Thornton

Doors open 6.30pm for a 7pm start to the evening.

Tickets are available from Sarah via email: sarahspapertheatre@gmail.com  £7.00 each

Featured in ‘Homes and Antiques’ magazine December 2024

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TV – Channel 5 – Rich Lives, Poor Lives – Merry Lees

 Channel 5 series Rich Lives, Poor Lives, presented by Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman follows the stories of rich and poor through historical events/periods. 

As part of our their new series they are filming an episode on Victorian Railways.  

Ruth is following the story of working class family the Arguile’s (Argyle’s).

Mary and her husband Peter Arguile lived in the station house at Merry Lees, (Merrylees, Mary Lees) they believe in the 1840’s. 

It is thought that Mary was in charge of running the station. 

The production team are asking if anyone in the locality has any more information about the station and or the family etc.

Does the station house still exist?

Are there any members of the Argyle family still living locally?

Does anyone have any other old photographs of the railway?

Below is a copy of the photograph they have discovered of the Station House.

RCHS Online Media Archive » Railways & Tramroads » London Midland & Scottish Railway Group » Midland Railway » Stations & Infrastructure » Leicester to Burton-on-Trent & branches » Merrylees Original Station.1954 (KSL @ 106m 26ch) (Ref: 030272)Merrylees Original Station.1954 (KSL @ 106m 26ch) (Ref: 030272)

Collection: Spence (Jeoffry) ROMA ID: 030272E  

Taken from Wikipedia : –

Merry Lees was a railway station on the Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line in Leicestershire. It was opened in 1832 and closed in 1871.

The Leicester and Swannington Railway opened the first Merry Lees station on 18 July 1832. The Midland Railway took over the line in 1845 and replaced the station with a second one 150 yards (140 m) to the north on 27 March 1848. The Midland renamed the station Merrylees station some time thereafter, and closed it on 1 March 1871. For the entire period from 1832 to 1871 the station was run by a station mistress, Mary Argyle.

If you have any information of relevance/interest – please email Gill at thorntonvillage@aol.com