Brewhouse Yard lit up for Light Night 2009

With Christmas and New Year a mere memory and Spring almost within reach, it seems February is the proverbial red headed stepchild of all the months. Someone obviously felt bad for it and as such us lucky Nottinghamians are being treated to Light Night for the third year in a row. So no more moping, get yourself down town and see the bright lights of our big city.

The weekend will start at 6pm on  Friday 12 February - expect a heady mix of music, performance, pyrotechnics, street entertainers, storytelling, art, poetry, illuminated architecture and not forgetting, of course, the Wheel of Nottingham (of previous ‘Nottingham Eye’ naming scandal). 

Exemplary buildings that have been chosen to be put in the spotlight, literally, include Nottingham Castle, St. Mary’s church, St. Peter’s church, Bromley House Gardens and Adams Building, to name but a few. Brian Clough will be a coloured spectator of the goings on in Market Square and, by the castle, Robin Hood will be illuminated by flame sculptures. Exclusively to Friday night, there will be colourful pyrotechnics every half hour and lasers and lights in the Castle grounds too. 

Tours are also a Friday night treat, with a variety to choose from: Local raconteur, Ezekial Bone, will be available to educate you in the grizzly and gruesome past of Nottingham on his Guts and Gore Tour, as well giving us a chance to discover the dark secrets of Theatre Royal later on in the evening. If exploring the darker side of life is your thing, then there are events aplenty at the Galleries of Justice and the Pit and Pendulum will be hosting the Pit of Curiosities from Another World; a sideshow of freaks, aliens and science gone wrong. 

Kids aren’t excluded - ‘though I imagine they won’t be out until the wee, small hours - and along with a children’s choir in the Square, other events will include storytelling in the secret garden at St. Peter’s church, being able to peddle a bubble bike and the Nottingham Goddess parade. 

Musically, there seems to be something for everyone: Market Square (after the kids have done their thing) will host El Pussy Cat Ska, a 50s and 60s Jamaican dancehall inspired ska, swing, blue beat group. There’s an all female Barbershop chorus on Exchange Walk, a live juke box, Johnny and the Raindrops in Lace Market Square and a pianothon in the Theatre Royal. Last but not least is the Leftlion and Dealmaker Disco in the freshly renewed Trinity Square – crazy as it seems, it’s an outdoor disco and it’s going to be mint. Feet will be tapping with more than just the cold under the guidance of acts such as Vinyl Abort, Red Rack’em, Yassa Dealmaker and Beatmasta Bill. Uniquely to the weekend, our disco will be available on both the Friday and Saturday night, meaning that if you’ve not had enough on Friday, you can fill your boots on Saturday too.

You get the jist - whatever your taste or age, there’s got to be at least one thing on that’ll tempt you to dust off your coat and get out of the house. Nottingham will be all aglow, and with a rampacked schedule of fun, you’d be a darned fool to miss it. 

Light Night will run from Friday 12 February to Saturday 13 February in and around Nottingham City Centre.

Light Night