Fri 17 – Sun 19 April 2026
Open from 9 am – 8 pm every day during the Festival

Music, Talks, Stories and Song
Don’t miss traditional Gloucestershire folk music from Bygonz, a live History Extra podcast recording and talks, tastings and great conversation.

Cosy and comfortable caberet-style seating
The perfect place to unwind, share
a drink from the Festival Cafe, read a history book from Festival Little Libraryor simply soak up the calm in the atmospheric Friars’ dining room.

Forest of Dean Miners: The General Strike, John Bassett
In this special performance from Spaniel in
the Works theatre company, meet two Forest of Dean miners who have both taken part in the General Strike of 1926.

Harry Jackson is a miner who stayed out in the hope of a decent settlement whilst Davey Wilkes is a strike breaker who returned early.

Join them to hear the reasons behind the General Strike, the hardships incurred and two views about ‘the best thing to do’.

Breaking Bread: How Baking Shaped Our World, David Wright

Award-winning third-generation baker David Wright traces the story of bread from the first cultivated grains of the Fertile Crescent in c.8000 BC to the rise of industrial sliced loaves in the 1960s and today’s sourdough revival.

What role did bread play in ancient Egypt and Rome, the Great Fire of London, the Peterloo Massacre or conflicts today in Ukraine and Gaza? And what does the future hold for the humble loaf?

The talk is followed by an artisan bread and pastry tasting in the scriptorium from 3.30 – 4 pm.

Lunatics, Cripples & Incurables, Jemma Fowkes 
Disability was so often hidden, obscured
or misunderstood in the past. Today we
uncover the lives of individuals living with
disability, find out about the challenges they faced and on a lighter note, ask why the Gloucestershire Archives has a photograph of a dog playing Bingo.

This talk uses historic language and covers upsetting themes.

What History Taught Me,
Janina Ramirez & David Musgrove 
Join us for a live HistoryExtra podcast recording as Janina Ramirez and David Musgrove explore the power of history to change lives.

Del: Becoming A Voice for Young People, Delroy Ellis 
Join youth worker and campaigner Delroy Ellis as he discusses his powerful new memoir, Del, charting his journey from adversity to leadership. It is a story of resilience and belonging and of one man’s determination to transform opportunities for young people in Gloucester and beyond.

Lunch with Shakespeare: Much Ado About Cooking, Sam Bilton

Step into Shakespeare’s world through taste.

Leading food historian Sam Bilton has worked with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to discover what the Bard really ate and the dishes, from banquet pies to sweet tarts, that graced his plays.

Join her to savour history yourself at our delicious Shakespearean lunch which may include: salmon pasties, beef chewits, Elizabethan sticky gingerbread and Tudor shortbread! Book Now.

Catherine Drew: The Forest Poet
Born in 1784, Victorian poet Catherine Drew offers a remarkable window onto the Forest of Dean in an age of industrial change. Through her verse we glimpse
Cinderford’s growth, working-class lives and the cost to landscape and tradition. Dean Heritage Centre’s Roger Deeks and Jason Griffiths join Jo Durrant to explore her Forest world.

The Three Choirs Festival
in Gloucester, Adrian Partington, Simon Carpenter & David Francis
Discover the remarkable history of the
Three Choirs Festival, the world’s oldest
music festival, founded in Gloucester in
1715. Here, giants such as Ralph Vaughan Williams premiered Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis in 1910 before a packed cathedral nave that included Edward Elgar, while young Ivor Gurney and Herbert
Howells looked on.

From the first BBC live broadcasts in 1925 to moments of wartime uncertainty, 2026 Artistic Director Adrian Partington, archivist Simon Carpenter and Chief Executive David Francis reveal triumph, turbulence and tenacity across three centuries of Festivals in Gloucester.  Book Now.