Celebrate Lancashire Day 2024
26th November 2024
Join Us in Celebrating Lancashire Day!
On Wednesday 27 November, Lancastrians all over the world will be celebrating Lancashire Day, a showcase of the culture, lifestyle and achievements of the county.
As we mark this special day, we’re reflecting on the incredible artists and makers who have helped us celebrate creativity in all its forms here in Blackburn.
Each year, the National Festival of Making comes to life thanks to the hard work and passion of volunteers, artists, students, makers, venue providers, and partners. While we can’t name every single person in this post, you all know who you are—and we’re endlessly grateful for your contributions!
To honour Lancashire Day, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the amazing people from Lancashire who have played a role in the festival—some have been with us from the very beginning, while others joined us along the way.
Obscura Collective
Obscura Collective is a community darkroom run by a collective of northern artists. The aim is to provide affordable darkroom facilities, workshops, and a space to create work socially, keeping the knowledge of film photography alive, particularly through the younger generations. Obscura Collective has hosted Cyanotype workshops during the festival weekend, showcasing one of the oldest photographic printmaking processes that date back to the 1840s!
Samina Hussain
Samina Hussain is a Henna Artist and Guinness World Record holder for ‘Most henna tattoos completed in an hour’. Samina has delivered Henna workshops during our festival weekend and is also involved in our partner programme with Art Angel – The Hobby Cave where she delivered workshops in London as part of the exhibitions public programme.
Source
Small, but perfectly formed, Source combines their multi-disciplinary skills with other talented local companies to deliver great work with great service. Stephen is from Lancashire and studied Graphic Design at Blackburn College. He has worked in the creative industries for 30 years, founding Source in 2001, which he runs with his wife Catherine.
Stephen leads branding and design for The National Festival of Making. His role also involves developing the branding across our programme. Deeply engaged in the concept of making, Stephen collaborates with us to discover innovative ways to showcase our work.
Dirty Faces
Dirty Faces is a Lancashire-based production company producing films, documentaries, music videos and commercials. Their name, a nod to the mining towns from which they were born, is ironically their aim not to make run-of-the-mill content and instead connect North West artists with the world through innovative productions and events. For the past two years, Dirty Faces have taken over Tony’s Empress Ballroom to host a line-up of independent films, talks, exhibitions and more, from mill-towns across the North and beyond.
More Music
More Music is a community music and education charity based in the West End of Morecambe, working throughout Lancashire, the North West and internationally. Their year round programme covers a breadth of music making activity involving people of all ages and all backgrounds. More Music is one of the longest running and most highly regarded community music and education organisations in the UK. More Music has a history of over 30 years of national and international projects that demonstrate flexibility, belief, imagination, partnership and connection. More Music has contributed to our programme over the years, most recently they brought joy to lots of little ones through their music workshop – Walking Down The Street Gamelan.
Robin Zahler
Robin Zahler serves as the lead photographer for the National Festival of Making, collaborating with top local, national, and global brands in the industry. Since the festival’s inception, Robin has been an integral part of our team, capturing some of our most cherished and iconic photographs.
Northern Dholis are a team of skilled Bhangra Dhol Players who provide lively and energetic drumming performances. They have joined us at the National Festival of Making for the past two years and filled the streets with big Bhangra beats!
Hopeful & Glorious
Hopeful & Glorious create high-quality events for artists, makers and designers from across the North. Based in Lancashire, Hopeful and Glorious love to work with talented makers, interesting venues and great organisations to produce colourful events to exhibit and sell art.
Their fairs and markets provide opportunities for visitors to meet the makers, hear about the techniques and inspirations and see a brilliant range of art, craft and design with artists specially selected for each event. Each year we work with them to curate a Maker’s Market at the festival weekend.
From Anjees Garden
Anjee is a passionate allotment enthusiast, maker, and family gardener who treasures sharing the joys of growing and the wonders of nature. She runs forest school and gardening sessions for the home education community, where participants enjoy hands-on outdoor learning, foraging, growing food, and exploring inspirational places.
In addition to hosting talks and workshops, Anjee also sells plants, seeds, and skincare products made from the flowers and medicinal plants she lovingly cultivates in her garden. Anjee joined us in our new Kitchen Tables making space delivering a fermentation workshop.
The Bat Cave
The Batcave, a beloved comic book and wargames store, has been a staple in Blackburn since 2003. Conveniently located on Town Hall Street, just opposite the library, The Batcave offers a wide range of trading cards and collectables in addition to its extensive selection of comics and gaming supplies.
The Batcave run by Naser Rasool hosts regular workshops and events and joined the National Festival of Making programme this year! Naser, a passionate Warhammer enthusiast, contributed his impressive collection to The Hobby Cave project in collaboration with Art Angel which has since led to a London exhibition and the opportunity to lead a workshop, showcasing his expertise and creativity.
