Cookham festival wraps up this weekend with Gala Concert

The Cookham Festival is drawing to a close this weekend – with the final event the Gala Concert at Holy Trinity Church on Sunday, May 22.

Today (Wednesday, May 18) will see a visit from Robert Thorogood, the screenwriter of the popular BBC One murder mystery series. At 7.30pm in Pinder Hall, he will talk about his work including his recent novel set in Marlow.

On Thursday, Comedy Club will be coming to Pinder Hall, featuring top comedians from the London comedy circuit – though tickets have sold out for this event.

Friday will see an evening of poetry and prose, also at Pinder Hall, 7.30pm.

The weekend will kick off with the famed Let’s Rock the Moor festival, back for its 13th year at Marsh Moor.

Events on Sunday begin with Festival Eucharist at St John the Baptist Church; a talk by Aurelia Young (My Father Oscar Nemon) at the Odney Club; and the Oveys Farm Family Concert, with music from The Cookham Kids Singing Group and other musicians and local young performers.

Some ongoing events will draw to a close on Sunday, such as the Cookham Miscellany exhibition by Cookham Arts Club at Elizabeth house, and Our Cookham photography exhibition at the Odney Club, Chalk the Walk pavement art and the Sculpture Garden.

For the Gala Concert, award-winning violinist Alexandra Wood will lead a celebration of music connected with the theme Our World, with selection of professional friends and colleagues.

Alexandra is ‘especially keen to use the church in a variety of new and exciting ways’ to ‘create an exciting atmosphere’, festival organisers said.

The concert features Mendelssohn’s Octet, Debussy’s Syrinx, selected duos from Bartok’s Duos for 2 Violins, Bach’s Aria from Goldberg Variations and Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major.

Doors open at 7.30pm and the concert starts at 8pm.

To see the full events list and book tickets, visit www.cookhamfestival.co.uk/event-calendar