Billy Connolly comes to Huddersfield Town Hall Wednesday 8th February 2012  

Huddersfield Town Hall welcomes popular comedian Billy Connolly for one of a limited number of UK dates on his new tour. 


The line up of comedians performing at Huddersfield Town Hall continues to go from strength to strength with the likes of Jimmy Carr, Dave Spikey and Sarah Millican gracing the stage. Billy is the latest top comedian to come to Huddersfield with his new show ‘The Man’ on Wednesday February 8 at 8pm.  


Billy Connolly has enjoyed a longstanding career as one of the world’s best-loved comedians. His live shows have been enthralling audiences around the world for over three decades. He has toured relentlessly, beloved by audiences in the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand — all locations where he made a series of successful ‘world tour’ documentaries for the BBC. His big break was on the Parkinson show in 1975, which made him a star and led to his first UK tour: The Big Wee Tour.
His boisterous, animated physical style and off-the-cuff intensity also caught on with American audiences and he now tours the United States more regularly, becoming a familiar sight on late night talk shows. 
As an actor, Connolly has revealed a dramatic side with his BAFTA-nominated performance as a confidante of Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown, and also had memorable character roles in such diverse fare as The Last Samurai, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The X-Files: I Want to Believe and Gulliver’s Travels. 
He was recently back on the small screen starring in the ITV travel documentary Billy Connolly’s Route 66. 


Richard Batterby from Kirklees Town Halls said “We’re delighted to welcome Billy Connolly to the Town Hall. It’s a real coup for Huddersfield; we’re looking forward to a fantastic night with one of the biggest names in British comedy”.


Tickets go on sale on Friday November 11, priced at £35. Max 6 tickets per person. Only 2 tickets per person for the first 5 rows.


 Due to demand it is advisable to use the online booking facility at www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls or alternatively call one of the Kirklees Booking Offices, tel: 01484 223200 / 01484 222444 / 01924 324501.

Celebrate Christmas with folk singer Kate Rusby

It might only be June but there’s a rare Christmas treat in store when contemporary folk singer and Yorkshire lass Kate Rusby performs her Christmas show at Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday December 14 at 7.30pm. Tickets are on sale now for her first performance at the town hall which is filled with Christmas songs, providing the perfect Christmas treat for yourself or a friend.

Kate Rusby is steeped in her local traditions and this performance will showcase the carols and songs learnt through childhood in her native South Yorkshire. She will be performing new variations of familiar carols mostly unheard outside the area.

The evening’s performance follows the release of Kate’s second album of Yorkshire-inspired songs and carols in November 2011 and Kate is touring with her band, complete with brass quintet creating a rousing Christmas celebration.

The defining voice of contemporary English folk music, Kate Rusby’s exquisite interpretations of traditional songs and finely wrought self-penned tunes have won her an audience that reaches beyond the genre. A rare achievement for a folk artist but entirely understandable given Rusby’s expressive vocals that invest whatever she sings with irresistible emotional depth.

South Yorkshire has a very strong tradition of carol singing starting early November. Sunday lunchtimes see hundreds of carollers cram into various pubs in the locality to join in the unashamedly joyous singing – standing room only! At its heart, it represents an oral tradition, constantly evolving, passed down from generation to generation, with roots dating back over 200 years.

Highly regarded in the industry Kate’s many reviews include:

“And above all her voice remains a thing of extraordinary beauty” Mojo magazine 2011.

“Long recognised as her generation’s most outstanding interpretive singer of traditional material” R2 magazine 2011.

Huddersfield Town Hall
Wednesday December 14, 7.30pm
Tickets are priced at £20 (£12.50 under 16s)
Book online: www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls
Box Office: 01484 223200 / 01484 222444 / 01924 324501.

Dave Spikey brings his "Words Don’t Come Easy" tour to Huddersfield Town Hall

Tickets go on sale today for popular comedian Dave Spikey who will be performing at Huddersfield Town Hall on Thursday November 17.  Comedy continues to be popular at the town hall and Dave is the latest to join the line-up of forthcoming shows.

Inspired by the fantastic audience response to his deconstruction of song lyrics in his Best Medicine Tour combined with his fascination with the vagaries of the English Language, this hilarious new show ‘Words Don’t Come Easy’ examines many more situations in life where words really don't come easy . 

These include tongue-tied parents explaining the facts of life, ridiculous newspaper stories, magazine poems, pathetic adolescent chat-up lines, weird hospital speak, learning a foreign language and an extended selection of song lyrics that range from the lazy, through surreal to the ridiculous.

Throw in a 'Champion the Wonder Horse' sing-a-long, Ancient Abyssinian Contraception, Rubbish School Trips, Epidural Anaesthesia and The Last Supper and you have all the ingredients for a rich and spicy comedy casserole; a sort of Lexicon-carne!

Tickets are priced at £17.50 (no concessions) and are available from town hall booking offices, tel: 01484 223200 / 01924 324501 / 01484 222444 or book online at www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls

Kirklees College Fashion Students in catwalk event at Dewsbury Town Hall

Fashion students from Batley School of Art and Design will be showcasing their latest creations at a catwalk event on March 3 at Dewsbury Town Hall.

Alongside the live show, audiences will have the chance to see an exhibition of the innovation men’s tailoring designs which have won students a place in the London finals of the Golden Shears International Tailoring Competition. Students worked in collaboration with the Textile Centre of Excellence in Huddersfield and Michelsberg Tailoring in Leeds, to use their DNA traceable woven cloth to give them a unique edge.

The event has been sponsored by the Dewsbury Neighbourhoods Regeneration Programme to promote local creative talent and highlight the ongoing benefits of nurturing creative enterprise by working with the school. The event is open to the public, and tickets are now on sale at Dewsbury Town Hall priced £5 and £4 for concessions. The show starts at 7.30pm; doors open from 6.30pm.

Cllr Paul Kane, Chair of Dewsbury Regeneration Board, said: “By working together we hope to equip local young people with the skills and support to develop businesses in the area, continuing the creative economic growth in and around Dewsbury. We want to create a local vibrant fashion industry based on local students.”

The Higher Education Fashion programmes of study offered by the school encourage students to develop high level skills in the key aspects of fashion industry-based practice. Through the application of both creative and technical skills, and awareness of industry and commerciality, offering them the best opportunities to secure employment in this ever-competitive global industry highly skilled dedicated teaching staff ensure that students are equipped with the high-level, appropriate skill-set required to embark upon a career in fashion.

BOX OFFICE 01924 324501

BOOK ONLINE www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls

Article courtesy of Kirklees Council Press Office

JONGLEURS COMEDY CLUB COMING TO HUDDERSFIELD TOWN HALL

Huddersfield Town Hall have found the answer to putting off those Monday morning blues with a regular Sunday night comedy club booked for seven nights in 2011.  Jongleurs - the name which helped launch the careers of Graham Norton, Paul Merton, Dylan Moran, Jack Dee and many more, will, from February 2011, bring the biggest and funniest stars from the Jongleurs clubs to Huddersfield Town Hall.

Audience Management and Development Officer for Kirklees Town Halls, Richard Batterby commented: “We’re delighted to be working with such a well established comedy brand as Jongleurs.  We’re keen to develop a good quality comedy scene in Kirklees Town Halls and look forward to a long and successful partnership with the Jongleurs Comedy Club.”

Comedy fans can look forward to seven evenings of laughter starting on Sunday February 27 at 8pm and continuing at the same time on the following Sunday evenings:  27 March, 22 May, 19 June, 17 July, 18 September and 30 October.  With over two hours of top stand-up the audience are in for a bumper night of laughs with the best from the comedy circuit.

Tickets are priced at £10 in advance and are available from Kirklees Box Offices, tel: 01484 223200 / 01924 324501 or book online: www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls

Suitable for over 18s only.

Strictly Stars Share the stage with Essentially Dancers

Hundreds of schoolchildren and older people took to the dance floor at Huddersfield Town Hall with Strictly’s Darren and Lilia.

Essentially Dance stars Darren and Lila

They were celebrating the end of the first year of a hugely ambitious two year programme of Latin American and ballroom dance in Kirklees delivered by Kirklees Council and NHS Kirklees in partnership with Essentially Dance.

Darren and Lilia opened each of the four sessions with a performance of Fever which received tumultuous applause from the dancers and spectators watching this unique celebration of Essentially Dance in Kirklees. Darren then invited the dancers to showcase their skills in the waltz, jive, cha cha cha and quickstep. Later in the session Lilia and Darren led a session to teach all the dancers to salsa – encouraging all to do the moves and learn the steps together.

Pupils from 23 schools attended the celebration, having learnt the dance steps in PE classes or after-school clubs.

Olivia Tetley from Headlands School in Liversedge said,”Today was really good, everything was good. Darren and Lilia were really nice and I liked the dancing.”

In the final session of the day older people from groups across Kirklees joined pupils from 7 secondary schools. Joyce Dyson and her dance partner John Brown enjoy dancing regularly at a weekly Essentially Dance class at the Galpharm Stadium. Joyce, from Newsome, said,” I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Darren and Lilia were really good. I loved the dancing and I enjoyed watching the older people dancing with the younger ones.”

A dancer from Lindley Chimes said, “It was absolutely fabulous – when’s the next one?”

PRESS RELEASE FROM KIRKLEES COUNCIL ONLINE NEWS