Death in the Dales 2025

 

I'm back home after my third weekend festival in successive weeks. This time it was up the M6 to Sedbergh to take part in Death in the Dales. Jean Briggs and her team did a great job with the first of these festivals last year and I was delighted to be invited back. The number of attendees was up (a reward for the success of 2024 and also a tribute to good marketing) and the atmosphere from start to finish was terrific.

Sedbergh is set in delightful countryside, and I did a bit of exploring as well as enjoying the festival. Sedbergh is also England's Book Town but it tends to fly somewhat under the radar, especially compared to somewhere like Hay-on-Wye (which is just over the border in Wales), so events like this will, I hope, given the town and the Book Town Trust a welcome fillip. Events got off to a good start on Friday night with a showing of that excellent film noir Scarlet Street, hosted by Matthew Booth. Pizza and wine made an excellent accompaniment.

On Saturday morning Mike Craven and I and our wives had breakfast together as Mike and I were in conversation as the first event of the day and needed to catch up; but we decided not to over-prepare! We have been on a panel together before, at Cockermouth some years ago, and again the conversation flowed very nicely. We talked about many things, not least Mike's The Final Vow and Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife - hence the photo at the top of this post. 

The other events of the festival were highly enjoyable. I was on a Golden Age panel with Dolores Gordon Smith, Matthew Booth, and Steve Barge, which was good fun, though it had felt a bit like And Then There Were None in the run-up, since no fewer than three of our friends and fellow panellists had to cancel their participation due to a variety of health-related misfortunes. The programme was very varied and the speakers consistently interesting: and that's the recipe for success. It was also great to see so many old friends again. I do hope the popularity of the weekend will prompt Jean and her colleagues to run the festival again. If they do (and I'm very optimistic!) please feel strongly recommended to attend. You won't regret it.