Fizzgigs, Ellesmere’s Community Arts Group is this week putting the finishing touches to its quirky celebration of the 800th anniversary of the town being granted a market charter.
From 10am on Saturday, 10 July members of Fizzjigs band will be entertaining visitors attending a special market.
At 10.30am medieval towns-folk will assemble outside the current market hall on Scotland Street in readiness for a royal visit from Lady Joan of Wales together with her famous husband Llewellyn and their entourage. There will follow an imagined re-enactment of the granting of Ellesmere’s market charter in 1221, eight hundred years ago. Ellesmere was one of the first towns in the country to receive such a charter.
As well as assorted medieval trades-people and Welsh nobility, there will be a fine horse carrying the Lady Joan, a dragon (perhaps not a real one!), some tomfoolery and much spectacle.
‘It’s been great fun working on this project,’ commented Rosemary Drake of Fizzgigs. ‘It’s a wonderful joint effort! We hope even the costumes and props will entertain the crowd.’
The town council has arranged for a section of Scotland Street to be closed to traffic to make way for the street market. There will also be stalls inside the market building. This will run from 9am to 4pm. Stalls will be set out so that social distancing rules can easily be followed.
Other entertainment is being planned for later in the day including two sessions by popular and well-known local children’s storyteller, Jake Evans.
Kate Westgate, member of Fizzgigs, said, ‘Currently the forecast is set fair. We hope lots of people turn out to enjoy our antics. The unusual event is just one in a range of events and installations Fizzgigs has been responsible for and which helps to mark out Ellesmere as a very special place to live.’.
Fizzgigs will be repeating the performance from 2pm at Criftins Summer Fair the same day.
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