BROMSGROVE Festival is well underway following its opening gala at the Artrix last Saturday.

The newly appointed culture secretary and Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid declared the festival open, and the night launched with a stage show from MadCap Theatre Company, followed by Bromsgrove Folk Club’s resident band Fairfield, a quartet from St John, the cast of Bromsgrove Operatic’s production of Crazy for You, and an ensemble from Blackwell Concert Band.

The coming festival promises everything from theatre in the form of All and Sundry’s production of ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ from June 24-28 at the Artrix, and the full show of ‘Crazy for You’ at the same venue from June 17-21, to a full programme of music at the Sanders Park bandstand featuring massed choirs, classical music from the Astaria String Quartet, and a Midsummer Celebrity Chamber Concert performed by the Midland Sinfonia, Elgar inspired ;Some Corner of a Foreign Field’ at Hanbury Church on Sunday, June 22, and folk music at Plaza Cafe, as well as a barn dance at Bromsgrove Cricket Club

The annual Court Leet procession and Elizabethan fayre takes place on Saturday, June 21 from 10.30am, and there will be several exhibitions at Artrix and Al Saints Chuch, as well as an exhibition of textile arts at Avoncroft Arts Centre on Saturday June, 21 and Sunday, June 22.

For the full festival programme, brochures can be found at the Artrix, Avoncroft Museum, or at Bromsgrove Library, or by visiting bromsgrovefestival.co.uk.