Summer Wine 50th Anniversary Celebrations – 50 Golden Summers
26th – 28th May 2023, Holmfirth
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the legendary BBC sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. And the programme’s main location, the West Yorkshire town of Holmfirth, is playing host to a full weekend of celebrations this May – with stars of the show returning to the town to share their memories with fans!
The event, called 50 Golden Summers, has been organised by local businesses and will take place across Holmfirth on Spring Bank Holiday weekend, 26th – 28th May 2023.
Included are a series of theatre shows at The Civic, Holmfirth:
Saturday 27th May 2pm: Summer Wine Memories
A Q & A session hosted by Bob Fischer (BBC Tees, Summer Winos) interviewing some of the show’s performers. Including comedy legend Tommy Cannon, Jonathan Linsley (Crusher), stuntman Stuart Fell, David Fenwick (young Norman Clegg from spin-off First of the Summer Wine) Tickets £12 + £1.20 booking fee.
Saturday 27th May 6.30pm: Crusher Returns: An Audience with Jonathan Linsley.
Jonathan played Ivy’s nephew Milburn/Crusher in Last of the Summer Wine, and has had a long and varied career as an actor – including a spell in Hollywood, in the Pirates of the Caribbean films! Tickets £12 + £1.20 booking fee.
Sunday 28th May 2.30pm: Summer Winos Live
Last of the Summer Wine super fans Bob Fischer and Andrew T. Smith perform a loving and funny tribute to their favourite show. The Summer Winos show debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 then toured nationally in 2019. This one-off performance may – just may – be the final performance! Tickets £12 + £1.20 booking fee.
Sunday 28th May 6.30pm: A Gala Screening of Getting Sam Home
This 1983 Last of the Summer Wine movie has – for the first time – been completely digitally remastered. And, in this special one-off screening, will look incredible on the big screen! With an introduction by Ken Kitson (PC Cooper) and a chance for a Q & A session afterwards. At the BBC’s request, all proceeds go to Children in Need. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.
Other events:
Saturday 27th May 12 noon
‘Summer Wine Friendships’
The Tavern on Norridge Bottom.
‘Summer Wine Friendships’ talk by local greengrocer, Andrew Bray. Andrew met Bill Owen during filming of the first series and will talk about his experiences with the Last of the Summer Wine cast, and the enduring friendships he has made over the years.
Saturday & Sunday
The owners of Edie’s red Triumph Herald are bringing the car up for the weekend, and local businessman Nigel Turner has the ‘front end’ of Entwhistle’s pick-up!! The vehicles will be situated in the church-yard outside Sid’s Cafe or in the lay-by on Towngate and also at Scar Fold (by Nora Batty’s & Compo’s Cottages) for photo opportunities.
Saturday & Sunday
12 noon – 4pm
Character models dressed as Last of the Summer Wine characters will be outside Sid’s Cafe and Nora & Compo’s cottages and around town for photo opportunities.
Friday 26th May 6.30pm
A Quiet Drink… a welcome, evening pub crawl to kick off events on. A chance for visitors to get together with the organisers and fellow fans and enjoy a few pints in some of the pubs used as locations in the series. Starting in The Nook 6.30 – 7.30pm where there will be a special Last of the Summer Wine anniversary ale on tap to try! ‘Fill your boots with Blonde’ “Fill your boots with Blond is a classic Yorkshire bitter, smoothly hopped and well balanced. With a subtle hint of crystal malt.” The Nook will reserve the room at the back for us. No booking required, just arrive at The Nook between 6:30 and 7:30pm The crawl schedule is flexible, but the rundown of the event looks like this:
After The Nook we then move on to the following pubs in the following order for a pint (or a half) in each:
THE SHOULDER OF MUTTON As featured in “Getting Sam Home”
THE ELEPHANT AND CASTLE As featured in “The Frozen Turkey Man”
HOLMFIRTH TAVERN On a street featured in “A Bicycle Made For Three”
O’BRIENS BOTTLE SHOP & BEER CAFÈ (67 Huddersfield Rd, Holmfirth, HD9 3AZ)
Then BACK TO THE NOOK for one last pint of Anniversary Ale before last orders!
If you can’t join us at the start of the crawl, you can check the SUMMER WINOS account on Twitter on the night for updates and track us down along the way!
Summer Wine Walk
A new Summer Wine walk around Holmfirth produced by Holmfirth Library and Walkers Are Welcome Group has been printed. The 5.2 mile / 2.5 hr walk takes in points of interest in the town centre and then goes up to Cartworth and Hinchcliffe Mill passing some key Summer Wine film locations before returning along the river to Holmfirth with the route to St John’s Church the final resting place of Bill Owen and Peter Sallis. Leaflets are available from the Library and we will distribute some this week.
Art Exhibition at the Library
There will be an Art Exhibition at the Library with artwork by Jonathan Linsley (Crusher) along with props and photographs from the show and third scale replicas of the ‘trio’ made by a fan.
Captain Clutterbuck’s Treasure Hunt.
This is a children’s treasure hunt, with items from the show displayed in shop windows. There’ll also be a prize draw to win some Holmfirth-themed prizes.
Donations raised from the photographs and treasure hunt will go to the Sharing Memories Group, a local arts and wellbeing group for elderly people.
Find Compo’s Bench
The bench paid for by Bill Owen will be “hidden” in Holmfirth. As a bit of fun we have a riddle to help visitors find the bench:
“If thi needs to rest thi feet, get thi sen to Compo’s Seat.
Start with NORa and shorten fRIDGE
Add the opposite of Top
And there you stop
By a place to relax behind an ancient bridge.”
About Last of the Summer Wine: Last of the Summer Wine was launched with a pilot episode in January 1973, with the first full series broadcast from November 1973. It ran for an unprecedented 37 years, with all 295 episodes penned by Yorkshire writer Roy Clarke – and with all of them using Holmfirth and its surrounding countryside as a prime location. The show made stars of its main cast: including Bill Owen (Compo), Peter Sallis (Clegg), Brian Wilde (Foggy), Michael Bates (Blamire), Kathy Staff (Nora), Jane Freeman (Ivy) and John Comer (Sid). At the show’s peak, it regularly attracted almost 20 million views and – despite ending in 2010 – it still enjoys a worldwide fanbase.
Website: www.summerwine-50.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/SummerWineIs50
