New festival will celebrate county's history

A new 10-day festival will embrace Herefordshire's rich history this summer, organisers have said.

The Herefordshire Histories Festival in May will explore castles, the English Civil War, the Herefordshire Hoard and more recently, Hereford's win against Newcastle United in the FA Cup in 1972.

Herefordshire councillor David Hitchiner, who is one of the organisers, said local people would be organising events "throughout the whole county".

"Hopefully you can do two or three events on the same day and stop off maybe in a local hostelry to enjoy some of the local food and drink," he said.

Mr Hitchiner is one of four directors running Community Interest Company (CIC) Herefordshire Histories, which asked to hear from people who wanted to get involved.

"We've got some World War Two vehicles with an exhibition down on Rotherwas," he told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester.

"We've got churches which are being opened specially, we've got an Iron Age hill fort in Eaton Bishop, we've got some walks and talks."

The festival, which runs from 10-18 May, has financial backing from the Friends of Herefordshire Museums and Art, and Hereford Family History Society.

The CIC said it aimed to celebrate the county's "extraordinary history" and recognised the area had "many historic sites and stories which are not celebrated enough".

The group hopes the history festival will become an annual event.

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