BACK TO HOME PAGE



"The Passion Play brings the town to a standstill"
Click here to view a video




MRDT funds local events to bring visitors to the town

Events and Entertainments

The Churches' Christmas Nativity Mime has long been a feature of Market Rasen life. The traditional Auction Shed and the nearby inn provide the perfect backdrop and large crowds gather to watch this unique spectacle performed every four years by local people.

Angels and arch-angels emerge from the shadows, shepherds (with real sheep) and kings (sometimes with real horses though not yet camels!) pay homage and the baby is nursed amid the hay bales by a young girl traditionally still at school.

More recently a Good Friday Street Passion Play in eight scenes was added to the churches' repertoire. It begins with the triumphal procession arriving at the Market Place with palm branches, brightly clad school children and Jesus riding on a donkey and concludes with the town and probably around 2000 spectators at a standstill as Jesus is forced to carry his cross up Union Street and into the Market Place where he is raised onto a fourteen foot scaffold in authentic style.

Just 200 are enough to pack Walesby's 'Ramblers Church' high up on the Viking Way for its magical "Candlelight Carol Service" before Christmas - it has no electricity - but the annual Free Music Festival in the Market Place would be lost without it. Powerful amplifiers pump jazz, rock, swing, folk, blues and skiffle. If that's not to your taste you can time your shopping to the classical, choral, brass and quieter interludes or delight in the simple busking in other parts of the town.

Mention should be made of the wonderful acoustics of the Grade 2 listed and magnificently positioned Wesleyan Chapel. Concerts are becoming a regular feature here.
BACK TO TOP
"Professional and world-standard arts entertainment down a country lane !!??

Stone the crows!"






Brian Ayres'
"Steam Threshing" weekend affords an opportunity to view his magnificent collection of bygones.

The town boasts strong football and cricket clubs sharing the same picturesque ground. Both work closely with youth groups as does Tealby Tennis Club which attracts players from a wide area. Rugby and bowls reflect the energy extremes of many other local sports.

The area is rich in quality arts entertainment thanks to the "Artservice" scheme subsidised by WLDC which regularly brings professional touring theatre and music to Market Rasen?s Festival Hall and several village halls. RATS is Rasen's new amateur group.

Wickenby's Broadbent Theatre - a converted chapel surrounded by green fields - contrasts with the West End in everything except the quality of entertainment often seen there, either professional touring and home grown. "Stone the crows" as actor and theatre patron Jim Broadbent famously said whilst receiving his "Oscar".

Village, school and church fetes and festivals celebrate the seasons. Faldingworth's "Scarecrow Festival" and Tealby's magical "Music On The Green" attract a wider audience.

The Gardeners Fair held for the first time in spring 2002 was a tremendous success and will now be held annually.