Wakefield Council celebrates end to an epic year

Wakefield Council’s Our Year has seen over 200,000 people attend over 1,000 successful events and activities. With thousands more welcomed to partner-run activities.

Capturing the imaginations of thousands of people, the 366-day celebration of culture and creativity comes to an end this month. 

The ambitious launch saw 24 events take place across the district in just 24 hours. And the unveiling of a special poem from poet Yorkshire Prose, Our Year 2024 has featured a supercharged series of breathtaking spectacles. This included a visit from Trigger’s double decker sized dragon puppet, The Hatchling.

Our Year 2024 featured major events from key partners, such as The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, alongside events from 126 community partners from across the district. The programme included celebrations for the district’s recurring annual events, such as light art celebration Light Up and the traditional rhubarb and liquorice festivals, while also offering a range of community focused activities from summer picnics to wintery guided walks.

Throughout Our Year, Wakefield Council has provided over 400 local people with professional development or educational opportunities and over 120 West Yorkshire creatives with employment opportunities.

Crigglestone-based mural artist, Rebecca Feneley took part in Our Year’s UNBOUND programme for developing public space artists, she commented: “The UNBOUND programme came at the perfect time for me as I was looking to gain a greater understanding of art in the public art realm and expand my experience working as a mural artist.

“The program’s training sessions and talks with industry professionals have been extremely inspiring and directly helpful, and my one-to-one learning with my mentor Harriet Lawson has been invaluable in improving my approach to community engagement, public art and mural projects."

Keen to inspire the next generation of artists and creatives, the Our Year programme also provided 15,000 five to eleven-year-olds with creativity kits including objects like skipping ropes and balls, as well as craft equipment and enabled over 4,000 students from local schools to access culture, heritage, and creative learning opportunities.

This extensive programme of events was also made possible thanks to the hundreds of Wakefield volunteers who gave up a total of 1,255 hours across the year.

Abdul, who is part of the Action Asylum team and volunteered at the district’s light art festival Light Up, spoke about his experience saying: “Volunteering helps us connect with the community, get to know the district and meet its people. Through volunteering, you can take part in meaningful initiatives like Our Year and I look forward to participating in more events in the future.”

Our Year’s legacy continues with exciting plans for the launch of Wakefield’s much-anticipated multi-use destination Wakefield Exchange (WX). A key part of Wakefield city centre’s regeneration plans, WX will see the former Market Hall converted into a dynamic creative hub. It’s set to become the city’s new home for work and play, combining casual food and drink with remarkable encounters with innovation, craft and creativity.

Opening in early 2025, WX will also host ‘This was Our Year’ a free exhibition running from 14 to 23 March 2025 inviting visitors to reflect on and celebrate the creativity, joy and wonder that was Our Year, Wakefield District 2024.

Wakefield Council has also announced the Our Year Schools Curriculum. The Wakefield Curriculum contains a range of tools and resources that can be introduced by local schools around three themes, Coal Mining, The Local Environment and Sculpture, to connect pupils with ideas that have shaped where they live.

To find out more about the Wakefield Exchange, please visit www.wxwakefield.co.uk

And to find out about Our Year, please visit ouryear2024.co.uk