Get set for Adventures in Holbeck

Slung Low’s annual How To … Festival is an established event on the calendar and this year’s looks set to be bigger and better at their new base – The Holbeck.

Sunday 12 May 2019 promises to be a day of family-friendly workshop activities and performances to suit all ages. This year’s theme is ‘How To … Adventure’

From superheroes and storytelling to skateboarding and den building, there’s something for everybody. And it wouldn’t be a How To … Festival without Manjit’s Kitchen leading an Indian cookery workshop and then providing tea for everyone.

As with all Slung Low events it’s pay-what-you-decide, but make sure you book in advance at www.slunglow.org/upcoming-holbeck-events

Join The Den Experiment for a playful and adventurous session of creating your own dens entirely out of re-usable and recyclable materials. Fun for all the family and a lovely activity to do together, den building allows children to learn a broad range of creative, mathematical and teamwork skills through play and exploration. It’s a drop-in session so come along whenever you like between 12 and 4pm.

All skateboarders, BMXers, Rollerbladers, Scooterers from beginner to expert are invited to celebrate the skateparks.
The skate session takes place on Holbeck Moor. Starting with an inter-sport meet, including p-rail session attempting to play a game of skate between all the sports; lessons in how to nail your first trick, film viewing inside Slung Low’s double-decker bus, where we get to appreciate the skills of all the skatepark users; and then an en-masse ride over to Holbeck Moor to skate, roll and ride together. This activity is for 12 year olds upwards.

What makes a superhero? Superheroes normally live in comic books and films but what if they were amongst us every day? What if they already are? Our paramedics, parents and pub landlords …

In this introductory storytelling workshop, we’ll chat about the superheroes in our lives and explore how we tell stories. Then we’ll start the clock and you’ll create a story based on a comic book structure. You can make these scenes by any means possible – drawing, taking photos, or even through Instagram posts – and at the end you’ll have the chance to unleash your stories on the world.

At 4pm there is the first of two performances upstairs in the club: Journey To The Impossible is presented by Little Soldier Productions.

Jules Verne meets The Goonies via Stranger Things – an 80s sci-fi adventure story for all the family. Did you ever own a Walkman or play Donkey Kong? We made this show for you.

We made it for people, like you, who recognise the ‘Pshhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcch*ding*ding*ding’ sound of a modem, who were scared watching the Goonies and who, like us, couldn’t tell you the mobile numbers of their nearest and dearest but would still be able to call their best school-friend’s home number. Ah! And for your children, of course. This show is suitable for 7 year olds and older.

Then in the evening at 7pm it’s time for Can You See A Black Hole? by Tom Ryalls (12+).

Tom once dreamed of being the first astronaut from Doncaster, he wanted it so much the thought of it burned like a hot star in his head. But, when he was 8 on a campsite near Scarborough that star went supernova and formed a black hole that the astronaut he dreamed of fell in to.

Tom doesn’t remember his epileptic seizures so now, over 15 years after his first one, he’s going to try and reconstruct the story of what happened. With the help of his parents he’s going to defy science, reach into a black hole and reclaims the aspirations his epilepsy took from him.

With a score created from documentary interviews, music and the only surviving film of one of his seizures, “Can You See into a Black Hole?” is a show about how to achieve the impossible.