STRATFORD staged the 461st birthday celebrations of its most famous son at the weekend – and there were a few firsts.
The Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations transformed the town into a centre of pomp and pageantry once again for a packed-programme of events.
Crowds lined the streets for the annual birthday parade on Saturday morning (April 26) featuring dignitaries from around the world and closer to home, school children, ‘Mr Shakespeare’ and a plethora of local organisations.
The VIP procession paraded to Bridge Street for the unfurling of the flags before proceeding to Holy Trinity Church in Old Town via High Street, Chapel Street and Church Street, where flowers were placed on Shakespeare’s grave.
The official Shakespeare Birthday Luncheon was then held in the Theatre Gardens and the Birthday Lecture was this year given by Dame Harriet Walter.
Meanwhile there were a whole host of activities laid on for the community inspired by Shakespeare’s fascinating female characters, as the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust embarks on the second year of its multi-year project, The Women Who Made Shakespeare.
In a first, a silent disco was held outside Shakespeare’s Birthplace.
Visitors were given a set of headphones and could explore two different playlists of modern artists inspired by the female heroes and anti-heroes found in Shakespeare’s plays.
There were also drop-in craft workshop led by female artists.
A glass was raised to the Bard by his grave at Holy Trinity Church. The new event, which also provided the opportunity for people to see the flowers laid by Shakespeare’s grave following the parade, was organised to raise funds for the Friends of Shakespeare’s Church.
And for the first time an auction took place for Shakespeare’s quill.
During the birthday parade a senior pupil from King Edward VI School places a new quill in the hand of the bust of Shakespeare in the chancel of the church.
This year, for the first time, the old quill was auctioned off with all the cash going towards the conservation of the Grade I listed church.
