Evesham bids for UK's first Town of Culture crown

EVESHAM has put its hat into the ring in a bid to become the UK’s first town of culture.

It follows Malvern, Droitwich and Redditch in submitting an entry following the launch of a brand new competition by the Department for Culture Media and Sport to restore pride in communities.

Inspired by the success of the flagship UK City of Culture, it aims to ‘celebrate towns and help to create a lasting cultural legacy’.

Ashleigh Jayes, Charlotte Hampson, deputy chair of Evesham Place Board and Claire Edwards, Wychavon project officer. Picture by Marcus Mingins 1826010MMR

The Government will select the best small, medium and large towns from the applications it receives.

One of these will be named UK Town of Culture 2028 and receive £3m, while the other two finalists will each receive £250,000 to deliver an ‘ambitious’ programme of cultural activity in 2028.

The town’s bid was put together by Evesham Place Board in partnership with Evesham Town Council and the district council.

Ashleigh Jayes, manager of the Almonry Museum which is owned by the town council, told the Observer that winning the Town of Culture competition would be transformational for Evesham.

“There is so much heritage, history and culture that weaves its way through the story of our town and this is a golden opportunity to explore and celebrate it.

“Evesham is at a pivotal point with the development potential of the Riverside Shopping Centre and the Round House and alongside the Almonry Restoration Project.

“It demonstrates a high level of economic development confidence in our town but we need cultural infrastructure to underpin it all.

“While we hope that we are successful in getting through to the next round, we are aware of the competition and if we are unsuccessful we won’t let all this hard work go to waste.”

She said the bid team was busy talking to cultural placemaking experts to help develop a way forward towards developing a cultural strategy for the town.

“This will mean working with and talking to local artists, musicians, dancers, venues, community groups and residents amongst others to explore our culture and cultural offer and create a strategy that delivers for the town,” she added.

More than 230 towns across the country have registered an interest in applying for the competition, with the overall winner announced in 2027.

Aerial view of Evesham’s historic core. Picture Craig Reeves

The partnership’s cultural vision statement for Evesham:

Evesham sits at the heart of the nation, geographically, historically and culturally. Shaped by the River Avon, set within the Vale, it has long been a meeting point for the journeys of pilgrims, traders, reformers, growers and migrants.

For centuries, people have passed through, settled and worked here, making the town a microcosm of the nation’s wider story.

Our vision is to reveal how Evesham’s people and defining moments reflect national history and contemporary life.

Through the programme ‘Lifting the Vale: Journeys of a Town – Stories for a Nation’, we aim to show how one market town can be a lens through which the ‘journeys’ that have shaped the country, from faith and pilgrimage, to democracy, migration, agriculture and the renewal of rural communities, can be viewed.

Evesham and the Vale is rich with stories of national significance. The founding vision of St Egwin and the rise of the great Abbey reflects England’s early religious life and traditions of pilgrimage.

The Battle of Evesham (1265) which killed Simon de Montfort, marked a key moment in the development of parliamentary democracy.

The area’s growers and migrant labourers helped establish one of Britain’s most productive horticultural regions, whilst during c20th, the town contributed to national life through the BBC’s covert wartime operations and innovations in IT by Evesham Micros.

What makes Evesham distinctive is how these themes converge in one place. Few towns encapsulate so many strands of the national narrative in such a defined area.

Our cultural programme will bring these connections to life, telling national stories through compelling local people, from saints, reformers, workers, migrants and community figures whose lives/experiences reflect the story of the nation.

Through arts, sport and heritage activities, Evesham’s streets, river and surrounding villages will become stages for storytelling.

Hidden histories, currently glimpsed in Abbey remains, traditions and local memories, will be reimagined through contemporary creative activations, enabling residents/visitors to engage with the town and Vale’s past and more recent struggles in new and meaningful ways.

By presenting Evesham and the Vale as a place where the nation’s story can be understood through local lives, the programme will strengthen civic pride and raise its national profile, literally ‘Lifting the Vale’.