The very excellent Hitchin Festival officially starts this weekend with the Cider and Cheese Festival at Top Field on Friday afternoon.

The month-long cultural and community event in and around Hitchin has fully returned with a vengeance after the pandemic.

Hitchin Festival - a celebration of culture and entertainment - is back with more than 80 unique talks, walks, concerts, theatre shows, exhibitions and more throughout the month of July. 

The festival celebrated its 30th birthday last year and the 2022 edition looks to be more popular than ever. 

Tireless festival chair and director Glyn Doggett spoke to Hitchin Nub News about the cultural celebration, to give us a heads up on what to expect.

See Hitchin Nub News Facebook page for our live video interview with Glyn here

See Hitchin Nub News Facebook page for our live video interview with Glyn here

"It's such a great community event," Glyn tells Hitchin Nub News. "Some of the many events this year include a series of concerts from Benslow Music, The Priory Picnic in the grounds of Hitchin Priory with musicians from North Herts Music School.

"There are also lunchtime concerts in St Mary's Church, a one-man version of Great Expectations performed by the great, great grandson of Charles Dickens at the Market Theatre, tours of Hitchin Lavender Fields, walking talks from Hitchin Historical Society and four nights of films from the Hitchin Film Club."

A familiar face to so many in Hitchin, the wonderful Cherry Lincoln, made a welcome appearance at the hub of the festival, the Hitchin Town Information Centre on Friday lunchtime.

For many years the legendary Cherry was a driving force alongside tireless Hitchin advocate and former town centre manager Keith Hoskins MBE.

Speaking about this year's Hitchin Festival, popular Cherry told Hitchin Nub News: "It's been going a very long time and it's great to have it back bigger and better after Covid - with more people involved and more events."

The legendary Cherry Lincoln is a keen advocate of the Hitchin Festival. CREDIT: @HitchinNubNews

Glyn also explained that last year the festival team worked with Hitchin BID and a number of local creatives to bring back the Dell at Woodside as an open air theatre and many were hoping to repeat that success this year.

"But," he says, "sadly this won't be happening this year as more investment is needed to improve the space.

"The team hope to bring the Dell back to life as a performance space once more in 2023.

"It cost more than £20,000 to run last year so they will certainly be looking for support both physically and financially later in the year."

The full programme for the 2022 Hitchin Festival is available to pick up from the Hitchin Town Information Centre as well as other shops in and around Hitchin.

The box office is running as usual from the Hitchin Information Office in Churchyard from and is open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 10.30am – 2pm. You can also see the programme and book tickets via www.hitchinfestival.co.uk. 

See Hitchin Nub News Facebook page for live video from the Hitchin Cider and Cheese Festival at Top Field on Friday afternoon, prior to Hitchin Town vs Luton Town.

Hitchin Festival chair and director Glyn Doggett and Cherry Lincoln. CREDIT: @HitchinNubNews