Brinkburn Music Festival

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Information page

2010 Festival dates: 2 - 4 and 9 - 11 July

Programme

Weekend One

Weekend Two

Fri 9 July	7.30pm	Pieter Wispelwey cello Britten - 3 Cello Suites Op. 72, 80 and 87
Sat 10 July	6pm	Gabrieli Players Soloists: Rebecca Bottone, Renata Pokupic, Romina Basso, Andrew Kennedy Paul McCreesh director Handel – Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Truth)
Sun 11 July	1pm	Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord Handel - Suite in B flat HWV 494 Couperin (Le Grand) - Les Folies Francaises – Passacaille - La Morinete Handel - Suite 1 in A, HWV 426 J S Bach - Praeludium et Fuga in a-moll, BWV 894
Sunday 11 July	3pm	Gabrieli Players with Tees Valley Youth Choir and Chethams Chamber Choir Soloists: Rebecca Bottone, Anna Stéphany, Jeremy Budd, Alex Ashworth Paul McCreesh director Handel - Messiah

You will find information about previous programmes here.

Booking information

Seat prices

Seating plan

Booking your seats

You can book seats in 3 ways:

1 - Visit the box office

2 - Telephone the Box Office

3 - Complete and return the Booking Form

Box Office opens Tuesday 13 April 2010 (30 March for donors)

Brinkburn Music Box Office

The Maltings Theatre & Arts Centre,
Eastern Lane,
Berwick-upon-Tweed
TD15 1AJ

Opening times: Mon – Sat: 10am – 5.30pm

Tel: 01289 330 999

A limited range of tickets is also available from:

Morpeth Tourist Information Centre

The Chantry,
Bridge Street,
Morpeth,
Northumberland
NE61 1PJ

Opening times: Mon – Sat 9.30am – 5pm

Tel: 01670 500 700

Please return the booking form to:

Brinkburn Music Box Office
The Maltings Theatre & Arts Centre
Eastern Lane
Berwick-upon-Tweed
TD15 1AJ

Important - please be sure to complete BOTH sides.

If you have downloaded and printed out your own form - make sure you have printed out and completed both sides.

Late Bookings at the Priory

Please telephone 2 hours before the concert begins and ask for the Box Office Manager

Tel: 01665 570 628

NB Payment by cheque or cash preferred for late bookings

Hospitality

Refreshments

Once again we will be offering a range of refreshments and a bar in the marquee. Black Olive will provide a café facility offering a variety of delicious snacks and salads.

Please note that there will be no pre-booking - in true Café style you can just turn up on the day and enjoy a delicious meal.

www.blackolivesandwichcompany.co.uk

You can also bring your own picnic to enjoy in the grounds.

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Accommodation

Please ring Morpeth Tourist Information Centre (now thankfully back in business in their own premises after the floods!) for details of local accommodation on 01670 500 700

and also see links to accommodation websites

Mailing List

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Our mailing list is used solely for sending information about Brinkburn Music Festival to our subscribers. No information is given to anyone else.

Those on our mailing list receive early programme and box office information and booking forms.

If you would like to be placed on it look here.

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Donors

The seating capacity at Brinkburn Priory means that we cannot generate enough income to support our extensive programme of work from ticket sales alone. Brinkburn Music receives a limited amount of money from public grants, but we rely heavily on funding from locally-based trusts and foundations and private individuals. It is therefore the generous support of our growing number of private donors that enables Brinkburn Music to bring outstanding music to the North East year after year.

Benefits of being a donor

As a donor you will: ·

• receive 2 weeks priority booking before the box office opens to the public, ensuring that you can book your favourite seats
• be invited to the annual Brinkburn Music launch party held in spring
• be acknowledged in our festival programme, unless you wish to remain anonymous

Becoming a Donor

You don't have to be a millionaire to help support Brinkburn Music Festival in this way! The majority of our donors are ordinary music lovers like you, giving affordable amounts: these can be one off donations or small monthly payments - some have gifted us shares.

If you'd like to make a donation or need further information please contact Alison in the Brinkburn Music office and we can then send you our Standing Order Mandate and Gift Aid declaration.

If you simply wish to send us a cheque, please make it payable to 'Brinkburn Music', but please contact us first.

Whichever way you choose to help Brinkburn Music Festival the board and team say a heartfelt THANK YOU!

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Tax effective ways of giving

Taxpayers can take advantage of tax-effective ways of giving, enabling the charity to increase the value of a donation by means of Gift Aid. The basic rate of tax is currently 20%, which means we can reclaim an additional £25 from the Inland Revenue on every £100 you donate, and if you are a higher rate taxpayer you can claim the difference between basic and higher rate tax on your tax return.

Look at gift aid information on the HM Revenue website.

Stewards

Each year the festival relies heavily on the support of its team of volunteer stewards, many of whom have been with us for many years. We are always looking for new stewards to join us - could you be interested? You don't have to live locally - two of our longest serving stewards visit us for the duration of the festival.

Our stewards arrive on site one hour before each of the concerts, wearing their trademark black trousers/skirts and red sweatshirts. Their main role is to help the audience to enjoy their Brinkburn experience. This entails checking tickets and helping people to find their seats (including helping with wheelchair access); selling programmes; helping people to leave the priory at the end of the concerts, with torches if it is dusk; and generally being on hand to answer queries or give out helpful information.

During the concerts the stewards sit in designated places around the priory and can enjoy the performances, whilst keeping a watchful eye for potential problems.

Stewards can be of any age, the main criteria being that they are able to walk around the site, enjoy talking to people, happy to handle money for programme sales, and enjoy music!

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Disabled access

Like most 12th century buildings, Brinkburn Priory is not particularly wheelchair friendly but we do what we can to overcome the priory's constraints. The keys to success are flexibility, imagination and good communication. Please read the following information and then, if you have any questions, please contact us. We will always do our best to cater for any particular needs you may have in attending Brinkburn Music Festival.

Access for vehicles

The lane down from the car park is unsuitable for wheelchairs and is not an easy walk for those with limited mobility so we try to make parking space available down at the priory itself for those who need it. However the space is extremely limited and is invariably fully utilised on the day. This year we have even less space as some of the spaces we once used are no longer available.

Do please consider your needs carefully: if you have limited mobility and need to park at the priory we'll try to arrange space for you; if, on the other hand, you are being driven to Brinkburn by someone else they may be able to bring you down to the priory and then return the car to the car park and walk down: if you can do this you will be helping us enormously by freeing up valuable space for those most in need of it.

In either case please ring us well before the festival to make the arrangements or even if you would just like some advice.

Don't leave it until the last minute to talk to us: the space is finite and once it's full it is simply not possible to accommodate extra vehicles.

Blue Badge holders

Even if you hold a blue badge for disabled parking you still need to ring us to reserve your parking space.

On the day of the festival the stewards have strict instructions to restrict vehicle access to the priory. They have a list of those for whom we have allocated a parking space or agreed vehicular access for dropping off and instructions not to allow others to drive down. That said - if you have a particular problem that you have forgotten to inform us about please tell them about it - we try to be flexible.

If you have arranged to drive down to the priory please arrive early to avoid having to negotiate a narrow lane full of people walking down to the festival. This is particularly important if the car needs to be returned to the car park, because the return trip up the lane will be against the flow of pedestrians and it may take some time.

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Wheelchairs in the priory

There is an access ramp to the nave at the south door. The priory's floor is on several levels and the best - i.e. easiest - place to accommodate wheelchairs is in the nave. We do not have dedicated wheelchair spaces but simply re-organise as required - generally by removing the seat to which your ticket number refers so your wheelchair can occupy the space.

Wheelchairs are, however, usually somewhat larger than the seat we remove so we may also need to re-arrange some of the surrounding seats. We are happy to do this but, as you may imagine, it is easier to do in some places than in others: for example it is not practicable to fit a wheelchair into the middle of a row, and there are some parts of the priory where steps or tight corners make wheelchair access extremely difficult.

It is essential that the box office is informed at the time the ticket is booked that wheelchair access is required so that they can allocate a seating space that is accessible. The information will also be passed on to stewards so they can organise seat removal and be on hand to offer assistance if required.

You will understand that we don't relish removing and re-arranging seats at the last minute in the press of an audience flooding in with the concert about to start so it will help us enormously if you inform the box office at the time you book your tickets that wheelchair access is required.

Our staff and stewards are always happy to assist in any way they can but unfortunately this assistance cannot extend to lifting or carrying.

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Parking

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There is plenty of parking - on grass - and our stewards will be on hand to direct you to your space. The pleasant tree lined walk from the car park down the lane to the priory takes around ten minutes - do allow plenty of time to enjoy the stroll.

The lane is unmetalled and can be uneven in places: it is not a difficult walk but high heels are not recommended. If it is raining there may be wet or muddy patches, which can be avoided with care. Some of our regular festival-goers bring wellies just in case, with shoes to change into after the walk down.

Vehicles can only be driven down to the priory by prior agreement: space at the priory is extremely limited and is reserved for disabled drivers and a small number of essential staff or service vehicles. If you require access because of a disability please look here for further information.

The parking stewards are in attendance throughout the festival but please do not leave valuables in the car as we cannot guarantee their safety.