Glossop Creates has brought the town centre to life with a festive window trail focusing on the art of storytelling. 

The local creative and cultural collective - which is led by placemaker and creative entrepreneur Claire Tymon - has launched the high quality cultural experience which is dedicated to the late Dame Hilary Mantel - a celebrated, Booker prize-winning novelist who lived in Hadfield as a young woman.

Showcasing the talents of local writers, authors, performers and poets - many of which are highly regarded nationally - and utilising the high street windows of shops and venues in the town centre, the Local Winter Story Trail takes participants on a literary journey around Glossop. 

As well as celebrating creativity, the trail is a much-needed boost to independent businesses who are all feeling the pinch due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, and aims to attract more people to the high street at a critical time for the local economy. 

Dark Peak Books & Gifts

Twenty-four writers have each weaved a 300-word winter tale based on the shop or business they are paired with. The stories are displayed in the windows of the 24 local businesses, which include Dark Peak Books, George Street Community Bookshop, Decor8. The Bureau and Pepino. Writers include Mark Henderson, Michelle Collier and Keli Tomlin.

Local actors Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street for many years, and Isobel Middleton from Emmerdale, are also taking part in the campaign by providing advocacy and leadership, helping to narrate stories and join in with events taking place to bring the trail to life. 

The Winter Story Trail features a free map that can be collected from town centre venues KIN.DER, Dark Peak Books, George Street Community Bookshop, Oxfam Books and the local libraries. Families and individuals can take part in the activity by finding all the windows and filling in a word from each which spell out a specially-commissioned 24-word poem.

As an added extra, the short stories will be made into a beautiful printed book and made available to download, so participants and lovers of literature can keep the stories forever.

The Bottle Store 

Claire Tymon from Local, the placemaking arts organisation which runs Glossop Creates, said: “A Local Winter Story Trail is a truly incredible initiative and we are excited for this campaign to roll out throughout December and beyond. Glossop boasts huge talent in the literary space, with world-class writers, storytellers, authors, script writers and poets all living in our town. 

“This year, we all mourned the loss of Dame Hilary Mantel, who hailed from Hadfield in Glossop and attended the same primary school as myself; St Charles. Hilary wrote a plethora of wonderful novels, two of which won the Booker Prize, so it seems fitting to dedicate this year’s festive creative activity to her literary genius. The stories that have been developed for the project by these leading writers are of the highest quality and seek to take inspiration from our rugged, dark and authentic northern town which endlessly invokes creativity with its post-industrial history, culture and landscape. 

“The trail will also help to further showcase Glossop as an amazing, innovative destination for cultural activities, art and creativity as the gateway to the Dark Peak and wider Derbyshire locations, and support both our local independent businesses on the high street and local creatives at a critical time of year.

“I am very proud of the team and everyone involved - the energy needed to pull off a project like this with 50+ contributing artists, authors and businesses, plus the dedication from our own team - is incredible, and that energy has transformed this event into one which will hopefully become an annual festival for the town.

“It is wonderful to see the high street brought to life at Christmas through storytelling and imagination, and this is yet another chapter in our work to deliver creative placemaking in the town and demonstrate the important role of art and creativity in supporting the local economy.”

The trail will run throughout the festive season until 6 January 2023. Find out more on glossopcreates.com and follow Glossop Creates on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Read more from the Glossop Chronicle

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper