Thwaite Fete to welcome visitors for Easter extravaganza

One of the city’s most picture perfect attractions will be welcoming visitors to a spectacular new Easter showpiece next weekend.

Thwaite Mills in Stourton will be hosting the first ever Thwaite Fete on Sunday, April 16, with the event set to feature an Easter egg trail, bonnet competition and the chance to meet the Easter Bunny.

Visitors will also be able to enjoy free boat rides on the canal as well as traditional fairground games and activities including hook a duck, splat the rat, sack races, face-painting.

Retro fans can also watch a Lindy hop dance demonstration and a vintage pop-up tearoom, candyfloss stand and ice-cream tricycle.

Grade II listed Thwaite Mills is one of the last remaining examples of a working water mill anywhere in Britain and is nestled on an island in between the Leeds/Liverpool Canal and the River Aire.

As well as being home to the museum and water wheel, the island is also a diverse wildlife habitat with areas of water, woodland, scrub and gardens.

Previous year’s Easter festivities have seen more than 1,000 people flock to the mill and the addition of this special event will be one of the biggest events in the attraction’s calendar.

Councillor Brian Selby, Leeds City Council’s lead member for museums and galleries, said: “Thwaite Mills is a beautiful setting for an event like this and it’s always great to see so many children and families enjoying the Easter holidays at one of our sites.

“The team at Thwaite Mills put in a huge amount of work to make sure there’s something for everyone on the day and I hope this year’s Thwaite Fete is the biggest and best ever.”

Tickets for Thwaite Fete are free with an entry ticket to the museum. Museum entry costs £3.80, for adults £8 for families, £1.90 for children and is free for under-fives free.

The best Easter bonnet at this year’s event also has the chance to win a spot prize.

For more information about Thwaite Mills, please visit: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/Thwaite-Mills-Watermill.aspx

You can also follow the event on Facebook.

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:

Stuart Robinson

Communications Officer

Leeds City Council

Tel: 0113 378 9182 (please note my new number)

Email: stuart.robinson@leeds.gov.uk

www.leeds.gov.uk