Ginger & Spice Festival secures funding to bring back Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band Experience

The multi-award-winning Ginger & Spice Festival has raised sufficient crowdfunding to unlock additional financial support from the Community Action Fund ‘CrowdFund Shropshire’ for a project to bring back the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band Experience to this year’s festival.

Now in its 9th year the popular Market Drayton based festival, to be held on and around Saturday 27th September, raised a total of £4,979.00 via a crowdfunding campaign on the UK-based community platform Spacehive. This includes donations from the public, local businesses and pledge of £3,053.00 from Shropshire Council’s Community Action Fund.

The project will be delivered at this year’s festival and will feature live street performances, immersive Indian craft and cultural workshops, drumming performance/workshop from Art Brasil and an exciting new parade in the centre of town set for Saturday, 27th September 2025.

Following the success of the 2024 Rajasthan Heritage Experience, which captivated Market Drayton with its vibrant rhythms, performances, and cultural workshops, the festival is excited to expand the experience, offering an even bigger and better celebration of the connected cultural heritage through the Indian art forms for 2025.

Proposed Activities Include:

- Free live street performances from the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, infusing the town with high-energy music

- Educational workshops for young people, including drumming, block printing, mehndi (henna art), and other cultural activities such as drumming

- A brand-new festival parade, featuring the Rajasthan Brass Band and uniting local schools, charities, and community groups

- Additional workshops and performances from local drumming groups, adding to the festival’s vibrant atmosphere

This exciting project will ensure that everyone can participate for free, making cultural and creative experiences accessible to all, regardless of financial. circumstances

Festival director, Julia Roberts, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to have raised funds and secured additional support from the Community Action Fund to bring back this the Rasjasthan Heritage Brass Band to this year’s festival. We have spent the last 8 months fundraising to make this happen and thanks to the generosity of the community, local businesses and Shropshire Council we can now go ahead with our proposed plans! A huge thank you to everyone for making this happen! We are delighted!”

Ginger & Spice Festival 2025

This year’s festival will take place on and around Saturday 27th September 2025. The majority of the festival will take place on Saturday including a Spicy Artisan Market, James Du Pavey Food Theatre with a live cookery chef line up, Original Biscuit Bakers Heritage Trail for children, Live Street Music & Street Dancing throughout the day, Free crafting activities for children throughout the day, live music in the pubs from 5pm onwards, Wannabe Live Stage Show at Festival Drayton from 7pm.

There will also be a Taste of Autumn & Spice Event at Goldstone Hall Hotel & Gardens on Thursday 25th September 2025. More events to be announced over the next few weeks.

The multi award winning Ginger and Spice Festival, which is now in its ninth year, is an annual celebration which takes place during British Food Fortnight, championing and celebrating the unique culinary and cultural heritage and historical links of food, drink and gingerbread to the town of Market Drayton.

The festival acts as a vehicle to promote local food producers, the markets, suppliers, other community groups, plus places of historical interest & significance in and around the rural market town. The festival aims to reconnect the community of Market Drayton to their unique culinary heritage through an eclectic mix of fun and educational festival fringe events celebrating the cultural assets and heritage of the town.

For further information about the Ginger and Spice Festival, visit the website gingerandspicefestival.co.uk.