FEVA pitch...

Opened at midday by Town Crier Nancy Buckle, the annual festival combines theatre, comedy, music, film, poetry, walks, street entertainment, dining events and an arts trail.

The music highlights are led off by tonight's concert at the Frazer Theatre by Ezio, "the best kept secret in the music business", but allegedly Tony Blair's favourite band nevertheless.

Tomorrow evening, the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir presents a choral and solo programme at St John's Church.

On Sunday, Knaresborough Musical Society stages an informal evening of popular song at the Frazer Theatre, while Knaresborough musician Dominic Carter, organ scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, gives the Sidney Kenderdine Memorial Concert at St John's Church.

Monday's musical highlight is a "concert with a difference" by Et-cetera and Funf Fagotti at the Frazer Theatre. Et-cetera are a female vocal quartet specialising in light classical and folk songs; Funf Fagotti are a bassoon quintet with room for bassoon buffoonery.

On Tuesday, the festival welcomes John Lennon's first band, The Quarrymen, to the Frazer Theatre for their Living Music History show. The Graham Broughton Trio play the FEVA Country evening on Thursday at the Frazer Theatre. That evening too, Tree Fellas perform Irish, Scottish and West Country songs at The Market Tavern.

Next Friday, former Notting Hillbillies guitarist Steve Phillips plays the bar-room blues and Western swing with The Rough Diamonds at the Frazer Theatre, while Alfredo Mese and Christine Llewelyn teach basic salsa steps at Holy Trinity Church Hall.

Next Saturday's free family event is the Picnic In The Park in the grounds of Knaresborough House. This open-air musical banquet features the Alison Raven Band, Ezy Pezy, The New Legends and surprise guests.

A week on Sunday, Frank Brooker and his band play Jazz In The Garden in a "hot Aussie barbecue" concert at Carriages. Pro Musica, the Knaresborough chamber orchestra, performs with violinist Sarah Crick and mezzo soprano Melissa Lunn in an evening programme of Vivaldi, Haydn and Glyn at St John's Church.

FEVA's three-day Beer Festival at Knaresborough House begins tonight, with further tasting sessions tomorrow and on Sunday. The festival has lined up 24 beers from all Britain, including a special festival brew from Roosters Brewery. Admission is free.

This year's dining theme is Dining By Numbers, beginning tonight with Dining At Number 10, a menu of traditional English fare, accompanied by auto-harpist Paul Jennison, at Verrall's Restaurant, 10 Castle Courtyard.

Tomorrow, there is Scottish dining at the Lavender Tea Rooms in Market Place; on Sunday, the Bella Rosa, in Castlegate, serves pasta by the piazza, complemented by Maureen Penfold's Italian melodies; So!, in Silver Street, presents So! Pacific, an evening of tropical fusion food and music from the South Pacific Islands, on Monday.

On Tuesday, chef Andrew Cressey takes a gastronomic Tour de France at Platform 2, OTR's Bistro; The Spice Merchant Restaurant, in Castlegate, brings an Indian flavour to FEVA on Wednesday; Carriages, in Knaresborough High Street, serves up tapas, flamenco guitar and dance on Thursday; Jenny Dyer presents My Big Fat Greek Wedding at the Loft Tea Rooms, Green Dargon Yard, next Friday; and Opera North performs Opera Sooto Il Ponte at Mario's, beneath the Knaresborough Viaduct in an Italian night on Sunday week.

Theatre and spoken-word events open with Anni Kurmis performing a brace of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues, Her Big Chance and Bed Among The Lentils, at the Frazer Theatre tomorrow.

West Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage combines poetry reading with book signing at Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre on Tuesday; holocaust camp survivor John Chillag gives a talk on Wednesday at the Frazer Theatre before the screening of Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning The Pianist.

Illyria Theatre Company presents Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice in the open air at Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre on Thursday, and June and Frank Topping dip into diaries, scripts and scrapbooks for sketches, songs and stories of life in Absolutely Topping at Gracious Street Methodist Church.

Two of the festival's principal free community events take place on Monday. Family Feva, at Henshaws, features Dance Dazzle, from Leeds, Poetry For Kids poet Daphne Kitching, circus act Professor Fiddlesticks and mobile designer Heather Fisher. David Rowson leads the FEVA Cycle Ride, a leisurely, two-hour eight-mile trip for ten year olds and upwards, setting off from Conyngham Hall Car park.

FEVA has a couple of competitions: rival proclaimers take part in the annual Town Crier Competition in the Market Place on Sunday afternoon, and author Alan Plowright judges the Short Story Competition at the Borough Bailiff on Monday.

The FEVA Art Trail embraces galleries and shops in Green Dragon Yard, Castle Ings, Castlegate, Kirkgate, High Street and Bond End.

For more information and brochures, ring FEVA on 0870 225 3382.

What's on: Knaresborough FEVA 2003

Today

Noon-5pm: Pete 'Lawless' White's Suitcase Circus, The Market Place.

1pm-2pm: The Knaresborough Guild of Bellringers, St John's Church. Daily.

7pm-11pm: Beeer Festival, Knaresborough House.

7.30pm: Ceilidh Barn Dance with Cobblers Wax, Calcutt Village Hall.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 10: Paul Jennison and his auto-harp, Verrall's Restaurant, 10 Castle Courtyard.

8.30pm: Ezio, Frazer Theatre.

9pm: Atlanta Band & BBQ, The Yorkshire Lass.

Tomorrow

10am-1pm: Nidd Gorge Walk from Conyngham to Hall Car Park.

Noon-11pm: Beer Festival, Knaresborough House.

2pm, 3pm and 4pm: Pipe Major and Highland Dance, The Market Place.

6.30pm: Colne Valley Male Voice Choir, St John's Church.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 16, The Lavender Tea Rooms, 16 Market Place.

7.30pm: Anni Kurmis, Frazer Theatre.

Sunday

Golden Oldies, The Market Tavern.

10.30am: Festival Eucharist Service, St John's Church.

Noon-5pm: Mike Hancock, The Market Place.

Noon-5pm: Beer Festival, Knaresborough House.

2pm-3pm: Town Crier Competition, Market Place.

7pm: A Musical Concert with Knaresborough Musical Society, Frazer Theatre.

7.30pm: The Sidney Kenerdine Memorial Concert, St John's Church.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 25: Maureen Penfold, The Bella Rose, 25 Castlegate.

Monday

11am-3pm: Family Feva, Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre.

Noon-5pm: David Straitjacket - The Purple Fly, The Market Place.

6.30pm-8.30pm: Cycle Ride, Conyngham Hall Car Park.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 1, SO! 1 Silver Street.

8pm: Et-cetera/Funf Fagotti, Frazer Theatre.

8.30pm: Short Story Competition, Borough Baliff.

Tuesday

Noon-5pm: Sylvester The Jester, The Market Place.

7.30pm: The Knaresborough Guild of Bellringers, St John's Church.

7.30pm: Dining @ Platform 2, OTR's Bistro.

8pm: Simon Armitage, Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre.

8pm: The Quarrymen - Living Music History, Frazer Theatre.

Wednesday

Market Day, The Market Square.

6.45pm: Take A Journey Back, Frazer Theatre. Talk by John Chillag, a holocaust survivor.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 14, The Spice Merchant Restaurant, Castlegate.

7.45pm: The Pianist, Knaresborough Cinema Club.

Thursday

Noon-5pm: Steve Kliskey - Juggler/Musician, The Market Place.

4.30pm: The Merchant of Venice, Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre.

7.30pm: FEVA Country featuring The Graham Broughton Trio, Frazer Theatre.

7.30pm: Absolutely Topping, Gracious Street Methodist Church.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 89, Carriages Wine & Tapas Bar.

8pm: Tree Fellas, The Market Tavern.

8.30pm: Atomic Blonde, Yorkshire Lass.

9.30pm: Soul Feva, Night Out.

Friday

Noon-5pm: Andy Dextrous, The Market Place.

6pm-8pm: Salsa For Beginners, Holy Trinity Church Hall.

6.30pm-9pm: Friday Night Feva! Night Out.

7.30pm: Steve Phillips & The Rough Diamonds, Frazer Theatre.

7.30pm: Junior Talent Night, St John's Church.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 6, The Loft Tea Rooms, Green Dragon Yard.

Saturday, August 16

Noon-5pm: Mr Jellybean, The Market Place.

Noon-5pm: Picnic In The Park, Knaresborough House Grounds.

Sunday, August 17

Noon-5pm: Andy Baloney, The Market Place.

2pm: Jazz In The Garden, Carriages Wine Bar.

4.45pm: Songs of Praise with Drama, Gracious Street Church & Hall.

7.30pm: Dining @ Number 15: Opera Sotto il Ponte with Opera North, Mario's, 15 Waterside.

7.30pm: Vivaldi, Haydn and Glyn with Pro Musica, St John's Church.

8pm: Supersonic, Market Tavern.

Updated: 10:09 Friday, August 08, 2003