Grand Reopening Celebrations of Chapel FM Arts Centre – Saturday 25 September 11am to 5pm

We invite you to explore the new Chapel, take part in a mini radio show or create a song or make a bird puppet or go on a Seacroft oral history walk and enjoy some food from the new Chapel FM Café. Perfect for families and kids of all ages. No reservations required, just come visit! 

Here’s the schedule of the day’s events:

11am to 7:30pm – Chapel FM open to the public: Explore our recently renovated and expanded venue and learn about how you can get involved.

11am to 3pm – Make a Radio Show: Step into the magical radio studios of East Leeds FM and learn how to make your own radio show / podcast with Chapel FM Broadcasting Worker Henry Raby.

11am to 4pm – Photo & Word Portraits: Get your portrait taken by photographer Lizzie Coombes and a ‘word portrait’ made by Chapel FM Director of Words Peter Spafford.

11:30am and 1:30pm – “Red Kite” Bird Puppet Making: Make your own bird puppet with Thingumajig Puppets and Handmade Parades and try them out in a puppet parade.

11am to 5pm – Chapel FM Community Library “Burke’s Books”: Browse our new reading room packed full of books by local writers.

11am to 2pm – Seacroft Climate Hub: Learn about inventive community projects happening in response to the Climate Emergency and visit the Seacroft Seed Library.

12noon – Swan Song Singing Workshop: Be part of creating a new song for the Chapel FM reopening ribbon-cutting with Ben Slack and Jess Baker from Swan Song.

12:30pm – “Red Kite” Bird Puppet Parade: Get swept up as a flock of bird puppets from Thingumajig Puppets and Handmade Parades travel from Chapel FM to the Seacroft Village Green and back.

1pm – Chapel FM Phase 2 is “Good to Go” Ribbon Cutting: Celebrate the official reopening our renovated and expanded new arts centre.

2pm – East Leeds Photography Exhibit by Peter Mitchell: Explore the time-travelling work of one of Leeds’ most celebrated visual artists, photographer Peter Mitchell with a special exhibit at Chapel FM and join Peter himself afterwards for a Q&A session in our Radio Theatre.

2:30pm – Seacroft Local History Walk: Join storyteller Matthew Bellwood and historian Jess Hammott for a trek around our community and discover the rich legacy of Seacroft.

4:40pm – Celebrating the Life of Dave Wrighton: We commemorate the life and legacy of departed East Leeds FM radio host Dave Wrighton, creator of “Dave’s Dozens.”

5pm – “Red Kite” Live: [Get Tickets] Be part of the studio-audience for a special live broadcast of Chapel FM’s flagship youth radio show and podcast about how young people see the world from unexpected and inventive perspectives and hear about our upcoming trip to the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow to gather stories about this global event.

7:30pm – Community Open Mic: [Invite Only] Get a seat for an evening of music, spoken word, comedy and other live performances by some of the shining talents from our community.