What is the Don Valley Festival?

The Don Valley Festival is one of the biggest competitive events for the arts in South Yorkshire . It is three day festival featuring speech, music, drama and art. It's held in March every year, usually at High Melton College , near Doncaster . Entrants of all ages and abilities take part in the festival. It is purely for amateurs.

Please see our syllabus page for full details of classes, but our range take in the following. Speech: verse speaking, prose, poetry, humorous verse, bible reading, TV news presentation, sport news reading, storytelling and many more. Drama includes: Shakespeare, improvisation, children's theatre, pantomime, group drama, mime and duologue. Music features piano, electronic keyboard, strings, guitar, recorder, woodwind and brass and choral. Each year one music class will feature the music of a particular country. The theme for the art competition is different each year.

All classes are judged by professional adjudicators and we have a variety of age groups. Plaques, medals and trophies are given to each class winners, and the overall winners of the speech and music sections are presented with their prizes at a Male Voice Choir gala evening held later in the year.

The festival may be competitive but it is also fun and very friendly. It offers an ideal opportunity for less experienced performers to appear in public, but to a limited audience and a sympathetic expert ear. Our youngest class is the Under 6 years for verse speaking. There is no age limit on competitors.