As May starts to move spring into summer, we have a month packed with poetry and pageantry for you.

First up is the Chevin Motor Club’s Classics on the Cobbles this Sunday (May 8) in Market Place. Members of the club will be showing off their magnificent motors on the medieval marketplace and all profits raised will be going to the Air Ambulance.

Moving onto Saturday May 15, we have two extra special spoken word performances at Otley Courthouse. The performances at 5pm and 7pm are to celebrate the closing of the Our Town, Our Time poetry festival for Young Adults, organised by town poet Matthew Hedley Stoppard in conjunction with Otley Town Council and Prince Henry’s Grammar School. 

The first performance will feature performances by pro poets Toria Garbutt and Jack Collins, with Kirsty Taylor and Simone Yasmin (pictured above) headlining the second show. Both will also feature performances from schoolchildren and will be compered by Matthew. 

Finally, we have the welcome return of the Otley Show, the oldest agricultural show in the country, on Saturday May 21. We can’t wait to see all the fun people are going to have as this much-loved event returns.

For details of these and our other events, see here

Friday Night Live #3 

Woolpack Studios are hosting their third Friday Night Live this Friday (May 6), a series of gigs for young people. The team decamps to the Otley Social Club for this under-18s band night, which features local bands Venus and Bathroom Dad, with a DJ set from Jake Rollinson (pictured) rounding the night off. See here for more.

More great comedy comes to Otley

Otley’s comedy scene continues to grow with more national names in town this month. The Rookery on Kirkgate hosts its regular comedy night this Saturday (May 7) with headliners The Discount Comedy Checkout providing a fab a night of improv. 

On May 14, Jo Caulfield (above) brings her hugely successful Edinburgh Festival show Voodoo Doll to the Courthouse. Unreasonable neighbours, call centres, snobby ghosts, Prosecco drinkers, being married forever, and rude children all come in for Jo’s unique attention in what promises to be a great show. See here for more.

And there’s more…

There’s always loads of things to do in Otley… Elsewhere this month, we have ex Lindisfarne frontman Billy Mitchell teaming up with Bob Fox at the Courthouse on May 20, while Hazjak bring their take on classic American to the Otley Taps on Sunday May 22.

Plus there’s our regular Farmer’s Market and Crafts Market on the last Sunday of the month, May 29. See our events guide for these events and much more…

That’s it for now… we’ll see you next month. 

The Visit Otley and Buy in Otley teams