What's On in Hebden Bridge
and the surrounding area - 2025
A Winter Union
Doors 6.45 Show 7.45
Mytholmroyd Community Centre Caldene Avenue HX7 5AF
10th Anniversary Tour of festive 'folk supergroup' with Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Jade Rhiannon (The Willows) and Gilmore & Roberts
Five leading lights of the British roots scene join forces to create a festive folk band like no other.
Expect soaring harmonies and exquisite musicianship as the 5-piece blast through a repertoire of brand new, specially written songs, fresh arrangements of traditional carols both well-loved and little-known, and seasonal classics from both sides of the Atlantic.
Tickets £22 (£11 Under25)
BGR Events at 07731661053
or www.wegottickets.com/bgrevents
See HebWeb news item for more info
Dark Matter presents
GNOD
Popular psychedelic noise rockers stop in for show in their home town on their tour
With support from Portuguese drummer, percussionist and cymbal maker Joao Pais Filipe and DJ Red Tin Dave.
The Mill - Walsden, Todmorden
Hebden Makes Christmas
December Open Studios and Art & Craft Fair
From Friday 5 - Sunday 7 December more than 80 artists and craftspeople will take part in Hebden Makes Christmas, organised by Hebden Bridge Open Studios across Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge.
Pick up a leaflet with map and listings of all the artists who are opening their studios to the public, for sales, a look behind the scenes and conversation. As part of the event we're also hosting three art and craft fairs, for those local artists whose studios are not central to Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge to come together and share their creativity with you.
Northlight Winter Fair
11am to 5pm
Our annual festive event with stalls from resident makers, tea and cake and a free activity. A few open studios too. Great for buying art and gifts direct from the makers.
Advent at Wainsgate
Advent at Wainsgate – a sparkling weekend of festive delights: Food, stalls, Santa's Grotto, music, crafts and festive cheer in the beautiful Wainsgate Chapel.
11–5
Full details: wainsgate.co.uk/advent
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
The Making of Sowerby Bridge
Speaker: Julian Carr
The story of how a few small hamlets strung along the River Calder grew into a milltown that was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in West Yorkshire. It was ahead of Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. Hand-in-hand with its industries, the hamlets evolved into a complex Georgian community. Skipping a century and a half, the story will be brought up-to-date with the testimony of a few of the last mill-workers.
Julian Carr is a local historian living in the Ryburn Valley and the author of three books. The first focused on a mill and its people in Ripponden; the second ventured further afield to explore the mills of the Ryburn Valley. In his latest book Julian looks to the big valley and the mills and people of Sowerby Bridge.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Shaggy Dog Christmas Party
7.30pm-10pm, Stubbing Wharf Pub, free entry.
The annual highlight of our Christmas party - not on a Friday due to the pub being busy every Friday of December, we are meeting from 7:30, hopefully many of us to eat, and tales may start from around 8 pm.
Due to it being a very busy time can anyone who will be eating (please do think about it as it would really help support the pub who are very good to us) pre-order their food at least a week before. Maybe when you are in the pub for the November meeting!
Bring your best Christmas stories, festive tales, winter legends, Yule myths and Solstice stories. Whether you've got a story to tell, or simply like to listen, join us in the upper room.
£5 recommended donation p/p
Your chance to shine...... Hebden Royd Christian Aid presents the:
Big Christmas Sing
7pm. St Michael's Church, Mytholmroyd, HX7 5DS
Enjoy the voices of S'MAJIC choir and join with renowned organist David Baker to
- Sing your favourite Christmas carols
- Find out about the work done by Christian Aid
- Enjoy Festive fayre
All money raised will go to Christian Aid to help families survive violence and poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Please check Hebden Royd Christian Aid Group Facebook page for up to date information about this event
Decorate the church!
3.30-6.00, St Thomas's Church, Heptonstall
Everyone is warmly invited to a special afternoon of Christmas cheer.
Come along to help decorate the church for Christmas, sing some favourite carols, and enjoy festive treats like mice pies, hot chocolate, mulled juice, mulled wine (for the parents!).
It's a lovely way to celebrate the Christmas season and community spirit together. All ages welcome. Help us fill the church with with light, music and joy!
Winter Decorations Workshop
10am - 4pm
A fun creative day making seasonal decorations.
Take home a bagful of everything you need to decorate for the festive season.
Vegetarian lunch included, at The Egg Factory, Victoria Works, Victoria Road, Hebden Bridge HX7 8LN
Suitable for adults over 16
Cost £65
Booking: hello@theeggfactory.co
Carol singing at Hebden Bridge Station
Carol Singing in aid of the Railway Children Charity.
10:45am-12pm at Hebden Bridge Station.
The Friends of Hebden Bridge Station invite you to come and sing, play or collect for the charity or just listen or make a donation
Christmas Music at Walshaw 2025
Christmas Music returns to Walshaw Saturday 13th December 2025 2:00pm – 5:00pm with renowned concert pianist Margaret Bruce supported by Rowena Thornton Soprano and John Tattersall Baritone.
The programme includes music by Purcell, Britten, Fauré and Gilbert & Sullivan. This magical afternoon in the stunning setting of Walshaw Lodge is a treat and with limited tickets available it's wise to book early!
Book online here (no booking fees) or 07773 278444. Tickets £45 includes full buffet meal with wine, coffee and tea. All profits go to Overgate Hospice.
Walshaw Lodge, Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 7AX, United Kingdom.
Dark Matter presents
Smote
'Head-down psych conjuring'
With Slow Knife + DJ Sie Norfolk
Golden Lion Todmorden
8pm
Tickets via Skiddle
Christmas Tree Festival
Transport-themed Christmas Tree Festival at St James' Church, Church Lane, Hebden Bridge HX7 6DS.
Free entry.
Weekend opening times 1 - 3 pm.
Weekdays 2.30 - 3.30 pm.
Heptonstall Hilltoppers Christmas Concert
4-6pm, St James Church, Mytholm,
Doors open at 3:30pm
Including extra performances from; Shared Harmonies and Hebden Royd Primary School Choir.
Tickets: Adults £7, concessions £4, under 16s free
Contact Ann on 07799 268 966 for advance tickets
All profits to go to Shared Harmonies
Teen Creativity Club
Hebden Bridge Library, 3.30-4.30
A free event offering a welcoming space for teens to:
- Write, draw, and express yourself
- Bring ideas, activities, games or use ours
- Make a Christmas card or comic
Free to attend, hot drinks provided, 10+ welcome
Book here or just drop by!
Festive Creative Connection
Hebden Bridge Library, 5.15-6.15pm
A free event offering an informal space for adults to:
- Cowork, network, and connect with others
- Get feedback or inspiration for work in progress
- Make Christmas cards or papercrafts
Free to attend, hot drinks provided, all adults welcome
Textile Craft Social
Thread Collective is a textile craft community group that brings people together through creativity.
Our socials are inclusive, friendly spaces for like-minded people to be creative together. Bring your own textile projects to work on, meet new people, share ideas and get inspired. Every kind of hand-held textile craft is welcome from embroidery and knitting to needle-felting and weaving.
Our venue is The Albert, in the side room. The pub has great food and drink available to fuel your crafting. Whether you're an experienced maker or picking up a craft for the first time, you're very welcome to our collective.
We meet every third Wednesday of the month. Our next social will be Wednesday 17th December from 5:30 til 7:30pm at The Albert.
Tickets are £4 or free if cost is a barrier. Tickets are available via our Eventbrite page:
Find out more about us on Instagram at @we_are_thread_collective
Magician Ordinaire to the u3a
A Talk by Steven Price
Todmorden u3a at the Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub on Thursday, 18th December 2025 at 2pm
Steven became a full time performer in 2005 and loves to make people happy by using the formula of Comedy and Magic The talk includes a unique mix of magic, comedy and sleight of hand to amaze and amuse audiences all around the globe.
The meeting starts at 2pm at Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub (Tod College) and is open to paid up members of Todmorden u3a but if you would like to attend you can enquire by going to www.u3atod.org.uk or by contracting the membership@u3atod.org.uk
Calderdale Fantasy Orchestra and Vocal Highs
2 local choirs (1 connected to an orchestra) are joining forces to make money for "Music for the Many"
Leave the Mad Friday in Hebden and join us up the hill at the Birchcliffe Centre on Friday 19th December.
We will offer you a bit of madness, some tunes, a bar and cake. Please come and join us.
Village Carol Service
4.30-6.00, St Thomas's Church, Heptonstall
Join us for a traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols, telling the Christmas story.
Carols in the Square
Each Christmas Eve, for over 40 years, large numbers have gathered in the Square to sing carols. Atheists, agnostics and followers of religions.
6.30pm
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
Sam Hill of Soyland
Speaker: Anne Kirker
Sam Hill is probably our best known and most successful eighteenth century textile manufacturer, thanks to evidence from the extensive collection of his business documents held in Calderdale Archives. However, this talk aims to show him in a much broader light: as family man, a neighbour and man of property There was more to Sam than being merely a man of business.
Anne Kirker has been a regular speaker at Hebden Bridge and this talk revisits one given several years ago. Sam Hill retains his fascination. As a volunteer for Calderdale Heritage Walks, Anne has devised guided walks around Sam Hill's properties in Soyland. She has also published articles in the Transactions of Halifax Antiquarian Society. Anne is a volunteer with Calderdale Industrial Museum and has a keen interest in the history, buildings and people of Calderdale.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
The Incredible Edible Story: In 2008, a few residents in Todmorden began planting herbs and vegetables in unlikely public places on pavements, at the bus stop, along railings, even outside the police station. Pam Warhurst is to give a talk, 17 Jan, to the Lit & Sci on Incredible Edible. Read more
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe is on at St Michael's Church Hall HX7 5DS
1pm to 4pm
We mend electricals, garments, bikes and will have a go at most things! Repairs by donation only.
Refreshments and our famous cakes!
All welcome.
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
From Westerman to Website: a story of Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Speaker: Ann Kilbey
A well-illustrated presentation that tells how a mill worker started a photographic business that lasted for 100 years, and how it led to the setting up of a digital archive that is preserving the photographic heritage of the area, an archive that is gaining interest not just locally but world-wide.
Ann Kilbey's interest in local history started when she began working for Tourist Information 50 years ago in 1975! She is a longstanding member of the Local History Society, for at least 25 years, contributing hugely in many roles. She became involved with the Alice Longstaff Collection soon after Alice died in 1992, and this presentation tells the story of what happened after that.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Dark Matter presents
Aziz Ibrahim
Former guitarist of Simply Red & Ian Brown solo - Lord of the Strings
DJ set - Astral Elevator
For Independent Venue Week
Golden Lion Todmorden 7.30pm
Dark Matter presents
Pulled Apart By Horses
With Loose Articles & Dead Sea Apes
Electrifying rock/punk rock/psych
Golden Lion Todmorden 8pm
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
Did he leave me anything? The history and traditions of will making
Speaker: Anne Mealia
Wills have always caused controversy and while many are straightforward others can give an insight into complex family relationships and the customs and laws of the time. This talk explores the history of will making from mediaeval to more recent times, some of the customs and the process of making and proving a will. It looks at how people ensured their loved ones received their inheritance and those out of favour didn't, using examples of loving and not so loving families.
Anne Mealia is a professional genealogist and historical researcher and runs her own business, Evergreen Ancestry. She is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) She has carried out research for Who Do You Think You Are and was Archives Researcher for the Channel 4 documentary The Queen's Lost Family. She is a guide with Calderdale Heritage Walks and regularly leads walks in the Todmorden area.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Dark Matter presents
The Cromagnon Band + The Brackish
Moog and Rhodes heavy psych-funk + Thrillingly unique instrumental post-punk psych band with alumni of This is the Kit, Zun Zun Egui
Golden Lion Todmorden
8pm
Tickets via Skiddle
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
The Wainstall Waifs
Speaker: Kim Pearson
From 1876 more than 250 young girls came from the depths of the Liverpool Workhouse to Wainstalls Mills, more than a thousand feet above Halifax, to find employment, friendships, love and a future. This talk explores the context and the human story of this mass migration.
Kim Pearson describes herself as 'born, bred and buttered' in Halifax. Having lived for forty years in Wainstalls she felt a compulsion to know more about the story of these girls. This led to twenty years of research and an intimate knowledge of the girls that made them feel like family. Kim feels she is just a conduit for their real story.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
Murder at Snow Booth:
Gender and Justice between the wars
Speaker: Matilda Wilding
What can the story of a local 1933 murder tell us about gender and justice between the wars? What might it reveal about those same themes in the modern day?
It's midsummer. Hill top farmers above Hebden Bridge are taking in the hay. Evening is falling. The final act of a cruel and brutal marriage is about to play out.
Matilda Wilding is the creator of Yorkshire: A Murderous History a podcast in which historical homicides (and sinister mysteries) are investigated for the illumination of the past and insights into our present day. The often untold stories of Yorkshire's working class women are front and centre of her work.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe is on at St Michael's Church Hall HX7 5DS
1pm to 4pm
We mend electricals, garments, bikes and will have a go at most things! Repairs by donation only.
Refreshments and our famous cakes!
All welcome.
Film Festival 2026
The 6th edition of the Hebden Bridge Film Festival will take place from 20-22 March 2025
Hebden Bridge Local History Society
Lawless Ladies: a thousand years
of female criminals
Speaker: Trish Colton with Diane Holloway
For more than a millennium women have been committing a range of crimes, including piracy, highway robbery, witchcraft and religious crimes. Some of these women were from Yorkshire, a few even from Calderdale. This talk describes the times, the women involved and the punishments they received.
Trish Colton and Diane Holloway are sisters who have lived in Yorkshire for many years and now retired. They write non-fiction books on historical themes, and enjoy having the time to carry out the research. Lawless Ladies is the second book that Trish and Diane have co-authored.
Methodist Church, Market Street. Hebden Bridge. 7.30pm, free to members; £4 for visitors
Dark Matter presents
Sister Ray Davies
Alabama duo touring their debut album Holy Island
Golden Lion Todmorden 7.30pm
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe is on at St Michael's Church Hall HX7 5DS
1pm to 4pm
We mend electricals, garments, bikes and will have a go at most things! Repairs by donation only.
Refreshments and our famous cakes!
All welcome.
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe
Mytholmroyd Repair Cafe is on at St Michael's Church Hall HX7 5DS
1pm to 4pm
We mend electricals, garments, bikes and will have a go at most things! Repairs by donation only.
Refreshments and our famous cakes!
All welcome.