Macclesfield - Culture and Sport

Culture and Sport

Macclesfield has been accused of having few cultural amenities; in 2004, research was published in The Times naming Macclesfield and its borough the most uncultured town in Britain, based on its lack of theatres, cinemas and other cultural facilities.

In the world of art, the town is best known as the birthplace of wildlife painter Charles F. Tunnicliffe RA OBE (1901–1979) and as the current home of the artist Ben Kelly, a former painter in residence at Manchester City Football Club. The town has a thriving art group, who hold an annual exhibition at Macclesfield Library.

There was a huge boost to Macclesfield's cultural scene in 2010 with the creation of the Barnaby Festival, a celebration of art, culture and heritage, reinventing the centuries old tradition of marking St Barnabas day. A rich and varied visual arts programme included 'Save Us' a contemporary art exhibition in Christ Church, curated by Karen Gaskill. It featured ten artists with a connection to Macclesfield, and some with an international reputation. The Silk Opera Company was created to perform 'The Monkey Run' at Barnaby, written and conducted by Nicholas Smith and starring Eleanor Sutton and Jayne Carpenter. The performances met with local critical acclaim and the Company is now growing and performing around the region. Macclesfield is also home to a Silk Museum and a number of art galleries, including at York Chambers, Duke's Court.

Local newspapers include the Macclesfield Express and the Community News. Macclesfield residents have access to Macclesfield Forum, an online message board, for informal discussion of local news and issues. The town is also served by two locally-based radio stations: Canalside Community Radio based at the Clarence Mill in Bollington, just north of Macclesfield, and Silk FM, a commercial independent radio station with studios in the town.

The last remaining commercial cinema in Macclesfield closed in 1997. Discussions have taken place regarding the possibility of building a multiplex cinema, but similar attempts to build a cinema have thus far been unsuccessful. In 2005 a small scale cinema was set up in the Heritage Centre, and Cinemac has since become well established; also based in the Heritage Centre is the Silk Screen arts cinema, which gives fortnightly screenings of art house films. However, during the recent outlining of plans for the new Macclesfield town centre, a large cinema has been given the go-ahead after many years of pressure from the residents.

Amateur dramatics is well represented in the town by Macclesfield Amateur Dramatic Society which has existed since 1947 and has its own theatre in the town. Macclesfield Majestic Theatre Group has been producing musicals in the town since its inception in 1971, initially at the Majestic Theatre (hence the title) which was on the main street, but latterly at various other locations after the theatre was converted into a public house, by the new tenants. Most recently shows have been produced at the Heritage Centre, Evans Theatre Wilmslow, and MADS theatre on Lord Street Macclesfield. Several members of the society have gone on to the professional stage, most famously Marshall Lancaster and Jonathan Morris.

Gawsworth Hall hosts an annual Shakespeare festival as well as many arts and music events throughout the year.

Macclesfield has appeared in film: it was used as the location for Sir John Mills's film So Well Remembered in 1947. Some of the locations are still recognisable, such as Hibel Road. A fictionalised version of Macclesfield's railway station appeared in the 2005 football hooliganism film Green Street. It was also the location of the 2007 film Control, a biopic film about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division who grew up in Macclesfield.

Musically, Macclesfield is best known as the home town of bluesman John Mayall as well as Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris of Joy Division, and Gillian Gilbert who along with Stephen Morris was a member of New Order, Bernard Sumner in the nearby village of Alderly Edge was also a member of both New Order and Joy Division. A memorial to Curtis is located in Macclesfield Crematorium. Other Macclesfield acts to have gained recognition include The Macc Lads and Marion. The Macclesfield band Silk Brass have also gone on to receive a National Champion title in the brass band movement in 2003.

In literature, Macclesfield is the second principal location of the fantasy novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner.

Macclesfield's professional football club, Macclesfield Town, first gained league status in 1997 as Football Conference Champions; they had won that title two years earlier but were denied promotion as their Moss Rose stadium in the south of the town failed to meet Football League stadium capacity requirements. As of the 2012 -2013 season, the Silkmen play in the Football Conference once more after relegation in April 2012, having been bookies relegation favourites for seven years due to playing on a tiny budget.

Youth football teams include Macclesfield Juniors FC, Macclesfield Saints JFC and Tytherington Juniors.

Macclesfield RUFC, the town's rugby union club, play in National League One, following promotion from National League 2 (North) in the 2009 - 2010 season.

Macclesfield's cycling club Macclesfield Wheelers is a local club for all cycling activities, from pleasure riding to racing. World famous cyclist Reg Harris produced "Reg Harris" bikes in Macclesfield for 3 years during the 1960s. The local cycling campaign group is known as MaccBUG (Macclesfield Borough Bicycle Users Group). Formed in 1999 they campaign for better cycling provision for leisure and utility cyclists.

Macclesfield Chess Club is one of the oldest chess clubs in the country having been founded in 1886.

Barracks Square was the home of the Cheshire Militia from 1859. It is now a Grade 2 listed residential area.

In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Macclesfield were the 3rd most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 29.3% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.

In 2008, the borough was named as the fifth happiest of 273 districts in Britain by researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, who used information on self-reported personal well-being from the British Household Panel Survey.