Last month saw Fireside Festival 2017 come to a close, a fantastic event which has helped Baldock burnish its reputation as a great place to experience the arts.

The festival provides the chance to enjoy spoken word comedy, poetry and music. This year it attracted performers from the Edinburgh Festival and London theatres, plus local talent and well-known names like Ruby Wax and Paul Foot.

I’m sure the people of Baldock are already looking forward to Fireside Festival 2018! Many of the Fireside Festival shows are hosted at the Baldock Arts & Heritage Centre, and you can keep up to date with what’s happening there at bahc.co.uk or facebook.com/BaldockTownHallGroup.

Now on to probably the biggest event in the town’s calendar – the Baldock Festival, which will be running from April 28 to May 14. This will be the 34th year of the festival, which means 34 fantastic years of bringing the community together to have fun while also raising money for local causes.

It all kicks off with the 10th Independent Baldock Beer Festival, at Brandles School in Weston Way on Friday, April 28 – and look out for the street fair on May 13. To find out more see baldockfestival.org or facebook.com/BaldockFestival, or get tickets from the Baldock Community Centre in Simpson Drive.

Sounds of Baldock, part of the Baldock Festival, has moved to the second bank holiday weekend next month, May 26 to 28. This showcases mainly local artists and bands with a few guests from elsewhere, and as usual raises funds for the Balstock charity music festival in September. Find out more at balstock.com/sounds.

One other date for the diary is Sunday, June 18, when the Baldock Big Lunch is in the High Street from midday. This is part of the Eden Project’s Big Lunch day, which aims to get people across the UK to have lunch together. Food and entertainment is provided, and tickets will go on sale in May.

Events like these are essential in helping make Baldock a vibrant and fun place, and they simply wouldn’t happen without the fantastic groups of volunteers we have in the town.

If you’d like to get involved, email me at richardsell@btinternet.com, or come and have a chat from 10am on Fridays in the Arts & Heritage Centre in the High Street.

Finally many thanks to all at the Comet for giving the Baldock Events Forum this monthly opportunity to keep you in touch with what’s going on in our great town.