Date and guests announced for annual May Day and Wellingborough Diggers festival, promising live music, Caribbean food and more

The annual Diggers festival has become a staple of the Wellingborough calendar, and organisers have now shared the date for the upcoming event to be held at the African Caribbean Centre in Rock Street.

May 4 will be a combination of two celebrations, being an event for both the Wellingborough Diggers and May Day, or International Worker’s Day, which has its roots in the international labour movement.

It promises to be an evening of live music, guest speakers and Caribbean food beginning at 6pm, with people behind the event expecting it to last until around 11pm.

Paul Crofts, an organiser of the upcoming festival, said: "We believe it’s really important for the people of Wellingborough to commemorate and celebrate the history, and the Diggers represent an important movement in the 17th century that Wellingborough should be proud of, because the Wellingborough Diggers and Gerrard Winstanley are known all over the world.

"This is an important part of Wellingborough history and that’s why we support it.”

During the period after the English Civil War the ‘Diggers’, a party of agrarian communists led by Gerrard Winstanley, dug land on the outskirts of Wellingborough to be used to sow seeds after the town was plundered for two days as a retaliation for its Royalist stance.

The festival was established as an annual community event in the town to remember those who moved to common land to carve out a humble life for themselves, and today the festival always takes place in the spring of every year.

The soundtrack for the evening next month will be provided by folk musician Jess McCabe, and entertainment from renowned comedian Mark Thomas and local funny man Peter Prodge will take place throughout.

On May 4, a Caribbean meal with a choice of vegetarian, chicken, goat or fish can be ordered in advance for £10 by emailing [email protected].

Early bird tickets cost £8, and can be booked here.