Performance, interventions, images and texts
On 20th and 21st August 2025 I produced four free micro-festivals in Coalville, Leicestershire. Coalville Micro-festivals of Dolls and Trees were commissioned by the National Forest and Coalville C.A.N. supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with thanks to Enrych, North West Leicestershire District Council and Leicestershire County Council. Coalville literally didn’t exist until coal mines were founded there, hence the name, then was almost totally bereft of its purpose and its prosperity with the demise of the British coal industry. Later it was the UK headquarters of Palitoy, makers of iconic toys like Action Man, Star Wars figures, Girls World, and Care Bears… plus less iconic ones like Tressy the English-Barbie-That-Wasn’t-Sindy, and Archie the ventriloquist puppet (as creepy as it sounds). Vast areas of the East Midlands were environmentally devastated by the industrial extraction of coal and clay. Now Coalville is part of the nascent National Forest which is regenerating the devastated post-industrial environment, and community organisations like Coalville C.A.N. are building new communities of support, care and revival in the area.
The micro-festivals really were micro, lasting only a few hours each over a very small area, for a very small audience of twenty or less people at a time. Several of them were restricted to no more than ten. However, this followed a long period of engagement over many months, with many more people including local charity Enrych and its users, and community groups and other users of Coalville C.A.N.’s building. There were games and activities – including specially devised sessions with and for disabled people – story times, dolls’ tea parties, silliness and seriousness. Each one focuses on a different aspect of Coalville’s past, present and future, and each has an accompanying Risograph-printed fanzine with more images, thoughts and facts about the subject. The mindfulness activities based on forest bathing and Buddhist compassion practices twice brought people to tears! (in a good way, so sorry/not sorry). Check back later in the year for a list of sources, references and further reading based on my research over the past few months, plus some official photos from the events and a short film.
See more photos by Rod Kirkpatrick of the Dollville and Coalville Micro-Festivals on the Photos page.
“Warm, welcoming, and attuned to everyone’s individual needs. They adapted their communication styles beautifully, ensuring every participant could take part comfortably and feel valued… more than just a fun day out — it created a space for reflection, mindfulness, and shared connection. “
Feedback from Enrych, a local charity who facilitated the participation of the people they support who are disabled, neurodivergent, have learning disabilities, live with long term illnesses, and/or have poor mental health.
Feedback from participants in Treeville, the first Micro-Festival.
“Peaceful” “Fun” “It made me feel calm” “We’re lucky to have nature on our doorstep — you just have to take the time to notice it.”
#1, Dollville, covers Palitoy and the town’s history of toymaking from the early days of simple doll heads through to the Star Wars era, with activities at the micro-festival including upcycled doll making.
Plaque at the site of the old Palitoy factory in Coalville, repurposed as a grave marker for all the thousands of toys dumped in landfill when the factory was shut down by its new American owners.
The workshop for upcycling of old charity shop dolls got very weird, really quickly…
#2, Coalville covers mining, the plastics industry and plastic pollution (Coalville has literally tons of Star Wars figures and other toys in a landfill somewhere, where they’ll remain for thousands of years unless somebody intervenes…), fossil fuels and the concept of deep time. Activities for this one included a slow awareness parade to take in everything we can using all our senses over a short walk.
#3 Treeville was about
historical deforestation and current reforestation and aforestation in the National Forest area, including the “Tiny Forests” to supercharge regeneration, as invented by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, seen here in an appropriately Manga version.
We played Arboreal Bingo among the 1,000 or so saplings planted in a just a few square metres as part of the Miyawaki Tiny Forest method.
#4 Peopleville was about
communities and community groups like Coalville CAN, social goods vs. the profit motive, and peer-led social regeneration. The zine also discusses the devastation caused to communities and the fabric of British society by Brutalist town planning in places like Coalville and social policies that constantly push poor and working class people to the margins of wherever the centre is… and also discusses how the surviving developments can be re-used and redeemed instead of written off.
Alistair Gentry 