York Races, May Festival

York Knavesmire is one of the best racecourses in the UK. York Racecourse is home to the famous Ebor meeting and has also been home to Royal Ascot. Thousands of people come to York to watch the best names in horse racing. Don't miss the first York race festival of 2008!

York Races May Festival

• Wednesday 14 May 08 - First Race 1.45pm
• Thursday 15 May 08 - First Race 1.45pm
• Friday 16 May 08 - First Race 1.45pm

Feature Races
Wed - Tattersalls Musidora Stakes - (Group 3) £60 000
Wed - The Duke of York Hearthstead Homes Stakes (Group 2) £100,000
Thu - totesport Dante Stakes (Group 2) £150,000
Fri - Emirates Airline Yorkshire Cup - (Group 2) £140,00

May Spring Weekend

• Friday 30 May 08 - First Race 1.45pm
• Saturday 31 May 08 - First Race 1.45pm

York Racecourse, York YO23 1EX - map

York Carnival

Sunday 04 May 2008
This year, York Carnival has a theme of 'Around the World'. Through art, dance, music and drama, we aim to bind all the cultures that York offers into one day of energetic celebration. An explosion of music, dancing and colour will parade through the streets of York!

Main Stage, Parliament Street
Different acts will be performing throughout the day on our Main Stage at the Piccadilly end of Parliament Street.

Marquee, St Sampson's Square
Workshops and performances will be held in our marquee at St. Sampson's Square throughout the day.

Kings Square
Acoustic performances and activities will take place in the historic King's Square at the end of the Shambles.

The Memory of Place - St Mary's Church York

by Keiko Mukaide
Opens for Saturday 24th May 2008
The Memory of Place by Keiko Mukaide will re-open for another season on 24 May, 2008. The installation, which opened in 2007, is the latest commission to create challenging contemporary work within this unique historic space and has proved extremely popular with visitors. Keiko responds to her sense of the space, and to the visual remains of the building’s former life, the stained glass, grave covers and carvings. Using fire, water, glass, stone and light, she transforms the interior of the church, creating a spiritual space in which to reflect on the memory of loved ones. A pool of water fills the nave of the church. The water in the pool flows towards the transept of the church, where a suspended column of glass rods is dramatically top-lit, suggesting a spiritual path to a higher place.

Shoro Nagashi
Visitors are invited to become involved with the installation by lighting a votive candle and floating it on the pool - connecting our modern life with that of our ancestors. In the Japanese religious ceremony, Shoro nagashi, people release lanterns onto a river in mid summer, symbolising their ancestors' spirits ascending to heaven.

St Mary's is a beautiful medieval church in the heart of York.
York St Mary’s, Castlegate York YO1 9RN

York Raceway

'0-60' SHOOTOUT, 2NZ (TUNERS)
Sunday 04 May 2008

• Includes the annual 0-60 Challenge with trophies
• 2NZ Modders Round 2
• Hot Rod challenge qualifying
• Northern Drag Racing Championship
• Run What You've Brung
• Roger Goring's Firestorm Jet Car
• www.york-raceway.co.uk

UK OPEN NATIONALS
Bank Holiday Monday 05 May 2008

• Jap 2NZ, York's event for tuners of Japanese cars
• American Super Stock
• Northern Drag Racing Championship
• Hot Rod Challenge
• Plus plenty of track time for R.W.Y.B.
• Roger Goring's Firestorm Jet Car

York Guildhall Orchestra

'Romance'
Saturday 10 May 2008 7:30pm
Location: York Barbican Centre
Piano Concerto in A minor - Robert Schumann, soloist - Leon McCawley
Symphony No.7 in E minor - Mahler
Tickets for the May concert are available from:
York Theatre Royal, St. Leonard's Place, York YO1 7HD
Tel: 01904 623568

York University Concerts

KREUTZER QUARTET
Thursday 08 May 2008 - 7:30pm
New music for string quartet from Eastern Europe with quartets by Bartok and Janecek and their contemporary American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. The programme also celebrates the 50th birthday of Albanian-born composer Thomas Simaku and the release of the Kreutzer Quartet's CD of his music on the Naxos label.
6.30pm Pre-concert talk: Thomas Simaku

This concert is part of the Spring Festival of New Music (6-10 May). Special discounts are available when booking for three or more concerts.

Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York University
For all concerts, information and tickets visit music.york.ac.uk

Joseph Rowntree Theatre

The Beggar's Opera
14 to 17 May 08 - 7:30pm
The first and most famous of ballad operas, The Beggar's Opera is a lively satire of eighteenth century political life, in which beggars, thieves, fences, lawyers, prostitutes and gaolers clash and squabble, in their attempt to worm money out of all and sundry (and each other!).

Tickets: £10, Students and OAPs £8, Children £5
Location: The Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Rd, York.

Thick as a Brick
21 to 24 May 08 - 7:30pm
Relief drama teacher Mary faces an uphill struggle when she tries to interest sixteen-year-olds Stacey, Kelly and Maggie in dance. She isn’t helped by the science-obsessed headmaster, nor by the girl’s patent lack of commitment, nor by the lack of funds and resources, but she ploughs doggedly on. A trip to London to take part in a dance competition proves to be a turning point - the girls, though they don’t win, gain confidence, and Mary nearly becomes romantically involved with Stacey’s dad, Jimmy.
Tickets: £9.00 (Concessions £8.00)
Location: The Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Rd, York.

Tickets available from York Theatre Royal Box Office
Tel: 01904 623568
For the full May listings visit www.jrtheatre.co.uk

The Enterprise Show

Museum Gardens, York
Saturday 17th May 2008 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday 18th May 2008 10:00am-4:00pm
The Enterprise Show is your chance to get professional advice on both starting and developing your own business. You will also get the chance to attend seminars and workshops, covering essential topics such as Running Your Own Business, Marketing, Finance and Patents. Whatever your interests, Business Link will be on hand during the day to point you in the right direction and help you get what you need from the Show.
For more info call 0800 032 2626

Steiner School Spring Fair

Saturday 17 May 2008 11am- 4pm
Children's Crafts, Spring Grotto, Circus Skills, Music, Stalls, Raffle, Continental and Main Cafe, Stories, Puppetry. Colourful parade - Dress Brightly. £1 Adults, free to children.

Danesmead, Fulford Cross, off Fulford Road YO10 4PB

Wood Art Exhibition at York Guildhall

26 May 2008
You love Wood, you love Art, are you looking for a special gift or are you a collector? Visit my stand at the Heritage Promotions fair at GuildHall in York. www.insideoutwoodart.co.uk

York Guildhall, St. Helen's Square, York YO1 9QN

York City Rowing Club - Spring Regatta

Saturday 03 May
On the River Ouse, York. From Clifton to Lendal.
Commencing at 9:30am
www.york-city-rowing-club.co.uk

Ryedale Festival of Food and Drink

Castle Howard, North Yorkshire
Sunday 25 May – Monday 26 May
The festival is a celebration of Yorkshire’s finest food in one of the county’s most beautiful locations.
for more info visit www.castlehoward.co.uk

York Theatre Royal

Patient No.1
01-17 May 2008
Written by Donald Freed | Directed by Damian Cruden.

“Donald Freed is a writer of blazing imagination, courage and insight. His work is a unique and fearless marriage of politics and art. I take my hat off to him” - Harold Pinter.

Patient No.1 is the confidential in-patient, designated in-house name assigned to the former President of the United States George W Bush by the psychiatric staff of an elite private clinic. Isolated from and virtually unknown to the public its clientele has included some of America and the world’s most Very Important Persons (V.I.Ps).

“Donald Freed is the most political and pertinent of all America’s playwrights.” Studs Terkel

Box Office: 01904 623568
York Theatre Royal. St. Leonard's Place, York, YO1 7HD - map

George Stubbs - 'Whistlejacket'

York Art Gallery
26 April - 31 August 2008
One of the National Gallery's most iconic images is heading to York. Whistlejacket (Oil on canvas 292 x 246cm) was painted by George Stubbs who spent his early career in York. This exhibition showcases this magnificent painting and brings together work from local galleries and private collections, including a portrait of the famous racehorse Gimcrack, his midwifery illustrations and a selection of his drawings for The Anatomy of the Horse. There will also be a selection of contemporary watercolour paintings and prints depicting York Racecourse, plus other related exhibits.

York Art Gallery - Show on map