The November Club and Highlights rural touring scheme for Northumberland, Cumbria and County Durham have won the National Rural Touring Forum’s award for Touring Scheme Collaboration of the Year for the Northumberland musical Beyond the End of the Road, written by Laura Lindow with music by Katie Doherty.
Beyond the End of the Road won Performance of the Year in the Journal Culture Awards for 2018.
Voluntary Promoter of the Year was awarded to Mike Greener of Spittal for his work with Highlights.
Highlights was recognised in yet another award, The NRTF Special Award, which recognises an individual or a group who has made an outstanding contribution to the world of rural touring. This year’s winner was Barbara Slack from Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.
“It's not so much what Barbara has done in the last 12 months,” one of those who nominated her said. “It's more what she has done in the past 21 years.
"Barbara was the first director of Highlights when it began in 1997. She has grown the organisation from working with a handful of village venues in four districts of the North Pennines to programming in the region of 160 performances per year in around 65 village and community venues across Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland.
"She has been not only a dedicated and devoted manager and leader for Highlights, but also an advocate for rural touring across the UK.”
The awards were announced and presentations made on 27 June at Worcester University during the NRTF New Directions conference.