Arts Diary: Will Marriott

Thirty-somethings have been quick off the mark, with tickets for the tour – which comes to York, Grimsby and Bradford in June – selling out fast. Now he has announced three new dates in July, including a performance at Leeds’s O2 Academy on July 7. Tickets go on sale at 9am today on 0844 811 0051.

Good luck to the Leeds-based chamber choir St Peter’s Singers, whose members are going to be touring Brittany this month. Touring May 29 to 31, the choir will perform recitals in the magnificent Cathedrals of Vannes and Quimper as well as the beautiful Basilica of Notre-Dame du Roncier in Josselin. Not bad considering the choir’s usual home is the slightly less glamorous Leeds Parish Church.

Inspiration can really strike anywhere – ask Joy Godfrey, the Ilkley artist who was struck by possibly divine inspiration in September last year, at the Dedication Festival at St Margaret’s Church, Ilkley being given by Father Philip Gray. During the sermon two particular phrases caught her attention – “living stones” and “laid in irregular courses” – both of which provided the inspiration for a collection of paintings which now make up an exhibition, open every Sunday in the Parish Hall at St Margaret’s Church, Queen’s Road, Ilkley, until June 19.

Members of community youth theatre group Exit 25 are performing at the West Yorkshire Playhouse tonight and they’re going to be looking their best, thanks to linking up with the Leeds College of Hair and Beauty.

The Brighouse-based performing arts group are performing The Beauty Manifesto, a play in which cosmetic surgery is compulsory once you reach your 16th birthday. The College of Hair and Beauty are helping out with the show, helping to transform the young people into the agents of Beauty, the evil corporation that carries out the surgery.

Delighted to hear that the lovely John Siddique has got himself a celebrity fan. The Yorkshire poet had his poem Thirst, from the collection Full Blood, played by Cerys Matthews on her radio show on BBC 6 Music this week.

As Siddique said: “Anyone giving poetry a national platform seriously deserves big love.”

Last item before we pop out to buy a hat – so we can take it off to Emily Kecic. In her last year at York St John University, her final art project has brought her back to her home town of Bradford to play her part in combatting negative press about the city. Emily noticed how many well regarded Bradfordians were buried at Undercliffe Cemetery – apparently because the site looks across the beautiful city. So, on May 26 Emily will be illuminating the cemetery, which will be open to the public, from 8pm to 10pm. “I believe when you have something you are proud of in your city you should celebrate it and show it off. So this is what I aim to do.”