Farsley Old Woollen's Trouble At Mill celebrates 10 years of eclectic community events - and takes inspiration from Batley Variety Club

The men responsible were Choque Hosein, Howard Bradley and Dick Bonham, who are celebrating 10 years of running Trouble At Mill, an events company founded on do-it-yourself principles and now into its latest autumn and winter roster of music, comedy, poetry, social events and plenty more.

After a freewheeling start and venue hopping for years, they are now settled at the Old Woollen venue at Sunny Bank Mills - the former textile industry complex which started a regeneration in 2010 – where their performing arts events began a decade ago.

Co-director Howard says: “Location is important but three of us bumping into each other, we've all got quite unique gifts that complement and also bang and crash against each other at the right times for creative energy. I do think that has been a really key part, that's been a real joyous thing.”

Choque has been a musician most of his life – readers might recognise him from Leeds band Black Star Liner – and moved to Farsley back in 1997 when the house he lives in was “so dirt cheap that I had to do it, so that I could build a studio”. Later, tired of being in there seven days a week, he volunteered to garden opposite at the local church, where Howard happened to live in a flat.

“We met, literally, in the church car park,” says Howard.

Choque says: “Because you left a book on top of your car.”

They can’t remember the title of the book but the friendship stuck and soon enough – clubbing together Howard’s background in community events, Choque’s as a musician and Dick’s theatre producing CV – their interests coalesced into a community festival.

Howard says: “We did a festival over a number of years, and it sort of went to silly size. So the year the Tour de France was here, we did it bicycle themed. You had people running up and down on bikes, all sorts of creative stuff. But you're talking not being able to move from the bottom of the high street to the top, you're talking thousands and thousands, and eventually it got slightly too big because we did it on a shoestring, we did it on good will, we did it on small pots of funding. But it was that thing of just good creativity that then we jumped to, hey, let's have a go at doing something in a pop up way – in a building that's not here anymore – in the mill.”

The first of these nights in September 2014 featured a performance of Wrong ‘Un by Red Ladder Theatre Company, followed by a violin show from Sid Bowfin.

In those days, says Howard, “we used to run over to Asda and buy Saltaire Blonde bottles of beer. We didn't know how to run bars at that point. We had a friend who was brilliant at cooking. So he came and he had a really nice meal. It was really DIY, but it was really special as well.”

Graphic designer Martyn Wilson had a lot to do with Trouble At Mill’s early promotion, with posters making the most of the site’s working class history. "He's a secret weapon,” says Choque.

Howard adds: “We still have people that come along here that tell us, on their walls, they've almost got all of the posters. We used to hang the posters up and pin them on a thing and people would nick them at the end, and they framed them all because they were that beautiful.”

Sunny Bank Mills owners being on side helped their success but judicious bookings did some heavy lifting too. Trouble At Mill pulled in punters by hosting the likes of Flo and Joan, the musical comedy duo who appeared in Nationwide banking adverts in 2018.

More recently, an appearance from Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, and The Wonder Stuff, further boosted their profile.

Farsley’s close-knit atmosphere was also important. “I definitely think it's about where we are,” says Dick. “I think there was an audience that was ready for stuff and there's something about not being in town - there's something about, actually, you're on the edge.”

The original space at Sunny Bank was, to say the least, rough and ready – the power went out one New Year’s Eve during a show – and before its demolition to make way for what is now car parking space, the company put on a show called Rubble at Mill in 2018.

They moved on to The Constitutional down the road, where they learned to properly run a bar and things became a little bit more formalised – then Covid-19 happened. After the pandemic, they moved into the Old Woollen, a 500-capacity room in the mill ripe for performing arts experimentation.

Coming up on Tuesday, there is An Evening With Evelyn Hollow, who explores paranormal activity, as part of Farsley Lit Fest; an acoustic and ‘in conversation’ show with Everything Everything on November 3; and a sold-out Afternoon with Ian Rankin author appearance on November 22. But there is plenty more over the next few months.

Choque’s dream would be to put on Primal Scream. If Yorkshire’s plucky approach to showbiz is anything to go by, that’s not overambitious. The directors are inspired by James Corrigan’s Batley Variety Club, the small mill town venue which from the 1960s remarkably hosted world famous stars such as Louis Armstrong, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Eartha Kitt and Roy Orbison.

Consequently, Trouble At Mill has a clear mantra for the Old Woollen: "What’s the biggest thing we can put on that stage?”

To see events, visit: oldwoollen.co.uk