Programme

Scheduled activities

All activities are in the main square of the Students' Union (Percy Gee Building) unless otherwise stated. (Full access guide.)

• 11.00am-11.30am SU Chorus performance 
• 11.30am-12.30pm SU Big Band 
• 12.00pm Welcome to our Celebration of Heritage. Dr Vijay Sharma, Pro-Chancellor for Community Engagement
• 12.30pm-1.00pm Josh Smalley’s historic recipe demonstration (with Archives and Special Collections) (SU main square)
• 1.00pm-1.30pm Guided tour of David Wilson Library exhibitions (meet at the Heritage Hub reception desk)
• 2.00pm-2.30pm Meet Mr Cleaver’s dragon!
• 2.30pm-3.30pm SU Big Band
• 3.00pm-3.30pm Guided tour of David Wilson Library exhibitions (meet at the Heritage Hub reception desk)
• 3.00pm-4.00pm Way of the Wyrd Border Morris. Dancing a mixture of traditional and locally-inspired dances, with the opportunity to join in and have a go!

Drop-in sessions (no need to book)

Join specialist leather workers and jewellery makers. 

11.00am – 4.00pm Traditional crafts

• Try your hand at making a Celtic style brooch or an embossed pendant with Roman Trader (makers of quality reproduction artefacts, based on archaeological finds from the Bronze age, Roman and Saxon periods).
• Watch leatherworking demonstrations with Watermead Leather (expert leathermaker based on the river Soar in Leicestershire UK).

11.00am – 4.00pm Living History! (SU main square and studio) 

• Join members of the Vikings of Middle England and Redcoats and Revolutionaries to get a taste of life in ancient Leicester! Our friends from the Vikings of Middle England will be roaming the halls bring a sense of the Nordic to the event.  At their stall you will find handling objects galore, and you may even want to challenge them to a game of hnefatafl.

Attenborough Arts Centre 

Why not pop down to Attenborough Arts Centre and tour their exciting exhibitions?

• Crip Arte Spazio: The Disability Arts Movement in Venice (Gallery 1)
• Sabrina Tirvengadum: Who Were They? Who Am I? (Gallery 2)

And don’t forget the Attenborough Arts Centre Shop!

From art materials, to gifts and cards, to work by local artists – the Attenborough Arts Centre shop has something for everyone. All proceeds from their shop support ongoing work.

Botanic Garden

We are also co-hosting a free event with Literary Leicester at the University's Botanic Garden.

Dragon Stories for Kids aged 8 to 12

Saturday 22 March 2025, 10.00am-12.00pm
Beaumont Hall, Stoughton Drive South, LE2 2NA

There are rumours of creatures. Huge, scaly creatures. With fire on their breath and lizard-like features...

This event is co-hosted by Literary Leicester, the Heritage Hub, the Letterbox Club and the University of Leicester’s School of Education.

Come and join us for a family story-building session in which we'll create characters, settings and plot, and maybe uncover some secrets.

For kids aged 8 to 12, with children’s author Steve ‘Polar Bear’ Camden, poet John Berkavitch and with the help of Mr Cleaver’s Puppet Monsters. In this fun, interactive event Polar Bear, John and an assortment of giant puppets will lead children on a journey of story-telling about dragons. And why not follow the dragon to campus for our Celebration of Heritage!

This event is free but please book in advance.

Get tickets

Self-guided tours of our campus

Why not take a tour of our campus? Copies of our trails will be available from the Heritage Hub stall at the main entrance to the event. The trails can also be accessed online.

Main Campus Trail 

Heritage Hub (2023). Heritage Hub: Central Campus Trail. University of Leicester. Educational resource. https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.23829048.v1

The University of Leicester campus is not just a place of study. It is the site of world-changing discoveries; it reflects more than 150 years of local history, and it is home to one of the  finest collections of modern art in the East Midlands. Follow this heritage trail to explore some of Leicester’s best-kept secrets. Our trail starts at College House, and ends at Attenborough Arts Centre, where you can enjoy their latest exhibitions and events. 

Fielding Johnson Trail

Heritage Hub; McKay, Amy (2023). Heritage Hub: Fielding Johnson Building Trail. University of Leicester. Educational resource. https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.23829654.v1

The Fielding Johnson Building occupies a prominent hill on what was called the South Field, outside Leicester’s original Borough walls. When it was built, it was remote from the centre of Leicester, and close to the Cattle Market. The building predates Welford Road Cemetery (1849), the establishment of Victoria Park (1866) that was formerly a racecourse (1806-1883) and also predates the park’s Grandstand (1866, demolished in 1940 after landmine damage). The Asylum also predates the first Freemen’s Cottages (1856) and De Montfort Hall (1911). During its lifetime, the Fielding Johnson Building has witnessed some fascinating history and has had three main uses. This tour explains the building’s original extent and how it has evolved over time.  

These trails were created by Amy Mckay (illustrator) and Elizabeth Blood (researcher). They were funded by the University of Leicester's Heritage Hub as part of their ongoing programme of events. 

Amy McKay also created the designs on our Heritage Hub t-shirts and bags.

For more information please visit https://le.ac.uk/research/natural-heritage/heritage-hub

David Wilson Library exhibitions

Join our team for a tour of two exciting exhibitions in the David Wilson Library. South Asian Legacies explores the past, present and future of South Asian histories and South Asian students at the University of Leicester. Discover rare books, manuscripts and photographs from our collections displayed alongside personal items and stories shared by our student volunteers. Stories from the Dryad Collection was curated by students from the Masters in Museum Studies, and showcases beautiful items from the Dryad Collection of craft objects from Britain and around the world. The exhibitions are available to view throughout the day or by joining one of our curator-led tours (see above for timings).