Whitby Goth Weekend, abbreviated to WGW or nicknamed Whitby, is a twice-yearly music festival for the

gothic subculture Goth is a music-based subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. It was developed by fans of Gothic rock, an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. The name ''Goth'' was derived directly from the genre. Notable post- ...

, in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

, England, organised by Jo Hampshire.

Summary

Whitby Goth Weekend is an alternative music festival held in Whitby. The event consists of two nights of live bands, and three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of alternative trade stalls at the Whitby Leisure Centre, and Whitby Brunswick Centre. The term "Whitby Goth Weekend" is sometimes used as a

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

term to describe events during the week in Whitby as a whole, although the name of the event and its associated logo are

registered trademark The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or wo ...

s of Jo Hampshire of Top Mum Promotions.

History

Screaming Banshee Aircrew WGW April 2005

The origins of WGW are in a meeting of around forty of Hampshire's pen-pals in 1994. The first meeting was held in the Elsinore public house in Whitby, which, with the Little Angel, continues to be a meeting point during the weekend. Hampshire said Whitby was chosen for its

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

connections, although probably more so because the connection had already fostered a sense of acceptance on the part of locals and businesses rather than any inherent romanticism regarding the location. The festival was held yearly until 1997, when it became twice-yearly in April and October. It has grown into one of the world's most popular goth music events with thousands of attendees from across the UK and beyond. The main event was held in the town's largest venue Whitby Spa Pavilion (known as the Spa) and the Bizarre Bazaar 'Goth Market' is also held there and at Whitby Leisure Centre and the Brunswick Centre. Access to the Spa in the evening required a ticket and live bands played on both Friday and Saturday from 08:00 until about midnight. The Metropole was often used as an overspill venue for the Spa, with bands due to play the next evening/or playing from the previous evening. In recent years it has been used as a venue for the markets as well as the clubs, Manic Monday and Sexy Sunday. RAW Nightclub and Abbey Wharf are used for official fringe events; other venues including The Resolution, The Rifle Club, and The Metropole are used for unofficial events. For many years there was an 80's night held at Laughtons, a genuine venue from the 1980s. The night would traditionally end with the song

Vagabonds Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

. In 2010 this venue became a Wetherspoons Hotel, but the lineal descendant of the 80's night continues to take place on the Sunday night. The "weekend" starts during the day on Friday and fringe events are held on Thursday, Sunday and Monday including club nights, markets, and a charity football match between visiting goth team Real Gothic, and local team Stokoemotiv Whitby. During the October/November event there is an independent custom car show, 'Whitby Kustom' in the grounds of West Cliff School. There are also several "meet ups" aimed at goths with a particular interest, e.g.

Gothic Lolita is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of cuteness. This clothing subculture can be categorized into thre ...

. Newbies who have not attended the event before are referred to as "Whitby Virgins". To help introduce them to the event, there was a WGW Virgins Meet Up on the Friday morning at the Spa until about 2014. In June 2018 there was a breakdown in the relationship between WGW and SIV Live, who operate the Spa. WGW was therefore unable to book the Spa for bands for October 2018. In July a new promoter was found to put bands on at the Spa in October. Subsequently, WGW announced a different set of 2019 dates to those announced by the Spa and the new promoter, with bands at Abbey Wharf, a large pub in Whitby.

Economy

The event results in business for the town in general, with attendees spending around 10,000 bed-nights in Whitby and the weekend contributing £1.1 million per annum to the local economy.

Sophie Lancaster

The October 2007 festival was dedicated to the memory of the murdered Goth

Sophie Lancaster Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess of ...

(who had attended three Whitby Goth Weekends) and a collection of more than £3,000 was raised from various events to fund a

memorial bench A memorial bench, memorial seat or death bench is a piece of outdoor furniture which commemorates a dead person. Such benches are typically made of wood, but can also be made of metal, stone, or synthetic materials such as plastics. Typically mem ...

to her in the town.

Halloween

In the mid-2000s the October weekend on or near

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. ...

began to attract large numbers of non-goths in Halloween, horror, historical, fantasy and sci-fi costume, which has led to an increase in photographers and visitors. The weekend now attracts other alternative

subcultures A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

, including Victorian vampires,

rockers Rocker or rockers may refer to: Places *Rocker, Montana, a neighborhood in Butte, Montana, United States People *Rocker, a British drummer, formerly of The Flatmates * Fermin Rocker (1907–2004), painter and illustrator *John Rocker (born 1974) ...

, punks and members of the

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era ...

subgenre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

. Some regulars consider it no longer a purely "Goth" weekend, and it was acknowledged by Hampshire in the 2014 Whitby Goth Weekend Guide that in order to survive the event would have to diversify into other areas that have influenced Goth. Concerns have grown about disrespect being shown to the graves in St. Mary's Churchyard by photographers using them for photographic purposes which has resulted in a petition to have the area closed during the event. The proposal was supported by Whitby Goth Weekend, saying that "behaviour displayed in the churchyard is disrespectful and offensive". In 2016 The Bram Stoker Film Festival, which also took place in the town, rehashed a proposal to build a film set graveyard which photographers would be charged to use.

Whitby Goth Weekend acts by year

(*) indicates headline act for each night/event

References

Bibliography

External links

Whitby Goth Weekend – Main SiteInvite to the 1995 festival
posted to the

alt.gothic This is a partial list of newsgroups that are significant for their popularity or their position in Usenet history. The Big-8 hierarchies These are the most widely distributed and carefully controlled newsgroup hierarchies. See Big 8 (Usenet) an ...

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

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.
Article
in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

by Sam Jordison {{Goth subculture Whitby Goth subculture Goth festivals Music festivals in North Yorkshire 1994 establishments in England Electronic music festivals in the United Kingdom Music festivals established in 1994 Industrial music festivals