About Barracudas

Barracudas Carnival Band – We perform at Carnivals and events all over the country and have performers of all ages, with musicians, dancers and stiltwalkers.  We create costumes and run workshops at our Centre and throughout Cumbria.

 

Based in Barrow-in-Furness, in the beautiful Nan Tait Centre (pictured above), one of the most-loved buildings in Barrow, we provide workshops for beginners and more advanced performers as well as creative workshops for teenagers. We are all about having fun, dressing up and celebrating whilst learning new skills at the same time.

It is easy to get to us by train, as we are only 5 minutes away from the train station, or by bus from Ulverston or Kendal, if you get off at the bus stop in Abbey Road. Click here for a map of Barrow-in-Furness and the Nan Tait Centre.

Artistic Director is Julie Hammerton who has been with Barracudas since its beginnings in 1988.  She has studied carnival around the world, Caribbean, European and Brazilian.  She is an Arts Council Fellow, having completed a six-week residency at Rio’s oldest samba school, Estacio de Sa.

We are always welcoming new participants, so do not hesitate to contact us if you want more information about our activities. Call us on 01229 812 036 or send an e-mail to barracudas.carnival@googlemail.com.  Our postal address is The Nan Tait Centre, Bath Street Entrance, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 5TY 

Our facilities include:

Our rehearsal room, a large mezzanine space with kitchen facilities that can also be used as a meeting room, and we let it to different organisation for a wide range of purposes.  There are excellent acoustics in this room because of the high spec acoustic tiling on the ceiling.

 

We have a sewing room and a fabrication workshop, where we create our carnival backpacks and headdresses.