Giant head and replica planet land in Peak District

Giant blue head is carefully offloaded from its container.

The shipment arrived all the way from Austria and was met at Longcliffe’s site in Brassington by crew from Buxton Opera House and Buxton International Festival.

Elaborate costumes were included in the precious cargo that will be used for the opera Viva La Diva, which Saltzburg State Theatre has produced in association with Buxton International Festival.

“Buxton Festival has no storage space of its own, so we are immensely grateful to Longcliffe for allowing us to store our equipment on their site” said chief executive officer Michael Williams.

“Longcliffe came to our rescue two years ago and donated the space; before that many useful props were ending up in landfill. We now have a growing collection of items that we are looking forward to unpacking and repurposing for the 2021 Buxton International Festival.”

Longcliffe Group managing director Viv Russell said: “As a quarrying industry we are very committed to our local community, and supporting the community fits in with our licence to operate.”

One of Viv’s past part-time jobs was making props for the Haymarket Theatre in London and he created a bed for Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall in the Tennessee Williams’ play Sweet Bird of Youth.

During their temporary stay in Brassington, the props for Viva La Diva will be stored in containers that have been donated by festival supporters Derek Raphael and Bill and Sue Tyson.