PINT-SIZED Ryedale venue The Shed celebrates its 20th birthday on Saturday with two extra-special events.

Specialising in music, comedy and poetry, The Shed was created by Simon Thackray in 1992 and during the past 20 years has presented a feast of world-class events, from Carol Ann Duffy and Lau to Hank Wangford and Stewart Lee, plus Simon’s own unique ‘live art’ happenings that are the essence of Shedness, such as The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race, Mrs Boyes’ Bingo and Lol Coxhill in a Skip.

“We’ve notched up 20 years of gigs and projects that have taken us from Brawby to Belfast and Hovingham to Cork and the Queen Elizabeth Hall and V&A in London,” said Simon.

“Few people know that The Shed actually sparked to life with two charity concerts in Kirkby Misperton Church back in 1992. I organised those events to raise money for the One Voice project in York, led by Canon John Young and the Rev Dr Donald English.”

The Shed’s birthday celebrations start with The North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour with guide Ian McMillan, who wrote a story called All Shook Up, the story of a young woman from Malton who sees Elvis, which was the inspiration for the tour.

A pattern for the Elvis wigs, dreamt up by Simon to wear on the trip, was created by Sirdar Spinning Limited and the BBC commissioned Ian to expand the story into a 45- minute afternoon play for BBC Radio 4. The resulting show, including a special live recording of the North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour, was broadcast in June 2004.

This tour, The Shed’s 20th Birthday Party Special, will retrace the steps of The King from his time living in Ryedale and there will undoubtedly be much laughter, daftness and some singing, too.

The sold-out tour departs Malton at 1pm and the journey time is approximately two hours. The knitted Elvis wig pattern is available free on theshed.co.uk.

“Not many people know that Elvis actually faked his own death and came to live in Ryedale and only one woman, who lived in Malton, actually spotted him,” said Simon.

“Ian McMillan is our tour guide and will give an improvised running commentary as we visit some of the places known to have been frequented by The King. Wigs are optional but I’ll be wearing mine.”

In the evening is The Shed’s 20th Birthday Party at Hovingham Village Hall featuring The Shed regulars The Snake Davis Band with special guest Ian McMillan.

Eurythmics and M People saxophonist Snake and his band have played at the venue many times before and are joined by Ian for a special poetic Shed party popper opening set.

The evening starts at 8pm and tickets are £17.50/£10, available from theshed.co.uk or phone 01653 668494.