Event: The Journey

by Angela | Nov 3, 2018 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Community, EVENTS

Event: The Journey

When does this journey take place?
9th December 2018 at 12pm and 4pm

Event: The Journey

This event looks like being epic. Though not as epic as the journey it sets out to portray: that of Joseph and the pregnant Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

They had to travel 90 miles to the city of Joseph’s ancestors: south along the flatlands of the Jordan River, then west over the hills surrounding Jerusalem, and on into Bethlehem. That was one gruelling and dangerous trip. It’s fair to say that this journey around Old Town won’t be quite so long nor anything like as arduous. But it promises to be an incredible experience.

When does this journey take place? 9th December 2018 at 12pm and 4pm

The Journey

Welcome to an immense, immersive theatrical telling of the Christmas story.

A processional performance will unfold throughout Swindon Old Town, this Christmas.

Never before seen ‘behind the scenes’ access to the characters we are so familiar with, will reveal the true nature, the faith and the fearlessness, of those who were chosen to birth and raise Jesus Christ.

Meet Mary, the teenage bride, betrothed to Joseph and mysteriously pregnant. She risks shame, heartbreak and a painful death. Revealed are Joseph’s innermost thoughts. How can he understand the nature of Mary’s pregnancy? How will he find the strength to stand by her? Now forced by an occupying power they must make the impossible journey together, throughout the length of a nation, anyway they can.

This is a story of survival, courage, love and faith against all the odds.

‘Our creative team are keen to highlight how these circumstances reflect the difficulties faced by the refugee community and ask people to just consider that this is still happening today. *See also David Bent’s Movement 2000 for resonances with what this performance is all about.

We are doing this by creating a huge number of people that will join the principal cast as they move down Bath Road and up Wood Street, to mirror those images seen in the media during the refugee crises of recent years.’

The Journey’s artistic director is Anna Friend of the Quirky Bird Theatre and the executive producer is Daphne Hardwick produced of the ever-popular Old Town autumn fayre at Christchurch.

Follow The Journey on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldtownjourney/

To register for your ticket visit www.oldtownjourney.co.uk

To get involved email info@oldtownjourney.co.uk

Get your ticket for this free event here. And below is the route of the journey.

The Route

The performance will begin at Lethbridge Primary School and then proceed along Avenue Road, Bath Road, and Wood Street, culminating at Christ Church for our finale.

Route Map - public

GETTING INVOLVED

If you’d like to get involved in this performance and be more than a bystander – here are some FAQs:

Can I bring my children?
Yes! We would love families to be part of this. Unfortunately we cannot have prams or pushchairs but babes in arms, toddlers and older children are very welcome!

How long will we be needed?
There are two performances, one at 12 and one at 4pm. We envisage that you will be needed for 30 minutes to complete the walk each time, but it could take longer, depending on the size of the group.

Will I need to provide costume?
Kind of…we would like you to wear dark clothing and make sure you are all warm! Shawls and blankets wrapped over shoulders would be great. Nothing brightly coloured, think middle eastern. We would also love if you could have bags with you but don’t worry if not – just you will be fab!

Do we need to rehearse?
Yes, a little bit. You will need to pop along on the 30th November to Christ Church Old Town at 8pm to register and meet Anna Friend, our Director who will talk you through the performance and your part in it. Children do not need to come along on the 30th, just parents! Then on the 2nd Dec we will have a full walk-through of the performance beginning at 12pm so we will need you then.

Anything Else?
No, that’s all, we are so glad you would like to join – please spread the word, we are looking for hundreds to be part of this one moment of the performance.

All you need to do now is confirm you will be involved by emailing info@oldtownjourney.co.uk

The journey of the Magi – T S Eliot:

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Event: Bringing Science to Swindon

by Angela | Oct 15, 2018 | Community

Event : Bringing Science to Swindon

Reaching for the Sun

Event: Bringing Science to Swindon

Bringing Science to Swindon

Reaching for the Sun

When: Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Starting at: 7:00 pm (all welcome)

Where: Venue: Lecture Theatre, New College Swindon, SN3 1AH

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (the other STFC) based here in Swindon funds some of the most amazing and inspirational science and technology in the world. Starting in October 2018 we will run a series of public events to highlight the science realised here in Swindon.

The first talk by eminent solar physicist Dr Helen Mason OBE from the University of Cambridge will bring the Sun to Swindon…

Dr Helen Mason

Reaching for the Sun

The Sun, our star, is in a quiet phase of its eleven activity cycle, but we can expect some spectacular action in a few years time. Several solar space observatories have been watching the Sun over the past couple of decades:

SoHO, Stereo, Hinode and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has just been launched, August 2018, and ESA’s Solar Orbiter will be launched in 2020. These satellites will travel closer to the Sun than ever before.

This talk will review what we have learnt about our dynamic Sun, in particular what we know (and don’t yet know!) about sunspots, solar active regions and flares (huge explosions), and how the Sun affects the Earth’s environment (space weather).’

Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bringing-science-to-swindon-reaching-for-the-sun-tickets-50591421303

View and download a poster here: 114237 Bring science to swindon poster

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The Bothy at Burderop, in the walled garden that once belonged to Burderop Manor is going to make an unusual and terrific home. A simply delightful couple, Jules Gilleland and Mark Wheeler, are converting the bothy, and the walled garden in which it sits, into a home. See more about the bothy gardens and the couple’s plans for it here: https://swindonian.me/2024/08/30/introducing-bothy-gardens/

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Community Choirs in Swindon

by Angela | Oct 12, 2018 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Community, Guest Bloggers

Sing Something Swindon: a round up of some of Swindon’s choirs

12th October 2018

Thanks to Jo Garton for this lovely guest blog post focusing on some of Swindon’s choirs. Which are many and various.

This is your note – sing it! Swindon’s lungs are bursting with singing opportunities.

Community Choirs in Swindon - graphic of choir figures

Sing Something Swindon

Swindon is a city of choirs. Well – ok, it’s a town, but it feels like a city to many of us.

Many health and psychology studies show that singing is good for your health. This easy form of self-expression helps maintain sound (pun intended) mental health. Swindon is the place to be if you want to sing, because thousands of people sing here every week and not only in the shower!

History of arts, culture – and singing

Of course, we have a history of singing here; the Mechanics Institute had a resident opera company, which famously made Swindon the place to be in the UK if you fancied a bit of Russian opera! If you want to know more about that then I suggest you read Secret Swindon by Angela Atkinson, in which she tells more about that.

Nowadays we have highbrow, lowbrow and everything in between.

Long established choirs

Probably Swindon’s longest established choir is the Swindon Male Voice Choir, founded in 1919. They meet weekly in Gorse Hill and have about fifty members. Over the years they have toured internationally and won many competitions and Eisteddfods.

The Swindon Choral Society is another long-established choir. It has roots right back to the 1920s. They also tour internationally with a repertoire that includes Requiems of Brahms and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. The choral society has 110 singers and they meet in Freshbrook.

The indomitable Sheila Harrod started the well-known Kentwood Choir in 1964.

Like many of the choirs in Swindon they have raised a lot of money for charity – over the fifty-three years of their existence over £1 million. Their president is the internationally renown jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine. Their thirty-five women members have sung on national television and abroad.

New kids on the blog

Newer kids on the blog are The Magnificent AK47s formed in 2008. They meet in Ashton Keynes, but many of their members are from Swindon, some are not even members of the Spooner family! They have enjoyed success at the Derry International Choral Festival and the Cork International Festival. The AK47s are an all male choir who, for reasons not entirely clear, sing quite a lot about beards!

Swindon Community Choir started in 2000 as the Scratch Choir but over the years have changed their name. They favour a ‘natural voice technique’ which believes that singing is everyone’s birthright. They meet in the Central Community Centre in the railway village (what was the medical fund society hospital) on a Monday evening. This is a mixed choir, which welcomes new members without an audition. They have a wide ranging taste, singing folk, pop and international songs.

Running for twenty-five years and also raising money for good causes is the Thamesdown Ladies choir. The choir has around fifty members and a wide-ranging repertoire.

Finally, the BigSingThing has been running for seven years and meets in West Swindon on a Monday evening. Roughly ninety men and women sing each week. They perform concerts locally and have raised over £10,000 for charity. BigSing claims to be Swindon’s friendliest choir and sings pop songs old and new as well as some songs from musicals.

If you want to sing in Swindon there is plenty of choice!

Links:

Swindon Male Voice Choir: https://www.swindonmalevoicechoir.co.uk

Swindon Choral Society: http://swindonchoral.org.uk/scs/main.php

The Kentwood Choir: http://www.kentwoodshowchoir.org

The Magnificent AK47s: http://www.themagnificentak47.com

Swindon Community Choir: http://www.swindoncommunitychoir.co.uk/index.htm

Thamesdown Ladies Choir: http://www.thamesdownladieschoir.co.uk

The Big Sing Thing: https://www.bigsingthing.org.uk

And find Shaw Farm Singers here.

Ken White Swindon Artist

by Angela | Oct 6, 2018 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Ken White, Sons & Daughters of Swindon, Swindon Murals

October 2018

This blog is an opportunity to share a few photographs of the work of Ken White Swindon artist.
In my recently published book, Secret Swindon, I made a big effort to convey that Swindon’s cultural and creative present is as rich as its cultural and creative past. Many people/entities/artists contribute to Swindon’s varied cultural landscape as the recent Swindon Open Studios even will testify. And one of whom is Swindon born Ken.

An extract:

‘Ken White: Painter not artist

That’s his description of himself not mine. He’s emphatic on the point. Yet, however you describe him his talent is indisputable.

A born Swindonian, Ken had the great good fortune to get what you’d call ‘a big break’. First though, like so many young men in Swindon, at the tender age of fifteen saw him enter the Works (the 3^rdgeneration of his family to go ‘inside’) as a rivet-hotter. Escaping that role, he began his artistic career with sign-writing and stenciling numbers on carriages in the Works. During this period Ken went to evening classes at Swindon Art College to study ‘O’ and A ‘Level art with the intention of becoming a full-time artist … ‘ For the rest – buy the book! 😉

See also my book about Ken White Swindon artist:

A Ken White Retrospective

To see some of Ken’s Oasis related art go here:

Ken White’s Oasis Art

Ken’s portfolio is a wonder to behold – the just-passed Open Studios is the ideal time to view it.

When researching for Secret Swindon I visited Ken and spent ages poring over his output from over the years. His collection of posters designed for Swindon events back in the day are an exhibition in themselves – never mind the rest. Here’s a small few that didn’t get used in Secret Swindon:

Poster for the unveiling of Carleton Attwood's 'The Watchers' at Toothill village centre - designed by Ken White Swindon artist — Poster for the unveiling of Carleton Attwood’s ‘The Watchers’ at Toothill village centre

Poster for old GWR Railway museum - designed by Ken White swindon artist — Poster for old GWR Railway museum

linocut of men drinking in a pub - by Ken White Swindon artist

Deacon’s Jewellers Old Town Swindon

by Angela | Sep 9, 2018 | Swindon in Business, Switch on to Swindon

Deacon’s Jewellers Old Town Swindon and the regulator clock

It’s struck me often that Swindon’s Old Town has, within a few yards of one another, three long-standing and still family-owned businesses. That must be somewhat unusual surely? On Newport Street there’s Gilbert’s. On the corner of Bath Road and Devizes Rd there’s Blaylocks and on Wood Street of course we have Deacon & Son (Swindon) Ltd. The business was founded, by George Deacon, in 1848 as jewellers, watch and clock makers. It remains a family-run business that’s now in its sixth generation.

That is quite remarkable for sure. But on its own, a ‘so what’ is fair enough – after all, they can’t be the only long-standing family jewellery business in the land can they? At least I wouldn’t imagine so.

So what makes this business stand out?

But there’s something else about this business that makes it stand-out – and that’s its relationship with the story of New Swindon. Because there’s no doubt at all that the reason Deacon’s is such a well-known Swindon business, is the coming of the Great Western Railway.

An ambitious, 26-year-old George Deacon had the vision to see the need for time-keeping in a fast-growing town – one that arguably was the crucible of the industrial revolution. So – with an eye on the main chance, young George Deacon moved from his home town of Westbury to Swindon.

The business expanded and won one of the timing contracts for the Great Western Railway on the Paddington to Swansea line from the early 1850s to 1893.

The regulator clock

Around 1865, Deacon & Son Ltd made the Regulator Clock that stands to this day in the jewellery, clock and watch department of the shop. Before radio and the telephone gave universally available time, local means were designed to maintain accurate time-keeping. And this tended to be done by means of a regulator clock.

The famed regulator clock in Deacon's jewellers in Wood Street, Swindon — The famed regulator clock in Deacon’s jewellers in Wood Street, Swindon

The dead-beat escapement in this movement causes less friction and dampens vibration, giving greater accuracy. The self-regulating mercury pendulum, changes volume equally with the changes in temperatureand thus keeps the clock on a constant steady beat giving better time keeping.

Close up of the face of Deacon's regulator clock — Close up of the face of Deacon’s regulator clock

Explanatory plaque on the regulator clock in Deacon's — Close up of the face of Deacon’s regulator clock

Deacon’s workshops made extensive use of the regulator clock for clock timing and regulation for many years. But then, in 2011, radio-controlled timing came from the nuclear caesium clock at the National Physics lab in Rugby.

So – were it not for the coming of the Great Western Railway, Deacon’s as we know it may well not exist at all.

There’s more detail to the history of Deacon’s on their website – find it here https://www.deacons-jewellers.com/pages/history

An early receipt from Deacon's of Swindon's Old Town. — An early receipt from Deacon’s of Swindon’s Old Town.

These boots are made for walking

Of course, Deacon’s is not the only long-standing, family-owned business in Old Town. I’m really rather fond of Blaylock’s – the shoe shop on the corner of Bath Road and Devizes Rd.

Blaylock’s is what I call a ‘proper’ shoe shop – though you’d need to be of a certain again to even know what I mean by that. And, what I mean by that is, that the shoes are stacked in boxes on shelves in the shop itself. Exactly as I remember shoe shops!

There’s no going out the back somewhere with an iPad and a headset on. Pfft. It’s friendly service and I love it. Not quite as old as Deacon’s they’ve been around for somewhere in the region of 100 years. Still, to my knowledge, this is a family-run business and an independent shoe shop. Fabulous.

Gilberts

Having bought your super comfy carpet slippers in Blaylocks – where better for your actual carpet than Gilbert’s on Newport Street, Gilbert’s have been in Old Town since 1866 so must have furnished a few Swindon homes in the intervening 152 years. What an astonishing thought.

Gilbert’s Home Furnishings