It’s been sometime in the coming – you know how it is with building works – it always takes longer and costs more than you think. But at last it’s open and getting underway and, best thing of all, it’s a lovely bit of good news for Swindon’s heritage and the railway village conservation area.
What am I talking about listeners? The Baker’s Community café of course.
From guns to buns
Or as suggested on social media:
From riot to quiet
From thugs to mugs
Moving on!!
I’m pretty ignorant of the history of this ex railway village pub, but it seems it had a reputation for being ‘a bit rough’ – to understate the case. As this article in the Swindon Advertiser explains:
‘The Bakers Arms will reopen as a community café this week after a makeover that saw builders rip out moulding bar and restore historic fireplaces in the 150-year-old pub.
It will prove a major reversal of fortune for the Emlyn Square pub, which was once a source of anti-social behaviour and ire for residents.
In December 2011, police raided the Bakers Arms and found a shotgun and a large amount of what officers suspected was cocaine. The pub was closed three months later after a review by the council’s licensing panel. .. ‘
Huge congrats to everyone at the Mechanics’ Institute Trust – I’m sure it will be great asset to the central area and to Swindon as a whole. Goodness knows Swindon’s heritage areas need some uplift. So this is super welcome.
‘I noticed there were quite a few communities in Swindon of South Asian origin, but they were divided into different groups,” she recalled. “They arranged various festivals and cultural programmes, however they were not really available to a lot of the people in Swindon.
A lot of the time, these communities were not even going to each other’s programmes. I thought, why don’t we make it available to everyone and we could share it?’ … Our focus so far has been to present diverse cultural events. We would like to share these with the general public – with whoever is interested.’
SAPAC work often with the splendid Swindon Dance – a recent event staged in conjunction with them back in June of this year sold out. How fab is that? And later this year – on October the 6th to be precise – SAPAC will be part of a spectacular collaborative arts project at the Wyvern Theatre. Presented by Nicky Alberry, the current High Sheriff of Wiltshire, the event is called ‘Uncelebrated Journey’.
‘Uncelebrated Journey will feature an eclectic mix of dance, music and film, including a contribution from SAPAC.
It’s based on a poem Alfred Williams wrote, about a place in India he stayed in during World War I, when he was in the army, Indu said.
Alfred Williams – the Hammerman Poet
He stayed in Ranikhet, a hill station in the Almora district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, in the foothills of the Himalayas.’ The image below shows Alfred’s home in Swindon named after Ranikhet:
Years ago, in my early years in Swindon, I recall going to the Arts Centre in Swindon and there being an old-fashioned vending machine there. You put your £1 coin and out popped a little box of art. Oh I thought this was simply the best thing. I still have the mini art works I got from that vending machine collected together in a display box.
But then the winds of changed blew: the Arts Centre was re-furbed (TBH I preferred it before) and the art box disappeared. *sad face*
But Lo! Some years later, visiting artists during Swindon Open Studies, I went to the home/studio of Tim Carroll. And – to my delight – there on the wall in the hall was an art box vending machine. Yay! Not the one I remember but another one. It turns out there was more than one back in the day.
When researching for Secret Swindon I got this information about the Art Boxes from Tim:
ART boxes:
‘ In collaboration with likeminded artist Gordon Dickinson, we found old KitKat and condom vending machines and converted them into one-pound coin operated dispensing machines of original art. These were a great success. We had several machines around town – in The Beehive, The Victoria and the Arts Centre. The pressure of producing hundreds of small art objects each month and keeping the machines operating smoothly eventually proved too much for us and the only machine still in action today is at my house.’
Swindon Open Studios
The fantastic community art event that is Swindon Open Studios is coming next month. Dates below. Brochures in the library and all over Old Town including the museum and art gallery. My favourite artists are taking part, including Tim Carroll, Ken White and David Bent. And many more besides! Check the website and the brochure to find out who’s doing what and when and where.
Since the first open studios fifteen years ago, the event has taken place annually, being organised by a committee of volunteers since 2008. After that the committee settled upon September as a good month because it didn’t clash with any other open studios events in the area.
It’s held over two weekends in September, to give flexibility to visitors, some of whom visit a few studios of their choosing one weekend. Though others try and visit all 60 odd studios over two weekends. It’s now a permanent fixture on the cultural scene in Swindon, attracting more visitors each year.
Sam Allen: ‘Swindon Town manager and football pioneer Sam Allen (the sixth-most longest-serving manager in Football League history), and was unveiled on May 19, 2018, by former Swindon Town footballer John Trollope MBE, and Sam’s granddaughter-in-law, Pat Chapman.
‘In 1764 a free school for the working classes was provided in a cottage Newport Street, to educate 20 boys and 5 girls on land owned by the Goddard family. But soon the number of pupils outgrew the accommodation and a two storey stone-built National School was built on the same site in 1835. Among its pupils in the 1860s was future author, Richard Jefferies, mentioned in my Blip about Jefferies Avenue a few weeks ago.’
‘Swindon has a rich history, especially when you consider how instrumental the town was in the railways. But even if we forget the significance of GWR in Swindon’s history there are still a huge amount of places of historical significance to visit.
If you’ve been living in Swindon all your life, or if you’re just here to visit, there are lots of must-visit destinations in our town. We’ve outlined a few of them below, but we’re only just scratching the surface!’
And indeed they are but it’s a good start to such a list for sure. Nice one Total Swindon!
