Marlborough Festival Stage Set. Music, comedy, food, drink and entertainment for all ages will take centre stage at this year’s Marlborough Festival.
Running from Friday June 20 to Sunday June 22, the festival takes place around three main venues:
Priory Gardens
The Castle & Ball Hotel and
Marlborough Town Hall.
The Parade Cinema and other local pubs and restaurants are also taking part.
This is the second year of Marlborough Festival. Once again it’s town residents Luke Jackson and Sandra Bhatia behind it. They wanted to bring music back to the town which, in the past,enjoyed regular jazz festivals.
Event organisers
A CIC
Run as a community interest company, Marlborough Festival will build on the success of last year. There’ll be a continuing focus on music, entertainment for all and local food and drink producers.
‘We wanted to continue the theme from last year, of showcasing the best of Marlborough, Wiltshire and the South West. All while offering something that will accommodate everyone in the community’ said Sandra. ‘We want people to come along and join in, because then we can make next year’s even better.
The festival kicks off on Friday June 20, with Hungerford Comedy Club at the Castle & Ball Hotel, who went down a storm at last year’s event.
Events
On Saturday, June 21, there’ll be music at the Priory Gardens in a marquee, headlined by Jay Rayner’s Sextet. Often better known as a food critic, Jay will bring his six-piece band to jazz up the 80s!
Marlborough Festival Stage Set – Poster for Marlborough festival showing Jay Rayner.
There’ll be local food and drink. And, appearing on stage before Jay, will be Gavin Osborn and the Comment Section. They’re followed by The Red Stripe Band and then comes local Sing Space Musical Theatre Choir.
Also during Saturday evening, Castle & Ball Stage supported by BBC Introducing in the West, will showcase new local talent and up and coming performers.
As part of the 80th anniversary celebrations of VE Day, and to honour WWII veterans in Marlborough, a lone RAF Supermarine Spitfire will fly up the length of the high street, on both Saturday and Sunday. Flight times will be confirmed shortly, so keep an eye on the skies!
On Sunday June 22, the Town Hall will run a pop-up cinema, funded by the British Film Institute and Wiltshire Council.
In the morning, there’ll be a screening for families of Kenzuke’s Kingdom, based on Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book.
In the afternoon, there’s a free Big Day Out for older and vulnerable people from the area. There’ll be a screening of Singin’in the Rain, along with fun activities run by Wiltshire & Swindon Sport, and a high tea provided by the Polly Tea Rooms.
Sandra said: ‘This free event is for older and vulnerable adults in the Marlborough area, living alone and in care homes. We particularly hope to reach adults who wouldn’t tend to consider attending festivals through lack of mobility, or through social isolation.’
Afterwards, The Parade Cinema will be hosting ‘Chill in the Courtyard’ to wrap the festival up.
Also on the Sunday will be a repeat of the popular Big Dog Walk. That’s taking in a circular route from Marlborough Golf Club, beginning at 10am and takes around two hours.
Sandra added: ‘There are several other festivals in Marlborough throughout June. And, even though we are all independent, we’re collectively marketing ourselves as Marlborough Music Month. Marlborough will be the place to be this June!’
Some Marlborough Festival events are ticketed. But some have subsidies and others, like the Big Dog Walk, are free.
RPA Staging Youth Talent. Young people who are part of Revolution Performing Arts (RPA) are presenting their latest show – An Ode to Empowerment in May.
Marking Children’s Day UK, celebrated on May 14, is a unique performance highlighting the creativity, confidence and voices of children and young people in the Swindon and Wiltshire area. It aligns with RPA’s mission to empower every child to thrive in a safe, inclusive and encouraging environment.
‘The audience can expect a joyful and uplifting experience. Young performers will showcase the work they’ve developed in weekly RPA classes. It’s all centred on the theme of empowerment. And building a sustainable, hopeful future together’ says Fi Da Silva Adams, founder and CEO of RPA.
Young performers will be part of the audience as well as the show. They’ll enter the stage from the auditorium to cheer each other on in a moving display of mutual support and shared celebration. This inclusive approach is a hallmark of RPA’s ethos, where every child gets seen, heard and celebrated.
Fi said: ‘This performance is a beautiful tribute to the power of young voices. We believe in nurturing not only talent but confidence, individuality, and community spirit. ‘An Ode to Empowerment’ is exactly that. It’s a joyful, moving celebration of what happens when we listen to young people.’
RPA Staging Youth Talent – children performing in a previous RPA show
Parents
Sara Witham, whose son Ziggy will be performing, added: ‘Ziggy has been going to RPA since the start of the year. He very much needed a space to be himself and do all the things he loves like acting, singing, dancing and meeting new friends. He’s come into his own at the sessions. He feels that he can express himself in a safe, welcoming and non-judgmental environment.
‘I noticed a confidence in him that I wanted to make sure he kept. So I looked for a performing arts group that would help him build on that in a relaxed way. And we got it with RPA. He’s so looking forward to the group performance at the Wyvern which they are now working towards. We can’t wait to see him and his friends on stage!’
RPA classes run across Swindon, North Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. The organisation supports young people to grow in confidence, creativity and self-expression through the performing arts.
There’s a well-established received wisdom that moving house ranks highon a list of difficult life events – it’s seen as very much a negative than a positive experience. A brief trawl of the World Wide Web will bring up numerous versions of these lists. This one from Benenden Health positions moving house at number seven. On their list it comes after studying/taking exams and before watching/reading news – almost guaranteed to make the blood pressure soar sky high, that one. But number seven on a list of ten isn’t the top-of-the-list of stressful life events that popular folklore would have us believe. What does come top in several places I looked at, is the death of a spouse or close relative. And that’s as you’d expect isn’t it?
Often in second place is divorce and/or financial challenges – and of course those two things often translate into reasons to move house. Yet, no matter where you might look, relocating never features in the number one spot on these lists. So that’s that myth busted then.
None of this means of course that moving home is without anxiety. It’s all about change – and all change brings stress. But you can take steps towards a positive property relocation experience. Returning to the WWW and Benenden Health again, they’ve put a together a helpful check-list of seven ways to reduce the stress of moving home. Something worth your time perusing methinks.
If you’re using a removals company then it makes sense to ask around and to research so you’ll feel confident in the company you select. And should you be moving house in Swindon you’re in luck. For you can have a positive property relocation with Blue Sky Removals Swindon.
With all that experience under their belt they have a complete grasp of the emotional and logistical challenges involved in moving house. Further, the BlueSky team has full appreciation that no two house moves are the same. Thus, they tailor their services to meet your particular needs and make the process as little of an ordeal for you as they can. Doesn’t that sound like peace of mind? In particular when you consider that the firm offers a full packing service – including packing materials; furniture disassembly and reassembly and handling of white goods. All things considered – a hassle-free move.
BlueSky’s offerings aren’t restricted to domestic removals. The team also undertake office moves and some specialised services such as:
Specialised removals for such items as pianos and antiques
Secure storage solutions. Whether it’s short or long-term storage the company offers secure and climate-controlled facilities.
BlueSky’s experienced team combined with their commitment to customer satisfaction means your house or office move won’t be under a cloud – rather it’ll be sunshine all the way.
The Swindon Art Collection comprises one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in the UK. It’s housed in Museum and Art Swindon – the erstwhile museum and art gallery housed in Apsley House in Old Town – now in the civic offices in Euclid Street
Swindon is known for many things
Swindon, as we know, is known for many things. The GWR, Garrards, a gharial, Triumph lingerie, Bluebird toys, XTC and a magical roundabout. To name but a few. And some of those things are VERY well known. But what’s not so well-known, beyond the art world that is, is the astonishing collection of modern British art that resides here in our town. In summary, this collection comprises somewhere in the region of 800 paintings, sculptures, ceramics and multi-media pieces.
Together they form one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in the UK.
Now you’ve digested that nugget, upon your lips it wouldn’t surprise me, sit questions of how did ‘clone town, crap town, handy town whenever a London journalist, short on originality, wants somewhere to be rude about,* (John Chandler: Swindon Decoded) come to possess such jewels?
Well – gather round and, in the manner of Listen with Mother (yes I am that old), sit comfortably and I’ll begin.
Back in the 1920s there existed in Swindon a small gallery in an ex-Roman Catholic church. And it had contained a few pieces of local art. Then came the Bomford Gift.
Swindon’s Serious Art Collection – the civic offices home to museum and art swindon
The Bomford Gift
Then, in 1944, local resident HJP (Jimmy) Bomford (1896-1979) donated a collection of artworks to the town – not the council. Thus, Bomford created the Swindon collection of modern British art. A collection that represents artists with national and international reputations while the Swindon museum art collection in the main presents paintings of the locality.
Bomford though wasn’t Swindon’s only art benefactor. Charles Phelps, a Swindonian left, on his 1949 death, a substantial sum of money to Swindon to carry on building its collection. Both he and Bomford felt that some of the art, owned by them, that related to Swindon, should be available to Swindonians.
Swindon’s collection then comprises a selection of British artists from the modern period including Gwen John, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Ivon Hitchens. More recent artists’ work includes pieces by Terry Frost, Howard Hodgkin and Lisa Milroy. You’ll find too LS Lowry’s 1943 Winter in Pendlebury, a rare Lowry portrayal of a snowy scene, and Lucien Freud’s Girl with a Fig Leaf.
Local artists are represented too. In recent years the collection has taken in works by David Bent and Ken White.
A cultural beacon
You’ve gathered by now then, I hope, that we’re talking about a … serious art collection. Which leads me to mention that the Chair of the Friends of MAS, Andrew Cross, attended the launch of the Vision for the Heart of Swindon at the House of Lords on 17 March at an event hosted by Lord Wills on behalf of the Swindon Borough Council.
The Vision document* sets out eight ambitions, including a creative centre. Prominent in this ambition is the and celebration of Swindon’s 20th century British art collection. It was heart-warming and encouraging to see how widely recognised and supported, the Swindon Collection is, by Swindon – and beyond.
The expectation is that the collection will serve as a cultural beacon and enhance the cultural development, an approach that has proven successful in other towns in the UK.
I mean, that sounds wonderful doesn’t it? A cultural beacon. How simply marvellous. Beacons though, by and large, are easy to spot are they not? Sadly, the same cannot be said of Museum and Art Swindon.
A sign of the times
As marvellous as Museum and Art Swindon is and as thrilled to bits as I am that we have it, it’s high time that we stopped with the Brigadoon-shrouding-the-thing-in-mist-thing and sorted out the signage. Or lack thereof which is more to the point.
It’s nigh on a year now since MAS reopened in the civic offices and the signage situation is simply sub-optimal. The dratted Scarlet Pimpernel would be easier to locate.
There’s a bit of a signage outside the civic offices – where MAS is housed. But you can’t really see until you’re on top of it. Then there’s these things. Okay as far as they go – but that’s not far enough.
The Swindon art collection – map sign on Faringdon Rd
Nothing on Euclid Street
There isn’t even a sign on the top of Euclid Street that people either getting off the bus at Regent Circus or walking up from the railway station would come across.
And speaking of the station, surely, surely, surely, we should have one (at least) of these exhorting people to visit Museum and Art Swindon? With a picture of the civic offices, the MAS branding, the address etc, etc, etc?
Poster for Swindon theatre in the railway station
So here we are, with a lovely museum and art centre in our beautiful Art Deco civic offices. And here we are also in possession of a modern British art collection of inarguable quality and national interest. The only problem being that nay b&gger can find it.
When Labour took over the council they made a huge effort to bring the museum artefacts and the Swindon collection back to the people, after the failure of the Tories to reopen Apsley House post Covid, by creating Museum and Art Swindon in the civic offices. Yay, yay and thrice yay for that!!
But if people outside Swindon, who want to see our art, are struggling to find it – and anecdotally they are – then we’re looking at a massive exercise in futility.
So, out of interest, do people out there know where the civic offices are? I’ve been asked, on social media, where the building is – by people in Swindon. So if they don’t know, what chance do external visitors have as things are? Nil and slim I venture to suggest. But if you’ve struggled to find the place – let me know.
And if you do know where the civic offices are, do you know that they contain Museum and Art Swindon?
Awards for Two Swindon Volunteers. Two Swindon volunteers with Big Breakfast Plus have each received a ‘hidden heroes’ award. They came after the charity they support nominated them. Angela Proctor and Jim McCloud both volunteer with Big Breakfast Plus. The charity provides breakfasts seven days a week for homeless and hungry people in Swindon. It operates from the Pilgrim Centre in Regent Street.
Big Breakfast Plus nominated Angela and Jim for ‘hidden heroes’ awards from Room To Reward. RtoR offers hotel breaks for inspirational volunteers as a way of saying thank you. Now, Jim and his wife Doreen, and Angela and her husband John, will both be able to go on separate breaks in the UK.
Charlotte Mannion, who recently stepped down as Chair of Trustees of Big Breakfast Plus, said: ‘We’re blessed with wonderful volunteers here. They ensure we’re able to offer a cooked breakfast to our guests, in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
‘Angela goes above and beyond. She takes home washing and recycling. And even when we have rare incidents of challenging behaviour from our guests she remains calm and non-judgmental, ably managing the situation.’
Of Jim, the charity’s longest-serving volunteer, Charlotte said: ‘He’s supportive with our guests, who have enormous respect for him. He takes the time to talk so everyone feels wanted and welcomed. Volunteers love working on his shift because he always takes the trouble to ensure they’re comfortable with their tasks. And that everyone is enjoying themselves whilst delivering the breakfast service.’
Awards for Two Swindon Volunteers – Charlotte Mannion centre with Angela Proctor and Jim McCloud.
Not only but also
The pair were also chosen by Big Breakfast Plus to accept The King’s Award for Voluntary Service. The Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire Sarah Troughton, presented the award to the charity on behalf of the king.
The award itself is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
Jim said it was an honour to accept The King’s Award for Voluntary Service on behalf of Big Breakfast Plus. As well as receiving the hidden heroes award from Room to Reward. Jim went on: ‘I didn’t expect it, and I’m sure there are people who do much more than I do. I’m one of the longest-serving and one of the oldest, and I do like to think I make a difference. The Room To Reward award was a nice surprise too – it’s not often I get a certificate at my age!’
Angela, who has been volunteering for three years, added: ‘It was lovely to receive this award along with Jim. I get such a lot out of volunteering, I feel so passionate about it, and my family say it does me good too.’
For more about Big Breakfast Plus, volunteering opportunities, and how to support the charity, visit https://bigbreakfastplus.org.uk/.
