Wyvern’s Summer Youth Project Starts for 2024. This summer, the Wyvern Theatre Summer Youth Project is heading under the sea as they present the enchanting tale of Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
This vibrant production, sponsored by Coatstone Surfacing, features a cast of talented young performers from across the county. With a mere two weeks of intensive rehearsals, these budding stars will be ready to dazzle audiences. With their portrayals of Ariel, Prince Eric, Ursula and other beloved characters. The show promises:
Stunning choreography
Elaborate costumes and …
… a captivating set that will transport the audience to the enchanting underwater kingdom.
Wyvern’s Summer Youth Project Starts – The little mermaid
Oli Webb, creative learning manager and producer for the summer youth project says ‘I can’t wait to see the energy and creativity that these young talents will bring to the Wyvern stage. SYP is a fantastic opportunity for them to shine and for us to support the next generation of creatives’.
Meet the team
Local legend, David Ashley, is leading the creative team. Along with musical director Andrew Collis and Meg McCarthy, choreographer. Assisted by Richard Abrams (assistant musical director) and Caitlin Nicholls (assistant choreographer).
Tickets are available now and you can buy them online at here. Or by phone on 01793 535534, or in person at the Wyvern Theatre Ticket Office.
We recommend early booking to secure the best seats and avoid disappointment.
Don’t miss the opportunity to support local youth talent and experience the wonder of The Little Mermaid in this exceptional summer production. Join us for a journey ‘under the sea’ that will delight and inspire the entire family!
The Little Mermaid | Wyvern Theatre – Thu 15 – Sat 17 August 2024 | swindontheatres.co.uk
Swindon Open Studios 20th Year. 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Swindon Open Studios (SOS). And it’s the BIGGEST EVER in its history. 130 artists and craftspeople in 56 venues across Swindon and the surrounding areas are participating.
Swindon Open Studios 20th Year – SOS2024 save the date Leaflet 2024
This FREE community-based art event during the last two weekends in September, gives access to a wide range of:
Oil paintings
Acrylics and watercolours
Ceramics
Stained glass
Jewellery
Mosaics and digital art and even life-size film props.
Swindon Open Studios 20th Year – website QR code
In the beginning
When Swindon Open Studios first began, a few artists invited family and friends but by 2004, fifty-three artists took part.
Since then, SOS has more than doubled. It’s grown into a thriving and supportive arts community. One that banishes the myth that Swindon is a cultural desert! Swindon’s event is proudly inclusive. It celebrates creativity by welcoming amateur artists alongside full-time professionals.
Benefits all round
Everyone benefits. Visitors see many beautiful creations and artists get to meet their audience, gaining valuable feedback. The muck and mess behind the scenes is all part of the creative process and visitors might even find inspiration to take up a new hobby. The back catalogue of work shows how themes develop and creatives share the stories behind particular works.
Some venues offer Have a go sessions such as pottery classes or how to cut stained glass. (Please check online to see if you need to book and pay for in advance).
According to Sheryll Fox of the committee, ‘Swindon Open Studios is for everyone. It’s really accessible, plus you get to meet the artists and see where the magic happens.’
There’s an incredible variety of arts and crafts on display in the twenty venues in central Swindon. They include Artsite with twenty-one artists and PodPad with nineteen artists. While New College offers an end-of-year show for students of their work in art & design, media make-up and photography.
Joining Bare Glazed Pottery, Eastcott Studios and MAMS gallery are Sue Barnes, Victoria Carter and David Bent. Then there’s Lisa Lowe, Tim Carroll, Steve Sewell, Andi Theokle, Ken White and Sholeh Jafari. Also you can visit Alex Crump, Helen Savin, Carmen B Norris, Tracey Baker-Stewart, Sheena Dickens and Deepti Arora.
Planning your visit
To plan your visits, check website map for details.
QR code for SOS 24 map
Several homes, studios and exhibition spaces offer light refreshments and garden spaces to enjoy which makes it a great day out.
Check the website swindonopenstudios.org for details of location, disabled access and a full catalogue of all 130 participating individuals and art groups.
For updates, follow #swindonopenstudios.
Don’t forget to save the dates now: Saturday/Sunday 21st/22nd and 28th/29th September.
From mid-August, brochures will be available across Swindon in Libraries, community centres, pubs and clubs.
Re-enactment Rounds Off Athelstan 1100. Malmesbury’s month long Athelstan 1100 celebrations ended with a re-enactment of an Anglo Saxon battle. The battle took place alongside an Anglo-Saxon village in the town’s riverside St Aldhelm’s Mead.
The full display of Anglo-Saxon living, included:
Cooking
Baking
Weaving and making
Plus stirring battle-re-enactments
Re-enactment Rounds Off Athelstan 1100 – battle re-enactment scene in Malmesbury
Hundreds of residents and visitors enjoyed the opportunity to discover how people lived their lives in Malmesbury over 1000 years ago.
A town hall transformed
On Saturday Malmesbury’s Town Hall underwent a transformation into an Anglo-Saxon feasting hall. There, more than 100 people from the town gathered to enjoy a meal put on by the team at the Old Bell Hotel. Evensong at Malmesbury Abbey rounded off the weekend.
Athelstan 1100 project lead Cllr Campbell Ritchie said:
This was a great way to finish our events marking the 1100th anniversary of Athelstan becoming King and his special relationship with Malmesbury.
‘The re-enactors of Regia Anglorum, who live and breathe the Anglo-Saxon period, were brilliantly engaging and informative. They provided a great opportunity to see beyond the words and pictures in text books. Visitors got a feel for the period of Athelstan and the people who are part of our rich history.
‘We’ve had a great month. We’ve enjoyed internationally famous speakers. There’s been Malmesbury’s Big Athelstan Dig, which still has its finds to reveal. Not forgetting of course:
The banners
Art and drama and films
Publications
The markets and picnics that have filled our high street and open spaces around town.
‘This was alongside the world class Athelstan exhibition in the Athelstan Museum. And not forgetting the opening of new permanent visitor attractions, including Malmesbury’s Athelstan Trail and the Athelstan Pilgrim Way, with a statue to come.
‘I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make Athelstan 1100 so far reaching and engaging.’
The Athelstan 1100 project was a huge community event involving 100s of volunteers and businesses.
St Mary’s Church Rodbourne – given a Grade II listing by Historic England in 1951. The British Listed Buildings website tells us that this is an Anglican parish church of C13, C19 and C20. Consecrated c.1250 although it looked much different then.
1848 saw it enlarged and restored.
As you can see from the photo, the church sits in a quite open situation on the northern side of the B4587. Pavements and grassy verges separated it from the road. A stone wall borders the graveyard and a gate at the western end gives access.
St Mary’s Church Rodbourne C13The interior of St Mary’s church at Rodbourne Cheney
Church history
No written record of a church in the 13th century exists. But, the present building has incorporated into it, two carved stones, thought to be Saxon. It’s probable that they came from a Saxon preaching cross. And further, were most likely, formed in the pattern known as ‘The Tree of Spiritual Life and Knowledge’. This would indicate the presence of an earlier place of worship on this site.
A replica of the saxon cross over the grave of a previous vicar, Rev E R Knapp, near the South door.
In 1324 the Church passed to the monastery at Hailes, Gloucestershire. From there, there came a sporadic and itinerant exercising of a ministry. As far as anyone knows, the main concern of the Glocs owners was one of extracting as much as they could from it. Following the dissolution of the monasteries during the Tudor period there came a hiatus in parish records.
The Parish
St Mary’s is the parish church for Rodbourne Cheney – once a village called Hreod Burna after the stream that runs through it. It later became Reedy-Bourne – but listed in the Domesday book as Redbourne.
John Aubrey wrote in around 1666: ‘In the reign of Edward, the Advowson was in possession of Ralf Le Chanu. He being the possessor of the manor, under Richard, Earl of Cornwall. On the death of Richard, the crown granted the Lordship and Advowson to Hugh le Despencer, Earl of Winchester. By whom, in 1323, the advowson and some lands were given to the monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire.’
The 1848 restoration
An 1845 description of the church’s nave put it as ‘much disfigured with hideous pews and galleries.’ And the south chapel was described as ‘damp, dirty and disused’.
An appeal, dated 5th May 1848, stated that Rodbourne Cheney’s population had much increased. Much thanks there to its vicinity to the railway station of Swindon’s new town. At that time, part of the church was regarded as being in a dangerous state. And the whole in a dilapidated condition.
In order to achieve that, and to meet the needs of the growing population, it was felt necessary to lengthen the nave and build another aisle. The consensus was, that this would enable the church to afford comfortable sittings for 434 persons. Rather than indifferent accommodation for 246.
The estimated cost of the work hit £1500. Though even before the launch of the appeal the parish had itself raised £500 – quite an achievement. Before the year ended they’d raised the money and got the church hallowed.
The restored and enlarged church featured the commodious north aisle and west tower with Norman and Saxon stones built into it. All serving as the abiding evidence of the unbroken succession of Christian worship on the site for over 1000 years.
Museum and Art Swindon. ‘O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!‘ It’s open again! In the civic offices on Euclid Street, just about in the town centre. It’s not far from the train station and Regent Circus is a spit of a distance across the road.
Museum and Art Swindon – the entrance to the civic offices that houses the art and artefacts
It’s a good four years since our beloved Swindon museum and art gallery in Old Town’s Apsley House closed. Well it didn’t so much close as wasn’t reopened, post Covid restrictions, by the previous (Conservative) borough council administration. But now, thanks to herculean and heroic efforts by the incoming (2023) Labour council and council and museum staff our art and artefacts are returned to us.
Rebranded
It’s rebranded as Museum and Art Swindon and located on the unused top floor of the under-appreciated Art Deco glory of the civic offices*.
The new logo
What’s more it’s bigger and brighter and better in oh so many ways than it was before. Apsley House, as lovely as it was, wasn’t ever adequate. And had become less and less so as the years passed. They’ve installed a lift here so it’s accessible. And there are toilets on the museum floor too, so no need to go all the way back down for purposes of relieving oneself.
As you enter the museum area you go into the shop area – some quality merch I gotta say! I bought a fridge magnet and splashed out on a cushion that features a painting in the collection by Desmond Morris. Lord knows I’ve got enough cushions to stock Dunelm but I just love it.
Appreciating that SBC had at their disposal a packet of Blu-Tak, a roll of Sellotape, a ball of string and 10 shillings raided from someone’s piggy bank, with which to bring this project forward, great expectations I did not have. Water into wine I did not expect. As for a silk purse from a sow’s ear – nah.
But – on getting a preview of it a few months ago, and despite my inability to visualize things, my expectations rose a little. Now I’ve seen it? Well – what they’ve done with it has exceeded my expectations by miles. A feeling shared by many others I know. It’s little short of a miracle I’d say.
It boasts a lovely area for children – a taster below. That was something that Apsley House simply didn’t have. And there are other interactive bits throughout the museum. It’s well thought out.
There’s a lot to see there – and I could stuff this post with so many photos that it would take hours to load so I’ll pretty much leave it here bar two or three things.
3. Refreshment opportunities – there aren’t any. And, as soon as it’s at all possible, SBC need to address this. If they want MAAS to be a destination (and one assumes they do) then a place of refreshment is VITAL. #JUSTSAYING And it needs to be decent – the cafe at STEAM is, to be frank, bloody awful.
That chunter aside – kudos and thanks to everyone that made this happen! It feels soooooo good to have it back.
Opening hours and location
Museum and Art Swindon is inside the civic offices. The full address is Euclid Street, SN1 2JH
Tuesday to Saturday 10:30am to 4:30pm Monday and Sunday Closed.
The Friends of Museum and Art Swindon (FMAS) is a voluntary organisation. It promotes and publicises Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and its activities to as wide a public as possible. It raises funds to buy new items for the museum and encourages sponsorship for the improvement of the collections and facilities.
FMAS are dedicated to the development, maintenance and enhancement of the best possible museum and art gallery for Swindon. Something that’s for the benefit of both Swindon residents and visitors from elsewhere. We act as local champions, providing input to management and ensuring formal community involvement in Council decision-making.
And finally – related to the living, breathing Poirot set that is the civic offices:
