When I started Devizine I never imagined I’d be writing about a memorial which looked like a litterbin, but I did, because it did, and it was being used as one. I’m glad to say little over a year later the memorial has been restored to its former glory by Bishops Cannings Parish Council.….
A happy ending to a mysteriously unfolding saga, whereby folk far more knowledgeable on this, and likely most other subjects in general, enlightened us to what it was, why it was placed there and why it had been so sorely forgotten. The article took a number of edits, to the point I stagnated frustratedly; am I still writing about a bin-like memorial?!

Due to a boundary change on which The YMCA Memorial was previously moved to by Devizes Town Council, adjacent to the former Aster building, it wasn’t until it was bought to the attention of the Bishops Cannings Parish Council that it been inherited by them, they sought to rectify the state of the memorial. And look at it now!

By the power of Greyskull, Bishops Cannings Parish Council, if this isn’t the second time in as many weeks, I’ve had to sing your praises; go steady, you’re putting other local town and village councils to shame!




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Pride Where Pride is Needed
Pride month finds me wondering if Pride events are actually needed more in our smaller market towns where awareness and acceptance is perhaps lesser than in larger towns where diversity is tolerated more, but Prides are already established. Then I ponder deeper, if that’s even an accurate statement, and if it is, why many small…
Devizes Arts Festival Reviews: Steve Tuffin’s Have-A-Go Workshop on Memoir-Writing, Anthony Horowitz – “A Life In Murder”, and Becky Grey’s “How I Became A Ghost Writer”
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PREVIEW: Bullshot Crummond [*], Rondo Theatre, Larkhall, Bath June 17th – 20th 2026
by Ian Diddams images by Josie Mae-Ross If you have been fortunate enough to have experienced the four hander parody version of “The 39 Steps”, “North By Northwest” in similar vein, Michael Palin’s “Ripping Yarns”, “The Comic Strip Presents”, and the likes of the vaguely straight but ridiculously over the top “Dick Barton – Special…