From carnival to the Winter Festival, DOCA stages so many great events in Devizes, most of them for free, but the most unique is the Confetti Battle. This year itโs coupled again with the Colour Rush, on Saturday 14th September. TicketSource are offering ยฃ1,000 to help fund a winning community event, all you have to do is click on this link, and vote for DOCAโฆ.
Devizes Confetti Battle has been happening since 1955, it is free to attend but not free to put on. People of all ages come and participate in a mock battle, throwing tons of confetti at each other, leading to a firework finale. It’s a lot of fun!
There are a lot of costs that come with this event. The cost of road closures and the big clean up afterwards. DOCA would use the money to help buy confetti supplies. It’s hard to get the event funded as it isn’t a traditional art or heritage event so this award would be a great help.
So, please click on this LINK to vote for them, it will take you seconds and costs nothing, ta!
Real life Little Red Riding Hood, Lille Rรธde comes to The Queenโs Head in Box on Saturday November 28th; beware wolves! Sounding something like Stโฆ
Featured image: Devizes Guardiansโ Cllr Sarah Bridewell and former Devizes East Ward councillor, the late Jane Burton, committed campaigners on dog fouling. It was alwaysโฆ
The mysterious paperbag-wearing local character Joyrobber has only gone and put a whole album down. It’s called You Need to Stop Doing This, and afterโฆ
After five years, a new album drops tomorrow (Friday 23rd October) from southwest Welsh reggae outfit, Captain Accident & the Disasters, and itโs worth theโฆ
Well, what else is there to oyez about? Congratulations must go to our Devizes Town Crier, Charlotte Howard-Macdonald, again today, as Brian Mathew MP tabledโฆ
On the Festival of Discovery, other political discoveries, and is the Crammer full yet?! No to the latter, but local Facebook groups are full โฆ.ofโฆ
by Ian Diddamsimages by Gill Morrell and Penny Clegg How all the other passions fleet to air,As doubtful thoughts and rash embraceddespair, And shuddโring fear, and green-eyed jealousy- Merchant of Venice, Act 3 Scene 2, William Shakespeare O, beware, my lord, ofโฆ
Now lockdown restrictions are looking to be eased, you might be considering hosting a party.
Given the last thing you need is for a conservative supporter to gate-crash and ruin the atmosphere, weโve ten handy top tips on how to discourage a tory from attending your bash.
History proves conservative thinkers wouldnโt know a party if it came up to them holding balloons, cracking party poppers and wearing a large and loud T-shirt with โhello, Iโm a party,โ written on it in bold, unmistakable letters, unless itโs holding a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.
Incredibly thick-skinned at the best of times, if we remember what the best of times was once like, theyโre renowned for failing to comprehend exactly how repugnant and deplorable their ethos generally is. If they sniff a party going on, they might want to attend, if a new series of Game of Thrones hasnโt started on Netflix, blind to the notion theyโre as much wanted there as a touchy-feely leper, or a starved sabre-toothed tiger.
You know they’ll eat all but one vol-a-vaunt and flaunt about how they’re allowing that one to trickle down. You understand they’ll be loudly scoffing and chortling at anyone unable to afford a tux, or anyone who might arrive in anything less than a seventy-plate Chelsea tractor. You can take it as red, theyโll boast about their luxurious holidays, and why everyone needs to go to Hilltop Villa, for the sake of the indigenous people of Fiji, and waffle on tedious random tangents about their charity donations are tax deductible, how the footsie 100 is bearing up against their shares, or why everyone should invest in a tax-free wine collection.
Theyโll gush piffle phrases of management speak and hypocritical twaddle until your other guests excuse themselves and leave, or are physically ill. At its basic level, the majority of Tories are killjoys, fact. You donโt need that, your guests donโt need that either, so we’ve produced a list of budget ideas and accessories to dissuade tory scum from infiltrating your party.
Perhaps you could think of some more; join the tory-bashing fun until they Tweet how theyโre not as wealthy some might think, and were tormented so much they had to book an emergency flight to their Caribbean beach condo for rehab. We can at least hope, but donโt overdo it, lockdown has been hard on them too, furloughed on only eighty percent of their ยฃ80K salary, some with only the single tennis court and a regular sized heated swimming pool and sauna.
Of course, not every Conservative supporter is so wealthy to afford a luxury villa on an exotic island, and many are simply insentiently transformed working-class patriots who digested too much Daily Fail bullshit and think the Queen loves them, and thereโs no better alternative than voting for a party which hates them with a passion, but hides it behind the fat aging arse of a pitiful clown prime minister; there is no hope for them. You could try the tips below, but itโs not guaranteed they will be intelligent enough to take the hint.
1- In preparation for your partyโฆ.
Capture and hold captive a small number of pheasant prior to your party. If a tory is loitering on your lawn, blagging something along the lines of โTarquin said we were invited, Ho-ha,โ secretly release the pheasants and point to them shouting, โI think I just saw some game!โ Hey presto, while it may be animal torture, itโs a small price to pay to see your unwanted guests gathering their shooting rifles and not bothering you again.
2- Put a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Jeremy Corbyn by the door.
Infallible this one; cardboard cut-outs of the tory nemesis, grand-wizard JC can be found online. No matter what you think of the dude personally, this will scare the bejesus out of the most lenient tory. Even if you suppose the most lenient, middle-of-the-road kind of tory might be just about acceptable to allow in, a word of warning; once youโve let one in, theyโll all want to follow, and behind every half-decent tory, there will unfortunately be a thousand insane bastards behind them.
3- Tell your guests to pretend the cakes were made by Diana Abbott, should a tory ask.
To the average tory, Diana Abbott is the socialist equivalent of Typhoid Mary, who should be deported, and the thought of her afro-Caribbean-rooted fingers kneading dough will sicken them to the core; job done.
4- Tell unwanted tory guests youโre just popping out to Lidl for more gin.
Tories hate affordable supermarkets; Tories are narcissists, and will assume you are a peasant and waddle off muttering something about how much better Tarquinโs, or their own party was, because they used an online Waitrose delivery service and even tipped the driver 20p.
5- Ensure you have invited some Europeans, eastern ones if possible. Failing that, encourage your guests to chat among themselves in French accents.
The last thing a Tory needs to notice is Johnny Foreigner breaking through the toughened border control, and Brexit is a sham. Encourage your guests to discuss how they came for summer fruit-picking jobs, and Tories will automatically find the door.
6- Play music defined as โMerseybeat.โ
Playing music such as the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers and the Searchers, at least until suspicions you might be scousers creep in and they bugger off, is a failsafe. Tories have something against natives of Liverpool, which we need not get into the details of, but suffice it to say, this will work a treat, particularly if you hire a DJ of the LGBT community.
7- Announce the first party game will be truth or dare.
The thought of telling the truth will crumble the even most central-standing tory, and they’ll be making excuses about having to go home to feed the horses. Have their coats ready.
8 – Tell your guests they can camp the night in your garden.
Without official glamping facilities such as electrical hook-up, room service or even four poster beds, the average tory will assume your guests will overstay their invite and you’re effectively setting up a gypsy traveller encampment. They’ll be off to complain to your parish councillor in no time at all, safe in the knowledge racist slurs towards travellers is the last nationwide acceptable form of prejudice other than red-heads.
9- If you spot a Tory gate-crasher, introduce your them to your frontline doctor friend.
It doesnโt matter if youโve not got a frontline doctor as a friend, beat them at their own game and lie; pretend they are. Initiate a conversation about the NHS, and the gate-crasher will flee the scene because they know a doctor will fact-check from personal experience and their โclappingโ fiasco cover will be blown. Many Tories even unbelievably blag that the Conservative government created the health service, to smokescreen the irrepressible desire to privatise it to US companies.
10 – If all else fails, tell anti-Semitic jokes.
It may go against all your stable moral judgements, I know, but you could try this desperate measure as a last resort. Most Tories have the bizarre concept that criticising the actions of an oppressive government committing genocide is somehow racist, possibly to overshadow their own unmerited prejudges. To hear an anti-Semitic joke will misleadingly convince them they were right. Note; it is very simple to convince a tory they are right. With any hope, they will be heading for the door in no time at all, mumbling double standards like, โI told you so, Harry, theyโre all the same these intolerant lefties, just like Hitler,โ and you can return to your politically correct and balanced banter as soon as theyโve driven off in their Range Rover Discovery.
“What are you doing in my swamp?!โ Shrek asked a horde of fairytale creatures, exiled to his wood by Lord Farquaad in his namesake Dreamworks 2001 award winning film. Everyone loves that ogre, which began as a fairytale parody, but, even if as banter, his name has become an eponym embedded into popular cultureโฆ. Inโฆ
Okay you lovely lot, who are deffo coming The Festival of Discovery this weekend across Devizes, and who, deffo, going to pay us a visit at Albion Place, yesterday I highlighted all the wonderful acts we have performing on Saturday, but we do it all again on Sunday too….. So here’s what we have linedโฆ
So, youโre joining us at Albion Place on Sidmouth Street in Devizes this weekend, right?! Donโt say Iโve not told you about it once itโs over!! Thereโs so much going on for this Festival of Discovery and DOCA have worked tirelessly to provide an amazing FREE weekend, but Iโm here to tell you a littleโฆ
Wowzers, it was four years ago since we last mentioned local singer-songwriter and musician Lou Trigg, when we reviewed her single to come out of Potterneโs Badger Set studio, Flowers. Itโs a good time to catch up, because Lou is releasing a three track EP called Delaying the Inevitable, this Friday (16th October,) where theโฆ
Whatโs that? What have we been missing? Well, itโs been a while since the last Talk in Code single, and thereโs one coming our way on Friday (16th October,) so thatโs a good startโฆ. Ah, those gorgeous guys could turn a straight manโs head, with their bridging the gap between eighties new wave electronica andโฆ
People power in Devizes! Due to pressure from Devizes retailers and councillors, Wiltshire Council today revised their plans for essential cable works in Devizes, originally set to commence during the busiest Christmas periodโฆ. Retailers were informed the works were planned from 12th October until 18th December, covering The Brittox, Little Brittox, Wine Street, Long Street,โฆ
by Ian Diddams Images by JP Oldfield Devizine recently ran a review of JP ( aka Josh) Oldfieldโs new EP โSaltwater Gospelโ โฆ so, this wonโt be an in depth repeat of blow-by-blow coverage of said E.P. and gig, rambling on for several pages [TFFT โ Ed.] The physical E.P. itself comes in three parts;โฆ
A month since the UK came to terms with the consequences of drought, understood the significance of a raindance and why Johnny Cash asked โhow highโs the water, mamma?โ I ventured to see how The Crammer in Devizes is copingโฆ. It’s been a day since we finally received a night of heavy rainfall, followed byโฆ
by Ian Diddamsimages by Jim McCauley The power of three. Three men. Three apartments. Three items of furniture. Three snacks bowls. Three types of drink on a drinks trolley. Three revolving periaktoi (triangular columns) for set backdrops. Three paintings. And three mothers for Yvanโs nuptials. Its all about the threes. Beginning with the three friends;โฆ
Thereโs a number of ways you can support Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance and raise funds for this vital charity, with many entertaining upcoming events; and here they areโฆ. Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity is on call every day for up to 19 hours, responding to an average of three incidents daily by helicopterโฆ