Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse, Tigger and Friends All Kicked Out of The Brunel Shopping Plaza This Christmas!

Bureaucracy gone mad, or rightful regulations? Make your own mind up, but kids were upset to see many of their favourite cartoon characters escorted from the Brunel Shopping Centre this Christmas like criminals.

Outcry ensued after Alan Reed posted this video, showing security of the shopping centre harshly directing the characters off the premises. “Every year I organise a visit to the GWH hospital,” Mr Reed explained, “I take all the mascots up there to visit the kid’s wards and give them a present that has been kindly donated. I have a great bunch of friends who volunteer their time to do this. Then, just for some Christmas fun, every year after the hospital we go to the Magic Roundabout, walk about and wave to the cars. The after this we go to the town centre to spread some more fun and Christmas cheer to the people. All the kiddies love it along with their parents.”

Upon asking the reason Alan and friends do this, he told me, “we do all of this free of charge, with no other meaning to it at all.” Perhaps Christmas joy just isn’t enough to warrant such a gesture, not in the eyes of the centre, whose Saturday saw children flock to see Frozen characters Anna & Elsa in aid of Swindon’s Down Syndrome Group. No issue with this, but this impromptu visit is a blunt reminder for Swindonians, despite the shopping centre commonly being regarded as the “town centre,” it’s actually a privately-owned business.

Rob of the Brunel Shopping Centre explained, “as a privately-owned shopping centre it is our duty to ensure that shoppers and their children are kept safe. Therefore, our staff will always politely ask unannounced visitors, who have not sought prior permission to be at the centre, to leave. We regularly work with charities and fundraisers who book in with us and are always happy to work with people to benefit good causes, but we do need to carry out due diligence when booking these people in.”

The issue becomes irate when the organisers question the reasoning, but without an informative response, and security ordered to carry out their task, things become awkward and it doesn’t fair well on the personal relations within the centre. Ah, it happens, but with the children who do not understand the red tape, it has to be said, it’s a crying shame the issue couldn’t have been dealt with diplomatically. I’d suggest the Brunel has a disclaimer form, stating clearly that any repercussions are wholly the responsibility of the organisers, and then, where’s the real problem?

It does remind me of the scene in the classic Pink Panther film, where Inspector Clouseau arrests a blind beggar and his “minky,” whilst a bank robbery is occurring behind them. Forcing me to wonder how many shoplifters or fraudsters happen to be bobbing about the centre during this inconsequential fiasco; maybe it’d make a great decoy!

In an era when physical shopping is losing the war against online shopping, you’d have thought the issue could have been dealt with diplomatically, if not for the children’s sake but the reputation of the centre. Meanwhile social media exploits the video, shares and comments call to boycott the centre as the witch-hunt progresses. A cruel sign of the times with unsolicited media where anyone can pass comment, when the centre has strived to host similar fundraising events yet the bureaucracy stamps on such a good deed. Not in the spirit of Christmas, and yes, I said Minky; because I’m annoyed by what bureaucratic balderdash has degenerated us into, Merry bloody Christmas!

© 2017-2019 Devizine (Darren Worrow)
Please seek permission from the Devizine site and any individual author, artist or photographer before using any content on this website. Unauthorised usage of any images or text is forbidden.

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Daydreaming of Closing the Line

After a hushed couple of months for Daydream Runaways, they return with a topical smash single, Closing the Line……

I observed in awe the multitude, at least for Devizes, squeezed between the Town Hall and Vinyl Realm. Ah, what with the perpetual drizzling, wish it could be summer again; street festival time. The highlight for me was undoubtedly Pete and the staff at Vinyl Realm’s second stage; what a totally awesome job.

I did one of my live, wobbly Facebook vids of a band I held in anticipation to finally catch, which earned a comment, “who are they?” Coupled with loitering local musicians inquiring, I was astounded that this dynamic indie Swindon-Devizes four-piece were still fairly obscure. But as the sun shone, I think this photo captured perfectly that the moment of elation was communal, and confirmed everyone present will not forget the name, Daydream Runaways.

Just to make certain, they rocked the Southgate at the end of August, and what with appearances on BBC Wiltshire Radio and It’s All Indie Spotify playlists, their Facebook page has been quiet recently, save a swanky new logo. On a separate note, the threat of closure at Swindon’s Honda plant looms over its employers. I don’t want to argue the toss, and I think neither does the band, let whatever bias newspaper you believe squabble if this is the result of Brexit, or not, it’s not going to help those losing their livelihood. Such is the passionate subject of Closing the Line, the Daydreamer’s forthcoming single.

Here then is a progressive step in their building discography, which is already teetering with quality, into the realm of local topical subject matter. Personifying the shockwaves felt by a community, this emotive and illustrative indie rock track is akin to Springsteen’s woes of factories shutting. Closing the Line kicks off with an industrial noise effect, which abruptly ceases and this striking riff explodes post-haste. Vocals wail eloquently, questioning if you’ve ever tried with all you’ve got, and you’ve given up with ardent prose, continuing the leitmotif of pending gloom. It’s all very U2, but this street has a name, it’s the Highworth Road out of Swindon.

If it’s not the dejected subject of a current and local topic which drives this potently catchy tune, what fills me with enthusiasm about Closing the Line, due for release this coming Friday (25th October,) is it matches the excellence of their previous singles and wiggles towards a maturity in sound and production. In an era where pop shies from the expression of political and social stock, favouring to warble about bad relationships and who has the tightest buns, it’s an advancement the band should be very proud of achieving.

For just a year into their journey, self-recording, producing and mixing their singles, Daydream Runaways are never fearful to experiment with different production and song writing techniques. I reckon with this one, they’ve just found a niche. I hope this could encourage an album which would be as characteristic as Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever. Yet amazed, pondering what took Petty ten years of playing with the Heartbreakers to achieve, the diligence and motivation of Daydream Runaways means they could nail this less than a quarter of the time. Then, the world is ready for these kids, and bloody good luck to them.

Click here to pre-save Closing the Line to the streaming service of your choice, and wake up to little indie rock gift from Daydream Runaways on Friday 25th October!

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Mark Thomas comes to Swindon Arts Centre

Images used with the kind permission of Steve Ullathorne

I’ve been a admirer of the pragmatic Mark Thomas and his satirical cutting-edge comedy since his days guesting on The Mary Whitehouse Experience at the dawn of nineties, end of this month he’s at the Swindon Arts Centre; could you ask for a more apt date?!

I recall with fond nostalgia how he ridiculed and enraged his local McDonalds, or gambled the entire ten grand profit from the previous show on a hopeless outsider at Doncaster, thanking Michael Grade, chief executive of Channel 4 at the time, for allowing him to waste his money. The notion, he stated, was that it was an exhilarating thrill of washing someone else’s money down the toilet, and likened it to the how the Queen must feel at races.

But it’s been a while since stumbling across his name. Hearing this self-dubbed “libertarian anarchist” comedian is heading to the Swindon Arts Centre on Thursday 31st October as part of a work-in-progress tour, before the real thing kicks off in the New Year, I did a little YouTube catching up type research, and found a decade old stand-up show where he the tackles the fox hunting ban, Tony Blair’s move to the right, and the Islamic extremism hot on the world’s lips. He takes no prisoners, dares to go where other comedians would quiver.

I have to ponder if the current affairs of a hare-brained conservative ruling, shifting towards nationalism and abandonment of a unification of Europe, simply to maintain billionaire’s tax-free offshore accounts whist politically dividing the country through media-bias, propaganda and blatant fabrications, thus creating a hatred of alternative thinking which even lambasts the very extinction of all life on Earth simply because it’s voiced by a teenage female, is enough ammunition for this cheeky-faced comedian.

The blurb suggests though, his new show, 50 Things About Us will go beyond this, “Mark Thomas combines his trademark mix of storytelling, stand-up, mischief and really, really well researched material to examine how we have come to inhabit this divided wasteland that some of us call the United Kingdom.”

“He picks through the myths, facts and figures of our national identities to ask how we have so much feeling for such a hollow land. Who do we think we are? It is a show about money, history, songs, gongs, wigs, unicorns, guns, bungs, sods of soil and rich people* in the vein of The Manifesto-meets-sweary History Channel.

*(not the adjective Mark has chosen)

It sounds like age and the writing of award-winning plays has only in heightened his crusade and hilarious radical sarcasm. I think we can take it as red; he isn’t going to do a Morrissey on us just yet. With a full tour of this show happening next year, here’s something worthy of your attention for the 31st October, what else you going to be doing on that date, eh? Kowtowing Boris Johnson whilst stockpiling baked bean tins before your meds run out?

With an 12+ Age Restriction, tickets are £15.50. Concessions: £2.00 Off, from here.

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At This Shoebox Stage

Have you ever loved a show so much that you wished you could kidnap the actors, keep them in your basement and get them to perform it again for you? No? Just Rupert?

After a successful three week run at the Miniver Theatre, a troupe of young actors are ready and willing to let go of their most recent production and move on to bigger and better things, but Rupert isn’t going to let that happen. He loves the piece to the point of obsession and can’t let their show die. There are a few things you should know when trying to save a play from death. Thing number one: the actors aren’t gonna like it. Trapped in a basement, forced to rehearse and fearing for their lives, there is only one way for the performers to gain their freedom.

They must act their way out…

The intriguing new drama-thriller work, At This Stage is on at The Shoebox Theatre, Swindon on Saturday 12th October at 7.30pm. Suitable for ages 14+
Tickets are £10 from HERE

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An Interview with Ed Byrne

With my ribs near fully recovered from giggling injuries caused by the one Ed Byrne, it’s nice to note if you missed him at the rescheduled Devizes Arts Festival evening, he’s playing Trowbridge’s Civic Centre on the 26th September, March 13th at the Wyvern, Swindon and Bath’s Forum on March 19th.

Here’s an interview with the man himself, to tempt your taste buds….

Jason Barlow

A household name teetering on the brink of national treasure status, award-winning comedian Ed Byrne enjoys worldwide acclaim for his stand-up. With 25 years under his belt, Ed has parlayed his on-stage success into a variety of notable television appearances. A regular on Mock The Week and The Graham Norton Show, Ed has recently co-presented Dara & Ed’s Big Adventure and its follow-up Dara & Ed’s Road To Mandalay, and managed not to disgrace himself on Top Gear or whilst tackling one of The World’s Most Dangerous Roads. As a semi-professional hill-walker himself and fully paid-up humanist, he also brought a refreshing warmth and honesty to BBC2’s recent hit The Pilgrimage.

But the Irishman is still best-known and best appreciated for his stand-up performances. A quarter of a century at the comedic coal-face has equipped Ed with a highly evolved story-telling ability and a silky mastery of his craft. Yet his wit, charm and self-deprecatory observational humour is often underpinned by a consistently hilarious vitriol and sense of injustice at a world that seems to be spinning ever more rapidly out of control.

Having recently hit a new peak with shows such as the sublime Spoiler Alert and reflective Outside, Looking In, which explored the minefield that is modern parenting and a generational sense of entitlement, Ed’s new show If I’m Honest digs ever deeper into a father’s sense of responsibility, what it means to be a man in 2019, and whether he possesses any qualities whatsoever worth passing on to his two sons. Occasionally accused of whimsy, If I’m Honest is a show with a seriously steely core.

Gender politics, for example, is something Ed readily engages with – deploying his customary comedic zeal. ‘I’ll admit that there are things where men get a raw deal,’ he says. ‘We have higher suicide rates, and we tend not to do well in divorces, but representation in action movies is not something we have an issue with. It was Mad Max: Fury Road that kicked it all off, even though nobody complained about Ripley in Alien or Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. Of course, social media means this stuff gets broadcast far and wide in an instant, which emboldens people.

‘The problem with men’s rights activists is that it’s not about speaking up for men’s rights, it’s about hating women. If you’re a men’s rights activist, you’re not going to care about the fact that there’s an all-female Ghostbusters remake. That’s nothing to do with men’s rights or female entitlement. That’s everything to do with being, well, a whiny baby.’

As ever, Ed manages to provoke without being overly polemical, a balancing act that only someone of his huge experience can really pull off.

‘I did stuff about Trump and the Pizzagate right wing conspiracy,’ he says, ‘and a couple of the reviewers said, “Oh, I would have liked to have watched a whole show of this”. And I think, ‘well you might have, but the average person who comes to see me would not like to see that’. I like to make a point or get something off my chest, or perhaps I’m talking about something that’s been on my mind, but the majority of stuff is just to get laughs.

‘People who come to see me are not political activists necessarily, they’re regular folk. If you can make a point to them, in between talking about your struggles with aging, or discussing your hernia operation or whatever it is, you can toss in something that does give people pause as regards to how men should share the household chores.’

He continues, ‘It’s not that I feel a responsibility, I think it just feels more satisfying when you’re doing it, and it feels more satisfying when people hear it. When a joke makes a good point, I think people enjoy it. It’s the difference between having a steak and eating a chocolate bar.’

Ed, who broke through in the mid-1990s when the New Lad became a genuine cultural phenomenon, doesn’t want to submit to any unnecessary revisionism, but admits that if the times have changed, he has changed with them. He reflects a little ruefully on one of his most famous jokes. ‘There’s an attitude towards Alanis Morrisette in the opening of that routine that I’m no longer comfortable with, where I call her a moaning cow and a whiny bint… slagging off the lyrics of the song is fine, but there’s a tone in the preamble that I wouldn’t write today.’

The new show also takes his natural tendency towards self-deprecation to unexpected extremes. ‘I do genuinely annoy myself,’ Ed concedes. ‘But the thing of your children being a reflection of you, gives you an opportunity to build something out of the best of yourself only for you to then see flashes of the worst of yourself in them. It’s a wake-up call about your own behaviour.’

When I challenge him over the degree of self-loathing he displays, he disagrees. ‘Self-aggrandising humour is a lot harder to pull off than self-deprecating humour,’ he insists. ‘A lot of people get really annoyed when Ricky Gervais is self-congratulatory. I always find it very funny when he accepts awards and does so in the most big-headed way possible. I think it’s a trickier type of humour to pull off, talking yourself up in that way.

‘So no, I don’t think I’m being massively hard on myself. The fact is when you’re the bloke who is standing on the stage with the microphone, commanding an audience’s attention, you’re in a very elevated position anyway.’

That said, If I’m Honest brilliantly elucidates the frustration that arrives in middle age – and lives up to its title. ‘I’m bored looking for things, I’m bored of trying to find stuff, because I can never find it, and it is entirely my fault,’ Ed says. ‘Nobody’s hiding my stuff from me. Although my wife did actually move my passport on one occasion’.

He insists that, while the show might have mordant and occasionally morbid aspects, it’s also not without its quietly triumphant moments. ‘I thought I was being quite upbeat talking about the small victories,’ he says. ‘You know, finding positivity in being able to spot when a cramp was about to happen in your leg and dealing with it before it does. I was very happy with myself about that.’

Age, it seems, has not withered him. Especially now that he’s figured out how to head off ailments before they become a problem. ‘You see comics who are my age and older but are still retaining a level of “cool” and drawing a young crowd. I can’t deny that I’m quite envious of that. But there’s also something very satisfying about your audience growing old with you.’

Ed Byrne is touring nationwide, appearing at Trowbridge’s Civic Centre on the 26th September, March 13th at the Wyvern, Swindon and Bath’s Forum on March 19th. For more information, please visit http://edbyrne.com/

© 2017-2019 Devizine -Syndicated with permission from Jason Barlow.
Please seek permission from the Devizine site and any individual author, artist or photographer before using any content on this website. Unauthorised usage of any images or text is forbidden.

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Gigs and Festivals for September

Ah, nuts, it’s all over. Get your winter coat, hats and snow shovels and bolt down the hatches; it’s September. “We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer’s wreckage.” Back to school though, summer usually kicks in around now. So, gig-wise, here’s what we’ve got to warm your soul.

Note, this is for musical gigs, please keep up. Last month I did this people were arguing I forgot their flower pressing show, foot healing festival and stuff like that. Please consult our homepage for it’s THE most comprehensive event guide in these dark waters, even if I do say so myself. Yeah, no, yeah-no, there’s all kinds of stuff listed to do, family stuff, sporty stuff, arty stuff, stuff with stuff in it and all the stuff between. And what is more, it’s updated nearly every day, so keep your eye on it, ‘n’ stay in the know.

Thursday 5th – Sunday 8th

Starting midweek, as I’ve procrastinated this weekend; man cut lawn. Regular acoustic nights on Wednesdays at our dependable Southgate, Devizes, and there’s an open Mic at The New Inn, Semington.

Thursday 5th then, and all I have to date is that American singer-songwriter and one third of acclaimed Americana harmony trio Applewood Road, Amy Speace will be returning to Sound Knowledge, Marlborough to promote her new solo album. Me And The Ghost Of Charlemagne is produced by long-time collaborator Neilson Hubbard and recorded during the final weeks of pregnancy with her first son, capturing Amy at her most honest, with sparsely-decorated songs which double down on her larger-than-life voice and detail-rich song writing. Amy will be playing a short set in the shop and signing copies of her album from 7pm on Thursday 5th September.

Friday, and aside the popular karaoke nights, we’re glad to see The Pelican in Devizes opening up for live music, this should become a regular free venue, and bands are encouraged to get in touch with them. What better way to kick off the proceedings than with Devizes-own Funked Up?

pelican1

Now, I know my boss at work has a hand in this one, and going on the thought I’ve never seen anyone more dedicated to one particular band than him, I mean it’s an obsession to the point he talks of little else, I have total faith if you like Thin Lizzy, this will be the ultimate tribute band to catch. 4-piece, Twin Lizzy play The Cavalier on Friday, with all the classics that you would expect, but also, they claim to “mix it up with some key album tracks for good measure.” Including a genre-related disco, this is the ideal opportunity to check out the Cavy. It’s booking get evermore diverse, with country and rock, to kid’s discos and a plethora of top pop tributes.

Meanwhile in Swindon, those old-time musical hall, sixties psychedelia and new world country blenders, The Astral Ponies storm the Castle. Least they say “the Astral Ponies politely asking if people would like to come along and enjoy some fine and joyous music with them,” is more suitable. If vintage punk-rock is more your thing, try The One Chord Wonders at the Rolly. Metallers think The Queen’s Tap, with Rorkes Drift, or the Vic where Ion Maiden play; stop head-banging for a second a re-read that, yeah, s’ a tribute.

But if you’re still hunting for festivals, Crash the Festival is in Andover direction, KV Brass are followed by Humdinger on the Friday and Kova Me Badd on the Saturday, roundup the Burbage Beer Festival, on the Red Lion field. The other way, Saturday 7th sees a one-dayer at Marshfield; Marshfest brings together popular Hip-Hop act, Stay Hungry, five-piece rhythm & blues combo Haney’s Big House, indie rock with The Temple Keys and Falling Fish, blues band Antalya, soul-funk with Eden, rock with The Clones, to name but a few. If this doesn’t convince you, Devizine favourites, Train to Skaville are also booked.

Devizes, make your way to the Southgate, Dry White Bones accompanied those Boot Hill Allstars last time I saw them, and it wasn’t nearly for long enough. After a stint at Glasto, it’ll be good to see this duo headlining. Larkin play Melksham’s Pilot, and for folky pop songs, Scratchy Black Cat at Stallards, Trowbridge is recommended.

There’s a Big Get Together at the Neeld, which aims to bring over 50 local clubs and organisations together in one place, to provide a showcase of activities that will encourage people to participate, get involved and expand their social life. Free event. Staying in Chippenham, soprano, Susan Coates, Mezzo- Soprano, Marie Elliott and Concert Pianist, Nick Goodall presents a mix of famous solos and duets from the world of Opera, Broadway and The All-American Songbook at the Cause. Or, rock out with Homer at the Black Horse.

Ska-punk in Swindon, as Operation 77 play Level III, or Led-Into-Zeppelin are at The Victoria.

Sunday, Devizes Town Band takeover Hillworth for the Children’s Proms in the Park, or maybe catch The Everly Brothers and Friends Tribute Show at The Neeld.

Wednesday 11th – Sunday 15th

Acoustic jam down the Southgate Wednesday, Thursday in Devizes is all about Mirko’s band, 10p Mix-Up, playing the Cellar Bar from 8pm. In aid of Liam’s fund, please support this one if you can. I interviewed Mirko recently, which covers the gig fully, so check here.

10pmixuppost

Meanwhile George Wilding and Plummie Racket support Johnny Lloyd, at The Vic, and Chris Webb does an acoustic set at The Tuppenny, Swindon.

Friday 13th has a good variety of local music, that danceable duo, The Truzzy Boys play The Crown, while our other own indie upcomers, Clock Radio are welcomed by The Southgate. People Like Us nip over to The Seven Stars at Bottlesford, the Chaos Brothers at The Three Horseshoes in Bradford, and The Skandals play The Vic in Swindon.

For an evening of classical music, try the Corn Exchange on Saturday, where two fabulous local musicians, guitarist Andrew Hurst and soprano Chloe Jordan will take you on a journey through a range of music from the medieval to now. There’s a unique original melodic rock band from Glastonbury at the Southgate called The Truthseekers, and favourite rock cover band, the Rockhoppaz play The Cross Keys, Rowde.

The Pilot in Melksham host a live music event for RUH Forever Friends, including Sound Affects, Burlington Underground, PSG choir, Plan of Action, Sarah Deer, Heather Kerr, Naomi Charles, Chloe Brewer and Tyler Bartlett. Meanwhile, the Assembly Hall has Cliff Richard tribute, Simon Goodall.

While the 2Tone All Ska’s are at The Woodlands Edge, and Level III Punk the Club, there’s a beer, cider and music festival at Wichelstowe, in aid of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, still awaiting the lowdown on this, but rumour has it Lottie J and other Marland favs will be playing. Vinyl Realm is at the helm of this one, and after the amazing show at the Street Festival, I’m expecting this to be a good one.

Wow, The Human League are playing Bath Racecourse on Saturday, but Reggae though? Check those Urban Lions at the Woodbridge Inn, Pewsey, or Train to Skaville at Warminster’s Prestbury Sports Bar.

Ah, we’ve reached the end of the first fortnight, I’ll update this with the following one later, best get this out now so you can plan ahead. Round it up, Sunday the 15th in Devizes where George Wilding supports The Strays at The Cavalier, or The White Bear continues its Sunday sessions with Andrew Bazeley.

Treat this as a guide, though, not a bible; more gigs and events of all kinds are updated on our homepage and Facebook page too.

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The Judge, Jules Brings Live Band to Swindon

One of the scene’s most best-known names for more than three decades, Judge Jules has never shied away from pushing the boundaries in dance music. And this year, for the first time ever, audiences will be able to experience the iconic tracks that have defined his career through a ten-piece live band with Judge Jules himself at the helm.

‘Judge Jules: Live’… will be coming to Swindon’s MECA venue on 25th Jan 2020.

Jules’s in-depth involvement in many of the recent wave of “classical” dance events, including Gatecrasher, Colours, Club Class and 2019’s Ministry of Sound tour, inspired the decision to take the impact and emotion of the classical shows, but refine the feeling with a wholly new take on live dance music.

With complete creative free rein, Jules curated every element of the performance. Each track has been bespoke reinvented and reworked in a style unique to this live show, featuring a full ten-piece band, with brass, percussion, drums, bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboard, singers, and of course Judge Jules himself. A 90-minute show from start to finish, the music has been selected to represent the breadth and scale of his career.

“There is something about music being played live that never fails to send shivers down your spine – it doesn’t matter what the genre is, hearing a track performed by live musicians on stage is something you cannot replicate in the studio, or even on the best nightclub environment. So, I decided to create my own bespoke versions of my all-time favourite records with a specially selected band. It’s taken a long time to put together, but finally we look forward to taking the “Judge Jules Live” tour on the road. This truly is a new take on the ‘live dance music’ phenomenon and the tour bus starts rolling shortly.” – Judge Jules

This is not a show to sit down for – combining the energy of specially-chosen outstanding musicians with his own inimitable presence behind the decks, Jules will take the audience on a tailor-made journey through dance music with vocals, hands-in-the-air moments and plenty of basslines that’ll take you right back to your very first rave.

With audiences demanding more from dance music and newfound focus on a visual as well as a sonic spectacle, Judge Jules Live is a chance for dance fans to lose themselves in the moment with the kind of experience that you just can’t replicate with a solitary DJ.
The Judge still won’t budge.

Judge Jules will play Swindon MECA – 25th January 2020

Doors 8pm – late
£17.00 early bird + BF

Tickets on sale now and available from:
https://www.mecaswindon.co.uk/events-tickets/2020/january/judge-jules-live/

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A Scandal with Tamsin Quin!

There are two sides to every story. We’ve heard Dolly’s angle since 1973, imagine if Jolene had her say. Traditionally, like gallant fables, songs seldom back the underdog, the aberrant. Particularly the rounded narrative of folk or country, usually tales culturally able to be retold, optimistically.

If the last local singer-songwriter you’d expect to be exploring darker tenets is Tamsin Quin, think again. Akin to Springsteen’s Nebraska, in so much it summons no such communal feeling, rather Scandal, the new single from our illustrious local songstress is secluded in a room of a distant, shady and enigmatic place.

A song of who the cap fits, of watching your own back. Tamsin advises “there’s criminals in the shadows, pull your friends a little closer.” But cross examines her own persuasions and faith in the notion, maybe, “we’re all scoundrels deep down inside.”

It’s as if the darker depths of Tamsin’s acute words in previous songs have come to detonation; executed sublimely, and produced with eminence by Phil Cooper. Scandal, out next Friday (30th August) is whole new level of excellence for this already blossoming star. I congratulated her, as vocally it sounds deeper and much more refined than anything before. Is that what she was hoping for?

“Yep,” she responds as ardently as the same ol’ Tammy, “I was totally going for the dark country vibes. Phil did such a great job producing it; I’m really pleased with the outcome. I hope its dramatic!”

Tis indeed, like Wynette at her darkest; she builds tension around the breakfast table, the penny drops as to why Billie Joe Macalister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge and the protagonist attempts to hide her secret affair. “So,” I asked, “this is for a forthcoming album? Can we expect the others to be similar, or am I divulging too much?!”

“I’m aiming for a new album next year. The plan is for another single in October, then a single in February, and the album in April.” Tamsin expands the answer, “not all of the songs are this dark, although I am working on another haunting one at the moment, but the whole album feels a lot more mature that Gypsy Blood. I feel like I’ve grown into myself, and I’m writing what I want to write, instead of what I think the crowd will love. Writing more for myself I guess, although I really hope others really like it too.”

That personal enlightenment brews Tamsin’s poise when performing live, “writing things for yourself does tend to give you a little more confidence in delivery. Which I guess gives other people faith that its good, if you have faith in yourself and your work.”

I’m certain when reviewing Gypsy Blood, I suggested Tamsin sounded more mature, guessing both are a natural progression, though. “Guess you gotta grow up somewhen!” she laughs. I think you never stop learning and growing artistically, until, perhaps you reach a pinnacle and it doesn’t sound so progressive. Does she fear ever reaching that age where they say, “old Tamsin, just going through the motions?”

After stressing the importance to her of critical feedback, she laughed at the notion. “I guess that’s where the whole ‘writing for yourself’ thing comes in, because if you like your songs then you won’t care what people are saying.” I suspect that time is a long way off, Scandal in a nutshell is poignant, emotive and, perhaps an unanticipated gift to our music scene, and based upon it, I hold my breath for the album.

tamsinscandal — Click for Tamsin’s Facebook page and like for updates and gigs!

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Lottie J and You

Fifteen, about to leave school, exam pressure and that dangling feeling of future prospects; I’d give my right arm not to go through all that again! Swindon singer, Lottie J groans at the thought, confesses music is her worst subject at school. Under the elderly assumption schools have changed since my era, where to quote “popstar,” as a chosen career will see you smashed over the head with a wedge of Beethoven song-sheets and told to wake up and smell reality, seems it’s not changed as much as I thought.

“They shared my video on their website,” she explained appreciatively, but slated the philosophy of studying classical music. Yet, Lottie has been in the headlines since she was eight, encouraged by Jamie Cullum when he visited her school and donated his old piano. Music was mapped for her then, with her first song, ‘Kiss Your Old Life Away’ making the final 10 of The Song Academy’s Singer/Songwriter Competition and later, in 2016, she made the Grand Final of Future Music’s Songwriting Competition, at Dingwalls in Camden.

From a time when I first heard Lottie, delightfully but tensely tapping her keys and singing covers at Times Square in Devizes, yet an angelic voice ringing out, to this latest video for her song “You,” shows a natural ambition to pop stardom that I personally feel is imminent. Our phone conversation today revealed a matured girl, with poise in the prospects of her vocation.

Half the clips in the video connote a narrative of a regular local girl, falling out with a boy in the woods. Yet while it’s saccharinely juvenile, the contrast of a flipside displays a confident and sassy female popstar, dancing on a Chevy in the Las Angeles desert. It licks with all the style and panache of a professional contemporary pop video, and the song rides it like a wave of self-assurance. Is that the suggestion Lottie was hoping to achieve? “Totally!” she expressed.

On note of her education, Lottie continued to express her hopes of studying music at Bath University, where the syllabus will be more to her taste. Just go in there and slap your phone on the desk and show them this video, I ill-advised, yet, it’d work if it was me. Lottie is keen to learn the business side of the industry, as well as the performance and music technology. Herein lies my ignorance at how the biz has changed, when, through the writing and production, being she has independently produced this work, I ask her what comes next.

“The key is to get the music out there,” she elucidates. YouTube and Spotify subscribers are far more important than the idea of creating a physical album, which she disregards from the mere mention of. “This will get me gigs, and support gigs.” It’s a DIY ethos which with her talent, and motivation will see her reach the goal, overlooking the concept of pitching to record companies, and especially poo-pooing the idea of a stab at a Simon Cowell TV karaoke show. “It’s a fake industry,” she sighs, “you’re already down to the fifth round before being aired on television, and I’d probably be kept out for having the wrong hair colour!”

Standing with George Wilding on Devizine’s birthday bash in November, as Lottie got the ball rolling, the fact we were both aghast at her singing ability not only means I’m not alone in the sentiment. But it showed a skill Lottie can paste into the more pop orientated direction she craves, and with these new songs, Snapped, but more so, You, it’s the kind of song I need a second opinion from my twelve-year-old pop-inspired daughter from. She confirmed my thoughts; it’s dazzlingly good. She taps her Spotify account to subscribe to Lottie’s profile. That’s what Lottie needs, that’s the way forward for aspiring young musicians; sharing is caring, the new break is an accumulation of subscribers and followers.

So do check it out and subscribe, or let your kids show you how to do it. No shame in that, I have to!

Adverts & That!

Doing it For Dan goes Vegas Style in Blunsdon

After tragedy can come a silver lining; Doing it for Dan encourages children and young adults to engage and partake in sport and leisure activities by awarding grants to individuals and organisations in Wiltshire and the surrounding area.

The organisation was founded in memory of eleven-year-old Daniel Climance, of Bridlewood Primary in Blunsdon St Andrew, Swindon, who was tragically killed in June 2015. He collided with a road sweeper whilst out riding his bike. Something, it is suggested by a witness, caused this stable and proficient cyclist to suddenly panic, and swerve under the sweeper. Daniel died from a traumatic head injury. A police examination found no defects with the road sweeper, and the driver passed a breathalyser test. It’s one of those terrible incidents we may never have an answer to.

Their website explains this caring, considerate boy excelled at a number of sports. It was his first season with Wootton Bassett U11 football team, that he loved and he was so looking forward to the next. He had also just completed his second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, of which he was immensely proud. He had taken part in School football and cricket events and had won the overall gold medal in an interschool sports tournament between four local schools.

How more apt and heart-warming than to create this wonderful charity in his memory, helping so many children get the access to the equipment they need to follow their ambitions.

The website highlights many great sporting achievements made through the charity’s assistance, from Wiltshire School of Gymnastics, to the 2019 Superhero Tri at Windsor, the UK’s one and only disability sports series. And from Elliot Pinson, who won both of his race heats of the Dickies British Junior Supersport series at Norfolk’s Snetterton, to Katie Ovenden who won the U16 Singles Badminton championships.

Still, fundraising is always needed and Doing it For Dan have an over 18’s casino night on Friday 27th September at the Blunsdon House Hotel, Swindon. It promises a ‘Night in Vegas’ with fun casino tables, roulette, blackjack, dice and poker. Followed by a hot buffet, raffle and eighties and nineties disco, tickets are £35pp, and include a £5 fun money voucher.

All money raised will enable their charity to continue supporting children with sporting activities in the Swindon & Wiltshire area.

Adverts & That!

Spectacular Space-Bots at the Shoebox; Family Performance & Drama Workshop

Swindon’s Shoebox Theatre are getting excited to welcome Edalia Day to the Theatre, as part of their Artist Residency Programme, and invite children aged 7-12 to join in the fun!

Edalia will be developing a new piece of theatre called ‘Spectacular Spacebots.’ It’s a new family show about autism and space adventures. The children will be sharing a relaxed, work-in-progress performance with an after-show Q&A on Saturday the 21st of September.

Join Zee, robot adventurer, as they battle space wizards, gunslingers and a quizzical hippopotamus, asking what does it mean to be human. And how far do you have to go to be accepted as one…

But the fun doesn’t stop there! There will also be an opportunity for to take part in a FREE pre-show workshop with Edalia.

In this physical workshop, you’ll play improvisation games and learn how Edalia makes theatre. Exploring the voice and movement of digital characters and acting alongside them, using a mixture of wordplay, puppetry, chorus and physical comedy.

Workshop: Saturday, 21st September, 11am-12.00 Midday
How much? FREE!
Suitable for ages 7-12

Work in Progress Performance and Q&A: Saturday, 21st September, 13.00pm
How much: £3

Suitable for all the family aged 5+
Approx. runtime: 45min

Book at www.shoeboxtheatre.org.uk/whatson

Adverts & All That!

Things to do with your Little Darlings during the Summer Hols!

Have I even got time between running around the house shouting “Pikachu,” and polishing my Minecraft skills to draft this article in time? Yep, take a gulp of wine parents, it’s school summer holidays, again. Take another gulp, it’s forecast to be hot and bothering, heck, give them the whole flipping bottle!

Ease up though, Devizine has bought you a guide of local things to do, which won’t strain your purse too much.

If you send me details of an event or activity I have missed, I can edit this; let’s make a comprehensive guide to everything going on for kids and parents, before they complain they’re bored……the parents that is!

Friday 26th July:

Legally Blonde @ The Wharf Theatre, Devizes

Mini Fair @ The Rowdey Cow, Devizes

The mini fair is coming to the Rowdey Cow to celebrate the start of the summer holidays- with inflatables, roundabout, hook a duck and football fun and they will be staying with us for a couple of weeks!

End of term disco @ The Cavalier Community Hall, Devizes

5pm – 7:30pm. Admission is FREE, just turn up.

Saturday July 27th:

Steampunk Workshop @ Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre

Get creative, take up the gauntlet and sign up for this Steampunk Challenge Workshop! Steampunk inspired refreshments provided. During the workshop, you’ll be making hats, masks and accessories. Bring your own items to upcycle, or let your imagination go wild and make something from scratch; all using our resources! They will provide all resources required.

Bowood’s Summer Garden Party

https://www.bowood.org/whatson/

Sunday 28th July:

Family Fun Day @ Fortune Inn Pub & Chinese Restaurant

https://www.facebook.com/events/295861581331046/

Monday 29th July:

Young Melksham

Young Melksham’s Summer Holiday Activity afternoons kick off on Monday! So why not come down and join in the fun?! 2pm till 5pm Monday to Friday just £2.50 per session!! For all young people going into year 5 and up! https://www.youngmelksham.org.uk/

Monday 29th July – Friday 2nd August:

MUSICAL IN A WEEK! @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Whether you were born to be on stage or this is your first step into the limelight, join Felicity Courage for a fantastic five days – jam packed with singing, acting, and dancing – creating a brand-new show-stopping mystery musical. 5 – 14 yrs: £120 child / £110 sibling (five days) Dress for movement / Bring a packed lunch.

This Summer @ Fired Thoughts. Clay Fun Fridays & Ad hoc Saturdays! Call or email, or book online to come and make in clay. Simple projects to get you started or do your own thing. General studio sessions £10 per person per session. Wheel sessions: £22.50 per half hour with 1:1 tuition.

Tuesday 30th July:

Shires Craft, Trowbridge

Pop along to the Shires for fantastic, free crafts. Drop-in 10.30 – 12.30 and 1.30 – 3.30. Ages 4+.

Wessex Water(y) Workshop @ Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre

Wessex Water provide water to your taps at home and at school. Gillian Smith, Education Adviser will be there to help you create some wonderful watery creations! Please bring your ideas and imagination! Perhaps you would like to make a friendly, fishy mobile to hang in your bedroom? Could you invent a new sea creature? Can you make a diorama to show where the sea creature would live?

Wednesday 31st July:

Free Children’s Boot Camp @ Rowde Playing Field

Ages 5-16. Reserve your place: rpc.lisayouth@gmail.com

Thursday 1st August:

Kids Summer Sewing for 8-11-year olds @ Franklins, Salisbury.

Friday 2nd August:

Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves!’ outdoor family theatre @ Lacock Abbey

Saturday 3rd August:

Splash Park Grand Opening @ King George Playing Field, Melksham

Free to attend, its beach themed without the sand! Fish & chips, ice cream, deck chairs and water play.. fun for all the family.

Summer of Fun @ Borough Parade, Chippenham.

Starting Saturday 3rd August and for the following 2 Saturdays at Borough Parade they can enjoy themed family fun for Free from 11am. Why not give our balloon modellers a challenge, have your face painted with your fave character or join in with some of the circus skills on show.

Monday 5th August:

FIDGETY FEET DANCE AND DRAMA @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

9.30AM – 10.20AM / 10.30AM – 11.20AM Join Fidgety Feet for a Pirate and Mermaid themed interactive dance, drama and storytelling workshop. Using props, music and lots of imagination come with us on an exciting journey on and in the high seas. Perfect for little performers! 18 mo – 5 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision required, babes in arms attend for free.

Monday 5th – Tuesday 6th August:

NEON DANCE @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 3PM. Join internationally renowned choreographer Adrienne Hart for a two-day contemporary dance course. Morning technique class will be followed by choreography and rehearsal as participants work towards a final showcase. This is a friendly and inclusive course for young dancers to improve their skills. 13 – 18 yrs: £50. Open to all abilities. Dress for movement / Bring a packed lunch.

Tuesday 6th August:

A Treasure at Sea for Dragon & Me at Chippenham Library

Dorset & Wilts Fire & Rescue Service story session. Water safety for kids (and dragons!). FREE interactive story time suitable for 4-7-year olds. There will be fun activities and dressing up too! Booking recommended.
https://www.facebook.com/events/856298231403596/

SONGWRITING FOR IMPROVERS @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Develop your skills and take your song writing to the next level with songwriter, performer and artist Louise Jordan. 13 – 18 yrs: £15 All instruments welcome but not required

SONGWRITING FOR BEGINNERS @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Learn how to write songs and bring your ideas to life with songwriter, performer and artist Louise Jordan. 13 – 18 yrs: £15. Open to all abilities, all instruments welcome but not required.

Tuesday 6th August- Wednesday 7th August:

Dinosaurs and Fossils @ Wiltshire Museum

Art and craft activities for under 11s. There is a different theme each week: Activities to include creating miniature dinosaur lands. Two sessions per day: 11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3pm. Booking essential as there are limited places. £5 per child. Under 8s to be accompanied by an adult please.

Wednesday 7th August:

Free Children’s Boot Camp @ Rowde Playing Field

Ages 5-16. Reserve your place: rpc.lisayouth@gmail.com

Willy Wonka – Wonderful Wednesday Workshop @ Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre, Bowden Hill.

They’ve got the perfect crafting workshop for you… Willy Wonka inspired Workshop with super Sara, sweets & decorations are the order of the day. Light refreshments served during the workshop.

ANIMATION WORKSHOP @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Create your own stop-frame animation during this fun workshop with film producer and photographer Jamie McDine. You will learn professional film making skills with lots of hands on activities and working within teams you will plan and produce your own stop-motion film! 9 – 14 yrs: £25. Open to all. Bring a packed lunch.

Thursday 8th August:

BEAUTIFUL BUGS & BUTTERFLIES @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 11.30AM Join Chrissie to explore the magical world of creepy crawlies and butterflies through songs, creative art, messy play and a special interactive story. Activities will include making a caterpillar sock puppet, a peg butterfly and junk modelling. 2 – 4 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision required, babes in arms attend for free. Dress for mess!

BIRDS IN FLIGHT @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Flap your wings and get ready to fly. Come along and make a unique bird mask and wings. Will you choose to be a tame garden bird, an exotic parrot or a soaring eagle? 5 – 7 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision welcome but not required. Dress for mess.

Friday 9th August:

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 11.30AM Join Chrissie on a very messy rainbow journey, explore colour in a variety of ways, using hands and feet, paint and playdough. Sing your way through the morning as you make colourful art to take home. 2 – 4 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision required, babes in arms attend for free. Dress for mess!

FLAGS AND BUNTING @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

1PM – 3PM. Join Chrissie to make a string of bunting for your bedroom and a rainbow flag for your garden. We will experiment with wax, pens and paints to create special works of art. 5 – 7 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision welcome but not required. Dress for mess.

Saturday 10th August:

Seend Village Fete

Undoubtedly one of the best villages fetes for miles; good family fun!

Summer of Fun @ Borough Parade, Chippenham

Saturday 10th – 11th August:

Frome Comic Con

https://www.fromecomiccon.com/

Sunday 11th August:

Lark in the Park with Fantasy Radio @ Hillworth Park, Devizes

Monday 12th August:

A THOUSAND TWANGLING INSTRUMENTS @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Calling all budding musicians, composers, actors and songwriters! Over the course of 3 days, we will put on a Shakespeare play, complete with songs and music written during the course. Work with two experienced professionals to create a unique performance with sound and music. 12 – 21 yrs: £85 Bring a packed lunch.

Monday 12th – Wednesday 14th August:

Create a play in a week! Summer Schools for ages 4-10 @ The Shoebox Theatre, Swindon

Our drama summer schools are designed to support your child in their creative development. We introduce children to interesting stories, characters and text in an imaginative and fun way. As well as developing their performance skills, students will learn to work with others, build confidence and improve their communication skills.

At the start of the week our two groups (ages 4-6 and ages 7-10) will choose a classic children’s story to bring to life and will then spend the week creating their very own version including the performance, masks and props!

On the final day, we’ll invite friends and family to come and see the final show! Expect a week of learning, friend making, creativity and fun!

All our Teachers are Drama School or University educated and undergo enhanced DBS checks.

When: Monday 12th – Friday 16th of August, 9am-3pm
Cost: £125: https://www.shoeboxtheatre.org.uk/summerschool

DEVISING DRAMA @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 3PM Join Beth for an imaginative three days, devising from a variety of different stimuli, developing drama skills, making new friends and creating your very own show. Join us for a brilliant, busy three days of fun! 6 – 11 yrs, £60. Dress for movement / Bring a packed lunch

Tuesday 13th August:

August Children’s Holiday Clubs @ The Farm Cookery School, Netherstreet

We run Children’s holiday clubs throughout August for ages: 5+, 7-9, 8+ & 11+. Every week is a different cooking theme with Mexican, British & Greek food. These are great classes for kids to learn new skills and have lots of fun. Please see our website for more details: https://thefarmcookeryschool.co.uk/childrens-holiday-clubs/

JUNGLE FEVER – SQUAWK, RATTLE AND ROAR@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 1.30PM Come and spend a morning making a range of simple instruments with Dave King to create your own Jungle Orchestra to play and take home! Learn how sound is produced using everyday materials and discover the amazing properties of bamboo, the world’s most sustainable plant. 8 – 13 yrs, £18

Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th August:

Ancient Greek Mythology @ Wiltshire Museum

Activities to include golden head dresses and painting terracotta dishes with mythological designs. Two sessions per day: 11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3pm. Booking essential as there are limited places. £5 per child. Under 8s to be accompanied by an adult please.

Thursday 15th August:

A Musical Zoo! @ Marden House, Calne or Trowbridge Town Hall

Music for Miniatures host concerts for kids, Join them for a musical journey to the zoo and more, with music from oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet and piano. Bring your cuddly animals along too, or dress up as an animal! A lively morning of amazing live classical music for you and your little one. Tickets available online or on the door.

Friday 16th August:

LITTLE PICCOLOS@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

9.30AM – 10.20AM. Music Classes specifically designed to make music accessible for younger children. Each session is full of singing, playing instruments, and are entirely acoustic. 1 – 6 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision required, babes in arms attend for free.

THE YOGA PATCH@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10.30AM – 11.20AM Yoga comes to life in these fun and creative classes designed to stimulate younger children’s growing curiosity. We use playful yoga poses, animated breathing exercises and imaginative relaxation techniques, to help enhance language development, motor coordination and play skills. 2 – 6 yrs: £7 child / £2 adult. Supervision required, babes in arms attend for free.

Saturday 17th August:

Pirate Family Fun Day @ The Borough Parade & Chippenham Museum

If you’ve a little scallywag then make sure you bring them along on Saturday 17th August for some Pirate themed fun at Borough Parade. The fabulous Clare’s Circus are back with their incredible face painting creations, balloon modelling madness and unbelievable interactive circus skills. The lovely staff at Waterstones have confirmed they’ll also be running storytelling and activities that day to add to the holiday fun. Will you find the treasure or will you be made to walk the plank?
All the activities happening at Borough Parade are FREE and are funded by the generosity of our stores as part of our community engagement scheme.
There will also be lots more swashbuckling activities happening throughout the town thanks to Chippenham Town Council.

Pirate Family Fun Day

Warminster Medieval Fair

This free entry event will bring the medieval times to the historical town of Warminster with knightly combat, living history and historical education. There will also be live acoustic music contemporary to the era, storytelling and falconry as well as a folk market. Living history tents will demonstrate skills and replica items to immerse you into the medieval mindset and lifestyle. https://www.facebook.com/events/309398803255677/

The Hall Family Day, Bradford on Avon

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-hall-family-day-tickets-64958988082

Glow in the Park: Longleat

https://www.longleat.co.uk/whats-on/glow-in-the-park

Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th August:

Outdoor Adventure Weekend- Climbing Wall @ Whitehall Garden Centre, Lacock

A selection of activities including archery, axe throwing and an 8-metre climbing wall. Experienced instructors are on hand at each event to assist you and all equipment is provided.

Sunday 18th August:

Picnic in the Park @ Hilworth, Devizes

Trowbridge Soapbox Derby

https://www.facebook.com/events/2457145290997609/

Miss Squire at Home @ Sevington Victorian School, Chippenham

http://www.sevingtonvictorianschool.co.uk
Wiltshire’s best kept secret. Homemade afternoon tea, children’s activities and free tours of the school. Admission per head: Adults £2 , Children £1 Family ticket £5

Monday 19th August:

The Fulltone Music School: Summer Holidays Musical Theatre Workshop, Potterne

A fantastic 4-day course on musical theatre for age 11 and up. Learning stagecraft, singing techniques, singing in harmony and singing a selection of fantastic musical theatre songs culminating in a SHOWCASE on the Thursday evening at 5pm! It will be a FANTASTIC few days! £100 email jemmaroberts@hotmail.com to book!

SINGING DAY WITH KATE COURAGE @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 3PM Come and sing for a whole day! Learn new songs, make new friends and develop your voice and singing techniques. We will perform a concert at the end of the day of everything we have learned. We will try out new warm-ups, work on performance skills and sing in harmony. 8 – 14 yrs, £25. Open to all abilities. Bring a packed lunch.

Tuesday 20th August:

August Children’s Holiday Clubs @ The Farm Cookery School, Netherstreet

MYTHICAL STORIES WITH MICHAEL LOADER@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM – 3PM Join Michael Loader for an exciting workshop where you will hear and tell stories, play drama games, create theatre and make music. Bring your ideas, enthusiasm and imagination to put into your own creative performance! 7 – 11 yrs, £20. Costumes and instruments provided but you are welcome to bring your own. Bring a packed lunch.

Dinosaur Roar! Story and craft session @ Chippenham Library

Suitable for ages 4-7. Tickets £1.50 for library members and £2 for non-members. Please book at the library desk.

Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st August:

Summer Textiles and Craft @ Wiltshire Museum

Activities to include painting fabric bags with summer designs and mini sun and flower design rag rugs. Two sessions per day: 11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3pm. Booking essential as there are limited places. £5 per child. Under 8s to be accompanied by an adult please.

Wednesday 21st August:

Let’s Go Fly a Kite Wonder Wednesday Workshop @ Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre

Do you want to experience a truly Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious workshop? Then come and join this Mary Poppins inspired workshop, and make your own kite from all our lovely Scrapstore resources. Light refreshments served during the workshop.

ROCK THE TOTS – SUMMER PARTY! @ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

Gigs for little people… and their grown-ups! With music, puppets, percussion and stories, you and your little one will have a blast. After lots of fun music events across Wiltshire in 2019, this is Rock The Tot’s big summer gig, where all our songs will have a summer theme! 0 – 5 yrs, £7 child / £3 adult. Babes in arms attend for free.

August Children’s Holiday Clubs @ The Farm Cookery School, Netherstreet.

Thursday 22nd -Friday 23rd August:

REVINYL SESSIONS@ Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon

10AM-3PM Calling all secret bedroom DJs! Hit the decks and learn from industry professionals in this two-day session perfect for beginners. Revinyl Sessions are here to share their love of music and DJing. 13 – 19 yrs, £50.

Sunday 25th August:

Devizes International Street Festival, The Green

Stompers Juniors: Juniors in The Jungle! @ Venom nightclub, Westbury

A Magical rave experience for the whole family in a safe, fun & friendly environment. With DJs Dougal, Miss Special K, Andy Demize, Slic and MCs 3man & Restless.

Children’s Treasure Hunt @ Swindon & Cricklade Railway

An easy day for the kids- spot 30 little engines around the railway and win a prize. https://www.facebook.com/events/1905855732797531/

Monday 26th August:
Devizes International Street Festival, The Market Place

Tuesday 27th August:

August Children’s Holiday Clubs @ The Farm Cookery School, Netherstreet.

Thursday 29th August:

Salisbury Forest School Holiday Club: for children aged 7-11

Forest School holiday club includes nature-themed activity sessions run by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust staff. Activities include: Bird watching- Woodworking- Nature discovery trail- Pond dipping. Cost: £20 per child. Drop off: 8:30amPick up: 5:30pm Children will need to bring a packed lunch/snacks for the day. Please make sure your child comes with the appropriate clothing for outdoor activities. Upon completion of booking an email will be sent to you with Parental Consent form, which must be completed prior to final confirmation. This reserve can be hard to find, so please look at directions before travelling and leave with plenty of time. More information on the reserve and directions can be found here. To book, please contact events@wiltshirewildlife.org or 01380 829070 or book online.

Friday 30th August:

First Aid Training for Children @ Marlborough Rugby Club

Do you want your children to have the confidence to step forward and save a life?

Then book them onto one of my first aid courses on Friday 30th August at Marlborough rugby club. These sessions are fun and practical and teaches them how to save your life, while you enjoy a well earned break in the shops and cafes of Marlborough, or catch up on some admin!

🔹️5-9 year olds at 1030am-12 noon – £18 (£15 for siblings)
🔹️10-14 year olds at 1230-230pm – £24 (£20 for siblings)

Price includes certificate, handout and refreshments.

Details and online booking at https://www.facebook.com/events/440730396483621/

Saturday August 31st:
Devizes Confetti Battle

Little introduction needed for this one, but The Confetti Battle takes place at the finish line of the new Colour Rush 5km route, so expect to see some exceptionally colourful visitors in the crowd.

Last year saw the introduction of a token system where you can buy tokens to exchange for the confetti before the event, they’ll use the same system again this year. The token stand will be outside the Corn Exchange. Swap your tokens for confetti at the tables near to the front of Times Square. Keep your eyes peeled when collecting your confetti as one lucky person will receive a Golden Ticket in a confetti bag, info about the prize will be announced soon.

Jennings fairground will be in the Market Place on until 11.00pm

Melksham Food and River Festival 2019

The Melksham Food and River Festival is organised by the Festival Committee with support from the Melksham, Calne & Chippenham Branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust and the Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club. The Festival seeks to provide a platform for local food and drink producers, community groups, local entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.
Come and visit us during the weekend 31st August – 1st September 2019 entry is FREE and after browsing the stalls and indulging in some retail therapy, you can relax and enjoy al-fresco locally produced food and drink, whilst listening to the live music and watching the boats on the river.

Sunday September 8th:

Children’s Proms in the Park @ Hillworth Park, Devizes

This is a free, family friendly event supported by Devizes Town Council. 2pm-4pm.
Singalong with Devizes Town Band at their annual hugely successful Children’s Proms event as they delight with film and TV themes from past and present; dressing up essential!

Various Dates Throughout the Holiday!

Wiltshire Council’s Camp Active

Summer Fun Activities @ The Neeld, Chippenham

This summer, the Neeld Community and Arts Centre will be offering fun circus skills sessions with Clare’s Circus!
There will be lots of exciting activities for children, and parents will be very welcome to join in with the fun and games! Clare’s Circus can teach you to juggle, you can learn tricks with spinning plates and diabolo and there will be stilt walking and pedal go’s, as well as soft play for the little ones and a tightwire for thrill seekers.
In addition, there will be a great craft making table and the chance to make balloon animals with Mr Twister, the best balloon twister this side of the River Avon! Child (Under 16) £5 Free entry for accompanying adults: http://www.neeld.co.uk/whats-on/summer-fun-activities.

Active Trowbridge @ King George Playing Fields, Melksham

Each Wednesday Active Trowbridge will be in the park with activities, sports and bouncy castles!

Jurassic Farm @ Roves Farm, Swindon

Fire up your imagination on a Roves Farm tractor ride this summer. We’ve got three fun and interactive themed events that the whole family will enjoy, including our Jurassic Farm safari!
Join the Roves Farm ranger as we take a tractor safari through our very own dinosaur territories. We’ll be trying to detect and even discover a brand-new species of dinosaur as we go… What will we find?
Meanwhile back at the farm there’s a whole day of hands-on farm activities to keep you busy including; egg collecting, meet the animals, feed the goats, animal racing and lots more!

https://rovesfarm.co.uk/whats-on/

Family Fun Coaching @ Sleight Valley Golf Range

Family coaching with our Golf Coach is free but you will need to purchase the range balls you use; these start at £4.75 for 50 balls. club hire is free. There is no need to book just turn up.
Our Homefield Cafe will be open so pop in for something to eat and drink while you are here. For more details call 01380 729053. THURS 1st 10:00 – 12:00, FRI 9th 10:00 – 12:00, WED 14th 10:00 – 12:00, WED 21st 10:00 – 12:00, WED 28th.

Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre: Holiday Art Club

Scrap Modelling at its finest! Bring your mini-Monet’s along to these popular Holiday Art Clubs, and teach them the importance of reducing and reusing our waste; all whilst having lots of fun using the scrap resources! Each session is run by a qualified trainer. Find out more about them here: https://www.wiltshirescrapstore.org.uk/press-media/?v=79cba1185463

Australian Summer @ Longleat, Warminster

20th July – 2nd September
https://www.longleat.co.uk/whats-on/an-australian-summer

Devizes Marina

Looking for something to do over the school holidays that’s a bit different? Why not take our day boat out for the day? Up to 8 people (and a dog) can be aboard for a day exploring the Kennet & Avon Canal. Find out more at http://www.devizesmarina.com

Trowbridge Museum

Has a number of events, activities and workshops taking place over the summer holidays. This summer they take the “Museum on The Move” as they decamp to the Shires for a crafty day, spend a couple of days in the Sensory Garden on their Archaeological Dig, visit Salisbury’s Rifles Museum for some WW2 activities and put on a Summer School of craft demonstrations, local history and more at Trowbridge Town Hall.
Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July, 11am – 3pm: Archaeological Dig in the Sensory Garden
If you’ve ever wondered what lies underneath the Sensory Garden, now is the chance to find out because we are going to dig several large holes to find out. Come along to our archaeological dig and see what treasures we unearth! Suitable for all the family.

WW2 at the Rifles Museum, Salisbury
Come and join us for three days of WW2-themed activities in the beautiful gardens of the Rifles Museum. There’ll be challenges, crafts and dressing up, with something different each day. You can drop in between 11am and 3pm.
Wed 7th August: Rifles
Wed 14th August: Rifles
Wed 21st August: Rifles
Fri 9th August, 2pm: Strange Stroll (Family History Guided Walk)
Discover the weird world of the woollen trade; £2 per person, Ages 7+, children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. Walks starts outside Mastershoe.

Town Hall Summer School, Trowbrigde

Trowbridge Museum are working with Town Hall Arts to bring you a summer of art, craft, history, fun and (war) games. Together with our volunteers we’ll be demonstrating a diverse range of art and crafts, putting on some challenging Mouse Hunts, sharing the secrets of Napoleonic war gaming and revealing some snippets of the town’s history. These drop-in activities are free but a donation would be really appreciated – give a little or a lot – it’s up to you!
Mon 29th July, 11am – 3pm: Stick weaving
Wed 31st July, 11am – 3pm: Printmaking
Thu 1st Aug, 11am – 3pm: Felting
Fri 2nd August, 11am – 3pm: Printmaking
Mon 5th Aug, 11am – 3pm: Mouse Hunt
Tue 6th Aug, 11am – 3pm: Willow Weaving
Fri 9th August, 11am – 3pm: War Gaming Demonstration
Mon 12th August, 11am – 3pm: Crochet
Wed 14th August, 10am – 12pm: Weaving
Mon 19th August, 11am – 3pm: Mouse Hunt
Tue 20th Aug, 11am – 3pm: Willow Weaving
Wed 21st August, 11am – 3pm: Trowbridge Postcards & Photos
Wed 28th August, 11am – 3pm: Trowbridge Postcards & Photos
Thu 29th Aug, 11am – 3pm: Willow Weaving
Fri 30th August, 11am – 3pm: Felting

We see Same Days

Extensively featuring Devizine’s friend, Finely Trusler, half of Larkin and The Truzzy Boys, a new single from Same Days, a twenty-year-old London born Swindon performer is out for streaming today. Real name, David Whelpdale is cousins with Fin. He’s built an audience since a debut single in April, trying his hand at producing too. With Funked Up Dad, Martin, and Fin’s other cousin, Harvey, making up the other half of The Truzzy Boys, I had to ask Fin if he has any non-musical relations.

“Not many, mate!” was his answer, simple but to the point. Though this is something altogether different, as Same Days adopts that prevalent merger of singing with rap, popularised by the likes of R. Kelly. Yeah, alright, I’d need to speak to my daughter for more present comparisons! Still, old fart or not, I like it; “You See Me” offers a smooth and confident rap which oozes in and out of adroit boyband vocals. With natural ease this slick contemporary composition lustres authenticity with Fin’s acoustic component, harmoniously breathing air away from any unethical stereotype of rap fuddy-duddies may wrongfully spurt!

The accompanying video also assists with this acoustic measure, taking to the woods and other natural landscapes for locations rather than the banal urban scene. See for yourself, and all the best with it guys!

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Big Yellow Bus Project Comes to Swindon

In 2017 truck driver Gerry Watkins raised four grand to buy a double-decker bus which he converted it into a homeless shelter in Cirencester. The project was hailed a success and received media support, and live music fundraisers. With the Cirencester bus now fully refurbished with bed compartments containing timber-framed bunk beds, eating and kitchen areas with a wood-burner, Gerry vowed to bring the concept to other areas in the south west.

Today, he’s proud to bring the idea to Swindon, with a new bus in need of renovation. “I know Swindon needs more than just one bus, but this is a start,” he said.

Such an inspiring DIY story shows the individual can make a difference, yet Gerry is keen to add, “the whole project relies on the sheer kindness of the community and fundraising events to raise funds to purchase materials.” After a campaign to local businesses, Gerry wanted to purchase the bus for £2,900, and told BBC News, “it’s in pretty good condition for the money I paid for it.”

In March Charles Martell, the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire paid The Big Yellow Bus Project a visit along with a longstanding supporter, Lady Bathurst, to present a cheque for £500. But the funding needs to continue. A variety of events have been arranged in the past to do just that, from seaside coach trips to bingo and raffle nights, fund raisers have also included some great punk and ska nights in Cirencester and Stroud, with the backing of local bands such as The Strays, Shaggy Dog Raconteurs, Train to Skaville, Ska-Bucks, Sugar Motown and Plucking Different. Here’s hoping the support will be continued in this new project.

All the work carried out for the previous project was checked by the relevant authority and any homeless person using the bus must be signed up to a rehabilitation course. Gerry also hopes to set up training courses to help the homeless get back into work. We wish Gerry all the best with this outstanding contribution to a growing problem in the South West, please, if you can, show some support for this inspirational project, here.

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Two Family Friendly Festivals in Swindon

If family-friendly festivals these days are two-to-a-penny, and you pop with the kids, like you are a kid, one thing is certain, and cool, you don’t gotta trek miles to catch one. Swindon has two upcoming I’d like to mention, if I may?

Firstly, a massive congratulations to Talk in Code, Swindon’s own indie-pop outfit rising to fame through excellence and dedication, we will be hearing a lot more from them methinks. They open the main stage at M is for Festival in Lydiard Park on 27th July. Alongside a plethora of contemporary pop acts such as Years and Years, Ella Eyre, HRVY, Becky Hill, Phats & Small, Jahmene Douglas and another BBC Music Introducing in the West upcoming band, She Makes War. Oh, not forgetting Top Loader will be dancing in the moonlight.

Tickets start at thirty quid, under fives go free, which isn’t half bad for such a grand line up, in such a nice setting too.

But if you’re all like Phats and who now, or years and years too far back, you could rustle up some hairspray and don your old leg warmers for Red Sky Promotions may just have the family festival for you, like as early as next week; I don’t think I’ll find my diddy-boppers in time, they’re in the loft somewhere.

Eighties fans, who isn’t? Bookmark 29th June, and grab a ticket for The Back to the Eighties Festival at the Old Town Bowl, in Old Town Gardens.

Throughout the day until 6pm all kids can have festive fun with everything from hair braiding, 80’s neon face paints and glitter designs, hair sparkles and hair chalk colouring, temporary transfer and glitter tattoos to neon nails and more, free of charge. Relax, you’ll even get to create your own T-shirt memento of the day.

There will be stalls, food, drink and a host of other activities to accompany the musical time machine that the festival promises to be.

The day offers a range of 80’s music delivered in unique ways; opening with Sonore String Quartet rendering classic songs into lush classical sounds, 80:Three deliver two sets of pop gems, Emily-Jane Sheppard will bring her solo singer-guitarist set of classic covers and the headline act is the awesome Ghetto Blasters, a lively brass ensemble popping and rocking their way through the decade. DJ’s will be spinning all the tunes you love from the era; big chart favourites to half-forgotten gems will play between the main acts.

Your ZX Spectrum may not load this page, but tickets are here; £25 for adults, £15 for the nippers, and a price range for groups of four or more. Wham!

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Diversity at MF Dance’s Showcase

Diversity will be joining MF Dance for hometown show in Swindon.

Red Sky Promotions are proud to announce that they will be bringing the awesome street dance troupe and Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity to The Oasis, Swindon, on Sunday 1st December as the headline act at MF Dance’s hometown show.

MF Dance provide students with enhanced confidence, discipline, fitness and focus through the medium of Street Dance and for this special show case they will be delivering two shows as the main feature. These shows bring together performers of all ages from both Swindon and Oxford in a celebration of Street and Contemporary Dance.

The event will be headlined by an exclusive, 30 minute set from Diversity. This world famous street dance outfit have completed eight sell-out UK tours so far in their career. Their latest tour, Ignite, saw them combine the world of street dance with the world of circus. The Swindon show comes hot on the heels of Born Ready – The 10 Year Anniversary Tour which marks a decade since the dance troupe won Britain’s Got Talent. Diversity continue to inspire the next generation of dancers and are about to launch their brand new online dance classes with 20DV.

Not only the best of local and regional contemporary dance but a special, one-off show from the hottest dance troupe in the country.
https://www.redskypromotions.co.uk/product/diversity-and-mf-dance-show/

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What a May Day! Things to do This Month; Part 2

Hark, the darling buds of May. Already looking quite blossomy isn’t it? Well, blossoming too is stuff to do in and around our local neighbourhood, and a few weeks ago I presented you with a lengthy look at what’s on during the first fortnight; see here.

Now though, sit down and brace yourself for some shocking news. I have, actually produced the second part of the monthly preview, and here it is! Though promised with previous months, I tend to side-track, or just plain scatter-brain and not carried it through. Not so this time, you don’t have to thank me, unless you have a choc n nut Cornetto.

Week 3: Mon 13th – Sunday 19th May

Regular sing-a-long at Devizes Folk Club in the Lamb, Devizes on Monday, similar on Tuesday if your go to the Bradford Folk Club, 8pm in the Cellar Bar of the Swan Hotel. Meanwhile, St James Wine Vaults in Bath where Radical Westie Productions presents Daisy, Television Villain, Ravetank and Devizine favourites Nerve Endings; £3 door tax.

Wednesday 15th, and Peter Vaughan does pasta at Vaughan’s Kitchen Cookery School, later don’t forget the acoustic jam at The Southgate, Devizes.

There’s Bach Suites by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: Young Artists Anima Fidis Quartet at the Wiltshire Music Centre Bradford on Avon.

Thursday’s is acoustic night at The Royal Oak, Corsham. Hannah Rose Platt and Black Sheep Apprentice at The Tuppenny, Swindon or tribute night with The Quo Experience at The Cheese & Grain, Frome.

artsbarndance

There’s a barn dance on Friday 17th at the West Lavington Hall. Usually wouldn’t make a song and dance out of such, but all proceeds go to the wonderful charity Arts Together; read about my visit, and the great work they do, here. Please support Arts Together, they’ve music, buffet, bar and raffle, see the poster for details. Future Devizine Presents nights will also like to donate to Arts Together.

Sheer Music is back in Devizes, the Cellar Bar has Smokin’ Donuts; one-part Carter USM and t’other festival cult hero, Doozer McDooze. Brilliant indie-pop Talk In Code and the talented Jezilyn Martyn support. £7 advance from Sheer Music, a tenner on the door.

But if you thought Devizes was a one-gig Friday town, you’d be very much mistaken. There’s Johnny 2 Bad, an eight-piece boasting to be the UK’s number one UB40 tribute at The Cavalier Community Hall. Except the reggae train-spotter in me upheaves that Johnny Too Bad is actually by The Slickers and only covered by UB40, eh? Bit of reggae in the Vizes, though; never going to knock it. £10 in advance and should be great night.

2bad

It’s rather retrospective in the Southgate too, with sixties garage and Mod band, Absolute Beginners at The Southgate playing a debut in the town. Three-piece playing covers of songs by The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, The Eyes, The Creation, The Jam, Secret Affair, Squire, and The Purple Hearts.

Without a cinema, the Assembly Hall in Melksham shows movies, The Favourite is on Friday. Break Cover are at The Talbot, Calne. An Open Mic at The Pump, Trowbridge. Comedy Night at the Boat House, Bradford on Avon. Tensheds live at the Rolly in Swindon and amusingly named Antarctic Monkeys at the Cheese & Grain, Frome.

reggaenightost18th

opendoorquiz

Back on reggae for Saturday, although other events are available, it’s Devzine’s second gig of the month, a reggae and ska night at the Cellar Bar with Knati P and Razah and I’ll be warming up for them with a ska show live. Look, again I’m asking you to come along, listing door damage as a fiver but as long as you give us what you can, that’s good enough. For all the proceeds go to homeless charity, Devizes Opendoors. For want of a quieter evening Opendoors also have a Quiz Night from 7pm at Nursteed Community Centre.

Those Truzzy Boys play the Conservative Club in Devizes, £3 on the door, Drew Bryant at The Southgate, and Sound Affects support the Dusk Brothers at the Cavalier’s Ameripolitan Music Club. Meanwhile, The Wharf Theatre welcome back Hancock clone, James Hurn, with new scripts.

truzzy

Brother from Another at the Woodbridge Inn, Pewsey, and Woodborough Social Club has Humdinger. Blues Bros & The Commitments at Melksham Assembly Hall. Còig at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon while the Neeld Chippenham has medium Derek Acorah.

Fresh from Montreal LG Breton and drummer Marco Dionne joins Phil Cooper for his Vise-Versa tour, closet to us is Saturday at the Village Pump, Trowbridge, other dates here: http://phil-cooper.co.uk/tour-dates

Sunday 19th sees the Chippenham Soap Box Derby and John Etheridge’s Sweet Chorus is at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon.

Week 4: 20th -26th May

Devizes Folk Club down The Lamb on Monday, An Evening with Graham Gooch at the Neeld, Chippenham on Tuesday. Acoustic Jam at The Southgate, The Royal Ballet’s Mixed Triple Bill at Wiltshire Music Centre, and The Waterboys @ Bath Forum on Wednesday.

Thursday is Acoustic Oak night at The Royal Oak, Corsham. Boxing Day and All Better play Level III in Swindon, and Carus Thompson is at The Beehive. But if you ever doubted summer is on its way, the bank holiday truly kicks off festival season, with Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering in W. Midlands, or most fruitfully funky and stunningly popular dance fest, Shindig starts in Bruton. Shindig Festival is a glorious mash up of a gig, a house party, circus show, comedy night, a wellbeing retreat and kid’s party. No main stages, just an arrangement of stretch marquees, so you can be in amongst it, or chill on the grass. Kids can learn to DJ, breakdance and urban art.

This crazy weekend sees Chippenham Folk Festival starting Friday, as does Lechlade Festival. With Salisbury Live beginning, and Frome’s R&B festival with Frankie Miller’s Full House at the Cheese & Grain, you’re spoiled for choice.

Back in Devizes, Friday 24th, Bob Drury pays tribute to Neil Diamond at The Wharf Theatre. Adriano Adewele, Gwilym Simcock and Jason Rebello are at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon. While in Swindon, the Wyvern Theatre presents The Rolling Stones Story, Sheer Music has Press To Meco at Level III and there’s a Ska’mageddon at the Vic with SN Dubstation and King’s Alias @ The Vic, but for real roots adventurers, try RDK Hi-Fi meets Roots Inspiration @ Black Swan, Bristol. I’m steering clear of Bristol as there’s too much to list, but that one will go off.

Saturday then, the 25th. Long Street Blues Club celebrate the music of one of rock’s best-loved icons Paul Kossoff, with May Kossoff the band. A chilled but robust night is promised at the Southgate, with Nick Tann’s British folk take on Americana heartland traditions.

owlfest19
It’s also time for Bromham to host the second combined cider and music extravaganza, OwlFest at the Owl, obviously. Did this last year, loved this last year, although I’ve no line-up info for you, you can bet your Bromham dollar this’ll be great. Another to watch is Marland’s showpiece, Gladstonebury at the Gladstone Arms, Chippenham, expect Steve Morano, the Sweet Swing Trio, The Chicken Teddys and Burbank.
Loud soulful, happy vibes will come from The Pilot, Melksham where Big Mama’s Banned play. The Gimme Gimme Gimmes and Devizine favs, The One Chord Wonders are at St James Wine Vaults, Bath, Frome’s R&B Festival continues at the Cheese & Grain with Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band.

The old English spelling of Savernake Forest, Safernoc inspires an intriguing event in Marlborough on Saturday too; “violin, voice and banjo music from the 16th century to the present day, world premiere of Paul Elwood’s Safernoc; a series of compositions for mezzo soprano Alice Simmons and violinist Tam Coates by composer Paul Elwood. Both Simmons and Coates live near the forest and both have found inspiration in the shadows of that ecosystem. The text by the composer is a play on trees and an imagined impression of Savernake taken from Dante, Bernini’s sculpture of Daphne transforming into a tree, and Mexican painter (Sister) Juana Beatriz de la Fuente’s, “The Tree of Life.” Admission £10, email contactamitytrio@gmail.com for tickets.

savernake

Alex Roberts Live at The Southgate on Sunday 26th, the wonderful Sugar Motown returns to the Three Crowns. While Dr Feelgood plays the Frome R&B Festival at the Cheese & Grain.

End of May, Mon 27th – Friday 31st

Proper West Country, it’s the Coopers Hill Cheese Roll at Brockworth on Monday, Frome’s R&B Festival has Nick Lowe & Los Straightjackets.

With Bandeoke at Chippenham’s Neeld and Jackie & Felix Byrne at the Bradford Folk Club, that makes up Tuesday, while Wednesday it’s the World Music Club at The Beehive in Swindon, and of course, an acoustic jam at The Southgate, Devizes.

You can Meet the Gruffalo at Hillworth Park in Devizes on Thursday 30th, for his 20th birthday, Devizes Books bring the books, with a trail around the park, a prize draw and guest appearances, should be fun for kids of all ages.

gruffalo

Acoustic Oak at The Royal Oak, Corsham and Jonathan James is Discovering Music at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon, while tribute The Commitments Experience are at the Neeld, Chippenham and Gaz Coombes is at the Cheese @ Grain.

That’s the month of May done, Friday 31st the Brodsky Quartet are at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon and Salisbury Live continues. Other than this, seems like a quiet Friday, save for the fact it’s time for the opening of the Devizes Arts Festival, I think it’s the best line-up yet, starting with An Audience with John Simpson at Corn Exchange. Check our preview of the festival here, and I will be highlighting some of the separate events as the month goes on.

More details of all events here are on our event calendar which makes up Devizine’s busy home page, but bear in mind this is not a exhaustive list, the calendar is updated (nearly) every day, so keep checking for updates; too much of it to continuously post to Facebook, you need to check in every now and then, or you might miss something you need tickets for.

Have a grand and blossoming May, it’s building up to a great summer ahead!

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What a May Day! Things to do Next Month; Part 1

Now your Easter eggs are nothing but screwed up tin foil it’s time to look towards May, and what’s in store for us during this early summer month. Part one, let’s get the first fortnight over and done with.

Week 1: Wednesday 1st May – Sunday 5th

First day of the month is a Wednesday, so it’s the regular acoustic jam down the Southgate, Devizes, an open Mic at The New Inn, Semington or a live stream of the The Royal Opera: Faust at Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon.

Thursday 2nd jabs at your funny bone, when the Moonrakers Comedy Night sets into the Cellar Bar, Devizes. Ed Pownall presents headliner Sol Bernstein, returning after twenty-five years of semi-retirement, only playing nursing homes. He’s performed all over the world at venues including The London Palladium, New York’s Carnegie Hall, The Paris Olympia, Caesars Palace Las Vegas, and Scunthorpe Baths, but it’s at night clubs where Sol really comes to life. With opener, Craig Deeley, a finalist in Jongleurs Last Laugh competition, and an additional special guest, tickets are £10, available form: The Bear Hotel, Devizes Books, The British Lion, The Southgate Inn, The Vaults, and on-line at “We Got Tickets.”

Along with a Charity Quiz Night for the British Heart Foundation at The Owl, Bromham, Swindon’s masters of downbeat, slack indie and wobbly pop, the Flour Babies bring an acoustic set to The Tuppenny with support by Callum McLean. Meanwhile, Chapel Arts in Bath has Will Lawton & Weasel Howlett (feat Buddy Fonzarelli) with support by our favourite, Tamsin Quin; Devizine is the #officialtamsinquinfanclub

The second ale, cider and sausage festival, Hopdog, at the Woodbridge, Pewsey, kicks off Friday 3rd. Three days of family mayhem for a £10 advanced ticket, £3 for 12+ and children under 12 free. You can camp, for £7, space is limited so please book early via email: woodbridgeinnpewsey@gmail.com Friday sees Grizzly & The Grasshoppers. Saturday: Bob Bowles, Brian Stone, Jazz Wrann & The Ruby Welts and Sunday, firm Devizine favourites, the Larkin boys will be with Fly Yeti Fly and Kit Trigg.

Another festival in Blandford starts, the Teddy Rocks, in aid of Children’s Cancer, with a tribute-based line-up: details here: https://teddyrocks.co.uk/

Over in Devizes, the family club has Hariana, the UK’s number 1 tribute to Ariana Grande, and rumour has it, Vinyl Realm will host another fantastic Drum n Bass night at the Lamb, unconfirmed as of yet. Melksham Assembly Hall boasts Jethro’s The Count of Cornwall tour, while the Neeld have Queen II, and Bradford’s Wiltshire Music Centre hosts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. But if you like it raw, the Back-Wood Redeemers are at The Royal Oak, Bath.

Star Wars Day, oh yeah, bank hols too, Saturday 4th May, it’s over to Urchfont, for the Scarecrow Festival; always a lovely family day, starts at 9:30 through to Monday.

Saturday night in Devizes is about rum and reggae at the Wyvern Club, where Michelle and Stuart Field’s Muck and Dunder rum bar hosts Swindon’s finest SN Dubstation while you dip into forty types of rum, ah-ha me hearties, tenner a ticket from https://www.muckanddunder.co.uk/ or failing that, dependable The Southgate has the great Sunset Service, free as always.

Out and about, you only need to get as far as Seend for beer, yep, it’s that time again for the Seend Beer Fest, their 19th, they know what they’re doing; gawd blimey, Train to Skaville will be there; love them. Certainly, reggae filled weekend though, with The Bob Marley Revival headlining Melksham Townfest at the football club, with Falling Fish, The Decibelles and whaaaa???? Train to Skaville will be there too??; must be an express train. The Ultimate Stone Roses are at the Assembly Hall, over in Bradford on Avon the NYJO Ambassadors and Mark Armstrong are at the Wiltshire Music Centre.

Swindon has “kids for a quid” at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, PinkMac at The Waiting Room and some groovy Disco Voodoo, with DJ Ashley Beedle at Baila Coffee & Vinyl.

Spring in the Park is a family fun-day in Warminster on Sunday 5th, or round up the weekend at The Southgate, with a band I’ve heard only good things about, The Astral Ponies. Swindon has the cool indie-sixties mod band, Six O’clock Circus at The Woodlands Edge, and Bath has Pigstock at The Pig and Fiddle; two stages, with Falling Fish, Pompadour, Cut Throat Francis, The White Lakes, Luna Lake, Jamie Watson, Eilis Tucker, and our own favourite, Mr George Wilding.

Week 2: Monday 6th May – Sunday 12th

Bank holiday innt? Those Devizes Lions have the May Day Fair in the Market Place, and Corn Exchange from 9am- 4pm. On similar lines as previous years, but in addition to trades and charities, a new class of stall is being introduced, for artisans who produce goods for direct sale to the public.

Sound Knowledge Marlborough are celebrating the holiday with a bang, with Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes from midday in Club Thirty8, for a wristbands-only short set, after which they’ll be in the shop signing copies of new album ‘End of Suffering’.

Wednesday is acoustic jam at the Southgate. Thursday is regular Kinks tribute, Kast off Kinks at the Assembly Hall, Melksham, but if you think there’s too many broken hearts in the world, head for the Cheese & Grain, yeah, yeah, I know; Jason Donovan.

Friday 10th sees Tom C Walker at the Long Street Blues Club, Teddy White Band returning to The Southgate, and legendary punk poet, Dr John Cooper Clarke at The Corn Exchange. English comedian and writer, Mark Steel gives contemporary rants with his Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright show at Melksham Assembly Hall.

Sam Sweeney’s The Unfinished Violin at Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon and Sharron Shannon Band & Seckou Keita at the Cheese & Grain, Frome.

Saturday 11th start the day browsing the Stert Car Boot Sale, it’s Devizes Cancer Research’s grandest event, supported by Grist, please come and help make a difference to this invaluable charity.

In all actual fact, it’s a very charitable day in Devizes; yep, we’ve our first Devizine Presents gig at the Cellar Bar. If you like Larkin, then it’s a double-whammy, because while Fin and Sam will be there, it’ll be possibly the only place to see them both, separately, Sam with a newly formed band and Fin with cousin Harvey as the Truzzy Boys. If that’s not enough for you, The Hound on the Mountain, the incredible Jordan Whatley will also be showing off his new songs and Gail Foster I will be in charge of intervals with her spellbinding and, possibly, rude poems. It’s a fiver or whatever you can donate, in aid of Devizes Opendoor; so please come down.

Opps, UPDATE ALERT! Please see the poster above for a change in schedule, unfortunately Sam had to pull out, but every clown has a silver lifeboat, hurrah for sixties mod-rock covers band, The Roughcut Rebels, who’ve stepped in to save the day and will be sure to add an extra dimension to the festivities.

If my thing ain’t your thing, I might just forgive you, especially if you try the Devizes Town Band’s concert, “Greatest Love Themes,” which will be raising funds for Alzheimer’s Support at 7:30pm, The Corn Exchange. In a change from the traditional black, band members will be wearing some other colours to make the concert more dementia friendly. I can identify with this; my nan suffered this terrible ailment.

Some people living with dementia see a black mat or flooring as a bottomless black hole, which is understandably very scary. They can also see people wearing black as floating heads, because they cannot identify black clothes.

Babs Harris, CEO of Alzheimer’s Support said: “People’s perceptions can change when they have dementia and it is fascinating to hear from some of them how they now see colours. It is so heartening that Devizes Town Band have taken this on board for their concert and taken this extra step to make their performance truly inclusive and dementia-friendly. It promises to be a wonderful evening of music and the bright colours will only add to the celebratory atmosphere.” Tickets are £7.50 and you can get them from Devizes Books, or online via www.devizestownband.com

Alternatively, Hip Route are live at The Southgate, and the brilliant Indecision at The Owl, Bromham.

In Marlborough The Skandals are at The Lamb and Room 101 are at The Bear. The Blue Rose Band at The Pilot, Melksham. London Mozart Players at Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon, Operation 77 at The Woodlands Edge, Swindon. Martin Kemp’s Back to the 80’s at Cheese & Grain, Frome; take your own Rubix Cube.

For want a peaceful Sunday on the 12th the Marlborough and District Lions Club welcomes you to drive through the glorious bluebells at Westwoods, enjoy the Bluebells and help support your local Lions Club. This repeats again next Sunday.
Time travelling magicians Morgan & West present a jaw dropping, heart stopping, brain busting, opinion adjusting, death defying, mind frying, spirit lifting, paradigm shifting, outlook changing, furniture rearranging magic extravaganza at the Neeld in Chippenham Sunday afternoon, promising to be fun for ages 5 to 105.

That’s about it for the first two weeks of May, if you think it’s jam-packed you need to see the finale part of May’s what’s on article, which I’m working on now, okay – cut me some slack! But before I go, remember to check devizine.com regularly, as it’s updated, like, nearly every day, and you might well miss something.

Also, please shed my workload by letting me know about your event, or news stories; there’s only so much scrolling and clicking I can do. You can email your info to devizine@hotmail.com Tweet, message the Facebook page, or I now have a Facebook group called The Devizine Communications Group, to make it super easy to make me aware of your events and gigs and news and stuff, so use it, don’t abuse it, love it and get some free publicity for your efforts.

Most of all though, don’t whinge at me for omitting something if you haven’t actually told me about it, sounds bleeding obvious I know but you’d be surprised by that amount of people who do!

Hey, hey, hey; I have actually followed this article up, click the image to go to the rest of the month’s preview!

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April Showers with Stuff to Do….

Birds singing, the blossom on the trees, and that first cut of the lawn (groan!) Spring is here and it’s time to venture out and about, without snood and snowshoes. This summer sees some great events and gigs, but what’s on offer this early? Let’s take a look at what’s to be doing this April.

It’s always worthwhile heading to the Southgate in Devizes on a Wednesday if you like acoustic music, you’ll discover regular acoustic jam sessions, where any of our great local musicians may just turn up and improv.

But this Wednesday 3rd, there’s also open mic at New Inn Semington, or the Lamb in Devizes hold their fourth vinyl listening night with Pete from Vinyl Realm. From 7:30-9:30pm you can join this social gathering with a log fire and nibbles. Take your favourite album along to play and natter about all-things music with other vinyl lovers. It’s free, nibbles too, and they’ve a raffle.

If you take your kids anywhere this weekend, Horrible Histories is touring and at The Wyvern from Wednesday to Sunday 7th, with Terrible Tudors / Awful Egyptians.

For a fiver a pop, the weekend kicks off on Friday with Sheer Music back down the Cellar Bar for the second in a series dubbed Subterranean. Young indie band Falling Fish and Devizine favourites Larkin support Clock Radio. Meanwhile there’s raw roots blues with the king of cigar box guitar, Howlin Matt down the Southgate. But if you want to get dancing, it’s good to hear house music returns to town, it’s Funky Sensation’s launch at the Exchange with DJ’s George G-Force, Nina LoVe and Stach; preview here.

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It’s also good to see People Like Us returning to their former place of residency, The Waterfront in Pewsey, while George Michael fans need to head for the Assembly Rooms in Melksham for Fast Love and lovers of a golden era of music from the 1920s and 1930s need check out the Pasadena Roof Orchestra at the Neeld, Chippenham.

But most eyes focus on Swindon, ska fans in particular, with The Erin Bradwell Collective at the Castle and Ska-Bucks at the Vic, but also, their Fringe Festival begins. Running from Friday 5th to Sunday 14th, there’s a truckload of variety across Swindon’s finest venues, from the Groovy Pig Festival, and our friends at The Ocelot with their regularly hosted comedy nights at The Vic, to bizarre theatrical performances at the Artsite, The Olive Tree Café, and nerdy night of action figure archive show, After Dusk: An Improvised Twilight Zone at The Incredible Comic Shop. Check out the website, too much to list here!

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Saturday night is owned by Devizes, with the Billy Walton Band at the ever-popular Long Street Blues Club, The Duskers live at The Southgate and of course, The Full Tone Orchestra are at St Johns being Big, Bold & Russian. That said, I’m cannot wait for I’ll be at Asa Murphy’s Buddy Holly Lives show at the Corn Exchange, in honour of Bruce Hopkins, oh boy, this’ll be a knockout; preview. (Apologies, terrible pun, could’ve at least pre-warned you!)

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But rock n rollers are spoiled for choice Saturday as Melksham Rock n Roll Club brings us The Hurricanes at the Spencer Sports & Social Club from 7pm. while Local Heroes Inc at The Jenny Wren in Calne, and Port Erin at The Lamb, Marlborough also come recommended, rum n reggae fans need to head for Wotton Bassett, where Razah-I-Fi and Knati P are blasting some sound system culture at the Cross Keys.

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Sunday is Devizes Half Marathon and Fun Run, I’m certain “fun-run” is an oxymoron, but c’est la vie! Be Well, a Holistic Wellbeing & Spiritual Event is at Corn Exchange, but I’d consider PSG Choirs for Alzheimer’s Support @ The Neeld, Chippenham.

April’s Second week sees the highly-anticipated production of Made in Dagenham by The Devizes Musical Theatre at Daunstey’s. Running from Wednesday 10th to 13th, this uplifting British musical comedy about friendship, love and the importance of fighting for what is right is inspired by a true story and based on the hit movie, Made in Dagenham. Book a Ticket here.

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Friday 12th is all about Sheer Music’s favourite American, Olivia Awbrey down the Cellar Bar of the Bear, Devizes. To be honest, Saturday looks rather quiet, so far, Fret ‘n’ Keyz are at The Southgate while country fans will enjoy Zenne and Shooting the Crow at the Cavalier.

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Meanwhile Marlborough’s Sound Knowledge celebrates Record Store Day. This year’s list is available online: https://recordstoreday.co.uk/releases/rsd-2019/ They’ll be open from 8am with hundreds of titles from the list. Get in touch with Sound Knowledge and let them know what you’ll be hoping to pick up on the day, they cannot reserve anything, but it insures correct ordering. The fun continues on Sunday, with an amazing live music roster from midday, including The Leisure Society, LION, Tom Speight, Little Geneva, and Wilding. It’s free entry, and has a Bar and barbeque.

Melksham’s newest pub, The Hiding Place hosts song-writing and touring legend, Henry Priestman, a founder member of punk band Yachts in the 70s, and The Christians in the 80s. This is at The Rachel Fowler Centre in Melksham, the venue is so beautiful and yet few people even know it’s there. £10 per ticket, can be bought at the bar in The Hiding Place or over the phone. Eighties soft metal fans meanwhile could take in Bon Jovi Forever at the Assembly Hall.

Swindon also has a metal tribute on Saturday, with Whole Lotta DC at The Vic. But if you’re over that way, I cannot recommend the Boot Hill All Stars enough, they’ll be with Monkey Bizzle at The Rolleston Arms. But if you want to take your kids raving, you know, show them how you did it, Raver Tots return to Meca with Nicky Blackmarket.

If you’d rather not thrust your bad habits at your children, grab a £10 ticket to the Neeld in Chippenham on Sunday, when it’s Pongo’s birthday party! A colourful farmyard is the setting for these loveable puppet characters; Pongo’s Party is a family show particularly suitable for 2 – 7-year olds, and includes a special guest appearance by the Easter Bunny!

If that all seems a tad too much, adults could try cross-border folk multi-instrumentalists and festival favourites, The Shee at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon. An exceptional all-female band boasting powerful and emotional vocal performances and instrumental prowess.

The third week of April sees another Devizes Books Presents event on Wednesday 17th. The theme is Shopping! Women are supposed to love it, men to hate it. Both have written about it. Hear India Knight on its joys, G.K Chesterton on how much he hates grocers, and Sophie Hannah on what she got up to in bookshops. Much more, including Dalgit Nagra, Bill Bryson, Fanny Burney, Evelyn Waugh, Radcliffe Hall plus a guest appearance by a local poet, (that our man, Andy?) 7 for 7.30 Tickets £6 to include a drink and nibbles. Over in Swindon, the Wyvern have a Celebration of eighties soul idol, Luther Vandross.

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Thursday 18th rock fans could try The Sultans of Swingers @ The Bear Hotel, Chippenham, while space rock fans head to The Bell by The Green, Devizes for Pink Floyd Tribute, All Floyd; it’s a fiver on the door. BUT -If you missed Little Geneva’s album launch at the Cellar Bar in March, or you’re just in Marlborough and thinking, I want some raw, passionate blues, Little Geneva are at Club Thirty8, tickets are a fiver too, and you get the incredible George Wilding supporting.

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Ska fans point your boots and braces in the direction of Swindon, where the Erin Bardwell Collective play to their home fans at Beehive before heading for the London Ska Festival. That or, Vic Fest 2019 at, The Vic, where else?! Mod and scooterist fun continues on Friday when the Exit 17 Scooter Club do an Easter egg run, with local sixties garage band, Absolute Beginners at the Consti Club afterwards.

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In Devizes town Honeytrap return To the Southgate, and Vinyl Realm Presents their second drum & bass come house bash at The Fold in the Lamb, with Harry B (Gyro Records) James Threlfall (Mini Rig) and Rappo (b2b/Retrospect.) These nights are quite exclusive, with 50 fiver tickets for each event, 30 spaces on door, but fear not, for Saturday they’re doing it again with a house/trance night with DJ’s Rappo, Morgosis and Shaun Ashley of Rapture recordings.

You haven’t got to go raving though, people of Devizes; Sam and Finley are back together as Larkin Live at the Southgate, or Katy Ellis is at the Devizes Family Club in the Cavalier donning two tributes, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.

Easter Sunday book your kid into the Hillworth Park Easter Egg Hunt quick, as it’s limited, and at £3 at pop, going to be popular. Adults hide away in the Three Crowns with People Like Us. If contemporary reggae is your thing, try Reggae Wiltshire’s Easter Sunday Reggae night at The Skybar Melksham Football Club; Reggae, RNB, Soul & Ragga mixed by Reggae Wiltshire’s exclusive DJ Mister M.

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Of course, Easter will flow over to Monday, and where better than the Southgate, Devizes where Nuages Gypsy Jazz play some, well, gypsy jazz I’m guessing! It is also the opening night of Andrew Bovell and Freddie Underwood’s Things I Know to be True at The Wharf Theatre, running until Saturday 27th April.

All is rather quiet while we digest our chocolate eggs or else spew them up on mum’s fluffy white stair-carpet. Friday 26th April then, Devizes has King Louie at The Southgate, while The Cavalier have Abba tribute, Abba’s Angels, and its Open Night at the Pump in Trowbridge.

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Renowned Sculptor Fernando P Saenz exhibits at Wine St. Gallery, Devizes from Saturday, and the quiet period crashes down. George Wilding down The Owl in Bromham, the incredible Nerve Endings blast out down The Southgate, and All That Soul returns to the Devizes Scooter Club, after a sell-out show this time last year.
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Out of town, The Delray Rockets are at the Melksham Rock n Roll Club, it’s Buckfest at The Roebuck, Marlborough, the Chippenham CAMRA Beer and Cider Festival at The Olympiad Leisure Centre and the Long Arms Music, Cider & Beer Festival near Steeple Ashton. Dylan & Igor @ Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon and Swindon has Shepard’s Pie at The Vic and Complete Madness at Level III.

There’s a tribute to Alfie Boe and The Musicals at Devizes Family Club in the Cavalier on Sunday 28th, and wind down the month at The Vaults with a Tapas Night on Monday, or April Lightgarden at Bradford Folk Club on Tuesday 30th.

Before you’ll know what’s what it’ll be May, with the Devizes Lion’s May Fair, Hopdog Fest at the Woodbridge, Urchfont Scarecrow Festival, Born to Rum at the Wyvern Club Devizes, The Seend Beer Festival with Train to Skaville, Melksham TownFest, All Roads Lead to Frome at Cheese & Grain, Chippenham Soap Box Derby, Shindig Festival, Chippenham Folk Festival, Lechlade Festival, OwlFest, and loads more from the Coopers Hill Cheese Roll to Jason Donovan, yes, Jason Donovan at the Cheese & Grain, and when you’re done with that, it’s Devizes Arts Festival. Keep one step ahead with Devizine, continue to scroll the home page where events are added, like, nearly all the time!

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Half Term Fill: Local Things To Do For Kids

Big gulp of wine Mums, it’s half term next week. Okay, that’s quite enough, don’t panic. From daffodil picking, cooking and first aid, to football, driving tanks and having a go at being a DJ, here’s some things to keep little soldiers and princesses of all ages at bay, and smiling!

Sure thing is a movie; “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” is at the Palace Cinema, from today until Thursday 21st. “The Lego Movie 2” is a must, from Friday 15th also until Thursday 21st.

From Thursday 14th through to Friday 22nd there’s a funfair at The County Ground in Swindon, from 2pm. Scream if you want me to go faster, or you’re running low on wine.

There will be the usual free swimming at the Leisure Centres, but check ahead, as some timetables have changed.

You could take them for a trip down the Kennet & Avon, The Admiral is free on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th, find it at the Caen Hill Café, below the bridge at lock 44, at 11am. There will be trial sheets to explore the Jubilee Woods, and, back on board there will be a history of the canal and its restoration.

Starting Saturday 16th, you can pick your own daffodils at Woodborough’s Whitehall Garden Centre, available daily until 31st March. £4.99 per bag. Both centres, at Woodbrough and Lacock, have a Gardening Nature Trail until Thursday 21st. Claim a lollipop at customer services for every completed entry.

Saturday (16th) The Devizes Family Club have at Children’s Disco at the Conservative Club. 6:30-8pm, all are welcome but only above 9 years should be left. There’s an adult creche for you, with bar! £3 on the door, lucky dip 50p, tbc face painting and optional princess and superhero fancy dress. Proceeds are going to Rowde Academy.

Starting Sunday and running through the week, The Wyvern Theatre in Swindon has a roadshow at The Brunel Centre, inviting children to join in at The Crossing, to make dinosaurs or dragons to celebrate the arrival of Dinosaur World Live and Julia Donaldson’s Zog in April.

In Melksham there’s activities all week long at Young Melksham’s The Canberra Club. These clubs are for all young people in Year 5 and above (aged 8 to 16) and will run from 2pm till 5pm Monday to Friday, with entry costing £2.50 per session or a week-long pass for just £10. There will be a plenty of activities on offer including pool, table tennis, table football, arts and crafts, karaoke, cooking and baking, games and sports and much more. There are also computers and consoles available for use and a chill out room where you can watch tv or a film together.

The Canberra Centre is amazing building with lots of space to run around and have fun and play games with your friends. There is also an outside courtyard for football, basketball and just burning off some energy! A variety of hot and cold food and snacks will be available to purchase as well as free squash.

How about teaching your nipper some line dancing on Monday? All ages and abilities welcome at The Town Hall, Devizes. Early Bird Session: 6.30-7.30pm £5 Beginners: 7-8pm £5. Improvers 7.30-9.30pm £6.

For footballers ages three to six, Devizes Town Youth has free coaching in their Little Kickers sessions from 9.30am to 11am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Football Club. Kid receive a free t-shirt and football. To sign your child up contact Mr Sheridan on 07860232052 or Raymond King on 07917787903 or Jon Wozencraft on 07767851332

Tuesday and Wednesday with two sessions per day: 11.00am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 3.00pm, there’s Wildlife in Wiltshire at The Wiltshire Museum, Devizes. Art and Craft activities linked to their Natural History Exhibition. You can make animal masks, create animal models and pictures. These sessions are very popular, so booking is essential. It’s suitable for age 11 and under. Age 8 and under to be accompanied. £5 per child. Accompanying adults free.

Or maybe try your hand at being a DJ? Trowbridge’s Community Area Future has a Free Half Term DJ Workshop at Studley Green People’s Place on Tuesday 19th. DJ Nina LoVe will show you how to mix the Old Skool way, using vinyl records! There will be a few different types of music available – House, UK Garage or Drum and Bass. Come and check it out, book yourself some time on the decks or get on the microphone! For ages 13-18. Please feel free to drop in or call to book a place on 07765371051/tcaf@trowbridge.gov.uk

Have a go at a soldier-led assault course, plus Tank-themed fun family activities, at the REME Museum, Lyneham. Make your own tank with parachute and see if your engineering skills are up to scratch by dropping your tank “into battle” in one piece. On the artistic side, you can design and colour-in tanks. There’re model tanks which you can drive on a special course. Drop in from 11 am to 3 pm, any day from Tuesday until Friday. Special soldier run kid’s assault course will be running, plus fun tank-based kids trails, activities and craft in the museum. All children to be accompanied by an adult. All activities are included in the admission fee. Assault Course suitable for 5 – 12-year olds. The Museum is open from 10 am to 4.30 pm (last entry at 3.30 pm), some activities run from 11 am to 3 pm. Museum admission required to take part in activities. No pre-booking required for this activity, just turn up and enjoy.

Wednesday 20th is time to get fit in Hillworth Park, free event, in association with Boot Camp UK, it’s going to be all Sprint, Slide, Shake, Scamper, Scurry, Swing and Stomp!

For arts and crafts, Fired Thoughts at the Old Potato Yard, Devizes, has Half Term Lino Workshops, from Wednesday to Friday. A two-hour workshop to design, cut and print using Lino and inks. All ages and abilities welcome. All materials included, but please book: Tel:01380 840666 email: info@firedthoughts.co.uk

At the Court Street Gallery in Trowbridge, there’s a Children’s Silk Sun Catchers Workshop on Wednesday at 10am. £15 per person including materials. To learn more and book, visit: www.nicoladaviscrafts.co.uk/workshops.html

How about some first aid training for your children? Louise Worsley, a qualified trainer is at Marlborough Rugby Club on Thursday, 21st, 09:30 – 15:30 with an essential First Aid Training for Children. Sessions are tailored to age groups and are full of practical to make them fun and memorable: 9:30-11am – Mini Life-Savers course for 5-8-year olds – £18 (£15 for a sibling.) 11:30am-1pm – Mini Life-Savers course for 8-12-year olds – £18 (£15 for a sibling) and 1:30-3:30pm – Teen-Aiders course for 12-16-year olds – £24 (£20 for a sibling)

Thursday is the opening night for MACS Theatre School’s “The Addams Family” at Devizes School. It runs until Sunday. Tickets at Devizes Books or online here. Doors open at 6:30pm for a curtain up at 7:30. There’s also a mini Macs matinee performance on Saturday at 2:30pm.

From Thursday until Saturday 23rd The Seend Village Pantomime presents “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.” It takes place at Seend Community Centre, it’s the Fawlty Players 40th Anniversary, and there’s three of the cast were in the first Snow White in 1981! Tickets at the Post Office and Community Centre.

At Bradford on Avon’s St Margaret’s Hall, two of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes will be performed by local theatre group, the multi award-winning Bradfordians Dramatic Society. A take on Dahl’s retelling of the classic fairy tales, Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk. Following their success with The Twits last year, the group will bring Dahl’s honest, often vicious wit and humour to the stage in this production. Show times: Thursday 21st February – 6.30PM, Friday 22nd February – 6.30PM, Saturday 23rd February – 11AM, Saturday 23rd February – 2.30PM, Sunday 24th February – 2.30PM. Head to the Bradfordian’s website to see the full cast and more information here: http://www.thebradfordians.com/

Learn some street dance with a taster class at Charlotte’s School of Dance, Bath Rd Business Centre, Devizes, at 7:30pm on Friday with Jacinta Childs. To book this £5 session text: 07903812364.

Aspiring chefs, Saturday 23rd is for you; Margaret Bryant hosts Middle Eastern at Vaughan’s Kitchen Cookery School, Devizes. Spicy (but not hot) Falafels; Hummus; Baklava. Designed to give your youngster a firm foundation that will provide them with the techniques and knowledge they need to grow into competent and confident cook, it is also lots of FUN and they will bring home the results of the session to share with the family.

That enough?! Still bored?

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Sean McGowan at Level III, and beyond

Swindon, next week (21st Feb) a bright young punk wordsmith will visit Level III. The talented Sean McGowan signed to the Xtra Mile label, and frequently tours with buddy, Billy Bragg, as well as The Levellers, Skinny Lister, Frank Turner. Louder Than War Mag praisied Sean as a ‘unique talent’ when reviewing his debut album ’Son of The Smith’ last year.

Sean McGowan cruises into a headlining UK tour with “Auto Pilot,” his new single (HERE.) You can catch him with a full live band during Feb and March.

This title track taken from Sean’s warmly-received debut album of last year, “Auto Pilot” is another prime example of the perfectly preened and poetic indie-pop that made ‘Son of The Smith’ such a rewarding listen.

Brim-full of Sean’s distinctly wry social observations and set in vividly relatable situations, “Auto Pilot” tells a tale to lost loves and the pitfall-strewn pathway that lies beyond a bitter break up.

“And I can’t hack it any more, I smash up the wall… yet it doesn’t cure, the shame, the guilt, regret and all the dread in the morning and the next few days,” sings Sean, in a track that stands as one of the singer’s most emotionally complex and endearingly confessional outings to date.

Weaving interloping guitar lines around a driving motoric beat, “Auto Pilot” is an adrenaline-racing rush that testifies to the tight-knit musical mentality of his trusty backing band, who, fittingly join him on the road for this extensive run of UK shows.

It kicked off at Brighton’s The Hope & Ruin on the 7th. Sean and band will be travelling the length and breadth of England and Wales for a whopping 21 live dates that culminate in Bournemouth’s The Anvil on 3rd March 2019. Full dates and details, as follows.

The upcoming UK tour directly follows Sean’s biggest headline show to date, a Christmas homecoming in Southampton at the 1865 as supported by friend and labelmate Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly; the cherry on top of what was a monumental year for the ascending singer-songwriter.

SEAN McGOWAN LIVE DATES

FEBRUARY 2019

07 Brighton @ Hope & Ruin
08 Bristol @ Louisiana
09 Manchester @ Star & Garter
10 Birmingham @ Sunflower Lounge
13 Leicester @ Soundhouse
14 Cardiff @ Clwb Ifor Bach
15 Hastings @ Blackmarket
16 Oxford @ Jericho Tavern
17 Guildford @ Boiler Room
19 Norwich @ Bermuda Bob’s Rum Shack & HiFi
20 Cambridge @ Portland Arms
21 Swindon @ Level 3
22 Leeds @ Hyde Park Book Club
23 Newcastle @ Underground
24 Glasgow @ Hug & Pint
25 Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
27 St Albans @ The Horn
28 Nottingham @ The Bodega

March 2019

01 Bedford @ Esquires
02 London @ Borderline
03 Bournemouth @ Anvil

TICKETS ON SALE NOW:
www.musicglue.com/seanmcgowan

SEAN McGOWAN – ‘SON OF THE SMITH’

– ALBUM OUT NOW ON XTRA MILE RECORDINGS –
Order the album on CD, LP and digital here:
https://Seánmcgowan.lnk.to/sonofthesmith

FOR MORE INFORMATION

https://www.facebook.com/seanmcgowanmusicuk/

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Talk in Code Announce Tour Dates

Beginning of January, I reviewed Swindon indie popsters, Talk in Code’s second album, Resolve; blinking catchy it is too. Now, they’ve announced they’re heading out on the road for a RESOLVE Tour.

“Talk in Code write throwaway pop songs you’ll want to listen to forever – how cool is that?”
-Dave Franklin, Swindon Advertiser

The February and March tour to promote Resolve will be stopping off at The Cellar Bar in Devizes on Friday 1st March.

The four-piece, who have supported names such as Catfish & The Bottlemen, Jesus Jones, Embrace, My Life Story and Toploader, are making waves in the indie music scene, having been featured on BBC Introducing, BBC 6 Music, Q Magazine Track of The Day, The Premium Blend Radio Show, and BBC Radio Wiltshire, with a session booked on Swindon 105.5FM later this month.

Talk in Code released Resolve in December 2018, with a homecoming show at Swindon’s Victoria. Now the band are talking their own unique blend of shimmering synth-led indie pop out on the road with a string of dates in the South, and a number of festival bookings throughout the summer all over the UK:

RESOLVE Tour Dates:

Thursday 28 February – JAGS Bar, Southsea, Portsmouth
Friday 1 March – Cellar Bar, Devizes
Saturday 2 March – Spice of Life, Soho, London
Thursday 14 March – Facebar, Reading
Friday 15 March – University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham
Saturday 16 March – The Horn, St Albans
Saturday 30 March – Level III, Swindon (with The Britpop Boys)

RESOLVE album link:
https://soundcloud.com/talkincode/sets/talk-in-code-resolve/s-shw7Z

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Shuffling in Swindon

Swindon Shuffle has been mouthed around my earshot recently, whazat? Some kind of euphemism? Nope it’s Swindon’s longest running contemporary music festival; been ‘appening since 2006. It now consists of four days of original live music spread over Swindon’s finest music venues, much of it locally sourced, and it’s free entry to the whole shebang!

Swindon being cultureless is an old wife’s tale as ancient as carrots helping you see the dark, I learned this when drawing my little goldfish cartoon for the free rave/rock zine De-Railer in 1992, and nights at Queen’s Tap when the Skanxters shook the rafters. Swindon always has had a healthy music scene, don’t let anyone tell you any different, and even if they do, here’s a chance to prove that it’s staying more alive than John Travolta in a hot tub time machine.

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So, for a cheap article, I’ve cut and pasted the line-up, check it out and dribble! But also take note, sponsor the West Berkshire Brewery will be brewing an ale especially for the event called 5 Knuckle, which will be available in venues. Our friends at the Ocelot have been long-time supporters and a partner of the Shuffle, alongside Swindon Viewpoint, Britain’s original public-access television service, and venues The Beehive, Vic, Tuppenny and Castle. The Shuffle will also be raising money for the Swindon branch of Mind, a mental health problems charity.

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Yeah, so blow me down and call me David Murray John, it looks a little bit like this:

Wednesday 11 July 2018 – The Beehive Stage
19:30 Swindon Shuffle Music Quiz

Thursday 12 July 2018 – The Castle Stage
22:15 Slagerij
21:30 Street Outlaws
20:45 Post 12
20:00 Flour Babies
Thursday 12 July 2018 – The Tuppenny Stage (acoustic)
21:45 Canute’s Plastic Army
21:00 Tamsin Quin
20:15 Atari Pilot (acoustic)
Thursday 12 July 2018 – Baila Stage
(time tbc) Live Hip Hop Jam Session

Friday 13 July 2018 – The Victoria Stage
22:50 The Harlers
22:00 GETRZ
21:10 Monkfish
20:20 The Oxymora
19:30 Falls On Deaf Ears
Friday 13 July 2018 – The Castle
22:15 SN Dubstation
21:30 Wilding
20:45 Basement Club
20:00 The Compact Pussycat
19:15 Matthew Bryant
Friday 13 July 2018 – Baila Stage
(time tbc) After Party DJs

Saturday 14 July 2018 – The Victoria Stage
22:50 Wasuremono
22:00 Fabian Darcy
21:10 SHORE
20:20 Palm Rose
19:30 Moleville
Saturday 14 July 2018 – The Beehive Stage
22:15 SexJazz
21:30 Aural Candy
20:45 Grasslands
20:00 The Illustrations
Saturday 14 July 2018 – The Tuppenny Stage (acoustic)
18:30 Josh Wolfsohn
17:45 Sarah C Ryan
17:00 Steve Cox
16:15 The King In Mirrors
15:30 Sumita
14:30 Raze*Rebuild (acoustic)
Saturday 14 July 2018 – Baila Stage
(time tbc) After Party DJs

Sunday 15 July 2018 – The Beehive Stage
20:15 True Strays
19:30 Hip Route
18:45 Sunset Service
18:00 Cobalt Fire
17:15 Richard Wileman
16:30 Strange Tales
Sunday 15 July 2018 – The Tuppenny Stage (acoustic)
15:30 Emily-Jane Sheppard
14:45 Jack Moore
14:00 Special Guests
13:15 The Shudders (acoustic)

Swindon Shuffle Website

Facebook Page

The Great Western Reggae Soundclash

Trains have an emblematic relationship with reggae and its predecessor ska.

The chugging offbeat imitating a steam engine has been a running theme throughout its history. From choo-choo vocals of the Ethiopian’s classic “Train to Skaville,” to Keith & Tex’s rock steady anthem, “Stop that Train,” and The Wailer’s song of the same title, reggae is awash with train themes; it’s only apt there’s such thing as “Great Western Reggae,” and a substantial scene in the historic railway town of Swindon.

Pop-a-Top Records is Swindon’s label dedicated to its reggae homebrew. It’s headed by the ex-Skanxter, Erin Bardwell and his Collective who’ve just released “Great Western Reggae Soundclash,”a double-album which serves as a prodigious sampler for Pop-a-Top’s Great Western Reggae style.

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In those ravey daze, the Skanxters were a local archaic blessing, harking to an era when life was less Altern 8 and more, well, Specials. I fondly recall heady nights following the Skanxters, at the Queen’s Tap, The Vic, and the Lamb in Marlborough, and remember the disheartening revelation a gig at Level III in 98 would be their last. I reminisce how, during their comical, “I’ll never know (who nicked my bike),” lead singer Andy Paton would ask the dodgiest looking audience member, “Oi, was it you?” and how once I was selected for the honour!

Imagine my delight at catching up with Erin, who played keyboards in the band and hasn’t stopped since. “Not all the artists (on Pop-a-Top) are from Swindon,” Erin explained, “but most are, or have links to it.” With countless projects under his belt, such as dub production duo Subject A’s “Sleepwalkers” release with ex-Skanxter bass player Dean Sartain, and nostalgic two-tone reunion gigs for the Skanxters, Erin is exceptionally prolific.

Though meticulous effort has been refined into “Great Western Reggae Soundclash,” and while not astoundingly lyrical, despite the opening track “Rock Steady Rub,” with vocals parallel to Johnny Cash popping into Studio One, GWR concentrates more-so on keyboards akin to Jackie Mitto.

The Collective glide steadily through a plethora of traditional rock steady, which while wouldn’t sound out of place on a Trojan “Tighten Up” compilation, also has a sprinkle of reflections on Swindon. Again, in the aforementioned running train theme, the tongue-in-cheek “Night Bus to Highworth,” and a nod to Edith New, the Swindonian suffragette first to campaign in an aggressive manner.

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Fans of Jamaican music in Britain tend to separate into two trends, echoing dub and skinhead ska; the transitional stage is often overlooked. When really, developed through hard times in 1960s Kingston, where curfews set by the government to curb “rude boy” culture, it consequently mellowed the mood for the following era, and was Jamaica’s most creative period musically.

To hark back to this rock steady/boss reggae period is tried and tested in this album, a rarity left to groups like New York’s Frightnrs, who in turn add a little New Yorker panache to their sound. The Eric Bardwell Collective do similar, plus, while fundamentally inspired by rock steady they’re not afraid to explore techniques usually saved for ska or reggae, from chugging choo-choo vocals to nyabinghi drums and one drops, the tune “Why Why,” being a grand example of this, and along with both male and female vocals, the latter supplied by Dominican-born Sandra Bell, it makes the sound wholly unique and excitingly refreshing.

Erin Solarise

With rich history including backing reggae star Dennis Bovell, and a trip to Jamaica in 2003, to record at Byron Lee’s legendary Dynamic Sounds with Studio One engineer Sylvan Morris, Erin Bardwell has the contacts to add a plethora of talent to feature within the Collective. On this release you’ll find Selecter Guitarist Neol Davies, drummer Matty Bane of the Neville Staple Band, Pat Powell of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra alongside Swindon’s finest line-up, such as, among others, horns from the SN Dubstation.

There’s much here to impress and delight the reggae enthusiasts, my personal favourite being “Change,” where the Byron Lee influences shine, reminding of the frequently sampled piano riff of “My Conversation,” by the Uniques. Although there’s equally as much inspiration external to reggae, at times the soundscape took me to contemplate early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett days, and a sprinkling of Sgt Pepper towards the album’s close. So, I figure there’s as much here to enjoy for the occasional reggae listener.

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There’s an album launch at the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington on December 1^st, the Erin Bardwell Collective are also live at The Castle in Swindon on Friday 8^th and Zed Alley in Bristol 15^th December. If that’s too close to the big C, I’d highly recommend you keep warm and treat yourself to an early yule pressie; grab yourself a CD or download of this outstanding local riddim redeemer here at Bandcamp.

For more info on Erin Bardwell Collective and the Top-a-Pop label, click here.

Daniella Faircloth in a Shoebox; Unbinding Halloween Chills

It’s been about a year since the editor of Index:Wiltshire sent me to Swindon for the press screening of a new, homemade film. Slightly anxious at the prospect of being among “real” journalists, thought I was in over my head. Instead, I was welcomed by a family atmosphere, with more cakes than journalists (turned out it was the producer’s birthday too.)

Immediately I threw off those fears, this isn’t a pretentious Hollywood charade, this is Swindon for crying out loud; only provoking a new concern, how good could a locally made movie really be, would I need to humour wild Swindonian thespians?

Turned out I was pleasantly surprised, the film, Follow the Crows, was superb, but my bag of nerves not through yet. An unidentified apocalyptic event threw an oddball bunch of survivors into a baron wilderness, each with their own vicious agenda; the plot of the film unnerving when surreally, you’re sitting amidst the actors playing these fruitcakes.

At the movie’s close I stumbled up in awe, cake crumbs scattered the floor; this was an awesome film and I felt honoured, as if I was initiated into a secret gang with this exclusive preview. But meeting the actors and one actress, Danielle Faircloth, who I’d just seen at daggers with each other on the screen, I had to acknowledge it was just an act; that’s what these guys do, and very realistically too. This exceptionally talented bunch weren’t about to carve me up over a tin of spam. No, we just shook hands and chatted amicably.

I have maximum respect for those who can so convincingly act, my personal performing career peaked when my Shakin’ Stevens impression gained me first place at the Cub Scout pack holiday talent show, the rest has been downhill since (I probably didn’t need to mention that.)

The Producer of Follow the Crows, Marcus Starr, explained a lot more work was needed to perfect the sound, and as I write this I’m pleased to announce the team claim a release date is imminent. More on this news as and when, but today I wanted to make a point, and introduce Swindon’s cosy, Shoebox Theatre.

The Shoebox Theatre is a space in Theatre Square for talented performers, writers, musicians and directors to develop, train, and showcase their work, in hope of bringing something different and exciting to audiences of Swindon. And with the talents of Danielle heading a mature themed horror play, by resident theatre company, the Wrong Shoes, called The Unbinding, I’m rest assured this will be a supreme Halloween indulgence.

With a local component, The Unbinding devised from historical accounts of witches from Wiltshire; the play explores mob-mentality and our insatiable need to punish those who are different. Accused of witchcraft, four women are locked together, to await their sentence in the shadows. Scared and hungry they don’t know who they can trust, or who will survive.

It promises to be an intense performance, featuring stark realism, horror, physical theatre, strobe lights, and containing scenes of a sexual nature, with violence, and strong language some viewers may find disturbing; has to be scarier than wandering the streets collecting Haribo.

Book your tickets for The Unbinding, opening on Halloween (31^st Oct) and running until 4^th November at the Shoebox Theatre via www.theunbinding.co.uk

The only thing not scary is the price; tickets at a tenner. Plus, you’ll be supporting the Wrong Shoes at the Shoebox Theatre, who, as well as creating theatre, the registered charity since 2015, also provides educational opportunities for people in Swindon and the surrounding areas to engage in original, contemporary theatre, both as performance makers and as audiences.

Look out for ingeniously titled, Much Ado About Puffin too, a performance for the children. Using skilful puppetry, beautiful music, and good old fashioned storytelling, Much Ado About Puffin is about old habits, new friendships and stepping out into the unknown, and runs this Saturday, 14^th October.

For more information and other performances by the Shoebox Theatre: https://www.shoeboxtheatre.org.uk/

But don’t take my word for it; listen to Billie!