MESSUMS, the contemporary arts centre in the 700 year old Tisbury tithe barn, is celebrating wood in all its forms in its current exhibition, and as part of the programme there is an evening of poetry and music on Friday 25th August. Words From The Woods, with Pippa Haywood and friends, at 6pm, is a…
NOVELIST and playwright Barney Norris, whose work is strongly rooted in his native Wiltshire, will be at Messums Wiltshire contemporary arts centre, in the Tisbury tithe barn, on Wednesday 23rd August at 6:30pm. Barney, whose powerful First World War play Echo’s End was premiered at Salisbury Playhouse earlier this year, will be talking about his…
THE ancient hills and hillforts of West Dorset are alive with poetry thanks to a pioneering South Dorset Ridgeway project developed with creative writing groups and local school children The South Dorset Ridgeway Poetry Parks, one of the first in the country working with local writers, will form part of the GPS Soundscape apps, through…
BOURTON’s World War 1 project continues in the autumn with plans for an exhibition, speakers, musical events and the construction of an on-line archive. The project, which has funding from the Heritage Lottery, Bourton Parish Council and the Dorset Rural Fund, has already made a great impact on the village with the community play, On…
MERE Literary Festival 2017, from 9th to 15th October, travels far and wide – from a tragic plane crash over Stourhead, to missionary work in Bangladesh, from the life of a travelling actor to the women in Thomas Hardy’s life. The festival, based mainly in the Grove Building, raises funds for the Mere and District…
A NEW series of poetry cards is now on show at the National Trust’s Max Gate, Thomas Hardy’s house near Dorchester. Hardy is most widely known for his Wessex novels, including Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native and The Mayor of Casterbridge. Yet Hardy was also a…
THE Dorset One World Festival, in Dorchester’s Borough Gardens, on Saturday 5th August, from 11am to 6pm, celebrates cultural diversity in Dorset through world food, music and storytelling. The festival is the brainchild of local resident Khalique Miah and his friends, the Speak Easy Group, who want to encourage networking and socialising with ethnic minority…
PHILIPPA Davis, the private chef from Shaftesbury, visited the world’s greatest literary festival for the first time this year, cooking for a group attending the Hay Festival … SOME readers may think I am well behind, as this event took place at the end of May, but I think you will find I am helping…
SILVER jubilee excitement is rising as the list of speakers for the 25th Wells Festival of Literature, from 13th to 21st October, is announced. The venue for most of the events is a marquee in the magnificent gardens of the Bishop’s Palace and the line-up of speakers includes Nick Clegg, Andy Hamilton, Clare Balding, Mike…
THE 17th century well at Coleridge Cottage in Nether Stowey, has been restored, and visitors can now draw water from it. The well, which is 16 metres (more than 52 feet) deep, was built in the 1640s at the same time as the cottage. The restoration has been funded with the support of visitors who bought…