What's on in pictures

Brownsea in autumn

IF you are of a whimsical turn of mind (or a fan of Beatrix Potter), you will think “Squirrel Nutkin” when you see this beautiful red squirrel. But you don’t have to go to Potter’s Lake District to see these enchanting little animals. You can see them on Brownsea Island, the National Trust property in…

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Me and My Girl, BLOC at Bristol Hippodrome

IN the last line of the lyric of the title song of this show are the words that sum up this whole production … “and we’ll have love, laughter, be happy ever after”. From the moment the curtain rises to the wholehearted finale, BLOC, the only local company to present shows at this 1,904 seater…

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A primal roar of Welshness

SONGLINES, the magazine that celebrates folk and indigenous music around the world, described the Welsh folk band VRi as making “a primal roar of Welshness” – celebrating the music and language of their homeland, the trio are coming to Dorset for a short tour with Artsreach, starting at Corfe Castle village hall on Friday 11th…

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Chamber society’s 80th anniversary

BOURNEMOUTH Chamber Music Society celebrates its 80th anniversary in the 2024-25 season, opening with a recital by Jiaxin, the cellist wife of the celebrated cello virtuoso Julian Lloyd Webber, on 20th October at the usual time of 3pm at Kimmeridge House on the Bournemouth University Talbot campus. The society made its debut on the local…

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Return to 23 Railway Cuttings

FOR readers of a certain age, the names of Tony Hancock and Sid James – and their radio and television programme Hancock’s Half Hour – evoke a grumpy pessimist and his optimist Cockney friend. These immortal comic creations return to the stage in Hancock’s Half Hour – the Lost TV Episodes, currently on a national…

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George Orwell’s 1984, Bath Theatre Royal and touring

FOR many in the varied press night audience at Bath Theatre Royal, Big Brother would have been a TV show they had seen since childhood, and Room 101 a favourite radio, and later television comedy show. Perhaps that’s why it was necessary for the Lindsay Posner production of Ryan Craig’s adaptation of the iconic 1949…

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Leading West Country artists at the Portland Gallery

TWO of this region’s finest artists, landscape painter James Lynch and collagist and sculptor Marzia Colonna, have exhibitions this autumn at The Portland Gallery in Mayfair. Both artists have national – indeed, international – reputations, and this is an opportunity to see their work in solo shows at one of London’s most prestigious galleries. James Lynch,…

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Helen and Karen at Wimborne

KAREN Wimhurst and Helen Porter first met in the late 1990s, working together on Common Ground’s Confluence project, mapping the river stour from its source to its meeting the sea. Clarinetist Karen, who lives in Shaftesbury, was Composer in Residence for the project, and singer and teacher Helen was the animateur. Their musical relationship grew…

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A new play and a new director

CIRENCESTER’s Barn Theatre is small – but it has big ambitions, and these have been fully justified by the quality and success of its productions, home-grown or shared. Autumn brings a premiere of a written-for-the-Barn thriller, Room 13, opening on 28th September, and the appointment of a new executive director, Liam McMullan. Running to 9th…

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Volunteer orchard champions needed in West Dorset

THE National Trust is looking forvolunteers to help care for the traditional orchards in some of its West Dorset properties, including at Shedbush Farm, St Gabriel’s Farm and West Bexington. These orchards, designated as priority habitats, are rich in biodiversity, including rare and endangered species. However, they are at risk of decline and need dedicated…

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Sustainability grant for Southampton’s MAST studio

THE adventurous MAST studio theatre in Southampton has received a £5,000 sustainability grant, one of the latest awards from the Theatres Trust’s Small Grants Programme with The Linbury Trust. This latest round, which included the 100th grant (to Glastogow’s Tron theatre) marks the seventh round of the Small Grants programme, with 20 theatres receiving grants…

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A tale of food and typhoid

MARY Mallon is an Irish immigrant, an amiable host … and a killer? A talented cook in New York City in 1906 takes a job preparing delicious meals for yet another high society family, and yet again they begin to fall ill and die. Coincidence? Mary thinks so. She’s put all that nonsense behind her…

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Wildflower planting to boost floodplain biodiversity

A TEAM of Dorset conservation officers and volunteers has begun a project to plant native wildflowers and meadow grasses at Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone, aimed at enhancing biodiversity on the Stour floodplain fields. The 92-acre Bere Marsh Farm, between the old Somerset and Dorset railway line and the river, is owned by the Countryside…

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Forty years on – the Bourton Village Video

FORTY years ago community activists Sue and John Holman and Trevor Bailey decided to make a video about the North Dorset village of Bourton and its people. In the intervening years the film has been largely forgotten, but now the original tapes have been digitised by Windrose Media Trust, which was founded by Trevor Bailey,…

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Star soprano with Concerts in the West

SOPRANO Hilary Cronin comes Dorset and Somerset for the October series of Concerts in the West on 4th and 5th October. Hilary, who was selected by BBC Music Magazine as a Rising Star of 2022, having won both first prize and the audience award at the 2021 Handel Singing Competition, is accompanied by Asako Ozawa….

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Three in One from SNADS

STURMINSTER Newton Amateur Dramatic Society – known as SNADS – has a long record of staging original, often locally written plays, and the autumn production, on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October, features three new short plays written and directed by company veteran Craig White. Three In One brings some interesting and mature themes to…

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Gothic classic at Bath

THE world premiere of a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic gothic novel, Dracula, comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 8th to Saturday 12th October. Blackeyed Theatre’s production marks the centenary of the first staging of the late Victorian vampire story that has inspired so many different interpretations, from contemporary dance to Hammer horror…

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Moviola in October

THE strangely competitive world of giant vegetable growing is at the heart of Swede Caroline, an unexpected hit that was filmed in Somerset around Shepton Mallet, and is the most in demand film in Moviola’s October programme. Caroline, the central character in this hilarious mockumentary, is understandably upset when her prized marrow plants are stolen….

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“It’s a privilege,” says the Wicked Queen

EMMA Norman’s introduction to live theatre was pantomime in her home town, at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre. The magic and colour of that show caught her imagination. “It made me want to do this,” said this year’s Wicked Queen in Bath Theatre Royal’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. “It is the catalyst for so many…

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Views of the spire

CATHEDRALS are some of our most remarkable buildings – ancient, up to 800 years old in some cases, beautiful, spiritual and often located in remarkable positions. Durham immediately leaps to mind and St Paul’s in the Blitz is truly described as iconic. But perhaps the most extraordinary is Salisbury, not just for its undeniable beauty…

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Bath Children’s LitFest

THE line-up for this year’s Bath Children’s Literature Festival, from Friday 27th September to Sunday 6th October, includes some of the country’s best-loved writers – Cressida Cowell, Michael Rosen, Cornelia Funke and Jacqueline Wilson. The organisers of one of the biggest children’s books festivals in the world have put together a programme of more than…

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A curious art

THE early autumn exhibition at Make, Hauser & Wirth’s gallery in Bruton High Street, celebrates the remarkable career and puppet creations of Lyndie Wright, who has been dedicated to the art of puppetry for 65 years. The Make show, The Curious Art of Puppetry, features an extraordinary collection of original puppet creations crafted at Lyndie…

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