PREPARATIONS for the Westbury Music and Arts Festival are coming together as the town gets ready to enjoy an exciting line-up of events and activities next month.
The festival, which will run from September 17th to October 17th, aims to bring a wide range of cultural events to people in Westbury and the surrounding area, as well as drawing people to the town.
Following on the success of last year’s three- day Westbury Music Festival, which was sponsored by the Rotary and Lions Clubs of Westbury, this year’s festival will extend over a period of 4 weeks.
This year, the festival includes an extensive programme of arts events, sponsored by Matravers School and features exhibitions at the Laverton, many and various craft workshops, poetry reading, life drawing, drama, sculpture and dancing.
Musical events include Sgt Peppers Only Dart Board Band (a Beatles tribute band), the Lee Ingram jazz quintet, Bratton Silver Band, The Great Western Chorus, an Irish folk group, and the Opus One Band. There is also a recital by the concert pianist, John Paul Ekins, and a classical guitar recital by John Mills and Cobie.
A list of events can be found on the festival website www.wmafestival.co.uk., and tickets will be on sale from 1st September.
The festival committee, which includes members from Westbury Lions, Westbury Rotary, and Matravers School, has been working hard to put the festival together.
Bob Lee, a member of the committee said, “We started working on it in January, and things seem to have snowballed from there! People hear about what we’re doing and want to participate. In particular we’ve got a lot of arts events and workshops, which are mainly being organised by Matravers School.”
The varied festival programme should appeal to a wide audience.
“It brings a lot of culture to Westbury, puts Westbury on the map, and provides people in Westbury with a base to show what they can do,” Bob added.
Raffle results
The organising committee would like to thank everyone who took part in the recent raffle, which raised over £600 towards the cost of running the festival. The committee would also like to thank all those businesses that contributed the raffle prizes.
Westbury Town Crier, Sean Price, drew the winning tickets in the Market Place on the evening of the Westbury Street Fayre.
The prizewinners were:-
1st: £250 Theatre Break in London: Sarah Quinn of Salisbury
2nd: Sunday Lunch at the Cedar Hotel: Margaret Reeves of Westbury
3rd: Tea for Two at Beechfield House: Len Wilcox of Bradford on Avon
4th: Phillips CD Soundmachine: Sylvia Searle of Westbury
5th: Six Bottles of Kumala Wine: Clive Weare of Frome
6th: Clean Machine Vouchers: Alan Ingram of Westbury
7th: Alan Petrie Garage Service: Peter Twort of Westbury
8th: Two Tickets to a Festival Event: Chris Hebden of North Bradley
