The Bayeux Tapestry: In-Conversation Event in Frome

In 2027, British Museum exhibition curator Michael Lewis and medieval historian Janina Ramirez will be appearing at Frome’s Cheese & Grain for an exclusive talk on The Bayeux Tapestry.... This special event invites audiences behind the scenes of one of the most talked about exhibitions in recent history. On Saturday 6th March 2027, join the British Museum's Bayeux Tapestry exhibition curator Professor Michael Lewis and medieval historian Professor Janina Ramirez for an enthralling discussion on one of the world's greatest medieval treasures.

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What’s on at the Wharf Theatre in October?

OCTOBER at The Wharf Theatre, Devizes arrives with a burst of creativity, variety and irresistible entertainment. This month’s programme showcases everything that makes the Wharf Theatre such a beloved cultural home: bold theatre, international film, Shakespearean drama, laugh‑out‑loud comedy and the soaring power of live opera. It’s a rich, colourful season designed to surprise, delight and keep audiences coming back for more.....

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Dinosaurs at Jurassic Hillworth Park!

Images: Jess Worrow Ah, for the connotations of US drive-in movie theaters, now in decline over the pond, but embedded as characteristic romantic americana; the rock n roll era, waking up little Suzie, and Danny Zuko making his move on Sandy while a monster movie plays on a giant screen in the background. It was folklore Brits forever envied…. Okay, yesterday evening at…

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3 Daft Monkeys Jumping on The Barge at Honeystreet

I can be sent an album, review it because I love it, and put the artists atop of my cognitive must-see list. Although the list will grow as time progresses, I’m the elephant with a knotted trunk, awaiting some legendary local venue to announce, yeah, we’ve got these guys coming……  In this case the legendary venue is the most apt for this act locally, it is the worshipped…

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Halloween Firewalk for Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance

Would you dare to join Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance at their airbase on Friday 30 October 2026 for an unforgettable Firewalk Challenge? Feel the buzz, face your fears, and experience the ultimate adrenaline rush as you walk barefoot across hot embers beneath the autumn night sky - all while supporting Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance's lifesaving work..... Firewalk 2026…

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Ruby Darbyshire’s Freeman Tribute at Ilfracombe Festival

If it's not unusual for Wiltshire singer-songwriter Ruby Darbyshire to break out the bagpipes at a gig, it's often for a solo stint of piping. Yet Ruby continues to experiment with ways she can merge piping into her music, and this, recorded last weekend at Ilfracombe Maritime Festival, shows Ruby at her best, backed with a band playing a tribute to the victim of the worst miscarriage of justice in British history, Clive Freeman....

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I See Orange Pining For Apollo

If spring saw Swindon’s premier rock trio I See Orange breaking new ground on a US tour, autumn brings with it their first full length album, Pining For Apollo; prepare… I See Orange come at you loud and proud. It’s driving rock versus edgy grunge, but unafraid to test the boundaries of either subgenre as they form foundations into commercial rooms fit for The Cranberries or The Cardigans.

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DOCA Awarded National Lottery Grant

Congratulations to Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts, who announced yesterday that they've been awarded a substantial National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England…. This is amazing news for everyone in Devizes, on the day of their carnival, which in recent years required Devizes Town Council to subside it after years of Arts Council cuts prevented DOCA's most elaborate free events from going ahead.

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Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson Reflects on Shayne Hambakachere Case

Looking at the evidence presented by the media on the Shayne Hambakachere case in Chippenham, unless there is something we’re not being told I’m of the opinion there has been a serious miscarriage of justice. I spoke to Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson about this terrible outcome….. Shayne Hambakachere was a 16-year-old aspiring bricklayer and a pupil at Hardenhuish School, who tragically died after being fatally stabbed on 31st of January 2026.

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Wiltshire Music Awards Announce Ceremony Lineup, Excruciatingly AI 

With an AI-powered poster so excruciating I cannot bring myself to show it here, this year’s Wiltshire Music Awards announce the lineup for their ceremony. Should we judge a book by its cover?! The event looks great, but the AI epidemic has infected this, and is so cringeworthy it doesn’t invite attention, which is a shame when the tagline reads “inspiring Wiltshire…..”

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Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution Coming to Wharf Theatre

The Wharf Theatre production presents an electrifying confrontation between artistic truth and political authority, with a content warning! Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution is coming to the Wharf Theatre, Devizes. Gripping psychological drama; they’ve got it covered….. Directed by Jax Brady, Howard Barker’s 1984 BBC Radio 3 drama, Scenes from an Execution will be running from 21st to the 26th September.

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For A Lifetime, Luke Gittins

Newlywed, what lengths would you want your partner to go to with their wedding speech and gift? A six track EP of the most beautifully self-penned sentimental love songs?! Well, sorry, but honestly, unless you’re luckily now married to twenty-five year old Ed Sheeran-endorsed Chippenham singer-songwriter Luke Gittins, I think you’re asking a bit much! Congratulations to the couple, wishing them all the best of health and happiness on their journey together.

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Radiant by Kirsty A Wilmott: Local Author Book Review

While The Hebrew Bible depicts women in composite roles, from submissive domestic positions in a patriarchal society to powerful figures of leadership excelling moral courage, and in Abigail’s case, political peace-making, there are few exceptions from the rule that, being it was written and compiled by a male scribal elite, the Hebrew Bible is narrated from a male perspective. There remains only one exception, an Egyptian slave called Hagar in the Book of Genesis, where expression of any femininity derives from a character not linked to nobility.

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We Were Ready for Some Flocksteady Beats!

By Ben Romain. Images: ©Alice Rose Photography Following a stand out long weekend of blues and americana at the Hillbilly Hootenanny, Victoria and I managed to squeeze most of the Saturday of Flocksteady Bleats into a busy weekend of grown-up stuff and birthday dinners… Neither of us would declare an informed opinion on reggae, other than knowing we like some reggae, but not educated enough to know what sort of thing it was in a very wide genre (perils of genre pigeonholes shortly!)

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What to Do? September in Wiltshire

Nearly September, time to sew those name tags onto school uniforms. Still, loads to entertain you throughout the month. I’ve exhausted our ever-updating event calendar, do please check it out. I promise you, you’ll have never seen so much information on things to do within a reasonable drive from Devizes, all collated and into one place! Here’s some highlights and recommendations.

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Kruger Will Nick Your Vote, Johnny Foreigner

Featured Image: Danny Kruger, and an alien egg he's fertilising in hope the creature will vote for him I'd bet Cheddar Man would've had something to say about this. Blonde blue-eyed boyish Nightmare on Elcot Lane star Danny Kruger has gone off on one, again. The High Priest of Deform defecting, Marlborough Mackdaddy published a lengthy rant-type-proposal on his social media accounts, which, basically summarised, suggests he'll nick Johnny Foreigner's votes, in the name of democracy….

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Trouble in Wiltshire Town Centre; Let’s All Point the Finger at The Nearest Venue For Clickbait

I'm not going to tell you what town centre or venue it was in the headline; just like them. But this isn't about good nor bad publicity. Unlike them, you're not even finding out if you click on this badass bias baloney! And, important point: if you do know the venue don't be a twat and name it in the comments of this article's Facebook sha…

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The Turn; Debut Album from Salisbury’s 5 Nights at Adyans

Formed just two years ago at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, award-winning four-piece youth band, 5 Nights at Adyans, look set to release their highly-anticipated debut album, The Turn for the 30th anniversary of the prominent community youth music initiative, Bass Connection, at Salisbury Arts Centre on Saturday 5th September….. I confess I was uneasy about pressing play on the link they sent.

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Lightnin’ Willie and the Poorboys Opens New Season at Long Street Blues Club

September is a week away; parents will be brushing off school uniforms, but Devizes blues fans won’t be dusting their brooms, because Long Steet Blues Club opens for the autumn/winter season on the first Saturday, the 5th with Lightnin' Willie and the Poorboys…..    After a long absence the club welcome back one of the club favourites from California, Lightning Willie and his backing band The Poorboys.

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Hot Juice Project at The Three Crowns

Whoa! What happened last night at the trusty Three Crowns?! What happened last night at the Three Crowns has clearly happened before, and happens most weekends; Devizes folk old and particularly the young come to party…. I'm aware of that much. But if the quality of the party rests in the hands of whoever is at the control tower, I'd not witnessed…

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Talking in Code at The Southgate, Devizes

I've got this Jetpack app on my phone which allows me to make adjustments to the site. There's a new feature on it notifying me of articles published on this day in previous years. It revealed that on this day last year I fondly reviewed Talk in Code's single launch gig at The Vic in Swindon. Some things never change; last night I dropped into the Southgate where Talk in Code smashed it again…

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XTC’s Colin Moulding Wants AI Slop, Bad

Swindonite and founder member of XTC Colin Moulding released a new single last week, Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England). It’s previewing a three-track CD single being released via Burning Shed. This is Moulding's second single in five years, following 2021’s The Hardest Battle, but is it simply a smooth, rose-tinted specs wishful motivation, or is Colin really making plans for Nigel?!

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Henge Frontman Matthew C. Whitaker Solo Tour Comes to Frome

Featured Image: Antony Barkworth-Knight Despite intentionally making his tricks go wrong, Tommy Cooper was actually a skilled magician and member of The Magic Circle. SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist, and Benny Hill really was a milkman. In order to deride an art effectively you must first master it. It therefore stands to reason Matthew C. Whitaker, frontman of the cosplay prog-rave outfit HENGE, also has some highly acclaimed solo material….

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Ruby Darbyshire: God is Offline

Wiltshire singer-songwriter Ruby Darbyshire, you’re most likely familiar with, unless you joined Devizine family reader’s circle today, has a new song on YouTube, one she’s been playing at recent gigs. Here the track has a subtle piano added, and those wonderful brush drum strokes texturing it with that smooth jazzy ambience, yet with poignant narrative too. Give God is Offline…

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Blood, Sweat and Tears; Burn the Midnight Oil’s New Single

Pleasantly surprised in July when an awesome new single from Devizes’ rootsy Americana with a gothic twist collective, Burn the Midnight Oil revealed a more carefree and commercially viable style to their previously darker themed and rawer material. It was enough for James Threlfall to pick it up for BBC Introducing. With a new single out on Friday 28th August called…

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Large It Norm, in Trowbridge!

Yes, we've got to praise Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall like we should, because Fatboy Slim is going to be right there, but not right now; the 5th November… bugger, it's a Thursday! Ian Sawyer wins the Facebook comment section on this post with “That's my knees buggered for November then!” Which couldn't reflect on my own predicament more perfectly. It's been decades since my mates and I followed Norm like little lost sheep, yelling “Brimful of Asha on the 45” across Brighton to Glastonbury.

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Emergency Alert: Wessex Water Hosepipe Ban!

Surprised your mobile didn't sound the apocalyptic alarm to notify you about Wessex Water's hosepipe ban?! Then, you're a gullible idiot! But being 22,239 voters in one seaside town opted, again, for a fascist criminal ringmaster to lead them, and, similarly as stupid, a man named Bruce shoved nine Creme Eggs up his rectum, perhaps we've entered the satirical realm of Mike Judge and Ethan Cohen's…

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Stray Chords of Salisbury; How Jolyon Dixon was Reunited with Childhood Guitar

Turned around in just a day, a team of guitar “heir hunters” from Macclesfield called The Stray Chords have reunited Salisbury’s musician Jolyon Dixon with his childhood guitar, with a truly fascinating story….. Jordan, Sarah, and Damian are a family team behind Stray Chords, who’ve spent years rescuing lost guitars from auctions, marketplace listings, trades and house clearances, in order to restore and rehome them.

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Could We Be Hearing Talk in Code Songs on TV and Films?!

Congratulations are due to Wiltshire's indie-pop sensation Talk in Code, for sealing a second sync representation agreement, this time with Play Equals Sync, a music licensing company that helps place independent songs and instrumental tracks into television shows, advertisements, films, and video games. Could you be hearing Talk in Code songs on the telebox? We hope so! The band said, …

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Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall Introduces Youth Open Mic

Are you a budding musician aged between 13 and 18? Well, I tick neither box, but, as Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall is to introduce youth open mic sessions, I reckon it's a brilliant incentive…. Of course, most open mics have no age restrictions, but you know how it can go sometimes, when there's an aging hippy who wants to recite…

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