Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Friday May 5th.
Reserved seating
Raised seats £15
Flat seating £14

"Mortimer's Miscellany"
with Sir John Mortimer and guests

Supported by Castle Estate Agents Ltd.

Sir John Mortimer QC first made a name for himself as a barrister and champion of free speech in defending Oz magazine, the Sex Pistols and Penguin books at their celebrated 1960's trials. Now a distinguished author of many TV plays, his most famous creation is Rumpole of the Bailey. His TV and film adaptations, notably "Brideshead Revisited" and "Tea with Mussolini" and his autobiographical "Voyage around my Father" were all received with great critical acclaim.

The show will feature Sir John, a masterful raconteur himself, and distinguished actress Angharad Rees and Rohan McCullough with Musicians Clive Conway and Christine Croshaw performing a mixture of poetry, songs, anecdotes, musical pieces and occasionally sad, but mostly funny stories from the theatrical and the legal worlds.

Presented in association with Clive Conway Celebrity Productions Ltd.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

"The Curse of the Were-Rabbit "
Aardman Animations - Dreamworks

Supported by Cromhall Refinishing Ltd.

Courtesy Aardman /Dreamworks

Another Oscar-winning film from Bristol's Nick Park and Oldbury-on-Severn screenwriter Bob Baker.

A chance to see Aardman's block-buster smash-hit of an Oscar-winning movie in your own local cinema at a price which will allow Mum and Dad, and perhaps grandma and grandad, to come along too.

Wallace and Gromit's adventure, as they figure out how to grow prize winning produce for the annual Village show, has visual gags and complexities which all can understand. The special joy however is the verbal humour which works at so many levels that trendy sophisticates and young children alike can enjoy and savour the fun.

Saturday morning cinema has come a long way!

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

"Mozartissimo"
The Opera Box

Supported by Thornbury and Civica Systems plc.

Mozartissimo - An evening of Mozart opera.

In the 250th anniversary of his birth, Opera Box transports the audience back in time to an 18th century salon for an insight into Mozart's life as seen through the eyes of his contemporary Emanuel Schikaneder, who was himself an outstanding actor and theatre owner. This is an exquisite evening of Mozart opera especially arranged for wind trio, soprano and baritone. Lovely music, lavish costumes and witty dialogue - a delight on the eye and the ear.

Opera Box.
Rosina Alter - Bassoon; David Miller - Clarinet; Gillian Taylor - Oboe; Alison Charton West - Soprano; Brendon Wheatley - Herr Emanuel Schikaneder; Gabrialla Ingram - Designer.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Sunday May 7th.

Free entry

Civic Service - A celebration of the community

St Mary's church

St Mary's Church

Town Mayor Shirley Holloway invites the people of Thornbury and representatives of community groups to join her in a service of appreciation for the work of Thornbury's many volunteers. The service will recognise these achievements and will include some joyous performances by talented local artists.

Everybody connected with the Festival is invited, so come along, join in and hear some glorious music and sing some stirring Hymns in support of the continuing success of the Festival in the future and in recognition of the achievements in the past.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Sunday May 7th.

Tickets £3

"Rock Concert "
ngm

Armstrong Hall

The role of ngm in the musical life of the town is well known; they are assisting the Festival by promoting this concert which is aimed at the young people of the Town who are seldom attracted to the traditional Festival events. This is an opportunity to hear some of the very best local talent strutting their stuff and rockin' along, there should be plenty of room to dance around, so the place to be on Sunday Night is the Armstrong Hall.

The groups who will be playing will be announced nearer the date.

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Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Monday May 8th.

Tickets £4

"Brunel 200"
Keith Hickman - illustrated talk by local expert

This is the bi-centenary of Brunel's Birth, a series of events will be celebrating his achievements in transport, design, architecture and engineering and the contribution that he made to innovation, progress and our industrial growth.

We have invited Keith Hickman from Thornbury to tell the story of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, his genius as an engineeer, his many achievements, yet his failure to reward his patient investors.

Keith is a noted member of the Bristol model engineering club, a member of the Brunel society and on the committee of the Thornbury Heritage Trust and Thornbury Museum Friends, he is a regular speaker on I K Brunel and his father Mark. The talk will be illustrated with photographic slides.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Monday May 8th.

Tickets £10  Conc. £8.

"Fine Arts Brass in Concert"

Supported by Berkeley Vale Motors and
Liberty Printers Ltd.

Now in their 25th year, the internationally acclaimed Fine Arts Brass are one of the most successful brass chamber groups having performed over two thousand concerts in over 60 countries.

The repertoire extends over the whole of the musical spectrum from medieval and classical music to jazz and musicals and over 50 new works have been commisioned and received their first performance by F A B.

The ensemble are noted for the versatility of their sound, their enthusiasm and passion for the music their sense of fun and an ability to please an audience. The atmosphere in St Mary's church will be warm and receptive, the programme varied and interesting. Highly recommended.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Monday May 8th.

Free entry

"Poetry Slam" with Poetry Can's
Claire Williamson and Glenn Carmicheal

Can you slam? Poets can!

Poetry Can's Claire Williamson and Glenn Carmichael will again be leading this open-mic event in the White Lion public house. Last year local poet and octogenarian Alice Johnson from Tytherington triumphed in front of a cheering crowd of well-wishers and supporters to become the winner of Thornbury's first poetry slam.

Do you write poetry just for fun or are you more ambitious? Either way you probably deserve a wider audience, so, swallow hard and let us know that you are hoping to read some of your own work in the evening. You will be very welcome and the atmosphere is really friendly.

Contact Barbara on 01454 412272.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

Tuesday May 9th.

Tickets £4

"Bristol International Airport"
with Mike Littleton

Mike Littleton is the Community Liaison Manager at Bristol International Airport and gives a fascinating insight into the workings of such a vast enterprise. He traces the history, development and success of the Airport, not forgetting the effect of weather on its day to day operation

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Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

"Time travel - Fact or Fiction"
Prof. Jim Al-Khalili

Supported by Essilor Ltd.

If you are interested in Black Holes, Wormholes and Time machines and you never understood Hawking's "A brief History of Time" (and even if you did!) then Jim Al-Khalili has the answers for you. He is well known for his relaxed style of presentation, in fact, we had to persuade him not to appear on stage seated in a comfortable armchair!

Prof Al Khalili is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Surrey, he has published over 60 scientific papers and contributed to several textbooks on theoretical physics.

Jim holds the chair in public engagement in science and has delivered over 200 public lectures around the world as well as writing numerous articles for newspapers and magazines and contributing to radio and TV programmes on science. If you come along and find some of the arguments are a bit tricky, you may well find out if you can attend the same lecture again - travelling back from the future!!

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Tuesday May 9th.

Tickets £4

"Poetry Reading"
Philip Lyons and Matthew Barton

Philip Lyons       Matthew Barton    

Philip Lyons returns to the Festival having held a successful open-mic evening reading his Poetry at the Chantry last October, he is joined by fellow poet Matthew Barton.

Philip lives in Bristol and has taught at various Universities, Psychiatric Hospitals and at Prisons for male and female prisoners. His work among people under stress, with few prospects, has a powerful influence on his poetry but he manages to find some optimism in their lives and attitudes.

Matthew lives in Bristol and has also worked with people in institutions. Given their backgrounds it will be interesting to look for contrasts and similarities in the poet's styles and outlook on life.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

"Classical Music"
Eleanor Turner - Harpist

Supported by "Making Music"

Eleanor Turner appears by courtesy of Making Music.

She has appeared in numerous orchestras and ensembles and also plays In Concert as a solo artist.

Sit back, close your eyes, and be transported, for there can be no sound more musical or magical than that of a solo harp heard in the intimate space of a historic former chapel.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

"Relative"
Niki McCretton & Kathy Hinde

Supported by The Walter Hawkins Fund at Quartet Community Foundation.

Photo by Mark Passmore - Apex

Relative is an entertaining, theatrical, musical and visual creation integrating films of real people interwoven with the writers' experiences with their own grannies - expressed through humour, dance and movement.

Niki McCretton has an international reputation for her trade-mark mix of physicality, dance and humour, while Kathy Hinde is an acclaimed artist who has created a virtual backyard with vintage technology, film and gramophones with high-tec, live piano and video that shifts the action from the modern to the old-fashioned.

If you have a granny, or are a granny, then this will be an evening to savour as Niki and Kathy explore the special relationship with grandchildren. Commissioned by The Nuffield Theatre Lancaster, the show is supported by The Merlin Theatre and Take Art and Dance South West.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Thursday May 11th.

Tickets £4

 "Who's Whose? "
with Philip Gooden

There is a growing awareness of the courtesy passing from writer to reader in a well structured, grammatical, well punctuated piece of work. Correct grammar and punctuation had almost become the prerogative of the obsessive, whilst emails and texting have made "Correct English" almost redundant to many compulsive communicators.

Lynn Truss's amusing best-selling strike at low punctuation standards "Eats, shoots and leaves" is showing the way; similarly Philip Gooden passes an amused eye over the chaos to which poor standards can lead. His talk highlights many of the "howlers" that he has come across in his working life as a teacher of English and sets out humorously to show the audience how to become aware of their own writing standards.

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Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Thursday May 11th.

Tickets £10  Conc. £8

"When in Rome"
with Alex Horne

Supported by Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel

Alex followed success at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival with a sell-out London West End run. Assisted by his nerdy computer boffin assistant, Tim Key (star of Radio 4's "Good Night Luke Walsall"), the pair invite the audience to keep Latin alive in a hilarious 1 hour tutorial.

"Every Body Talks" created last year, opens the show. After the interval, Alex will never again be stumped by the question "But what are you going to do with your latin ...?" He is putting the language to good use and doing his bit, through deadpan surrealism, buffoonery, and his quick-wit to reverse the trend with laughter and to reinvigorate people's interest. It is good clean fun, with games (sometimes chaotic), plenty of puns, lots of latin cases, but no swearing.

The show has been acclaimed in the National Press and made "Pick of the Week" in no fewer than 11 national papers. In MMVI (2006) Alex is touring XXII towns with a Roman connection; Thornbury's Roman coin hoard came just in time to secure the show for the Festival.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Thursday May 11th.

Tickets £6,  

"Music of the Spheres"
with Simon Kohli (sarod)
and Tapan Roy (tabla)

Supported by St Mary Centre.

Simon Kohli       Tapan Roy       

Two virtuosos of Indian music come together to create a memorable atmosphere and weave a magical, mystical spell of music and rhythm.

Simon Kohli is a widely respected sarod player following his choice of playing Indian music as a career after learning Jazz and Flamenco guitar. He has not looked back and is in demand all over the South West playing and exploring the riches of his chosen instrument.

Tapan Roy has played throughout India and the sub-continent and in many famous venues in the UK including concerts in the Royal Albert Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall. He has played with many famous musicians and classical dancers, he is in great demand all over Britain and has made a valuable contribution to the richness of cultural life in the South West.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Friday May 12th.

Tickets £4

"Before we got the tele!"
with David Elsbury

David Elsbury has established an enviable reputation as one of the very best lunchtime speakers.

His presentation this afternoon continues the fine tradition that has been established at the Festival. It recalls the days of flickering images including travelogues, newsreels, documentaries, feature film extracts and cartoons.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Friday May 12th.
Reserved seating
Raised seats £14
Flat seating £13

"An audience with Jonathan Miller"
Dr Jonathan Miller

Supported by Bank Cottage Practice and
Cobalt Telephone Technologies

Armstrong Hall

Dr Miller will be talking about his extraordinary career and the influences which have informed his current views. He will take questions from the audience after the interval and will be available after the show to sign copies of his books.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Saturday May 13th.

Tickets £4  Conc. £2

"Community Sing Thing"
led by Liz Martin

If you like singing, this is the event for you.

It will be lively, inclusive and fun. You don't need to be an experienced singer to join in this session, although participants usually surprise themselves to hear the great sounds they can make when encouraged to do so in a lively and encouraging environment.

Liz Martin is a professional musician who runs workshops for children and adults including Thornbury Community Choir.

All the family are invited, all ages, but young children need to be accompanied by an adult.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Saturday May 13th.
Reserved seating
Raised seats £15
Flat seating £14

"Girl Talk"
Barb Jungr, Mari Wilson, Claire Martin

Supported by Eastwood Park Training & Conference Centre.

A brash, lipstick 'n' high heels revue. Three singers at the top of their individual fields feature in a stunning show bringing to life again some of the songs we love to hate - in a glamorous celebration of all things girlie. Look out for the silks and sequins among the pinnies and rubber gloves.

Three gorgeous girls, dishin' the dirt and doin' the housework - if "Desperate Housewives" ever needed a soundtrack then this would be it.

Claire Martin is an award winning British Jazz Singer of the Year, Barb Jungr is an International Cabaret Award winner and Mari Wilson sings Soul as the girls solo and sing in harmony songs by Bacharach, Sondheim, Tamla Mowtown and others.

Date

 Time

 Festival Week Events

 Where?

 Sunday May 14th.

Tickets £7

"Trail and Tea and Talk"
Guides- Terry Ray and Chris Davies

Start and Finish at
The Chantry

Following the very successful sell-out Tree trail at Tortworth last year we are continuing the same theme, this time in Thornbury itself.

We will walk the soon-to-be-published Easy Access Trail which takes in the sights starting at The Chantry walking up Castle Street and across The Plain, then via stretches of Streamside Walk to the Medieval fishponds. We shall return to The Chantry taking in Thornbury Park and views of St Mary's Church and the Castle. This will be followed by a delicious tea with scones and lashings of cream. Finally, to round off the afternoon, following your cream tea Chris Davies will present a half-hour illustrated talk on the history of The Chantry itself.

Terry Ray will lead two walks starting at The Chantry at 1.45pm and 3.00pm lasting about an hour and covering about 2.6 miles. The paths are level and unless there has been recent rain, ordinary footwear or trainers will be suitable.

Enjoy a relaxed walk, a delicious tea break - and a little history.

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 Jan. 2006

 Time

 Winter Programme Events

 Where?

Thursday 26th.

10.00 am
and 12.30

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
"Brunel"

Armstrong Hall

2006 Brunel Cast -
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

BOV Theatre school  "Brunel"  - A review (abridged) by Barbara Ray

The clever production, watched by almost 350 primary school children from Thornbury and Alveston, used a play within a play, enabling the main action to involve entertainers and acrobats writing and performing a play about Brunel in the unlikely performance space of the SS Great Western docked in Liverpool long after its useful life as a passenger ship to Australia.

Interspersed within the fun, the six actors got across a huge amount of information about the amazing achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in particular, and Victorian engineers in general, who took the country from a largely agricultural society into industrial times.

The actors even managed an extremely effective demonstration of the different principles utilised in two of his bridges, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Royal Albert Railway Bridge across the Tamar, showing how a different technique was used to prevent the pillars being pulled together by the weight of users.

The children enjoyed the fun and pretence of the players and undoubtedly learnt many useful facts about this famous Victorian. The production ended with a historical re-enactment of the sick and dying Brunel being carried across the Tamar Bridge to the strains of Handel's music when the Bridge opened in 1859, just six weeks before he died

 May 2006

 Time

 Winter Programme Events

 Where?

Monday 8th.

11.30am

"The Pollutants' Tale"
Dr Dudley Shallcross

Castle School

Photo BBC

The power of natural forces cannot be exaggerated. Hurricane Katrina although widely forecast, caused major damage and loss of life, whilst the flooding caused by the failure of the protective levees turned tourist and residential areas of central New Orleans into disaster areas.

But was nature acting alone or did Man have a role in the generation of the immense power of this devastating hurricane?

Are there lessons to be learned?

Dr Dudley Shallcross is a lecturer at Bristol University with local connections. He has visited the disaster zone, made a study of of the area and the surrounding seas and gained an insight into the steps which may be required to reduce the frequency and power of the seasonal hurricanes.

 May 2006

 Time

 Winter Programme Events

 Where?

Wednesday 10th.

10.30 to 2.30pm

1.30 to 3.30pm

Creative Writing Workshop
by Philip Lyons and Matthew Barton 

A session by the well known Bristol poets Philip Lyons and Matthew Barton who are giving a reading of their work in Thornbury on Tuesday evening. The workshop presentation encourages participation and is designed to hold the interest of the young people in the audience.

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 March 2006

 Time

 Spring Programme Events

 Where?

 13th and 14th March

Various

Eisteddfod Speech and Drama
Class Judging

The Speech and Drama Eisteddfod is sponsored by the Lions Club of Thornbury

Whitsun Hall,
Hatch Commumity
at Castle Street/
Kington Lane Junction
Thornbury

Eisteddfod Music Class Judging

The Music Eisteddfod is sponsored by the Lions Club of Thornbury

St Mary's Church
Castle Street
Thornbury

  Sunday 26th March

2.30pm

 Eisteddfod Concert
Showcasing some of the top young performers in Thornbury

Armstrong Hall

2002 Best overall vocal
Thornbury Cymrodorian Cup Presentation
    

The judging for the various Eisteddfod classes will take place over an 11 day period in two venues.

For details of times of Music classes etc.,
please ring Trish Wilcock on 01454 883763
or Barbara Ray on 01454 412272               

For details of times of Speech and Drama classes etc., please ring 01454 413887.

Selected class winners from the Eisteddfod will be invited on stage at the Eisteddfod Concert on Sunday March 26th, performing, singing or playing, for an appreciative audience.

 May 2006

 Time

 Community Events

 Where?

The following performances will take place in an extended Festival period. To cater for those who are unable to travel to the usual venues the events will be held in the residential homes listed below.

 Various TBA

"Songs from the Shows"
with Four of a Kind

Four of a Kind take the lead in singing some of the well known songs from film and theatre and, of course, before too long the audience join in and sing along with gusto to the much-loved favourites from the musical stage.

Various TBA

"Movement and music"
with The Shadows Dance Team

The Shadows demonstrate the athleticism, expression and joy which they bring to the world of dance and show just what can be achieved in a small area when the dance team move with agility, grace and precision.

Various TBA

"Voices in Harmony"
with Thornbury Community Choir

The Thornbury Community Choir are a new group with tremendous enthusiasm who sing choral work for pleasure.

They sometimes surprise themselves with the great sounds they can make when encouraged to do so under the skilled guidance of their professional leader Liz Martin

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