Wotton’s 2013 Arts Festival, the 43rd organised by the Wotton U. Edge Arts Association, opens up with a celebration of St. George on Saturday April 20 in Market Street. There will be a children’s workshop to create a dragon which will miraculously appear though the doors of the Town Hall. (Afterwards it will be transported to join the dragon at Newark Park at a St. George event the following day) Then there will be a toast to our patron saint, a performance by the Waterly Bottom Mummers and dancing by the” Ragged and Old” Morris Team from Bussage and “Malmesbury Morris”.

On this Saturday evening there will be a concert by the Wotton and District Silver Band in St. Mary’s Church. Following the success of last year’s concert they will again be joined by Dursley Church Organist Nigel Davies playing on the famous Handel organ.

The main part of the festival begins on Friday April 26, with the Preview of the Art Exhibition at the Civic Centre at 8 pm. Jane Fearnley-Whittinstall, local author and mother of Hugh, will officially open the event. The exhibition, by local artists will also be open on Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 10am to 4 pm.

The Lea Singers from Hertfordshire will give a concert programme entitled “War and Peace” at St. Mary’s Church on April 27. starting at 7.30. The two works to be performed are Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Durufle’s Requiem.

The Lea Singes will also be taking part in the Festival Eucharist Service at 10.15 on Sunday Morning.

Artists from a very different age will feature on Monday April 29. in a talk by Dr. Steven Blake about Medieval Wall Paintings in Gloucestershire. This evening, presented by the Wotton U. Edge Historical Society, is at 7.30pm in the Civic Centre.

On Tuesday, April 30, distinguished Gloucestershire poets Emily Willis and Peter Wyton will give a Poetry Reading in the Electric Picture House at 7.30pm The tables will be turned on our local celebrity interviewer Ali Vowles on Wednesday May 1st.when she will be asked to select her favourite discs to take with her to a deserted island. Asking the questions will be Philip Taubenheim who will also quizzing local artist Rob Collins for his choice of records. The venue for this evening is the Blue Coat School.

Film Night, on Thursday May 2, at The Electric Picture House will reflect the centenary of the cinema in Wotton.

At Friday’s Variety Music Night in the Town Hall you will be able to hear Wotton group” Dead Dog Cider”, “The Elderly Brothers” from Uley and Wotton’s Blow Away Band performing a selection of music from different eras of the 20th. Century. A Buffet supper will be served in this cafe style event.

We are delighted that The Bristol Ensemble will again be performing for our Festival Concert at St. Mary’s Church at 7.30. . The concert will include music by Benjamin Britten to mark the centenary of his birth and Schubert’s Trout Quintet.This outstanding group of musicians will be joined by young violinist Elin White who has been a beneficiary of North Nibley bursaries to assist her musical studies and is now at music college in London. The festival will conclude with the traditional outdoor concert of hymns and marches given Wotton and District Silver Band on Wotton Hill at 11 am on Sunday May 5 to mark Band Sunday.