Plans being laid for next 10Parishes Festival

ARTISTS, venue and parish organisers, and volunteers are being invited to an open meeting in December to discuss next year’s 10Parishes Festival.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 9, at 7.30 pm in the Silver Street Centre, Wiveliscombe.
The 2009 festival will run over nine days from Saturday, September 12 to Sunday, September 20.
The annual festival has become a major biennial arts and community event in Wiveliscombe and the nine surrounding parishes, involving more than 100 artists and more than 150 events.
This year’s festival finished with a town centre celebration in The Square, Wiveliscombe, when thousands of people thronged the area to enjoy local food, drink, and entertainments.
More information about the festival can be found by logging on to http://www.10parishesfestival.org.uk/ or calling 01984 624564.

'Pavement Pirates' to show off their drawing skills

YOUNG artists in West Somerset are being urged to celebrate the art of the picture book later this month by showing their talents as pavement pirates.
It is part of the October Big Draw Festival, an initiative which began in 2000 and aims to encourage the whole country to start drawing.
More than 1,000 events are being planned around the country with the aim of proving that drawing is not only fun but also a great form of self-expression and a fantastic communication tool.
In Minehead, Christopher Jelley, of Toy A’hoy, is offering, would-be young illustrators a pavement canvas to show their artistic talents.
Mr Jelley said: “We will provide coloured chalks - all you need is your imagination to create a dastardly pirate scene.
“Drawing is an activity that can be done alone, or as a group and in many different mediums with a myriad of results.
“All the pictures will be photographed and featured on the Captain’s Blog page of the Toy A’hoy website.
“Two winners will be chosen, one from each age category, and awarded with a bag of swashbuckling goodies.”
The event is happening on Saturday and Sunday, October 18 and 19, from 12 noon to 4 pm, on the poop deck outside Toy A’hoy, in The Avenue.
The ‘crew’ will be suitably attired and participants are welcome to wear fancy dress if they want to enter into the spirit of the day.