Category: News

Following a selection process at the 2025 Royal Wootton Bassett Arts Festival, the Rotary Club sponsored two musicians to go forward to the Rotary District Final of Young Musician. This took place at Dean Close School, Cheltenham on Saturday 21st February and both of candidates gave superb performances.

Thalia Sprunt, a vocalist, sang ‘Waving Thro a Window’; ‘Two Days in College’; and ‘’She Used to be Mine’.

George Baker, a classical guitarist, played ‘Chorus N1’ by Villa Lobos; and ‘Rondo Rodeo’ by Gary Ryan.

While neither were selected to represent the District in the ongoing national competition, it was clear that both of them, along with all other participants, were delighted to perform in this high calibre event with professional adjudication. We would like to congratulate both students and to give our heartfelt thanks to the Rotary Club for being so generous and so supportive of our festival, year after year.

Respective congratulations and thank yous!

Our Music section of the festival continues to thrive, and so this year we have taken the decision to split the disciplines to allow for development and growth. Julie Williams continues to be Singing and Instrumental Chair, and Sandra Dukes continues as Classical Guitar Chair.

But, we are delighted to announce that Sarah Loddington has agreed to take on the role of Piano Chair. Welcome Sarah! And thank you Julie and Sandra.

You can meet our commitee members here.

We are delighted to announce that this year we are introducing a new Competition: Story Writing for Years 3 & 4, Years 5 & 6 and Years 7 – 9. The judge will be Alex Evelyn who is a children’s author who lives locally, in Sherston, near Malmesbury.

Meet Alex Evelyn

Alex is the author of The Secret Wild. She has a degree in Journalism from Cardiff University and has worked in public relations, as a food writer and photographer creating content for blogs, local magazines and The Times.

Her travels often inspire her writing, from a childhood spent in Brazil to working as a cook on a dive research boat in the Red Sea. A summer stint helping on a ranch in the Big Horn mountains was inspired by her favourite childhood book The Green Grass of Wyoming. Born in Wales, she lives in the wilds of Wiltshire with her family and far too many pets. She works part time at a forest school nestled amongst the roots of the amazing trees at Westonbirt Arboretum.

Alex Evelyn

This year’s Festival will take place over only single weekend: the 14th & 15th November, 2026. The venue remains the same, at the RWB Academy.

We plan to release the syllabus on the 1st April, and online entries will open on the 1st September. Do watch out for our emails and our regular updates (here or on Meta) for important deadlines.

Thank you as ever for supporting us! Do save the date!

We will advertise the opening date and where to access our online entries system on our Latest News page, on X, and on Meta. (The system will open later than it has previously, while we do some administrative work, but the Festival will continue as ever this year!)

In the meantime, you can browse our classes from the syllabus. Once entries are open you can then directly choose your classes: whether they are Speech and Drama, Music, Dance, or Musical Theatre. You will find all the information you need on-line, and all the classes are listed too, plus you can pay by BACS.

Any queries, do please contact us at RWBArtsFestival@gmail.com

See you in November!

Two of our committee members, Helen and Lara, made it to the BIFF Annual Conference last Sunday representing Royal Wootton Bassett Arts Festival.

The British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech (BIFF) has been supporting amateur performing arts festivals to provide performance opportunities in their local communities for over 100 years, and we are proud to be a member.

Competitions

This year, alongside our annual Poetry Competition which is now open to Adults, we are running a Radio Script Writing Competition!

The winning play will be performed and broadcast on local radio and on the web! Find your entry form here. Deadline 14th October!

Entry can only be by the RWBAF Radio Entry Form and potential authors cannot enter on Run My Festival.

We are continuing to grow each year thanks to the wonderful support of all those who join us in sharing their creative talents!