Town Events 2009-13

Warminster at the West Wilts Show 2009

A WELCOME break in the wet weather brought the crowds out for the West Wilts Show in Trowbridge Park where the district has traditionally set out its stall every two years.

This year’s event was a little different as West Wilts no longer exists as a legal entity - but the show must go on.

We headed for the Warminster marquee to see what the town had to offer.

Inside there were some of the things for which the town is famous such as Dents, Cordens and the Athenaeum and all anxious to promote their image to the estimated 25,000 people expected to attend the show over the three days.

The show was opened by the Duchess of Cornwall on Thursday.

Some local stalls even had real news.

The march of time has crept up on the ancient Chapel of St Laurence in the centre of the town and the chapel's friends and 12 feoffees, who are responsible for the ancient building, need to raise £40,000 so that building work can begin in May next year .

The money will be spent on new battlement stones and gargoyles at the back of the building. The chapel is not in receipt of public or diocesan funding so all the money will need to be raised locally.

(Pictured below Stephen Pearson on the chapel stand.)

Close to the chapel was the Fairtrade stall - a bit of a shock as most probably don’t realise that Warminster is a Fairtrade town.

Sheelagh Wurr, of the local group, said: “It happened last year and we are here to raise awareness.

“More shops are getting involved and you can buy Fairtrade drinks at Moreton’s, Jacqueline’s and Rosie’s Café.”

In fact the guide lists 28 establishments in the Warminster area where you can buy Fairtrade goods - not bad really and even Lidl is involved.

The town council had the largest section of the marquee and town mayor cllr Tony Nicklin told us he had been there for the whole three days.

“All the councillors have been along to do their fair share,” said the mayor.

“We have giving people post cards so that they can write their comments about the town and then post them through that letter box.

“We’ll get them all out tonight and see what they say.

“There seem to be several about the whole shopping experience in Warminster.”

During our visit a couple of street theatre performers, dressed in pyjamas and from the Light Sponge Theatre Company, decided to fall asleep in the entrance to the Warminster Marquee.

(pictured right Sheelagh Wurr from Fairtrade)

Maybe it was a comment on Warminster but if it was it wasn’t convincing anybody as Rip Van Winkle would have found it a challenge fall asleep with the sound of the Ubergroovers belting out ‘their eclectic mix of numbers from five decades’ just a short distance away.

Further afield Warminster exhibitors were harder to spot though some very athletic looking  girls from Fit2Perform in George Street were attracting a good deal of male attention with their gravity defying exploits on the pole. (see below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile Paul Macdonald from Visionforwarminster  chatted to mayor Tony Nicklin about some of his ideas regarding the future of the town and its potential as a shopping destination.

 

 

 

 

 

Two street theatre performers from The Light Sponge Theatre Company pretend to fall asleep in the Warminster marquee - but it was far too noisy.

 

 

               

  

 Hannah Lodge from Fit2Perform in George Street manages to defy gravity at the West Wilts Show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, proof that Trowbridge people do indeed have pointy heads!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to return to the EVENTS 2009 - 13 page