Tag Archives: Winchester Comedy Festival

Win Guide to June

May 27, 2019 thewinchesterguide Leave a comment

Summer officially arrives in June and for Wintonians, whatever the weather, the season will be bustling with festivals and activities for all to enjoy. Here’s our Win Guide to June:

Winchester becomes Ginchester on 8 June, in celebration of World Gin Day. Led by the Cabinet Rooms team, the fourth annual Ginchester Fête takes place in the Great Hall and blends summer amusements with gin tasting. For full details and ticket prices, visit the website here.

Also on 8 June, it’s the Arlesford Music Festival, a family friendly, one day event in Arlebury Park. The festival is now in its 10th year and the line up includes Next Level, London Afrobeat Collective, Sunscreem and many, many more exciting musicians. This year, AMF has partnered with Hat Fair to support their Top Hat Outdoor Arts competition in 2019, which means emerging artists will be previewing their work at the festival. Mayflower Musical Youth theatre will also be performing in the family arena and other family highlights include circus skills, a climbing wall, music workshops, Silent Disco and bungee trampolines. For more details and to book a festival pass, visit the website here.

It’s the annual Winchester Criterium Cycle Festival on 9 June. The Criterium is a 1km circuit race around closed roads in Winchester City Centre which starts at the top of the High Street, turns left into St Thomas Street, travels past the Cathedral and the City Council Offices before the long uphill pedal to the start/finish line. Riders must register online in advance. For more details, visit the website here.

Winchestival takes place on 15 June 2019 at North Walls Recreation Park between 11am until 11pm. There will be 4 music stages, with the line up including the Magic Numbers and a BBC Music introducing stage (Solent). The event also includes comedy, family activities and lots of food. For full details or to book tickets, visit the website here.

Winchester Comedy Festival will be hosting their Summer Gala on 6 June. Acts include comedy magician Pete Firman, Tanyalee Davis, Paul Sinha and James Gill. The Gala takes place at the Theatre Royal. For details and to book tickets , visit the website.

There’s a packed programme of comedy, theatre, dance and family shows at the Theatre Royal and we can’t possibly do justice to it all here so head over to the website and start booking. Highlights include the Horrible Histories live stage show on 1-2 June, described as ‘the history of Britain with the nasty bits left in!’, An Evening with Sir Michael Parkinson on 3 June and Ballet Central on 4 June. Enjoy exciting vocals from the stars of Les Misérables, The Barricade Boys on Friday 7 June. Talented NHS staff from across Hampshire will be singing in a charity community event: NHS’ Got Talent on Saturday 8 June. And don’t miss Blue Apple Theatre’s The Tempest 13 – 15 June.

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra will be in full swing on 16 June. Grammy nominated alternative cabaret act The Tiger Lillies, return with a very special show celebrating their 30th anniversary on 18 June. Finally, ballet fans will not want to miss Ballet Theatre UK’s Margot Fonteyn – Centenary Celebration on 20 June. Also, if you’re curious about what goes on back stage, the theatre is offering family and backstage heritage tours. For more details, visit the website here.

For those of you who may be interested in treading the boards, auditions take place for the Chesil Theatre’s production of Terrence Rattigan’s In Praise of Love on 23 & 24 June ahead of the stage show in September. There will be a reading in advance of this on 21 June. If you are interested in getting involved with the Chesil Theatre, please visit the website here.

A reminder that entries close on 7 June for the CPRE Hampshire Countryside Awards 2019! There are 4 categories open to Hampshire applicants doing great work across the following categories: Community and Voluntary, Rural Enterprise, Making Places & Young People. Now in its 13th year, the Countryside Awards recognise community and voluntary organisations and enterprises, celebrating the innovative, diverse and sustainable work being done to support and enhance a thriving Hampshire countryside. Apply now http://www.cprehampshire.org.uk/awards

We’ll be bringing you more updates throughout the month on Twitter @Win_Guide. In the meantime, enjoy, one and all!

Events, Feature

Win Guide to October

October 4, 2017 thewinchesterguide Leave a comment

Autumn is upon us, a time for knitwear, leafy walks in vibrant reds and burnt orange or perhaps a time to head indoors and visit some of Winchester’s cosy city hosts. Here’s the Win Guide to what’s on this October:

The first thing any Wintonian ought to do is follow in the footsteps of Keats, who composed his ‘Ode to Autumn’ whilst gadding about the water meadows, or there about. For a detailed walking trail, follow the guide provided by Winchester’s Tourist Information Centre here.

Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the modest Turner exhibition in the Discovery Centre, closing on the 15 October. Entry is free and it’s a fine opportunity to admire the breathtaking ‘master of light’. For more information, visit here. Comedian Paul Sinha will be bringing his show Shout Out To My Ex on 7 October at 7.30pm, also at the Discovery Centre. For details, visit the website here.

BBC History Magazine’s Winchester History Weekend will be running 6 – 8 October, in association with Waterstones and for its second year. Events will take place in the Great Hall and the Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth Court. To book for some of the exciting speakers, visit the website here.

If you have little people, make sure you have booked your tickets at the Theatre Royal for The Gruffalo, 6-8 October and Stick Man, 13-15 October. Don’t forget to read our interview with a member of the Stick Man cast, here. Bring the much-loved modern classic stories to life with some live performance in our beloved local theatre. For more details, visit the website. For the slight older children, Michael Morpurgo’s King Arthur is on 22 October.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of things on at the Theatre Royal for grown ups to enjoy too. Jay Rayner will be bringing his The Ten (Food) Commandments on Friday 5 October. He’ll ‘invite thee to honour thy pig – and so much more besides’. Opera della Luna will be presenting The Tales of Offenbach on 11 October and Bilimankhwe Arts’ dance version of The Tempest will delight us with traditional Malawian music.

There’s comedy aplenty, including Winchester Comedy Festival – Comedy Gala (6th) Mark Watson (7th), Penny Ashton (16th) Lea Anderson (18th), Ed Byrne (19th, 20th) and Stewart Lee (21st). Comedy drama fans can enjoy Sherlock Holmes and the Crimson Cobbles (25th, 26th) and there’s live music from The Baroque Bohemians (10th), Graham Gouldman, one of the founding members of 10cc (17th) and the Spitfire Sisters (28th). Finally Winchester Poetry Festival will be hosting a Winchester Poetry day on 14 October, and the delectable Private Lives by Noel Coward opens on the 30 October. For full details or to get booking, visit here.

Things get spooky at the end of the month in time for half-term. Join the Halloween Spooky Trail, with a riddle sheet that can be picked up from Winchester’s Tourist Information Centre. Don’t miss the activities at the City Mill including baking, pumpkin carving and storytelling.

Plenty to amuse and entertain this October and we’ll be bringing you more highlights throughout the month on Twitter @Win_Guide.

Feature

October Win Guide

October 3, 2014 thewinchesterguide Leave a comment

The tractors are twitching. The pumpkins are plump. It’s the Hampshire Harvest weekend (4th & 5th October), and Winchester Cathedral is throwing a free weekend of family-oriented events celebrating the County’s food and farming. Entry into the Cathedral is free all weekend too. Displays and activities include Kidsroam mobile farm,  horse and carriage rides,  vintage farming machinery,  a static falconry display, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Pod,  poultry displays  and a vintage fairground organ. The Harvest event is held in partnership with Hampshire Farmers Market, Sparsholt College, The New Forest Show and Hampshire County Council.

To laugh off some of the root vegetables, The Winchester Comedy Festival is running from 2nd – 5th October at the Discovery Centre, The Theatre Royal and The Railway. There’s a brochure available here, but some of the headline acts are sold out so make sure you have booked in advance.

Speaking of witty folk, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley will be in conversation with John Miller at Winchester Cathedral on 21st October at 7.30pm, followed by a drinks reception. Tickets are available to book online at £15 or £10 for Friends of the Cathedral. The evening will raise money to save the medieval stained glass windows in the building.

The Minster Gallery will be presenting work from The Society of Women Artists (founded in 1857) from 10th October until 10th November. Celebrating contemporary female talent in oil painting, water colour, sculpture, printing and ceramics, entry is free and it’s a great excuse to pop down to the Square for a post-exhibition drink at The Old Vine. The Discovery Centre will be opening the exhibition Trench Coat: From Field to Fashion on 4th October, which is running until 21st December. Introduced by Hilary Alexander OBE, the fascinating theme will explore everything and anything trench coat-related, from the more traditional WW1 calvary garb to such filmic connections as Marlene Dietrich in Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair.

Later in the month you can get in the mood for Halloween by joining Supernatural Tours on a guided tour of Winchester’s ghostly past, 28th October 7.30pm – 8.30pm, starting at the Royal Oak. Alternatively, if you pop into Winchester City Mill on the 31st October you can bake some Halloween-themed biscuits and treats using their own freshly milled stone-ground flour, combined with other local produce.

Happy harvest one and all.

The Winchester Guide

Tag Archives: Winchester Comedy Festival

Win Guide to June

Win Guide to October

October Win Guide

The arts & culture guide for the city of Winchester in Hampshire.