Wootton Bassett festival proves a huge hit (From This Is Wiltshire)

Wootton Bassett festival proves a huge hit

11:38am Thursday 17th June 2010 in

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The Wootton Bassett Arts Festival finished with a flourish on Sunday night as the best acts performed at the highlights show finale.

More than 500 acts were involved during the four-day gala, which saw music, drama, creative writing and dance all jostling for the attention of festival goers.

Marketing director for the event Miranda Shirnia is now catching her breath after the busiest arts festival to date. She said: “It was a great success. We were very busy, there were loads of people having a great time.

“Usually at least one person comes up to complain about something but this year I didn’t get a single one.

“Just lots of smiling faces.”

She added: “The highlights show in the Memorial Hall was excellent and celebrated the entire festival as a whole.

“We had people reading out excerpts of poetry and short stories, musically we had brass, flute, violins and piano. And from the drama section there was a performance of Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.”

Mrs Shirnia said the festival provided an opportunity for artists to perform in front of proper audiences.

She said: “Often people spend so much time practising to take exams in front of maybe just one person. It’s not really what performing is all about.

“Getting up on stage and entertaining a crowd is why a lot of people get into music or drama and this gives them a chance to do that.”

She added: “Most of the artists we can hardly get off the stage. But there were two girls who won one of the poetry competitions but felt too shy to read out their work in front of 20 people. But when asked if they wanted to perform at the highlights show they swallowed their nerves and were able to do it.”

As well as the town’s Memorial Hall other venues included St Bartholomew’s Church, the Civic Centre and Noremarsh Primary School.