PETER THORNTON – on a life in a family chocolate business

Do you like good chocolate and a good story? What has making premier brand chocolate got to do with sibling rivalry and extra-marital affairs? Do you know where Thorntons began? Are you interested in the pleasures and pitfalls of running a family business? Would you like a little chocolate with your ticket?

Thorntons chocolate business has grown from a humble family corner shop in Sheffield to a multi-national company responsible for one of the most-recognised super-brands in the world. How it reached this pinnacle of choccy success is no fairy story; more like a Shakespearean tragedy! Family member and erstwhile company chairman Peter Thornton, author of Thorntons – My Life in the Family Business, tells it all and tells it well.

FRANK WESTERMAN – an illustrated talk, on ARARAT: in Search of the Mythical Mountain

In the Book of Genesis and according to Judeo-Christian tradition, the final resting place of Noah’s Ark was Mount Ararat. It is now a place of pilgrimage and exploration, a geographical, political, and cultural crossroads, in Turkey.

Award-winning Dutch author of five books, his latest titled Ararat, Frank Westerman, recounts a perilous journey along the fault-line between religion and science. This is a mountain climb with the waters of history lapping at the climber’s heels, an experience not uncommon for explorers from the Netherlands.

This event is part of Go Dutch: writers from the Netherlands coming to England, in person and in translation.

FRAN SANDHAM – on a solo walk across Africa!

No backup, no support team, no one to carry his gear, no sponsors, no film crew, no journalists, no cheering crowds, no safety nets, no get out clauses, no fuss but maybe a little bother, acclaimed author and speaker Fran Sandham took on the challenge of a lifetime: he walked across Africa!

Hear his story, first-hand, straight from the walker’s mouth, and illustrated!

‘High above the vast pile of African-adventure travelogues.’ New York Times

CAROL ANN DUFFY – Poet Laureate, reads and talks about her poems and work

Award-winning poet, acclaimed playwright, and freelance writer, Carol Ann Duffy, OBE and CBE, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, is the first woman to be given the laureateship for poetry. Her work, in poetry and prose, is enjoyed by readers of all ages. She read philosophy at the University of Liverpool, is former editor of the poetry magazine Ambit, and is a regular reviewer in the broadcast media. She lives in Manchester and, when not doing the duties of a Laureate, teaches creative writing at the city’s university.

In the late 1980s, Carol Ann Duffy was invited to be Writer in Residence in Swindon. She accepted, came to town, and worked with people in Swindon who were interested in writing poems, and who wanted to improve their writing skills.

Today, quarter of a century later, we mark Carol’s input to the love of writing and reading poetry in Swindon. Seven local poets, who, among scores of others, had the courage to submit their writing for scrutiny by judges in the recent Battered Moon Poetry Competition, organised by Cristina Newton, Martin Malone, and Hilda Sheehan, will each read their winning poem. The poets are Janice Booth, Jill Sharp, Heather O’Neill, Jonathan Robert Muirhead, Astrid Van Waveren, Emily Harrison, and Michelle Marsiglia.

Also, by way of celebrating the beauty of books and dance, Swindon’s own Swerve Dance Theatre Company will perform their short but stunning piece titled Tall Stories, where books prove the perfect props: opened, shut, balanced, perused, caressed, and loved.

BRIGHT STAR (film 119 mins. Cert PG, UK 2009)

Presented in association with Swindon Film Society

What do you know of the short life of John Keats? This new, highly-praised, and intelligent Jane Campion film, starring Ben Wishaw and Abbie Cornish, tells the story of the passionate but tragically brief romance between the poet John Keats and his spirited neighbour Fanny Brawne. It is based on the biography of Keats by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.

For info on SFS, see www.swindonfilm.org.uk – or phone 01793 330639.