CHILDREN & FAMILIES DAY – with writing workshops;
bookchases; story-walks; bookstart; bookstalls; bookish fun;
and lots more to do, together!

Presented in association with the Lower Shaw Farm Children’s Project

10am – 12noon and 1pm – 3pm CREATIVE KIDS JUNGLE DEN! – for children from 5 – 12 years old, enter a magical jungle world and get creative: writing, drawing, shaping, making!

10am and all day BOOKCHASE in the HAYLOFT! A brand new game for all the family that tests more than mere book knowledge. In fact, the less you know, the more you might win! A brilliant, exciting, and fun experience from the clever minds of Art Meets Matter.

10am and all day – BOOKSTART STAND with BOOKSTART BEAR! Plus lots more from your library for children: Rhyme & Time Story Time; information about nursery education, and free Bookstart Packs for babies!

10.30am and other times. WILLOW DOME WRITING WORKSHOPS. Look, see, hear, and write with Community Poet Tony Hillier. Make poems, write stories, or even tell jokes! All ages welcome!

11am and other times STORYWALKS around the farm and by the campfire with Andrea, Claire, Melissa, or Matt, and maybe even Lou Lou the Lamb!

ALSO, on Children & Families Day at Lower Shaw Farm, there will be a TREASURE HUNT, TALKING with the ANIMALS, READING & WRITING TIME, WORD GAMES, an USBORNE BOOKS STAND, and maybe even a little bit of PLAY, ROPE SWINGING, and GIANT HAMMOCK JUMPING in the BIG BARN! Come, read, write, think, and have fun!

LIFE, LOVE, and the STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON…
with Theatre of Motion, in a relaxed cabaret setting

A final Festival frolic that explores the nature of life, love, and the trickiness of both, through words, song, and dance.

Included in this multi-layered performance will be, among others, mischievous, meaningful, and wise words from Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Dylan Thomas, twinned with new arrangements of songs by Regina Spektor, Peggy Lee, Kate Bush, Nina Simone, Jewel, the Stereophonics, Suzanne Vega, and Tom Waits.

This performance will encompass the mood of Eliot’s Waste Land, the complexity and richness of Molly Bloom’s monologue at the end of Ulysses, the nasty experience of a Buddhist with a cockroach infestation, and an imaginary trip on the QE2. There will be plenty both to think and to smile about, and to make you feel better about literature and life!

Theatre of Motion is a young, talented, high-quality, and adventurous Swindon-based group of performers, and lovers of literature. The Festival is delighted that they are able to present this year’s FINALE. (To avoid disappointment, book early!)