Chilton Foliat Gala celebrates music, gardens and visual arts

Chilton Foliat is celebrating summer with a week-long series of events, starting in St Mary’s Church on Saturday, with a delightful concert of Music for a Summer’s Evening performed by the Newbury-based Trio Sospiroso, comprising Clare Mellor (flute), Lucinda Wright (cello), and Jenny Broome (harp).

The first half of their programme features Fauré’s beautiful Sicilienne; a movement from Beethoven’s only ballet, Prometheus; Saint-Saens’s Swan from the Carnival of the Animals; and Bach’s lovely flute sonata. In the second half, Debussy’s famous impression of a sultry afternoon follows a visit to the forest in a group of magical images from Mel Bonis, and the concert ends with a fiery Spanish finale.

Further Gala events include a highly entertaining account of life as a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London by former Beefeater Tony Stafford; an evening of folk music by the well-known Wiltshire singer/musicians Bob and Gill Berry; an Open Gardens Trail throughout the village, and a wide-ranging exhibition of work by 25 local artists, crated by Lambourn painter David H Jones, encompassing painting, printmaking, pottery, photography, ceramics, sculpture, glass, jewellery and millinery, open daily through the week at The Birches.

Chilton Foliat WI presents a day of interactive craft activities, and families are catered for with an afternoon of Rounders and Pizza, plus a Duck Race on the River Kennet.

Full details and tickets are available online at chiltonfoliatgala.info

Chilton Foliat Summer Gala runs to July 9.