What's on where around Banbury: listings, March 17 edition

MUSIC

Today (Thursday March 17)

Sunday March 20

Banbury Country Music Centre, doors open 7pm

Bonnie Diamond and Co. Admission £5.

Saturday March 19

Banbury Town Hall, 7.30pm to 11pm

Mayor Tony Mepham is turning the clock back more than 50 years to the swinging sixties, with a night of music from the decade. The evening will raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind and for Radio Horton – the hospital radio station that began life in the 1960s. Tickets, £15 each, are available from Banbury Town Hall (01295 250340).

St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Deddington, 7.30pm

Banbury Symphomy Orchestra’s first concert of 2016 showcases music by some of the best German and Russian Romantic era composers: Mendelssohn’s rousing “Ruy Blas” overture, Brahms’s much loved Violin Concerto and Borodin’s Second Symphony. Tickets are £10 for adults, with under-18s admitted free. Email [email protected], visit www.wegottickets.com or pop into the Banbury Tourist Information Centre to book.

Monday March 21

The Norman Knight, Whichford, near Shipston-on-Stour, 9pm

Rag Mama Rag. Visit rag-mama-rag.com for more information. Entry free.

Thursday March 24

The Warriner School, Bloxham Grove Road, Bloxham

Hunter And The Bear, the four-piece folk-rock band who supported Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton on their last UK arena tours, perform. Tickets cost £8.50 for adults. Visit www.

seetickets.com to book.

OTHER

Friday March 18

Adderbury Library, 2pm

Blenheim - an insight into the lives of Sarah the first Duchess and Winston Churchill. The private resources of Blenheim Palace are drawn upon to afford new and refreshing insights into this remarkable man and Sarah, the first duchess, who was a passionate woman who at times favoured or alienated all around her.

Tickets £5 from the library. Tea and cakes will be available to buy separately. All proceeds go help keep the library open.

The Mill, Banbury, 8pm

The Thinking Drinkers are award-winning drinks writers and comedy performers Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham. Together they have also written and performed The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to Alcohol, a unique comedic drinking show that debuted at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe. Following sell-out shows and excellent reviews, it returned to Edinburgh in 2012 and later transferred to the Soho Theatre.

Their most recent show, The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to the Legends of Liquor, sold out seasons at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014 and 2015. The show subsequently inspired an award-winning book, The Thinking Drinkers: An Enlightened Imbibers Guide to Alcohol. Rumours that their success is down to the fact that every ticket holder is entitled to five free drinks remain unsubstantiated.

Tickets: £15.50. Call 01295 279002.

Middleton Cheney Library, 7.30pm

Adventures of an Ageing Juvenile. This talk is a reminiscence of a number of expeditions, treks and safaris over the last fifteen years or so undertaken taken by Mike Murray and his wife, Rona. It will take the audience from the depths of the Borneo rain forest, through the Masai Mara of Africa and the tiger conservation areas of India, to the vast expanses of the Arctic Ocean and the lakes and mountains of the Himalaya in Nepal and Bhutan. The talk will touch upon some of the social and environmental aspects of these destinations and the challenges they and their people face. Tickets cost £6 for adults and £3 for children, including refreshments. Email [email protected] or visit the library to book.

Saturday March 19 and Sunday March 20

Sibford Gower Primary School, 10.30am to 4.30pm

The ever-popular event is curated by school parent and artist, Julie Carpenter, with an eye to showing the best that the region’s artists have to offer.There’s also a chance for children to show their artistic side with a children’s make-and-do area. For further information, contact Susannah Arnaboldi on 01295 780193 or [email protected]

Saturday March 19 to Sunday June 19

Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park

Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy. Commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Shakespeare in Art offers an chance for art and theatre lovers to discover Shakespeare’s works through a unique series of theatrical encounters including painting, photography, projection, sound and light. Uniquely for an art gallery, the exhibition has been designed by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s director of design, Stephen Brimson Lewis. This new exhibition focuses on pivotal Shakespeare plays, including The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, all of which have motivated artists across the ages from George Romney, Henry Fuseli, John Singer Sargent and GF Watts to Karl Weschke, Kristin & Davy McGuire and Tom Hunter. Call 01926 645500 or visit www.comptonverney.org.uk for more information.

Sunday March 20

Ramblers walk - non-ramblers welcome

Meet at 10am in Blockley, near the Bowls Club for a 10-mile walk to Hinchwick, Longborough (pub stop) and Bourton on the Hill. Very scenic and hilly in places. For more info: (01295) 710143 / 279656.

Monday March 21

Banbury College, Broughton College, 7pm

Cherwell Theatre Company hosts a visit by Western Washington University for its annual improvisational extravaganza – The American Evening. The event is free to attend although the company will be making a collection for Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund, a charity which helps to fund aspiring actors. Visit www.cherwelltheatrecompany.co.uk for more information.

Wednesday March 23

Ramblers walk - non-ramblers welcome

Meet at 2pm in Radway, near the sports field on Tysoe Road for a four-and-a-half-mile walk to Westcote Manor, Sunrising and Westcote Farm. This is our Walk of the Month and lea by a very considerate leader. Registered assistance dogs only. For more info: (01295) 710143

Thursday March 24

The Theatre, Chipping Norton, 7.45pm

Critically acclaimed comic artist Jess Thom will be performing her first live show Backstage in Biscuitland. Jess created the character ‘Touretteshero’ to celebrate the creative side of Tourette’s – a neurological condition that means she says ‘biscuit’ 16,000 times a day. The two-woman show, which also features award-winning performer Jess Mabel Jones, combines storytelling, comedy and puppetry, and offers an insight into what it’s like to live with such an unpredictable disorder. Call 01608 642350 or visit chippingnortontheatre.com for tickets.