One Chippenham

Fun with Story Plots
2024-10-16 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | Chippenham Library
If you are a keen writer, a fan of Mr Darcy or you just enjoy talking about books and finding out more about how they are written, then we have a treat for you!
Come along on Wednesday 16 October at 2pm, meet local authors Jane Lark and Lucy King and have fun exploring a story from a character’s mindset.
Tickets are £3 each and can be booked at the library or on 01249 650536.

Collection Conversations
2024-10-19 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
Join in our exciting new series of art talks at Chippenham Museum. Book your tickets via Eventbrite.
Artists from the museum’s Modern and Contemporary Art collection will be talking about their work, providing insights into their inspiration and practice. This will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions with the audience encouraged to join in the conversation.
Coming up:

Rosalind Whitehouse – Saturday 23 March
Anita Taylor – Saturday 20 April
Sarah Gillespie & Amy-Jane Blackhall – Saturday 25 May
James Castle & Anna Gillespie – Saturday 22 June
Rosalind Robinson & Claire Loder – Saturday 27 July
Helen Simmonds & Penny Grist – Saturday 24 August
Nicholas Lees & Jo Taylor – Saturday 21 September
Ian Chamberlain & Sandra Porter – Saturday 19 October
Ron George & Alun Crockford – Saturday 23 November
Iain Cotton, Richard Crooks & Guy Thomas – Saturday 14 December

Monthly from 2pm – 3.30pm
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.

The Arts Society Kington Langley
2024-11-05 11:00 - 12:00, 2024-12-03 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-01-07 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-02-04 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-03-04 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-04-01 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-05-06 11:00 - 12:00 | Kington Langley Village Hall, Church Street, Kington Langley , Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 5NJ, United Kingdom
Come and join us for monthly lectures on the arts given by expert lecturers. Our new season start in October and we meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 11:00.
The next lecture is ‘Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920’ by Dr Amy Lim which will take place at Kington Langley Village Hall on 1 October at 11:00.
£8 for a single lecture or £40 annual. For further details of our programme for the coming year please visit our website at https://taskl.org.uk

Grief Encounters, a talk by Nigel Linacre
2024-12-02 14:30 - 16:00 | Chippenham Library
Most of us will be unprepared for grief. Nigel will share his journey after his son’s death, with lyrics and verse from the Grief Opera, Love Goes On, as featured on BBC and ITV. There will be an opportunity to share and ask questions.
This is a free event, but space is limited, so please book in advance.
There will be CDs available to purchase and a collection for the charity Suicide & Co.
To reserve a place or for more information, pop in or call us on 01249 650536

Collection Conversations: Ann Christopher
2025-03-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In our next Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Ann Christopher, the youngest female sculptor to be elected to the Royal Academy in 1980. Ann work is non-figurative, whether as works on paper or sculptures cast bronze, stainless steel and silver. Her inspiration draws from a broad range of visual sources: from modern architecture to rugged coastlines, plant structures and ancient artefacts.
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.
Image: Changing Spaces 1-3, 2018/19, Ann Christopher, carborundum, hand finished with graphite and pen (images courtesy of Steve Russell Studios)

Collection Conversations: Felicity Aylieff
2025-03-22 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In our next Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Felicity Aylieff.
Educated at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, Felicity Aylieff went on to teach ceramics at Bath Spa University. She is currently Professor of Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art. An artist residency in Jingdezhen, China, led to a lasting collaborative relationship with porcelain factories in city, where she also now has a studio. Her series of monumental pots, the largest of which stand over four metres high, demonstrate her passion for material and process and historically informed decorative technique
Ink Blue can be seen on display in our Materials & Making art gallery.
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.

Moths, Butterflies, and How to Avoid Being Eaten
2025-04-11 19:00 | King Alfred Hall, Market Place, Chippenham, SN15 3HT
Nature lovers and conservation enthusiasts in Chippenham are in for a treat! On Friday 11th April, Michael Sammes from Baydons Meadow Wildlife Group will be hosting an engaging talk on ‘Moths and Butterflies and How to Avoid Being Eaten’ at King Alfred Hall.
This fascinating session will delve into the incredible survival tactics of moths and butterflies—creatures that are not only beautiful but also crucial to our ecosystem. Sadly, their numbers are declining at an alarming rate in the UK due to climate change and habitat loss. Learn more about what can be done to protect these delicate species.
The event is also in support of WellBoring, a locally based charity dedicated to providing clean water solutions to communities in need. While entry is free, attendees will be invited to make donations to help this important cause.
Whether you’re a wildlife enthusiast, a keen gardener, or just curious about nature, this is an event you won’t want to miss!
Event Details at a Glance:
Date: Friday, 11th April
Time: 6.30pm (refreshments available), talk starts at 7pm
Location: King Alfred Hall, Market Place, Chippenham, SN15 3HT
Entry: Free but donations welcomed for WellBoring
We look forward to seeing you there!

Collection Conversations: Katherine Gili
2025-04-26 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In April’s edition of a talk series, Collection Conversations, we will be joined by Katherine Gili.
A student of the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, she later attended the St Martin’s School of Art, where she was introduced to the use of steel by her tutor, Anthony Caro.
Gili’s work combines the use of steel construction with her search for increasingly sensual and subjective means of expression. Over time, this has led Gili to develop her sculpture away from the industrial aesthetic of steel, towards one based on an increasing manipulation of this seemingly intractable material. Her work continues to explore notions of weight and balance in response to movement and the dynamic figure.
As well as featuring in national and international collections including the Tate, Arts Council, and The Henry Moore Institute, Gili’s work is also in display in our current exhibition.

Collection Conversations: Mark Golder
2025-05-17 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In May’s edition of our art talk series educator and collector Mark Golder will discuss the influential but little known artist Stephen Russ. Russ was one of the Bath Academy of Art’s longest serving tutors, teaching printmaking and design for over thirty years. Russ designed numerous recognisable book covers including servals for Penguin, his most iconic being the phoenix he designed for the cover of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960.
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.
Image: Study for These Horned Islands, 1962, Stephen Russ (1919-1983), crayon on paper

Transition Story (ages 11 -18's)
2025-06-15 12:00 - 14:00 | The Old Road Tavern, SN15 1JA
Come and hang out in the barn and listen to Adam’s story.
FOOD! At 12 noon – Nacho builder table with milkshakes (on the house) for all 11-18’s. Please enter through the barn door off Old Road, not through the pub garden.
Talk starts at 12.30pm followed by Q and A with Adam.
Born and raised in rural Donegal during the 1980s and 90s, Adam understood from a young age that he was different. He came out as gay at 15 and later as transgender at 18, navigating his identity at a time when Ireland was still grappling with issues of acceptance and inclusion. At 27, he returned to the closet — a testament to the societal pressures many LGBTQI+ individuals face — but in 2020, at the age of 36, Adam came out once again, this time embracing his full, authentic self.
Now based in Dublin, where he moved at 17, Adam is proud of how far Ireland has come in embracing its LGBTQI+ community. He plays a key role in driving forward inclusive services and fostering community engagement, helping to ensure that others don’t have to walk the path alone that he once
Brought to you by Tell Your Story – A Rag and Bone Arts CIC and Knapsack Production collaboration – A National Lottery and DCMS funded project.
There will be 4-5 adults from our team present for safeguarding during the talk, which is followed by ‘Pride Goes Acoustic’ – a live music gig at 2pm, hosted by Riverbank Studio’s. Please note that our team will only be present until 2pm.

Collection Conversations: Nigel Goldsmith & Chloe Yandell
2025-06-21 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In June’s Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Nigel Goldsmith and Chloe Yandell.
Nigel Goldsmith studied his Masters in fine art at Bath Spa University. Goldsmith’s videos employ some of the visual and aural strategies used in advertising in an attempt to mesmerise the viewer, presenting a subject that is overwhelming in scale yet engaging to watch.
Chloe Yandell also studied at Bath Spa University. She works out of her studio in Corsham, taking inspiration from her local environment, memories and materials. Her recent studies have focused on creating texture and atmosphere, and often her techniques and pieces evolve through the exploration of the creative journey.
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.
Image 1: still of Terminal, 2021, Nigel Goldsmith, video art
Image 2: Lost, Chloe Yandell, mixed media on board

Collection Conversations - Sarah Purvey and Alan Fuller
2025-07-26 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
Join us for July’s Collection Conversation, where we will be joined by artist and project coordinator, Sarah Purvey, and Collections and Exhibitions Officer, Alan Fuller. They will be discussing the creation of the Modern and Contemporary Art collection at Chippenham Museum, how it has grown and where it will developing next.

Collection Conversations: Jane King and Judith Beeby
2025-08-16 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In our next Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Jane King and Judith Beeby.
Jane King studied for her Masters in ceramics at Bath Spa University’s Corsham Court Campus. King’s ceramic sculptures combine opposites of form, texture, and colour as metaphors for perfection and imperfection, control and chaos.
Judith Beeby studied at Bath Spa University. Living in Wiltshire she is continually inspired by its beauty. Her most recent work is inspired by the encroachment of urban and industrial elements into the rural environment. She is fascinated by the debate about man vs nature and the soft beauty of an English landscape being enhanced by strong industrial shapes.

Collection Conversations: Ione Parkin & Jonathan Parnham
2025-09-20 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
For our next Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Ione Parkin and Jonathan Parnham.
Ione Parkin is developing a growing body of artwork inspired by the rich imagery of space and her ongoing dialogue with researchers. Her paintings express her fascination with the formation of the universe while her mixed-media works on paper respond to planetary surfaces, extremes of temperature and geological process.
Jonathan Parnham is an art educator and artist living in Wiltshire. Painting on location, to capture the atmosphere of each environment that he discovers, is a vital component of Jonathan’s. His work is often created in variable conditions while documenting landscapes including the coastlines of Britain, Iceland, and China.
Free, booking essential.
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.

Collection Conversations - Sasha Wardell & Helen Wilks
2025-10-18 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
Next up in our series of art talks, we will be joined by Sasha Wardell and Helen Wilks.
Sasha has over 40 year’s experience in the world of bone china and porcelain, having studied in two centres of excellence; Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom and Limoges, France. She has taken elements of this industry and adapted them to a studio environment. Sasha has concentrated on perfecting the craft-based skills which enhance the inherent qualities of bone china and her carefully produced distinctive work embraces and reflects contemporary taste and lifestyle.
Helen Wilks was a student at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham. She is a narrative painter, probably best known for three cycles of works: Childhood Fragments, Punch & Judy and The Inhabited Space. Additionally, she has made very many works based on theatre performance and collaborations. Autobiographical themes, often reoccur in her work.
Free, booking essential
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.
Image 1: Shoal Vases, Sasha Wardell, slip cast bone china
Image 2: Childhood Fragment: Hair Doing, 1991, Helen Wilks, oil on canvas

History Portal Club: Did Women's Suffrage reach Chippenham?
2025-11-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Wine Monkey, 20 Borough Parade, Chippenham, SN15 3WL, United Kingdom
A History Portal Club meeting.
Together we’ll look at whether the town took up the fight for everyone’s equal voting rights.

Were post boxes bombed?
Did anyone evade the census?
Was there any opposition?
What did townspeople think?

This interactive club session will explore the politics of suffrage & suffragettes and equal rights, and how forces of change and opinion affected the life of Chippenham and wider Wiltshire.
A friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company.
It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just walking, talking, pub chats, and stories you won’t find in the guidebooks.
⭐ Up to four sessions a month, with walks and pub/cafe evenings.
⭐ Choose a membership, a flexi-pass, or just drop in.
⭐ Fascinating tales, good company, and plenty of surprises.
It’s run by Lucy Whitfield, Historian. Visit www.lucywhitfieldhistorian/history-club for more details and to book.

History Portal Club: Lost Pubs of Chippenham (walk)
2025-11-15 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Cousin Norman’s, 5 Union Road, Chippenham, SN15 1HW
A History Portal Club walk’n’talk – pick from a weekend (Sat 15) or weekday (Wed 19) session.
As a group we’ll explore the many missing pubs that used to punctuate Chippenham’s streets.
This walk and talk will take a look at long gone hostelries and inns, from the earliest records to those that disappeared just a few years ago.
Woven in will be tales from landlords past, events that shocked the town, and the changing social life of the town.
(If inclement weather, session will take place indoors).
History Portal Club is a friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company.
It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just walking, talking, pub chats, and stories you won’t find in the guidebooks.
⭐ Up to four sessions a month, with walks and pub/cafe evenings.
⭐ Choose a membership, a flexi-pass, or just drop in.
⭐ Fascinating tales, good company, and plenty of surprises.
It’s run by Lucy Whitfield, Historian. Visit www.lucywhitfieldhistorian/history-club for more details and to book.

Collection Conversations: Chris Dunn & Andrew Langley
2025-11-22 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
In November’s Collection Conversation, we will be joined by Chris Dunn and Andrew Lansley.
After studying at Bath Spa University, Chris Dunn worked as a freelance illustrator producing portraits and conceptual illustrations. A commission to illustrate the Wind in the Willow, has led to him beginning a full-time artist specialising in traditional children’s book watercolour illustration. He now works from Calne where the surrounding countryside is a constant source of inspiration
Andrew Lansley produces work from many different but direct sources. This may entail a variety of material abstractions or work directly related to impressions and experience of the landscape. In using raw pigments combined with a variety of mediums he achieves a direct connection to the elemental quality of landscape. Working in this way can be explosively fast and at other times may be meticulously analytical.
For sold out events, email heritage@chippenham.gov.uk to join a waiting list.
Image 1: Kite Flying in May, 2019, Chris Dunn, watercolour and gouache
Image 2: Upavon, 2018, Andrew Lansley, egg tempera

History Portal Club: The many faces of the Grammar School
2025-11-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Wine Monkey, 20 Borough Parade, Chippenham, SN15 3WL, United Kingdom
A History Portal Club meeting.
Together, we’ll look at the old school on Cocklebury Road. Earmarked for demolition, it’s one of the places known as the Grammar School.

Where were the others?
Who worked there?
What did pupils learn?

This interactive club session will explore the life and times of secondary schooling in Chippenham through the past couple of centuries, over various different sites, and provide an insight into a much-loved building that many would love to save.
History Portal Club is a friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company.
It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just walking, talking, pub chats, and stories you won’t find in the guidebooks.
⭐ Up to four sessions a month, with walks and pub/cafe evenings.
⭐ Choose a membership, a flexi-pass, or just drop in.
⭐ Fascinating tales, good company, and plenty of surprises.
It’s run by Lucy Whitfield, Historian. Visit www.lucywhitfieldhistorian/history-club for more details and to book.

History Portal Club: What stories does Greenways have to tell?
2025-12-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Wine Monkey, 20 Borough Parade, Chippenham, SN15 3WL, United Kingdom
A History Portal Club meeting.
Together, we’ll explore the beautiful maternity hospital where many Chippenham people were born or welcomed their children.

When was it built?
Who lived there originally?
Why did it become a hospital?

This friendly and interactive club session will explore the building’s heyday and the changing face of maternity care in Chippenham through the 20th century and beyond.
History Portal Club is a friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company.
It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just walking, talking, pub chats, and stories you won’t find in the guidebooks.
⭐ Up to four sessions a month, with walks and pub/cafe evenings.
⭐ Choose a membership, a flexi-pass, or just drop in.
⭐ Fascinating tales, good company, and plenty of surprises.
It’s run by Lucy Whitfield, Historian. Visit www.lucywhitfieldhistorian/history-club for more details and to book.

Friends of Chippenham Museum Heritage Cafe
2026-02-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
Friends of Chippenham Museum supports the museum by fundraising, promoting activities and organising an enjoyable social programme for members.
Being a Friend gives you the opportunity to receive newsletters with special interest articles and news from the Museum, attend monthly coffee afternoons called Heritage Café for socialising and special interest talks, and take part in special activities such as local trips, parties, events, etc.
The next Heritage Café will be held in the museum’s Education Room, at 2pm, on Friday 6 February. The speaker will be the museum’s Engagement Officer, Elaine Davis, who will be telling the members about the new series of creative writing workshops for young people currently underway, which has been supported by the Friends of Chippenham Museum allowing these workshops to be free for those aged 16-18 developing their writing skills and eventually see their work in print.
Part of a wider local project ‘Chippenham – Our History’, the museum will be celebrating this year the 400th anniversary of the birth of local antiquarian and inventor of the biography, John Aubrey. It is his mini-biographies, ‘Brief Lives’, that has inspired these young participants and will conclude with a special celebration of the work they produce, including a printed publication.
Annual membership to become a Friend of Chippenham Museum is £5 per person, renewed each July. If you are interested in joining, please visit the website to download a membership form or pop into the museum on your next visit.

Symposium - Subversive Forms: Revolutionary approaches to clay
2026-02-07 10:00 - 16:00 | Chippenham Town Hall, High Street, Chippenham, Afghanistan
Developing the themes explored in Chippenham Museum’s exhibition ‘Subversive Forms’, this symposium day will feature illustrated talks and discussion panel with six of the exhibiting artists.
Felicity Aylieff, Nicholas Lees, Halima Cassell, Patricia Volk, Jonathan Keep and Mimi Joung will discuss the work included in the exhibition as well as their individual practices, pushing the boundaries of possibility with clay.
The artists will then join Alun Graves, Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass at the V&A, in a panel discussion chaired by writer and lecturer Conor Wilson.
📅 Saturday 7 February 2026
⏲️ 10am – 4pm
📍 Chippenham Town Hall
🎟️ £6 per ticket, booking essential
For the programme and speaker biographies, please see Chippenham Museum’s What’s On page.

Heritage Café - Friends of Chippenham Museum
2026-03-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Chippenham Museum, 9-10 Market Pl, Chippenham, SN15 3HF, United Kingdom
This month, Paul Stanford is returning for a third talk which encompasses his passion as fourth generation railwayman with local knowledge of a bygone era. A Train Journey Chippenham to Swindon on Sea will be a journey in archive railway photographs from Chippenham to Weymouth by train through charming Wiltshire, Somerset, and Dorset through to Weymouth. With his gentle and charismatic way of speaking, we look forward to welcoming Paul who always attracts a good audience. Paul and his wife, Fiona, are founders of Head-Shunt, a charity dedicated to helping members of the UK railway family uphold good mental health, and as author to three books, money raised from sales of his publications go towards their charity.
Non-Members welcome, but an annual membership to become a Friend of Chippenham Museum is £5 per person, renewed each July. If you are interested in joining, please visit the website to download a membership form or pop into the museum on your next visit.
