News and events

See our Entertainment page for links to musical venues. See below the Diary for featured Topsham news and events.

To post an event: Either click Add our Event in the Diary box (right) and follow the instructions; or click to post a comment via the "comments" link below the Diary. Papers Express & Echo Western Morning News Exmouth Journal Other Exeter Council Events Guide Live Map Devon What's On Devon Car Boot Sales

Matthews Hall - Winter/Spring 2010 events

Friday March 10th, 2010 at Matthews Hall, Topsham.

Topsham Birdwatching & Naturalist Society.

The Amazing World of Seahorses

by Neil Garrick Maidment, Executive Director of the Seahorse Trust

Members free, non-members £3.00.  TBNS, www.topsham.org/tbns, enquiries to tbnsociety@hotmail.com

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Topsham Town Fayre
BINGO

Matthews Hall. Doors open 6.30pm, eyes down 7.30pm.
Cash prizes - prize raffle
All proceeds to Topsham Town Fayre.

Tuesday March 23rd

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Dad's Army

Join your friends at Topsham Library for afternoon tea with Bill Pertwee, who will talk about his new book, Dad's Army: the making of a television legend.

Topsham Library, Wednesday 10th March, 3.00-3.30pm. Afternoon tea. Tickets from the library free.  Event organised by Devon Libraries / www.devon.gov.uk/libraries

Leaving, by Richard Bradbury

Leaving - a new play by Richard Bradbury.

Jack has lived in the same place all his life but now he is being pushed into leaving. His powerful attachment to the land, though, brings with it contradictory emotions that can only really be explained by understanding his past. "Leaving" is about the fierce passions provoked by a sense of being rooted in a locality. Jack's love for his farm and his rage at what has happened to it over the last 40 years is tempered by the knowledge that the place also has him and his family caught in its tight, almst suffocating embrace.

March 18th-19th, 7.30pm at The Globe, Topsham. tickets £8 from Joel Segal Books or e-mail riversmeetplays@btinternet.com

March 24th-25th, 7.00pm, The Cadeleigh Arms, Cadeleigh. Tickets £25 (including interval meal) from 01884 855238 or e-mail riversmeetplays@btinternet.com

From the flyer: Richard Bradbury's novel Riversmeet, about the ex-slave and anti-slavery and social campaigner Frederick Douglass, won an "Exclusively Independent" award earlier this year, and his last play, Become a Man, was commissioned in 2007 by the Greater London Authority as the first play to be performed in the new City Hall. It went on to play to sell-out audiences at the Hackney Empire. He is currently writing a new play, Blood Meadow, about the 1549 Cornwall and Devon rebellion.

Dave Brooks: round-the-world rower

From the Exeter Express & Echo: Rower Dave is still going strong in bid to conquer oceans.

Intrepid rower Dave Brooks is now into the second week of his record-breaking attempt to cross the world's two largest oceans. Dave, from Topsham, is tackling some of the world's wildest sea conditions in a bid to row 13,000 miles solo around the globe — the furthest anyone has rowed in a single expedition.

For background and continuing progress reports, see Dave's website davebrookssolo.co.uk and his weblog.

Matthews Hall modernised

Topsham Community Association is pleased to announce the completion of the modernisation of Matthews Hall, which reopened on Saturday September 26th 2009. As the social centre of Topsham for nearly 80 years, it retained many defunct architectural features, such as the ticket kiosk remaining from its original custom design as the Tivoli cinema. A full description of the new facilities, and official photos, will follow shortly. Meanwhile, click on the images for larger views of the new foyer and cafe bar.

Current News

Oct 1, 2009 Many national papers have reported the return to Topsham of Dave and Hazel McCabe after their four-year world cruise in the converted trawler Rosa Ailither. See The Telegraph: Couple return from four year sailing honeymoon - with two year-old child among others (Google News).

July 28th: the appointment of our new town crier officially took office today. As covered in the E&E - Keith and Ben appointed town's new criers - Keith Smith has been appointed as the new town crier with Ben Turner as his deputy, replacing Jon Reed. The criers' duties include publicising charity and other events that happen throughout the town all year round, as well as special appearance at the town criers' procession and competition at the forthcoming Town Fair. Keith can be contacted at keethsmeeth@blueyonder.co.uk.

Topsham Leisure Directory

This comprehensive guide to Topsham leisure activities and facilities, compiled by the Topsham Community Association, is now available in print form for £1.00 from Topsham News, Joel Segal Books and other outlets. We've also put it online: see www.topsham.org/leisuredirectory/ or click the logo now in the Topsham.org sidebar.

Topsham Rock School

From the Express & Echo, September 24 2008, Earsplitting start for lottery-funded school where teachers rock, a good write-up for Topsham Rock School: "a community organisation funded by the National Lottery's Awards for All scheme, Exeter Arts Council, local charities and community groups. We give young people aged 10 - 16 the chance to write, rehearse and ultimately perform live music".

Food Festival photos & reports

See the Topsham Food Festival gallery at the South West Media Group, which coordinates photos for the local press. Kim Millon also has a photo gallery online.

Marc Millon's Notes from a Devon Kitchen has reports online of the Festival and Nello's Longest Table.

"Woolserybloke" has posted a YouTube video of the band playing Queen numbers outside the Globe.

Nello's Longest Table

The Nello's Longest Table community feast was a resounding success: 264 tables stretching for a third of a mile, and around 1500 people present. After initially shaky weather, Sunday ended in a mild bright evening. People had managed to find a remarkable number of gazebos at short notice when it began raining toward the start time; these turned out to be unnecessary for shelter, but definitely added to the general party atmosphere. Co-organiser Marc Millon said: "This quote from our friend Natacha sums up Nello's Longest Table perfectly."

It was a perfect evening, like a cross between a Sicilian wedding and summer fete gone bonkers; England flinging its knickers in the air!

Here's a video slideshow I put together of the whole length of the table. More photos shortly.

Food Festival

Topsham Food Festival
June
13th-14th-15th 2008

A weekend community celebration of local and locally sourced foods, taste workshops, live music and Italian friendship. In aid of the Matthews Hall Modernisation Appeal and Force Cancer Charity. Featuring Nello's Longest Table!

Visit www.topshamfoodfestival.org.uk for more information and an events listing..