Wiltshire in pics: Shindigs and a princess visit
TV presenter Steve Backshall is also staying in the county all week to delight children with his animal knowledge at Longleats.
Other highlights include actress Joanna Lumley supporting a local animal centre, and another local charity enjoyed a royal visit.
Wildlife wanderings: Wiltshire's wildlife has been making more of an appearance recently - one Weather Watcher, Jo C, captured this swan family in Devizes.
Festival time: Shindig has launched at Charlton Park in Wiltshire - the former home of Womad - after spending 10 years in Ilminster, Somerset. The 2025 line up is a "global celebration of rhythm and culture where afrobeat meets electronic, reggae meets soul, funk meets industrial rap", organisers said. The event started on Thursday and runs until Sunday.
Animal antics: Longleat has TV presenter Steve Backshall in to do daily talks at the safari park over half term week. He will not be on his own though - a range of animals and birds will be introduced to the audience and nobody knows how they will behave. Last year, the shows raised £25,000 for conservation charity Tusk.
Royal approval: Wiltshire-based charity Horatio's Garden has released pictures of their patron Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie visiting their garden at Salisbury District Hospital. She spoke to patients, staff and volunteers and planted a grapevine for the charity, which creates the gardens at the UK's spinal injury centres to help people recover.
Horsing around: Wiltshire Police has been represented at the Royal Windsor Horse Show for the first time. The force revealed pictures of its competitors: Laura Hughes from the Local Policing Tasking Team, Hollie Clark, Financial Investigator and Rachael Fairbain from Complex Fraud all took part in the Services Team Jumping competition.
Daredevils: The White Horse Soapbox Race in Westbury got some big crowds. It includes a STEM fair and a lot of different teams competing to make the fastest vehicle. A team from the South Western Ambulance Service got involved too, making their own contraption.
Prestige: Devizes Bowls Club has hosted a prestigious inter-county competition, part of the early stages of the Balcomb Trophy. It's the first time the club has hosted a competition this big.
Immerse yourself: a shipping container is arriving in the middle of Salisbury this weekend, in Guildhall Square. It's for an immersive theatre experience run by producers Darkfield. It's part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival and those who go in for the experience, called FLIGHT, will find themselves in what looks exactly like the inside of a plane and two realities.
Celebrity moment: The Cat Watch Rescue Centre based in Salisbury, which takes in strays and abandoned animals, revealed they had received a donation from Dame Joanna Lumley, who sent a handwritten note.
Bumper crop: the strawberries are already doing well this year, so the pick your own farms are opening up, including this one at Lotmead in Swindon.
Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
Wiltshire in Pictures: Stunning Salisbury blooms
Wiltshire in Pictures: VE Day and bank holiday sun
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Searchlight strikes Chord with $400m deal for ZZ Top music-owner
The owner of song catalogues produced by artists such as ZZ Top and Ellie Goulding is raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a deal with the private equity firm Searchlight Capital. Sky News has learnt that Chord Music Partners has struck an agreement for Searchlight to invest $400m in the company, which is backed by Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading record label. Industry sources said the deal was likely to be announced this week. Chord, which also owns the rights to songs made by Lorde, The Weeknd and John Legend, recently bought a stake in the catalogue of Morgan Wellen. The company is jointly owned by Dundee Partners, a family office, and UMG, with KKR, the private equity giant, having been a shareholder until last year. The sale of KKR's stake took place at a valuation of $1.85bn. It is the latest in a glut of deals involving prominent music rights, with a land grab for valuable entertainment content continuing to drive prices higher. Chord was formed in 2021 and is expected to announce further catalogue acquisitions in the coming months. Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of UMG, said at the time of its Chord stake purchase: "Finding partners who share our passion for identifying iconic songs and recordings that will stand the test of time and deliver long-term growth is essential. "We look forward to creating maximum commercial and creative value for the songwriters and artists in Chord and building for the future." UMG declined to comment, while neither Chord nor Searchlight could be reached for comment.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Greenpeace installs Anish Kapoor artwork on Shell platform in North Sea
Greenpeace activists have installed a new work by artist Anish Kapoor on to a Shell platform in the North Sea to protest against the firm's planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Kapoor conceived the piece, titled BUTCHERED, specifically for the protest on the Skiff platform, which is located 45 nautical miles off the Norfolk coast, the campaign group said. Seven climbers suspended a huge 12-metre by eight-metre canvas on one side of the structure on Wednesday. They then hoisted up a high-press hose before pumping 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid – made from seawater, beetroot powder and food-based pond dye – across the fabric to create a crimson stain. Greenpeace said the climbers were highly experienced and boarded the platform safely. The work intends to visualise the wound inflicted on humanity and Earth by emissions from the fossil fuels industry. Greenpeace noted the action comes as heatwaves, wildfires and floods have hit Europe and elsewhere in the world this month, with scientists saying their frequency and intensity is driven by human-induced climate change. Shell is among the fossil fuel giants planning major expansions in its operations despite warnings from scientists and energy experts that no new extraction projects are needed if the world aims to limit dangerous global warming. Kapoor said: 'The carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is invisible, but we are witnessing the devastation that its extraction wreaks on our world. 'What still remains largely hidden is the responsibility oil giants like Shell bear for causing this destruction and profiting from worldwide suffering. 'I wanted to make something visual, physical, visceral to reflect the butchery they are inflicting on our planet: a visual scream that gives voice to the calamitous cost of the climate crisis, often on the most marginalised communities across the globe.' Kapoor is the latest figure to join the 'polluters pay pact', a global Greenpeace initiative backed by politicians, firefighters, unions, humanitarian groups and tens of thousands of people. The artist, whose world-famous work includes the Cloud Gate sculpture, also known as the Bean, in Chicago, said his new piece aims to 'bring home the horror, giving voice to the moral and physical destruction caused by ruthless profiteers', and pay tribute to activists who chose to 'disrupt, disagree and disobey'. Philip Evans, senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: 'Extreme weather is hitting close to home, but the extraction of fossil fuels driving the climate crisis is often out of sight. 'This artwork is a visual gut-punch that makes visible the suffering and damage caused by the oil and gas industry right at the place where the harm begins.' The campaign group called on the UK Government to place new polluter taxes on oil and gas companies, such as a levy on extraction and on shareholders in fossil fuel firms, to help raise funds for climate-impacted communities at home and abroad. A Shell UK spokesperson said: 'Safety at sea is our priority. 'Greenpeace entered a restricted safety zone around the platform without permission, which is established under UK law to protect people and prevent collisions. 'Their actions were extremely dangerous, involved illegally trespassing, and put their own and others' lives at risk. 'We respect the right of individuals and organisations to protest, but it must be done safely and lawfully.' The Energy Department (Desnz) has been asked for comment.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Snoop Dogg and Modric put Swansea 'in different league'
Chief executive Tom Gorringe says Swansea City are anticipating bigger sponsorship deals thanks to the involvement of Luka Modric and Snoop Dogg. Former Balon d'Or winner Modric became an investor and co-owner at Swansea in April, with rapper Snoop Dogg following suit last month. Gorringe says the arrival of two such high-profile figures has made Swansea "interesting and exciting to people outside the city". "Luka and Snoop have brought a whole load of additional attention to the football club and that provides a huge amount of opportunity," Gorringe said at a fans' forum held at the Stadium on Wednesday. "I think we have done a really good job of maximising what we can do on a local basis but now the parameters have moved. "It puts us in front of different companies, different brands, and allows us to tell an authentic story to people we wouldn't have been able to get in front of before. "We have already had discussions with brands about significant deals which would eclipse anything we have done in the past." Gorringe said Modric and Snoop Dogg will not have specific roles at Swansea, but that both are "really keen to do whatever they can to help". He said both new faces will visit Wales at some point in 2025-26 to watch Alan Sheehan's side in Championship action. "They have both come in without ego, without expectation and just with the best faith to do whatever they can to make things better," Gorringe said. "They are both contactable all the time and they want to find a way that can improve us as a football club. "It puts us in a different league in terms of some of the things that we are able to do." Swansea's owners, led by American duo Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen, had been keen to bring big names on board in order to increase the club's global brand. They have been inspired by the huge progress made at Wrexham since the north Wales club's takeover by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. With profit and sustainability rules dictating much of what the club are able to do, Swansea say the goal is to improve their ability to strengthen on the pitch by increasing commercial revenue.
