As the COVID restrictions finally fade in the rear view mirror, we’re asking people in the Tetbury area to share a photo that encapsulates their memories of how that strange time affected you. We’re putting your photos on our new “Life in Lockdown” page.

They reveal things that made people happy or sad; photos of loved ones they they were separated from; dressing up to put out the bins; working through shutdown; or simply making the best of it. Send us your photos!

We’re very excited to tell you that Louisa Revolta – also known as one of the fabulously-entertaining close harmony trio The Spitfire Sisters – has recorded a set of her songs on video, just for the Goods Shed.

Here she is at Vintage Keys Studios, with co-writer Steve Christie, performing specially for you. We can’t wait to welcome Louisa and the team back to Tetbury for their next show here!

Stroud artist Merilyn Brason‘s mother Ronny was among the tens of thousands of civilians rounded up into internment camps in Japanese-occupied countries in WWII. Now Merilyn has turned her mother’s detailed notes about her captivity into a book telling the story of years of separation, deprivation and danger.

Written in vivid narrative style, The Bamboo Bracelet powerfully conveys the internees’ experience of forging a resilient captive society amid the increasing hardships and horrors of the Pacific War.

Below, Merilyn (who was actually conceived in the Santo Tomas camp in Manila after her mother fought to be reunited with her husband) tells the story of how she came to write the book. You can also read our feature on Ronny’s story here. Merilyn will be exhibiting her paintings at the Goods Shed early next year.

The superb folk duo treated 2,000 live viewers to a thoroughly entertaining live concert on Saturday evening (6 June). The set featured two 45-minute installments of new and old songs, either side of an interval.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording below, or on Facebook or even on your TV if it’s a smart one with the YouTube app installed (just search for “Ninebarrow live specials” within the app.

Here at Tetbury Goods Shed we are very keen on promoting local artists. We are really proud to have developed relationships with incredibly talented local musicians like Beccy and Jacob of Faeland.

Their livestreamed session on Wednesday was an absolute delight. And the good news is you can still enjoy every minute of it at their Facebook page (you don’t need an account to watch).

From 15 February to 22 March next year, the Goods Shed will be hosting an exhibition of dramatic seascapes by local painter Merilyn Brason.

Our latest virtual gallery offers a glimpse of how her works capture and hold forever many fleeting moments in the endless, ceaselessly fascinating rhythm of the sea.

 

Great news from Chris and Lise at Hookshouse. They are taking bookings for visits from Monday 1st June, although they will not be able to offer catering facilities or access to the house toilets.

“If you would like to sit and enjoy the atmosphere of the garden for a while, may we suggest that you bring a folding chair, which will avoid successive visitors using the same benches,” says Chris. Call 01666 880297 or 07703 288615 to arrange a visit.

Stroud artist and musician Angie Spencer will bring her exhibition, “The Art of Listening – Paintings Inspired by Music“, to the Goods Shed in September.

Our latest virtual gallery previews some of the works Angie will be showing. Visit it to discover which musical work provided the inspiration for each one.

This week, award-winning South West singer-songwriter Stuart Earl has compiled and recorded a 45-minute show for the Goods Shed.

Here’s a taste of his show, which is available here. Your next chance to see his trio live at the Shed will be on 17 October.

Joy Lisney is a musical tour de force. An international cellist since her teens, Joy now also conducts and composes. Most recently, her four-track, lockdown recording of the BBC Test Match Special theme went viral on Twitter. 

We were honoured to welcome Joy and her father James to the Shed  in 2017, through her long standing connection with Tetbury-based composer Jan Vriend.  Here are the Lisneys performing Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, Op. 19, at King’s Place, London in 2015.

“Out of this World”, our exhibition of works by leading modern aviation artist David Bent, is scheduled to open at the Shed on 22 July – although it’s still anyone’s guess whether public events will be permitted again by then.

The show will feature many of the vivid original canvases from David’s longstanding collaboration with the Red Arrows. Until then, visit our virtual gallery for a preview of some of the pictures, and be sure to visit davidbentstudio.com to see the full range of his output.

Last seen at the Shed in January putting on a dazzling display of swinging Gypsy Jazz numbers with violinist Ben Holder, Stuart has freely given his time to set up and beautifully record a session for the Goods Shed audience.

The video below is just a taste: visit our session page for the full session. If you haven’t  already done so, join our free subscriber list for reminders and updates. 

Should we have regional as well as national treasures? If so, then we unhesitatingly nominate writer, illustrator and performer, Bill Jones from Stroud – Private Eye cartoonist and grand master of the art of growing Victorians in your back garden.

Visit our virtual gallery for examples of his distinctive pen and ink drawings plus links to his published writing and his website, with autumn dates for his delightful live show, “Growing Victorians”. For the full flavour, visit billjonesillustration.com.

Here’s a session recorded especially for the Goods Shed by British blues rock singer songwriter Keith Thompson.

Huge thanks to Keith for recording this for us!

”Glimpsing the Spire”, Alison’s show here last summer, featured a selection of large new canvases she worked on especially for the Shed.

“I cycle around the area and love the way you spot Tetbury spire from so many places and from some big distances from the town,” she said.

“The spire also has a lovely story in that it has a connection with the original owner of Highgrove and there is a covenant that prevents anyone blocking the view of the spire from the house.”

Click through to our virtual gallery to see a selection of her landscapes and still lives and ways to follow her on social media. And be sure to visit alisonvickery.co.uk

Gerard Logan brought his one man show ‘Night Terrors‘ to the Shed in January, just days before coronavirus arrived in Britain. He is widely acknowledged as an outstanding exponent of the solo performance, and has won acclaim and awards for his shows: The Rape of Lucrece and Wilde Without the Boy (Gareth Armstrong’s dramatisation of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis).

He returns to the Shed on 7 November in Wildean mode to give us Wilde without the Boy and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Until then, here he is on video, lighting up our lockdowns with Shakespeare’s early poem of dishonour and retribution in ancient Rome. Click on Botticelli’s depiction of Lucretia’s tragic end, below, to open the video.

Rob Collins’ show at the Shed, scheduled for 26th February to 29th March was cut short by the crisis so we’ve created a small virtual gallery of his work here or you can see many more of his paintings and read the stories that go with them at his website robcollinsart.com.

Through his traditional painting skills, built up over a lifetime, Rob’s work is a celebration of the process of seeing and the craft of painting. At best he creates pictures with a freshness and lightness of technique that draw you in with their realism and when you get up close and see the marks that make up the surface you think, how on earth did he do that?