Melville Centre Abergavenny

Abergavenny Writing Festival Finale Night
2023-04-22 19:00 - 22:00 (Europe/London) | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Writing Fest Finale Night! Comedy, music and words
Tickets are £13.01 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
Starting with some ‘Wordplay Cabaret’ from Mark Blainey; poetry, songs and stories from Alex Wharton and lo-fi alt-Indie music with Folk and Americana influences from Rona Mac. Join us for an entertaining and inspiring evening with our stellar finale night line-up! Each performance will be punctuated with a break and the opportunity to share the buzz with fellow audience members in the Melville bar.
Mark Blayney
Wordplay Cabaret: Yoga for seagulls! Michael Caine! The world’s first poetry magic trick! A quickfire blast of comedy, poetry, poetry-comedy and comedy-poetry from the award-winning MARK BLAYNEY. Einstein! A vicar who loves Kylie! The poet laureate goes to the zoo! Get your seat early, because otherwise, someone else will sit in it.
‘I laughed – then frowned as I realised none of these poems rhyme’ – JOHN SHUTTLEWORTH
Mark Blayney is a writer and performer based in Cardiff. His work spans comedy, fiction and poetry. Mark writes fiction, poetry, scripts and journalism. His novella Two kinds of silence won the Somerset Maugham Prize, his poetry has been longlisted for the National Poetry Competition and my journalism won a Wales Media Award.
Alex Wharton
Alex Wharton is an award winning writer and performer of poetry for adults and children. His First Book of poetry for children ‘Daydreams and Jellybeans’ was shortlisted for the Wales Book Of The Year Award 2022, The North Somerset Teacher’s Book Awards, The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards and was named as a National Poetry Day recommended read.
He is widely published in the sector and has collaborated with Literature Wales, Cadw, The National Dance Company Of Wales, Welsh Government, British Council of literature, Welsh Libraries and many schools, trusts and festivals including Hay Festival and Edinburgh International book Festival.
In 2021 Alex was commissioned by Hay Festival to create a poem with children that would be read to Her Royal Highness, Queen Consort at a ceremony held in Hay-On-Wye. Alex’s second collection of poems ‘Red Sky At Night: A Poet’s Delight’ will be published with Firefly Press in 2024.
Rona Mac
Rona Mac is a trailblazer for expression within music. She is a queer Singer-Songwriter bringing us lo-fi alt-Indie with Folk and Americana influences, crafted in her caravan home-studio in west Wales. Her music comes raw and unfiltered, aching with the kind of nostalgia that comes with rural, rugged places. She weaves satisfying guitar-driven riffs with hooky melodies and she shows the ability in her sophisticated lyricism to reach out to people and make them feel. Her strive for depth and grit evokes the singer-songwriter movement of late 90’s as well as contemporaries such as SOAK, Marika Hackman and Holly Humberstone.
Despite music composition and performance being prominent in her life from a very young age, Rona Mac’s project as a solo musician began in 2020 and she has since released a DIY Debut Album ‘Sheelah’ and EP ‘Shades Of Ham’, exhibiting her captivating talent with music production. Her personal highlights of 2022 are plays on primetime BBCRadio1, BBC6Music and Radio Wales, performing at 6music Fest and Boomtown, and getting featured in Clash magazine. Funded by PRS foundation Women Make Music and Help Musicians UK, she will be releasing a new album in 2023, as well as collaborations with artists Dan Bettridge, Minas and Wil Owen.
https://www.ronamacmusic.com/

Events take place at Melville Centre for the Arts, Abergavenny, NP7 5UD. Plan your journey here (link opens in new tab)

Abergavenny Writing Festival
2023-04-22 10:00 - 22:00 | Monmouthshire
A whole day of workshops and performance at The Melville

10:00 – Noon. Place and Landscape in Your Fiction – workshop with Katie Munnik & Tyler Keevil.
Tickets are £16.26 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
Many writers see plot as paramount, while others claim character is the key. The importance of setting in writing fiction is often overlooked, or viewed as secondary. In this two-hour prose fiction workshop, award-winning Welsh-Canadian authors Katie Munnik and Tyler Keevil will examine the ways place and landscape can enhance our stories. Through sharing examples from favourite works, and reflecting on their own writing practice, they will encourage participants to consider how they use place in their writing, and offer advice on making it more effective. The workshop is open to aspiring and emerging writers of all levels and experience – and it only requires a pen and notebook, and some creative enthusiasm!Katie Munnik is a Canadian writer living in Cardiff, UK. In 2017, she won the Borough Press Open Submission, and her debut novel The Heart Beats in Secret was a USA Today Bestseller. Her second novel The Aerialists was published in April 2022 by HarperCollins.
Tyler Keevil grew up in Vancouver, Canada and moved to Wales in his twenties. He is the author of several novels and the short story collection, Burrard Inlet. He has received a number of awards for his work, including the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice and the Writers’ Trust of Canada Journey Prize. He lives in Abergavenny and is the director of the Creative Writing MA at Cardiff University. His most recent books are No Good Brother (The Borough Press) and Your Still Beating Heart (Myriad Editions).
10:30-11:15am – Hamed Amiri’s Journey: from Afghanistan to Cardiff, a bestselling book & theatre production
Tickets are £5.42 (including booking fee) and be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Hamed Amiri is the author of the bestselling book and the theatre production of The Boy With Two Hearts. Hamed will share his story of fleeing Afghanistan with his family when he was just ten years old and their perilous journey to seek refuge in the UK in an attempt to prolong his brother Hussein’s life. Why he was driven to write about this and the subsequent adaptation of his bestselling book to theatre production.
Making a promise to his brother has been Hamed’s new mission in life. To share the story with the wider audience and showcase diversity in a truly unique version, while ensuring his late brother’s legacy lives on through the journey and reliving his contribution to the NHS.
Currently working as a senior leader in the tech sector while an influencer in the education sector. Hamed has learned the key ingredients to break down the perception in society and has become a role model to the younger generation, which was recognized when he was awarded “Inspiring the next generation.”
All ticket proceeds for this event will be donated to https://daringtodream.wales/ Supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of patients in Wales
12:15 – 13:15 – Amser Cinio gyda Lowri Haf Cooke
Tickets are £7.59 (including booking fee) and be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Ymunwch â Lowri am sesiwn fywiog o flasu a sgwrsio am bopeth yn ymwneud â bwyd. Ar y fwydlen, bydd sôn am wahanol flasau, nostalgia, atgofion, teithio, gramadeg bwyd a chyfle i ofyn unrhyw gwestiynau fel adolygydd bwyd.Ar hyn o bryd, mae gan yr awdur o Gaerdydd nofel, a dau lyfr bwyd ar y gweill ac mae hi hefyd yn gwneud gwaith creadigol gyda gwahanol ysgolion. Hi oedd golygydd cyntaf a sefydlwr y cylchgrawn Taste/Blas. Mae hi hefyd yn ysgrifennu i gylchgrawn Barn, Y Dinesydd a Croeso Cymru/ Visit Wales.
Llyfr diweddaraf Lowri yw Bwytai Cymru (Gwasg Gomer) dathliad o’r 50 bwyty gorau yng Nghymru. Hi hefyd yw awdur Canllaw Bach Caerdydd – llyfr sydd yn tywys y darllenydd o gwmpas Caerdydd. Ei llyfr arall yw Caffis Cymru adolygiad o gaffis gorau Cymru.
Ar ôl ennill gradd mewn Daearyddiaeth a Chymraeg ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth aeth Lowri ymlaen i ennill M.A ym maes Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu.
Mae Lowri hefyd yn wyneb a llais cyfarwydd ar S4C a Radio Cymru yn adolygu ffilmiau. Felly dewch a’ch tips sinema ynghŷd a’ch chwant bwyd i’r sesiwn hwn!
13:30 – 14:30 – Comedy Writing with AberLaugh
Tickets are £7.59 (including booking fee) and be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Have you ever wanted to try stand-up comedy but no idea where to start? Join local comedians Huw Davies and Mike Reed for a short workshop/discussion where you can learn more about the South Wales Comedy Scene, how to get started and even have an opportunity to try some of your own material.Huw Davies has been performing and compering for several years across South Wales and runs a popular monthly stand-up comedy night (Aberlaugh) at the Kings Arms Hotel in Abergavenny.
Mike Reed is a British Comedian of the year semi-finalist and has gigged all over the UK, from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Hawthorn Community Centre.

15:00 – 17:30 – Finding a Voice – Creative Writing Workshop for Women
Tickets are £16.26 (Including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Liz explains what to expect from the session: “I welcome those with some writing experience and those new to writing. Working with a group, I use a creative process which starts with your individual experience and develops this into writing which resonates with others. The session will include creative exercises to stimulate and develop your writing and shared examples from different published writers to inspire you. This workshop builds on previous sessions, but is equally valuable as a stand-alone session.”
About Liz Pearce
Liz has over 30 years’ professional experience as an actor, writer and facilitator, working in education, the community, theatre, TV and radio. Her work is diverse, due to her drama background, and she writes drama, prose, poetry and poetic monologues. She also facilitates creative writing workshops, encouraging writers to find a unique voice of their own.
For further information please visit www.elizabethpearce.co.uk

15:30 – 16:30 – Readings from Where the Birds Sing Our Names
Tickets are free but pre-registration is required – register for tickets here (link opens in new tab)

Editor Tony Curtis is joined by contributors Rhian Edwards and Chris Meredith to read from Where the Birds Sing Our Names, the remarkable anthology of poems about childhood, parenting and birds, published in support of the Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice in Sully which serves the whole of south Wales. All the proceeds of this book go directly to the charity and copies will be on sale at the reading.
www.tyhafan.org/
Rhian Edwards www.rhianedwards.co.uk/
Chris Meredith https://christophermeredit9.wixsite.com/website
Tony Curtis http://tonycurtispoet.com/

16:30 – 17:30 – Illustrating text with Adam Hayes
Tickets are £7.59 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Join Adam Hayes for a workshop on developing an image from a short piece of text. As an illustrator, Adam often only receives plain text [from an author or agent] which he then needs to read and work out for himself what the accompanying image should be. The session will be based around; reading the text and working out how best to apply an image to enhance it. Adam will give examples before the group gets started. Participants will be invited to pick a piece of text, perhaps just a sentence or a paragraph – some very simple & some more challenging – all of them plain text and without much context, think about which part of the text you want to illustrate and sketch out as many different ideas as you can on separate sheets of paper. Pick out your favourite ideas and create your final illustration!
Adam Hayes is a typographer and illustrator. He works on a broad range of projects from quick editorial illustrations to large-scale international campaigns. Since his graduation from the Royal College of Art in 2006 he has developed a solid roster of clients that include Apple, Google, Honda, Ikea, Shake Shack and Whole Foods – whilst also devoting time to personal projects.
https://mrahayes.com/info

17:45 – 18:45 – Memoir Writing in an Hour with Jude Rogers
Tickets are £7.59 (including booking fee) and be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Want to turn your life story, or someone else’s, into a compelling narrative? Where – and how – do you start? How do you give shape to your experiences? How do you make the past come alive?Critically acclaimed memoir writer and journalist Jude Rogers is here to help with a lively hour of tips, lessons learned and short exercises to help you make your writing breathe and sing.
Jude Rogers is the author of the acclaimed memoir about music, memory and growing up, The Sound Of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives, published by White Rabbit Books (“Fascinating” – Ian Rankin; “What a joy” – Ruth Jones). A teacher of memoir writing for the Arvon Writing Foundation, she is also a busy freelance journalist regularly working for The Guardian, The Observer and BBC Radio 4. She lives in Monmouthshire with her husband and son.

Abergavenny Writing Fest - Events for Young People
2023-04-22 10:00 - 18:00 | Monmouthshire
Events for Young People

All events take place on Saturday 22nd April 2023 at Melville Centre for the Arts.Tickets are per child, accompanying adults are free (parents / carers – you are welcome to join your child or wait in the nearby café area)

10:15 – 11:15 – Illustration with Max Low
Tickets are £4.34 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
Join Max in an exploration of illustration, and how you really don’t need to be good at drawing to be a good artist (which Max has spent a career demonstrating).Max Low is an illustrator, animator, writer, photographer, teacher and occasionally washes the dishes. Max loves un-perfect things, absurdity and imaging what an Alien would think if they had just landed on Earth. He is most known for illustrating The Mab, a retelling of the Welsh saga The Mabinogion, but is also the author and illustrator of the Ceri & Deri series.
Suitable for age 4 +

11:30 – 12:30 – Magnificent Mash-Ups with Claire Fayers
Tickets are £4.34 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)

Can you imagine Cinderella in space? Who’d win in a fight between unicorns and dinosaurs? Mash-ups are great fun to write and can send your imagination off in all sorts of strange directions. Claire Fayers has made a career of mixing different genres and stories in her books. Join her for a wild and wacky session creating your own mash-up masterpieces.
Claire Fayers grew up in South Wales where, thanks to her local library, she developed a lifelong obsession with myth and magic. Her previous books include the award-winning Accidental Pirates duo, Storm Hound, and Welsh Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends, nominated for the Carnegie medal. When she’s not writing, she spends her time visiting schools and libraries to share her love of stories. Recommended for ages 7-12 (please note this is only for guidance)

13:00-14:00 – Dreigiau Drwg a Bwystfilod Barus gyda Huw Aaron
Tickets are £4.34 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
Dewch i chwilio am Boc y ddraig, hela angenfilod gyda Gwil garw, a chreu bwystfilod doniol a direidus eich hun gyda’r arch-ddwdlwr ei hun! Dewch â phensil! (Oed – 4 – 10)
Wedi ei leoli yn Nghaerdydd mae’r awdur, y darlunydd a’r cartwnydd Huw Aaron. Mae Huw wedi dwdlan a sgriblo ar draws cannoedd o wahanol lyfrau – fel arfer gyda chaniatad! Rhai o’r ffefrynnau yw cyfres ‘Ble mae Boc’ a ‘Sbarc a Seren.
Huw Aaron Dreigiau Drwg a Bwystfilod Barus (Bad Dragons and Greedy Beasts)
Come to search for Boc the dragon, hunt monsters with Gwil garw and create funny, mischievous monsters with the arch-doodler himself! Bring a pencil! (Age 4 -10)
Cardiff-based author, illustrator and cartoonist Huw has doodled and scribbled across the pages of hundreds of books – usually with permission! Favourites include the Find the Dragon series, and Seren a Sbarc.

14:15-15:15 – The Power of Poetry with Connor Allen
Tickets are £4.34 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
Come and discover the power of poetry and words as Children’s Laureate for Wales Connor Allen makes poetry cool again and empowers you along the way.
Connor is the current Children’s Laureate of Wales. Since graduating from Trinity Saint David as an Actor, has worked with companies such as Sherman Theatre, Tin Shed Theatre and National Theatre Wales. He is a member of National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and was also the winner of Triforce’s Cardiff MonologueSlam, representing Wales at the London winners edition.
As a writer he was a member of the BBC Wales Welsh Voices and The Welsh Royal Court writing groups and has written for BBC Wales, BBC Radio 4, Sherman Theatre, Literature Wales and Dirty Protest. Connor’s work is heavily inspired by elements of his own life such as grief, love, masculinity, identity, and ethnicity. Most recently he wrote and starred in the Wales Millennium Centres production The Making of a Monster, Won the Rising Star Wales Award 2021 and was a Jerwood Live Work Fund recipient. He is associate artist of his hometown theatre The Riverfront in Newport. Recommended age range 10+

15:30 – 16:30 – Family Singing Session with Tanya Walker
Tickets are £4.34 (including booking fee) and can be purchased here (link opens in new tab)
An opportunity for all ages to have fun singing songs in harmony from all over the world! Inclusive, inspirational, connecting singing sessions for the whole family. Includes fun voice & body warm ups & tips on how to look after & find your most natural self-expressed voice. Songs will be taught by ear and participants will build the confidence and freedom to sing in beautiful harmony with other voices as well as leaving the session feeling inspired and uplifted!Tanya is a professional choir & singing workshop leader, musician and singer-songwriter/performer with over 38 years of experience, based in Brecon. She leads five community choirs in Wales and also works as a vocal and performance coach and singing workshop leader for all ages. Her choirs & amp sessions are for EVERYONE who loves to sing and no experience is necessary!
As well as sessions being an opportunity for participants to learn fun, engaging body and voice warmups & learning to sing as a group, Tanya’s workshops utilise music and singing as a way of enhancing feelings of wellbeing, health, happiness, self-acceptance & confidence in participants.
Suitable for all ages.

Spoken Word Open Mic - Part of Abergavenny Writing Festival
2023-04-21 19:00 - 21:30 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
As part of Abergavenny Writing Festival we’re celebrating inclusivity and diversity in the world of writing in Wales.
The Writing Festival kicks off social proceedings with an accessible spoken-word open-mic event here in the cosy and easy to access bar area. The event will be hybrid so both audience and participants are able to join either in person or via a zoom link. There will be closed captioning and BSL interpretation for the performance.
This event is delivered with the support of write4word through its ‘Press Speak Not Delete’ project, creating a hybrid of physical performance and digital channels to develop a more diverse and accessible arts sector.
The open-mic programme is limited to 8 participants in the physical venue and 8 participants on-line. Performance slots are 4 minutes in length.
General entry £5, entry for participants is also £5 but includes an additional complimentary ticket for a friend or family member. Please contact dominic@write4word.org to book a slot.
Click this link to buy tickets

Writing For Fun
2023-04-20 08:00 - 2023-06-22 17:00 | Monmouthshire
3rd Thursday of the month, 10am – 12pm (20th April, 18th May, 22nd June)
Explore your Creativity with words. It’s an opportunity to get writing in a friendly and supportive group. Suitable for all, come and try some writing exercises and practice with oodles of encouragement! New members welcome!
Contact Pat Smail on 07977 116876

Advanced Welsh Classes
2023-04-19 09:00 - 2023-07-19 13:00 | Monmouthshire
Develop your Welsh speaking, writing and listening classes in this advanced class hosted by Learn Welsh Gwent.
Wednesday’s 8:30am – 12pm (term times)
For those learners who have completed the intermediate level course and also for those who are familiar with the main language patterns, this is an opportunity to come together and enhance your language skills. Classes are informal and fun and hosted by tutor, Rhys Jones
For info, visit learnwelsh.cymru

TRAM LINE BLUES feat. Howlin' Mat
2023-04-13 19:00 - 21:30 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
INTERNATIONALLY TOURING BLUES MAN, HOWLIN’ MAT HEADS TO THE MELVILLE
A BLUES musician who has performed everywhere from the Arctic Circle to the Sahara Desert.
Howlin’ Mat – a singer, guitarist and storyteller who travels thousands of miles a year playing the music he loves joins us in the Melville Bar on Thursday 13th April 2023.
Mat performs up to 200 shows a year and his escapades include him opening for the Happy Mondays, spending an evening with Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones on an Island 130 miles inside the Arctic Circle in the middle of winter and having a birthday party with a notorious biker gang.
Armed with his guitars and a slide on his finger, Mat follows in the footsteps of his musical heroes such as Mississippi Fred McDowell and Muddy Waters and onstage he combines his musical talents with hilarious tales of his time on the road.

THE ABERGAVENNY LIP READING GROUP
2023-04-04 10:00 - 2023-06-13 14:00 | Monmouthshire
An opportunity to develop your lip-reading skills, gain confidence and spend the morning with like-minded language enthusiasts.
Tuesday’s 10am – 12pm (termtimes)
A wonderful chance to help yourself and others around you with hearing difficulty.
Contact Angela Lewis on 07798 517695

Tai Chi
2023-04-03 19:00 - 2023-06-26 20:00 | Monmouthshire
Beginners Tai Chi
Monday evenings 7 – 8pm
A great way to start the new year! This practice helps to improve and maintain strength, balance,
coordination, flexibility, concentration and breathing.
The Li Style Tai Chi is also known as the “Square Yard Short Form” Style, as it’s actions can be performed within a
small confined area, making it very accessible for all. In this style, movements are performed slowly,
gently and smoothly, immediately helping to improve health and mental wellbeing.
All enquiries to Keith on 01873 831241 or email leefamilyarts@gmail.com
Click here for more information

Abergavenny Film Society - Bangla Surf Girls
2023-03-29 16:30 - 22:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Bangla Surf Girls
29 March 2023 Rating 15
Screenings: 4:30pm, 7:30pm
Guest Tickets £5
Bengal (2021) 86 minutes
Director: Elizabeth D. Costa
Elizabeth D. Costa’s Bangla Surf Girls shows us the struggle with being pressured into conforming to tradition despite your aspirations and the resilience in young women to push against the social tide. At times brutal with its honesty, this beautifully compelling documentary is fantastic. Shobe, Aisha and Suma break away from the drudgery of their lives by joining a surf club in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The girls fight family pressure and social judgement for a few hours on the waves. They gain confidence as their natural skills and prowess gain attention and praise. Soon they are poised to make history as the first women surfers in Bangladesh. The odds are stacked against them but the girls refuse to give up. Balancing the freedom of the waves with the restrictive realities of their circumstances, we experience the thrill and struggle of coming of age in a developing country.
Vancouver Asian Film Festival 2022 – Best Feature
Click here to view trailer

BLACK MOUNTAIN JAZZ SESSION feat. Hot Club Gallois
2023-03-26 19:30 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Conjuring up the swirling dance halls of 1940’s Paris!
At this month’s Black mountain Jazz Session, we are delighted to feature Hot Club Gallois, who combine a heady mix of Django Reinhardt classics, swing-flavoured jazz standards and Hot Club Gallois originals.
Hot Club Gallois bring you the hottest pics of the swing era. An irresistible mix of fiery violin, lyrical vocals, virtuosic guitar and stomping bass, you won’t want to stay in your seat!
Tickets Available from blackmountainjazz.co.uk

FOLK TALES
2023-03-23 19:00 - 22:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Piskey Led + Bryony Sier
Quarterly Folk Night at The Melville Centre.
This month we are joined by the almighty ‘Piskey Led’…
In Cornwall, to be ‘piskey led’ means to be led astray by faeries or pixies, known in the Cornish dialect as ‘piskeys’. Myth has it that when walking home from the town, poor souls would be tricked into wandering off into the wilderness by these mischievous little creatures. In reality, folk looking for an excuse to explain their errant behaviour would blame it on the piskeys, or lost drunkards would think themselves tricked by them, inspiring the local saying: ‘piskey led is often whiskey led!’.
In the spirit of leading people off the beaten track, Cardiff-based folk band Piskey Led play music that conjures a kaleidoscopic mix of traditions and styles, drawn from Ireland, Cornwall, and England. With Cornish flautist Katie Lower, Lancastrian double-bassist Josh Goodey, and Irish guitarist and mandolin player, James Bower and Chris Mercer, they promise an incandescent show with a set-list hard to forget.
Support comes from Merthyr based acclaimed folk-pop artist, Bryony Sier.

Poetry Upstairs
2023-03-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
An evening of Poetry at The Melville
“Poets are outsiders; activists, outlaws, revolutionaries unimpressed by a sanitized world”
A local institution, Poetry Upstairs has been a staple of the Abergavenny Poetry Scene since 1992.
Thirty years on and the readings continue, open to all who wish to pass through or remain with one
of the longest regularly running poetry reading series in Wales. If you’ve never been… do come along
and be part of the The Abergavenny Poetry Scene.
Click here to view guest Poets

Black Mountain Jazz Presents The Dave Jones Quintet
2023-02-26 19:00 - 22:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
The Dave Jones Quintet plays The Music of Kenny Garrett
Jones has long been a fan of the music of the great ex-Miles Davis saxophonist/composer Kenny Garrett, particularly since hearing him on his late 1990s ‘Songbook’ album and live in London. That album featured Kenny Kirkland on piano (Dave’s favourite pianist), and so began the process of discovering Garrett’s other music, both older and newer.
Now in 2023, it turns out that Andy Hague (drummer in Dave’s Quartet) has a great set of charts for a wide selection of Garrett’s tunes, including November 15 and Brother Hubbard from ‘Songbook’, and some favourite tunes from other albums including Boogety Boogety, Chief Blackwater, Native Tongue, and of course A Hole in One.
Jones is now utilising Hague’s horn-playing skills again, following a similar move for the ‘Crime Scenes and Subterfuge’ production music album (2020) and on gigs to promote Jones’ ‘Unfinished Sentences’ album (from 2021). Add the impressive Ben Waghorn/Dan Newberry (saxes, flute), Ashley John Long/Chris Jones/Nick Kacal (bass), and Ryan Thrupp/Alex Goodyear (drums) to complete the Quintet from a pool of great players, and their collective skills, experience, and credits make this a project to watch out for…
Ben Waghorn (saxes and flutes for NYJO, Tommy Chase, Slowly Rolling Camera and Keith Tippett, Goldfrapp, Kasabian and Portishead), Ashley John Long (bass for John Law, Brandon Allen, Geoff Eales, Alan Barnes, Scott Hamilton, and London Philharmonic Orchestra), Andy Hague (trumpeter for Portishead, his own bands, and Be-Bop Club in Bristol regular), and pianist Dave Jones has released numerous critically acclaimed albums, performed internationally, and has TV composition credits including ‘The Big Bang Theory’, the US Open Golf Tournament, ‘The Today Show’, and ‘Location, Location, Location’.
Watch the Dave Jones Quintet here
Tickets £8 – £16

The Tap Dancing Mermaid
2023-02-23 14:00 - 15:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
We’ve all heard thousands of stories written about The Moon but now the time has come to hear his magical, mystical story about a young tap dancer who he watches at night.
Mixing up tap dance, stunning puppetry, live ukulele-ing and a beautiful story, The Tap Dancing Mermaid is the
smash hit solo production from Tessa Bide Productions Ltd and it will make you want to stick
50ps to your shoes and join in!
Gather round, gather round for the Moon’s magical, mystical story about a tippetty-top tap dancer who he has been watching at night. Marina Skippett creeps out of her house every night to shuffle and stomp on the boardwalk to the sounds of the sea. She can’t tap dance at home anymore since her evil, tractor-sized Aunty banned it, threatening to feed Marina’s dinners to the dog! But then, one moonlit night, Marina meets a mysterious, watery boy called Leo
swimming in the sea and her life is never the same again!
The “truly amazing one woman power house” Tessa Bide brings you her celebrated devised solo production, called “just everything a children’s theatre experience should be” (Childplays). There are stunning puppets, original live music to sing along to and tap dancing that will make you want to stick 50ps to your shoes and join in! For everyone aged 3 to 133.
Click here to take a peek at The Tap Dancing Mermaid
Tickets:
Adult: £9
Children (up to 12yrs): £5
Family (2 adults & 2 children): £25
Call 01873 853167 or email melvillecamanager@gmail.com to reserve your ticket.
Limited Tickets. Tickets on a first come first served basis.

Breast Cancer Now
2023-02-16 09:30 - 13:00 | Monmouthshire
The Breast Cancer Now Moving Forward course provides supportive, open conversations
in a safe and confidential space for those who have finished their breast cancer treatment.
You’ll find the tools you need to feel more empowered, confident and in control. Ready to
move forward with your life. These sessions are great to share experiences and gain tips,
or just listen to others.
The course takes place on two half day sessions on 9 February and 16 February 2023.
To register to attend the next course please complete the online referral form.
Click here to find out more and register

Love Bites
2023-02-11 19:30 - 21:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
An evening of entertainment to tickle your funny bones and provide an alternative to the Valentines Day satin hearted madness.
Dishes of drama with all the flavours of love; bitter, sweet and sour.
Click here for tickets

Folk Tales - SOLD OUT
2023-01-28 19:00 - 22:00 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT
An Evening of Music in association with The Landworker’s Alliance featuring singer songwriter Kite Iya.
With her unique blend of ethereal vocals and jazz driven, electronica inspired finger picking, Kita Iya sings of
the human experience and conjures the magic that lies between reality and imagination.
Approaching traditional folk with a contemporary style, Kite’s sound showcases her deep spiritual connection with these islands
and her experiences in both Andalucía and New Zealand.
Come and enjoy a night of nourishing song with good folk and fine wines at The Melville Bar.
All donations to support further music sessions at The Melville

BMJ
2023-01-25 19:00 - 22:30 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Monthly Black Mountain Jazz session
Feat. BMJ collective with saxophonists Dan Newberry and Alex Clarke
Join the Black Mountain Jazz House band with 2 rising star sax players for a lively and fun night.
The BMJ Collective draws on a number of talented young professional musicians performing regularly in the South Wales and neighbouring areas. Between them they can offer a wide variety of line-ups and the opportunity to invite guest performers to join them. Joining the BMJ Collective for this performance are rising young stars, saxophonists Dan Newberry and Alex Clarke.
Tickets:
Standard – £14
Friends of BMJ – £12
Under 16’s – £8
Also, check out BMJ concert celebrating Women in jazz in Wales at The Borough Theatre, a collaboration with Arts Council Wales. Thursday 9th February.

New Poets Poetry Cafe
2022-12-20 10:30 - 12:00 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
With the renowned and charismatic Ric Hool, The New Poets Poetry Cafe is a series of
4 sessions hosted in The Melville Cafe/Bar. For the writer, this series is for anyone
interested in developing their poetry. This group is also open to those poetry enthusiasts
that do not write but want to learn and share in their passion.
Each participant brings one self-penned poem plus copies of that poem for discussion during
the first 45 minutes; after a short break the poems of an exemplar poet will be introduced.
Sessions will run on Tuesday’s:
20th December
17th January
21st February
To book your spot, please call 01873 853167 or email melvillecamanager@gmail.com

Monthly Volunteer Lounge
2022-12-13 09:30 - 12:00 | Melville Centre Cafe-Bar, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Tuesday 13th December from 9:30am – 12pm
Our monthly volunteer lounge is a chance for all of us to connect, share ideas and plan future
events and activities together. We would love to see you there and talk about how your time
and expertise are so integral to making this place flourish.

The Future Is Us Exhibition
2022-12-07 08:00 - 2022-12-15 17:00 | Monmouthshire
Film Screening and Exhibition for ‘The Future Is Us Project’
Until 15th December
Tuesday & Thursday’s 1 – 4pm
‘The Future Is Us Project’ was a Monmouthshire Arts based project to empower and listen to young people
between the ages of 10 and 25. Through engagement and participation, it aimed to give them a platform to
project their views, and posed questions around whether or not their voices are heard.
Do they have a seat at the table?
Culminating in a celebration event on 16th July with dance and drama performances around Abergavenny,
the event was captured on camera and we are delighted to share with you the results! Click HERE for more!
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, you are invited to view the exhibition in our gallery and share in a
diverse array of media including printing, photography and installation. Accompanying this, is a looped
screening of the film that documented the project and final event on 16th July in venues around Abergavenny.
The film includes stunning dance performances, artist interviews and messages from the young people who took part.
For more Information, please call 01873 853167 or email melvillecamanager@gmail.com

Cait Davies Vocal Tuition Concert
2022-12-03 | Monmouthshire
The students of Cait Davies Vocal Tuition present their annual
Christmas concert, featuring some festive favourites.
Cait trained in Musical Theatre at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts London and is
a Licentiate of Trinity College London.
Cait started Cait Davies Vocal Tuition in 2019, starting with just a few students and
teaching them from her living room. In 2020, Cait made the decision to expand her
business, which some thought a strange decision to make in the middle of a global
pandemic, but she did it nonetheless. And now two years on she has 30 students
coming to her purpose built studio on a weekly basis, performing in two concerts a year.
Students have the opportunity to enter for exams in Musical Theatre or Rock and Pop, or
they can just learn for fun and confidence building.
This is and Invite Only Event
For more information on how to book, contact Cait via her Facebook page
@caitdaviesvocals or via email at caitdaviesvocaltuition@outlook.com

Corws - The Blodeuo Theatre Company
2022-12-02 11:30 - 13:00 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Corws/Chorus
The culmination of a year long story, Corws gives each participant the chance
to share their own story, dream or imagining. Focussing on our core emotions, these
unique performances convey genuine expressed creativity in movement words and music.
Addressing core questions such as; what makes you feel happy, uneasy or courageous?
We are taken on walks through many landscapes, showcasing the depth and breath of the
human experience.
The Blodeuo Theatre Company
Blodeuo Theatre Company brings together over 20 participants of diverse ability
and endeavours to tell their stories. Hosted at The Melville Theatre and held by a
group of committed and enthusiastic facilitators, the company takes its name from
the drama group’s first performance which told the ancient Welsh story of Blodeuwedd;
Somewhere near Castell Mur, overlooking Trawsfynydd, she was created from flowers
by magicians as related in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi.
Please note: This event is invite only
For more information call 01873853167 or email melvillecamanager@gmail.com
This project is kindly sponsored by The Arts Council of Wales.

Abergavenny Film Society Screening
2022-11-30 16:30 - 22:30 | The Melville Theatre, The Melville Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5UD, United Kingdom
Fortnightly Screening of World and Independent British Cinema
Join us for our fortnightly screening, where we showcase the best of World and
UK Independent Cinema titles. Both diverse and inclusive, we always encourage
lively discussion of films and invite audience members to rate the films.
Our Memory Belongs to Us
30th November
Screening 1 – 4:30pm
Screening 2 – 7:30pm
Screening at 4:30pm
Three Syrian activists are reunited on a theatre stage in Paris. 10 years after the revolution,
they revisit traumas and memories of a ferocious war.
Directed by Rami Farah
Watch the trailer here
Our Ladies
20th December
Screening 1 – 4:30pm
Screening 2 – 7:30pm
In 1996, five best friends attend a strict Catholic school for girls in the Scottish Highlands town of
Fort William. They get the opportunity to go into Edinburgh for a choir competition, but they are
more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning the competition.
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Watch the trailer here
Cost:
Free to members
£5 non-members
First-come-first-served basis. Doors open at 4pm and 7pm respectively

Wales Early Music Forum Cymru workshop for singers
2022-11-26 09:30 - 16:30 | Monmouthshire
Singing workshop in Abergavenny!
A workshop for singers, we will be singing nine works for Advent and Christmas which range in mood from slow
and solemn to exuberant and lively, and in difficulty from easy to more challenging.
Hosted by experienced organ scholar and choir director Emma Gibbins, whose expertise includes numerous posts
as director of music in London and Wales. This workshop is sure to be informative and engaging and the perfect
way to evoke the joy of Christmas through Music
£18 Early Music Forum member
£22 non-member
£5 student
To book you place, please contact Emma Wheelock on 01600 74 04 12
or to book online click here

An evening with Robin Ince
2022-11-22 19:30 - 21:30 | Monmouthshire
Join us for an evening with Robin Ince to discuss his newest book Bibliomaniac! The event will take place in Melville Theatre, Abergavenny on November 22nd at 19:30.
Ticket options:
Event access £10
Event access with book £20
Book tickets here:
https://www.book-ish.co.uk/event/an-evening-with-robin-ince/

‘A unique, funny picture of Britain… A love letter to bookshops and the vagaries of public transport.’ Richard Osman
Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince’s stadium tour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, he decided instead to go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops in the UK, from Wigtown to Penzance; from Swansea to Margate.
Packed with witty anecdotes and tall tales, Bibliomaniac takes the reader on a journey across Britain as Robin explores his lifelong love of bookshops and books – and also tries to find out just why he can never have enough of them.
It is the story of an addiction and a romance, and also of an occasional points failure just outside Oxenholme.

Black Mountain Jazz - wall2wall Jazz Festival 2022
2022-11-18 18:00 - 2022-11-20 23:00 | Monmouthshire
Black Mountain Jazz wall2wall Jazz Festival 2022 brings world class jazz musicians to the very heart of Abergavenny
There is something for everyone, from Gospel singing Workshops, youth BIG BAND workshops, Jazz Storytime for little ones with Louby Lou, a Photographic exhibition of previous BMJ performances by local photographer Kasia Ociepa. All of this is to compliment performances by both International and National Jazz performers.

A Jazz harpist on a global tour juliecampiche.com
Amy Winehouse’s saxophonist aaronliddard.com
A smooth Gregory Porter style baritone vocalist. marvinmuoneke.com
A Big Band featuring Usk vocalist Debs Hancock. monmouthbigband.co.uk. www.debshancockjazz.com
A free community day of jazz poetry, the blues, jazz videos and more
A photographic exhibition by local jazz photographer Kasia Ociepa. kasiaociepaphotographer.pic-time.com/portfolio

All this in the heart of Abergavenny at The Melville Centre for the Arts.
Book tickets here: https://thelittleboxoffice.com/blackmountainjazz
Tickets and Details are online www.wall2walljazz.co.uk
Facebook @BlackMountainJazz. Twitter @BlackMountainJazz

SUITCASE THEATRE presents three performances of THE ASPERN PAPERS
2022-11-10 19:30 - 2022-11-12 22:00 | Monmouthshire
SUITCASE THEATRE

presents

THE ASPERN PAPERS
by Henry James

in a new version for theatre by William Gilbert

Thursday 10 – Saturday 12 November
7.30pm
at the Melville Theatre, Abergavenny

The Aspern Papers by Henry James is a story of obsession and ambition, set in Venice in the early part of the 20th Century. The Papers themselves are love letters from a deceased poet, Jeffrey Aspern, to the woman who inspired his greatest poetry. Kept secret after the poet’s untimely death, they now become the object of a quest by the story’s central character, Henry Jarvis – a man who will stop at nothing to get hold of them. Passions run deep and betrayal rears its ugly head as Jarvis inches his way towards his goal – the love letters of Jeffrey Aspern. Will he succeed in gaining what he most desires?

Tickets: £11 (u18s £6) available here:

www.suitcasetheatrecompany.com

Black Mountain Jazz Philip Clout's Quartet
2022-10-30 20:00 - 22:00 | Monmouthshire
The dancing exuberance of South African Township music, the convivial groove of gospel-influenced soul jazz, the joyful sway of Cuban guaguanco rhythms, the bluesy melodies of middle eastern praise songs and so much more all come together in pianist Philip Clouts’ superbly accomplished quartet.
Doors and Bar open @ 7.30pm Tickets on the door and from http://blackmountainjazz.co.uk/
