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Lots to do at Family Learning Festival

October 24, 2018
in Events & Entertainment
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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MELKSHAM’s Family Learning Festival continues until Saturday 10th November. 

All activities are free of charge and promises to be bigger and better than last year. Some of the  activities are shown below.

Rhyme Time – every Tuesday and Thursday – 10.30 – 11am at Melksham Library. Rhyme time is a fun group singing session for all preschool children and their parents/carers.

Dry Clay Decorations – Friday 26 October – 10am – 12pm at the Assembly Hall. Come make a mess and create stunning but simple clay decorations. You will create your own masterpieces which you can then take home to complete the drying process. All materials are provided.

Family parkrun – every Saturday – 9am at King George V. parkrun organise free, fun, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world. They are open to everyone, free, and are safe and easy to take part in. Come along with your family and go at your own pace, but please register first at http://www.parkrun. org.uk /melksham/. 

Matt Fiddes Martial Arts – every Saturday – 10.10 – 11.10am at The Manor School. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to train with your children and other family members. Ensure you and your family have the life skills you need, both inside and outside the classroom, in a fantastically unpressurised learning environment. “Families that kick together, stick together”. Suitable for ages 7+. For enquiries please contact mfleads@hotmail.com.

Family Halloween Party – Saturday 27 October – 7pm at Forest Community Centre

Come and join us for a fun family Halloween disco. Free entry and fancy dress is optional. Have a fun, spooky night with us at the community centre.

Young Melksham Family Fun Day – Monday 29th and Wednesday 31st October – 11 – 2pm at The Canberra Centre

Come and join us for sports, fun and adventure. Be one of the first to try out our new Zorb Ball Suits and find out more about what we do at Young Melksham. Our café and tuck shop will be open selling hot and cold drinks and snacks. There will be activities indoors and outside for whatever the weather brings! Suitable for all supervised children and young people aged 6+. For enquiries call 01225 667327 or e-mail hello@youngmelksham. org.uk.

Circus Skills – Tuesday 30 October – 10 – 12pm at River Mead School. Participants will have the opportunity to try a variety of circus skills. A drop-in session for ages 7 and over.

Try it Here and Take it Home – Tuesday 30 October – 12.30 – 2pm. Drop into Melksham library and share making an easy peasy, simple and fun craft together. You’ll want to make it again when you get home! Join the Wiltshire Family and Community Learning – for enquiries call 01225 770478.

Family Cookery Session – Wednesday 31 October – 10 – 12pm at River Mead School. Learn how to cook a simple, economical and nutritious meals with your child/children.  contact 07825 223146 or enquiries @anybodycancook. co.uk to give an idea of numbers.

Pumpkin Carving – Wednesday 31 October – 10 – 12pm at Conigre Mead Nature Reserve. Carve you very own terrifying pumpkin and enjoy some toasted pumpkin seeds and a gory Halloween punch. To book your place please call 01380 829070.

Cardboard Arcade – Thursday 1 November – 10 – 12pm, Town Hall. An engaging design, build and play activity suitable for groups of all ages. Unleash your creativity, making arcade games out of junk and cardboard. No need to book, but please turn up for 10am to give time to build, test and play with your arcade game.

Terrarium building – Thursday 1 November – 11 – 1pm at Conigre Mead. Come along and make your own terrarium – a mini green ecosystem in an open-top glass jar. All materials will be provided but you’re welcome to bring your own clean jar if you like. Suitable for all ages. No need to book. For more information contact Melanie Vincent at melaniev@wiltshire wildlife .org.

Truffle Making drop in – Friday 2 November – 10:00 – 12:00, Assembly Hall. Immersed in the smell of chocolate, participants will create three hand-finished truffles with personalised packaging for the journey home – if you can resist them for that long!

Suitable for all ages and abilities, this is a lovely drop-in where skills can be learnt and repeated at home time and time again.

The Mobile Museum – Friday 2nd November – 10 – 2pm, Library. Suitable for all the family, the Mobile Museum will bring their full armoury for you to handle, try on and read. Artefacts including a deactivated machine gun, artillery shells, medal sets telling soldier’s stories, as well as a big dressing up box with uniforms from different eras. There will also be kids’ activities around spying, trench fighting as well as talks about the various conflict themes. Pop in anytime from 10am.

Melksham Remembers Exhibition with Wiltshire Scrapstore – Saturday 10 November 12 – 4pm. Come and explore what life was like in the Melksham area during the First World War. Discover what the factories of Melksham were making, find out about the Red Cross Hospital, how food was in short supply and make up a parcel to send to a British prisoner of war. Wiltshire Scrapstore will be available from 12 – 3pm with First World War-themed activities.

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Staff at Melksham Community Campus have been praised for saving a man’s life after he collapsed at the centre.

The man was in the centre’s sports hall playing pickleball in September when he collapsed, with other players quickly alerting staff to the emergency.

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Their coordinated efforts, alongside support from other team members and emergency services, ensured he received life-saving care before being transferred to the Royal United Hospital in Bath by ambulance. 

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Pictured: Abi, Tom and Corrina, with Daniel Spencer (Campus manager), David Redfern (Director – Leisure, Culture and Communities) and Cllr Mel Jacob
  • Funeral held for ‘special and unique’ Melksham resident

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Residents, friends and family gathered at the church to pay their respects during the service. 

Cheryl, 79, died after a collision outside Savers on Lowbourne on 27th September. Her friend, Margaret Shaw, sustained life-threatening injuries.

Cheryl was well known in the community, supporting friends with shopping, attending appointments and doing their weekly laundry. She was born in Bradford-on-Avon and lived in Holt before moving to Melksham. At age 18, she began working at Avon Rubber alongside Margaret. 

In a moving tribute following Cheryl’s death, her grandchildren said, “Nan was a truly special and unique lady and we all loved her dearly. 

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  • Nominations open for Melksham’s Person and Group of the Year

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For the Person of the Year award, any individual who lives or works in the Melksham area and has made a significant contribution to the local community can be nominated. This could include someone involved in a local charity, helping to run a sports club or volunteering their time to improve life in Melksham.

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Nominations can be made by emailing news@melkshamnews.co.uk or via Facebook Messenger, stating your name, address, and contact number, along with your nominee’s name and the reason for your nomination. (We won’t disclose who has made the nominations.)

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Pictured: Melksham News Editor, Ian Drew
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John Phillips recently received the award from Aviation Heritage UK after Wight Aviation Museum nominated him for his long-standing membership and his work restoring a vintage Saunders-Roe Skeeter helicopter, which he donated to the museum in 2023. John died peacefully at home on 16th November.

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She said, “Compared to other surrounding towns, specifically Trowbridge – I can say that because I work there as well – there is not nearly anywhere near the antisocial behaviour here that we’ve had elsewhere, in numbers and by nature.”

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