THE fifth Melksham Food and Drink Festival starts next weekend, serving up a range of tasty events from Friday 6th-15th of September. 
One of the highlights of this year’s festival is ‘An evening with Dick Strawbridge’ at the Assembly Hall on Saturday 7th September where the TV celebrity chef will be telling easy-going anecdotes and amusing and interesting stories relating to his life exploring self-sufficiency, together with his inside experiences as a TV celebrity chef – all delivered in his unique and inimitable style. There will also be an opportunity after the show to buy books and have them signed by Dick himself.
This year’s other festival events include a mix of popular and new events including the Safari Supper (with four tours of Melksham’s restaurants this year to enable more people to take part), croquet and Pimm’s on the lawn at Wellhouse Manor, wine tasting with Sainsbury’s, a chilli eating competition with Wiltshire Chilli Farm, a cupcake decorating evening and a pudding evening.
A variety of activities and events are on throughout the week culminating with the popular Food Festival Fair, with over 35 attractions on Sunday 15th of September in the grounds of Melksham House and Assembly Hall from 11.00am until 4.00pm.
The day will feature plenty of food stalls, cooking demonstrations, talks and free tastings.
Chair of the food festival committee, cllr Pam Wiltshire said, “I am really pleased to see so many of the traders, both the national and local traders, involved in the festival this year. This is a true community festival and it has been good to have involvement from the community helping with the organisation this year.
“The Food Festival Fair on Sunday 15th of September will also feature all the normal stalls and opportunities to buy and taste a variety of food from stalls that include local suppliers.
“It’s also a great thrill to be able to welcome Dick Strawbridge to Melksham as part of the 2013 programme of events. It’s testament to the growth of the festival over the last four years and the profile it now enjoys that we’re able to attract such a famous and high profile celebrity to the town. I do hope as many people as possible will come and enjoy what promises to be a really entertaining evening and a great festival.”
Tickets for ‘An Evening with Dick Strawbridge’ are £12.50 and are available from Assembly Hall 709887.
Pictured above: Food festival committee members Avril Davies, Nicola Reece and Miriam Zaccarelli.
