GAZETTE & HERALD: MAGICAL puppet theatre, African dancing and wry observations on Elizabethan life are just some of the treats on offer at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham this spring.

A new programme of concerts, performances and workshops has just been released and it has plenty to offer all the family.

The arts centre is hoping to reach out to people across north Wiltshire with events planned in Chippenham, Wootton Bassett and Calne over the next six months.

The programme starts on February 13 at 4pm at the Pound Arts Centre with Josh Elwell's Rude Mechanicals production Storm in a Teacup using humour, music and hand crafted puppets to tell the tale of a young boy who is lost in a storm and has to survive on an island.

The action moves to Hartham Park on February 15 at 10am for the Snow Queen by Cornelius and Jones a musical play based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen.

British singer Christina Jackson will star in a concert at the Pound on March 5 at 7.30pm, singing a powerful mix of French love songs, blues and ballads.

The Pickwick Theatre Company will present Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie from March 31 to April 2, and the Watermill Theatre is bringing its play The Comedian to the Pound on April 29.

African music and dance will feature in Ariya A Celebration of Life at the Pound on May 8 at 7.30pm a show including many dances never seen before in Britain.

The programme rounds off on May 21 at 7.30pm with Ruff Luck by the Stiltskin Theatre Company.

The company will explore the gruesome and gorgeous goings on of life in Elizabethan times, using Elizabethan-style verse to cook up a ghostly love story.

A series of eight workshops runs alongside the performance programme with events in Chippenham, Malmesbury and Calne as well as Corsham.

At the Pound on February 13 from 10.30am to 12.30pm, puppeteer Josh Elwell will help young people aged seven plus to make puppets and learn how to operate them.

The puppet characters will include magical sea creatures such as mermaids and jellyfish.

The Midnight Storytellers will run an interactive workshop for seven to nine-year-olds on March 30 from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, and on April 5 from 9.30am to 12.30pm at Wootton Bassett Library.

The Osun Arts Foundation will also run an African Drumming and Dance workshop on May 8, from 10am to 4pm, for all the family at the Pound.

For further information, to obtain a full programme or to book tickets, contact the box office on (01249) 701628.