Swinterfest is coming!

Swindon music fans are definitely going to be in for a treat at the end of January with the first ever Swinterfest taking place.

It will run from Thursday 30 January to Sunday 2 February at four venues across Old Town.

The venues are The Tuppenny in Devizes Road, The Castle in Prospect Place, The Vic on Victoria Road and The Beehive on Prospect Hill.

And the line-up is cracking, with Courting Ghosts, Stay Lunar, Subject A and All Ears Avow taking the headline slots.

But the rest of the line-up, with the likes of SN Dubstation, Canute's Plastic Army, Modern Evils, Wild Isles, Concrete Prairie, George Wilding, Nothing Rhymes With Orange and Adders, to name but a few, means it is definitely looking like a weekend that will sit long in the memory.

The new festival is the brainchild of the people behind The Swindon Shuffle and will see bands playing on the Thursday and Friday evening, and then during the day into the evening on Saturday and Sunday.

The first ever Swinterfest is headline sponsored by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation). UKRI is the largest public funder of research and innovation in the UK. They invest £8 billion of taxpayers’ money each year into research and innovation and the people who make it happen. UKRI, who have offices in Polaris House, have a long history of supporting the arts and have supported a variety of different projects.

It is also sponsored by Swindon Link and will be raising money for Prospect Hospice during the event.

Organiser Ed Dyer said: "We've been running The Swindon Shuffle now for nearly 20 years and it has built up a real community around it.

"We felt that we needed an event during the winter months to bring that community together once again and to act as an event that will go into battle against that really miserable time in January and February. We think of it as an injection of happiness into Swindon at a time of year when it's really needed.

"It will also be another opportunity to raise funds for Prospect Hospice, as well as support grassroots music and live music venues.

"This year, we're starting with what we do best and galvanising the music scene to take part. But the plans are to expand the festival in years to come to include different aspects of the arts from comedy to dance and theatre to art.

"We're very proud of the line-up that we've put together. Swinter is coming and it's going to be great."

Full details can be found at swinterfest.org.uk