COMEDY, folk music and a concert version of a Gilbert and Sullivan classic are all featuring at a historic arts festival in the area.

Thornbury Arts Festival has been running for more than five decades, with its aim being to promote the arts for the benefit of all community members in Thornbury and the surrounding areas.

This year, the festival is offering a programme of three evening events.

Comedy is being provided by comedian, NHS anaesthetist and author Ed Patrick, who is bringing his debut tour to Thornbury on Friday, October 4.

His Catch Your Breath Tour at Olveston and Tockington Parish Hall provides audiences with a “gut-punch hilarious” performance about becoming a junior doctor, the NHS, the pitfalls of modern medicine and the strength of questioning it.

Folk duo Filkin’s Drift, made up of Seth Bye and Chris Roberts, are also set to perform at the festival on Saturday, October 5 at Christ the King Church Hall.

The pair are well known for their live performances on guitar and fiddle and made headlines globally in 2023 when they completed an 870-mile concert tour on foot around the Welsh coast.

In addition, the Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan Operatic Society are performing a concert version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera The Pirates of Penzance at Christ the King Church on Saturday, September 28.

The group comes to the festival having completed a successful production of the opera at the Redgrave Theatre in Clifton.

The festival’s programme also includes an ever-popular Sunday morning guided walk on September 29.

Meg Wise from Thornbury & District Museum is covering God, gossip, scandal and riot during the event.

There are additionally two Saturday afternoon talks at the festival.

One is from conservation expert Tim Bray on the work of the Bristol Zoo Project on September 28 at Thornbury Methodist Church Hall, while the other is from Bristol letterpress printer Nick Hand on October 5 at the same venue and covers his bike tour of public libraries with a printing press.

For more information about Thornbury Arts Festival, visit thornburyartsfestival.org.uk