Tenby Arts Festival celebrated its silver anniversary this year, and it did so in style, with a varied, stimulating and entertaining late summer programme to suit all tastes.

There were talks on many subjects, classic and jazz music, poetry, drama and art workshops, all of which contribute to a balanced and enjoyable week of festivities in this its 25th year.

“It was once again a huge success this year,” said a delighted spokesperson for the festival organisers. “There was something for everyone and everything was well attended and well received.”

Among the events were the following:

Bob Fish kicked off the more popular music side of the festival with a performance on Saturday evening in Church House. Bob was founder member of the Darts band which appeared with phenomenal success in the mid 1970s. Bob was joined by his daughter China Fish, vocals, and Lucas Morgan, guitar and percussion. A versatile trio, they entertained an enthusiastic audience with material ranging across several genres - gentle ballads, Americana, and more edgy, rocking numbers. In particular, Bob and China gave us some beautifully harmonised duets.

Poetry Please, Sunday afternoon, Caffe Vista, has become a popular, established feature of the festival. People brought their favourite poems to read out loud, and some brought poetry written by themselves. The quality was perhaps the best ever and it covered the breadth of time, ranging from Milton to the present day. There was pathos, humour and always the pleasure of beautifully crafted language.

Sally Barker, singer songwriter, packed Church House to bursting point on Thursday evening. Sally came to national attention as 2014 finalist in the BBC’s ‘Voice’ competition. The Tenby audience responded as Tom Jones had during the BBC competition: “a performance full of emotion. It was just so beautiful that I couldn’t help myself. Sally swept me off my feet.”

Sylvia Plath, Poet - Talk and Film, Friday afternoon, Church House. Robert Smith with Kadie Kanneh-Mason gave a rich and stimulating talk on the subject of the life and work of Sylvia Plath who tragically committed suicide in 1963 at the age of just 30. Her passionate, tempestuous relationship with the later to become Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was central to the discussion. The brilliant film, ‘Sylvia’, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig, which tells the story of the Plath/Hughes relationship, was shown following the talk.

BBC Young Musician 2016 competition winner, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, was in concert with his five wonderfully talented young siblings, St. Mary’s Church, Friday. This is the third year in which members of the family have come to Tenby for the festival. St Mary’s was packed for the outstanding musical event of the week. A rich, varied programme gave the family every opportunity to display their prodigious talents performing music of 18th, 19th and 20th century composers. The standing ovation given at the end of the concert was indeed richly deserved.

Gregynog Young Musician Winners Concert, St. Mary’s Church, Saturday afternoon. Each year the festival welcomes winners of the prestigious Gregynog competition. This competition is open to talented young musicians up to the age of 18 and it really does capture the cream of the UK’s rising musical talent; Sheku Kanneh-Mason first came to Tenby as winner of the competition’s string section in 2014. This year we heard the overall competition winner, Kirsty Chaplin,, piano. Hers was a spellbinding programme of astonishing subtlety and maturity. Kirsty was joined by percussion section winner Heledd Gwynant. Heledd gave an electrifying performance playing a variety of virtuoso compositions variously for marimba, xylophone, and drums.

Photography Workshop. The early start of 6 am didn’t deter a hardy bunch of photographers from attending a photography workshop with Harry Gardiner. They met at The Croft with the harbour view just a set of twinkling lights in the darkness. Then the sun rose and, contrary to the forecast, a beautiful morning presented itself. Harry then gave the group some top tips for achieving that perfect shot of that world famous view of Tenby Harbour. The group then walked the beach to the harbour and finished up on Castle Hill. Thanks go to Harry for an excellent workshop enjoyed by all.

Graham Short. Graham Short’s talk on micro-engraving was an interesting and often very funny talk. Graham told the story of how at school he had been inspired by a teacher who had said that to achieve success you had to be ‘different’. On leaving school, Graham worked as an apprentice in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter and wondered how he could heed his teacher’s advice and be different, so he turned his hand to micro-engraving and spent many years perfecting his art. He has now achieved much fame with his works, including the engraving of the Lord’s Prayer on a pin head and the words ‘nothing is impossible’ on a razor blade. Graham was extremely entertaining and it was amazing some of the lengths he went to to perfect his skills, including botoxing his eyelids, working through the stillness of the night with a stethoscope on his chest working between heart beats.

Pint Sized Plays have proved to be popular ever since the innovated format was introduced to the world via Tenby’s Festival eight years ago. Ten short plays in six Tenby pubs spread over two nights all adds up to terrific free entertainment. Landlords were happy as each venue was packed, festival-goers were in raptures over the standard of acting and the enjoyable variation of themes which had them ready for more. All in all, an established festival format that is showing no signs of fading, so Pint Sized Plays will be back next year with more winners of the international play writing competition.

Sandcastle Competition. Despite the forecast of rain and an adverse tide which threatened to wipe out the entries before judging, an enthusiastic gang of ‘artists’ of all ages gathered on Castle Beach to do battle for the honour of winning the famous Tenby Golden Bucket and Spade. A lot of effort went into several wonderful creations, a boy being eaten by a crocodile, tropical fish profile and other seaside subjects were specially eye-catching. After three hours of work, the judge, our own Mayor of Tenby, awarded the top prize for a splendid sculpture of a lighthouse to a group of male visitors to the town who beat their girlfriends’ mermaid into second place. The rain only made a short appearance, Canute won with the tide and a fun time was had by all on the beach.

The Shakespeare Ladies Club. The ever-popular Alison Neil made a welcome return to Tenby Arts Festival with her one-woman performance of ‘The Shakespeare Ladies Club’ (writes R.W.).

The play is set in the 1700s. In the first act, Mary Cowper De Grey, in elaborate Georgian costume, describes herself and her friends as ‘Ladies of Quality’, striving to make Shakespeare fashionable in London society. She makes much of her association with the young, ambitious actor, David Garrick.

The second act is a stark contrast, depicting the life of Kate Worthing who battles through extreme poverty and exploitation to provide for her family struggling to survive in the country.

Alison Neil brought the voices of the contrasting characters to life with consummate skill to an appreciative audience.