Telling stories of Yeovil with sound & music

A programme of events, which continues to amplify the diverse voices in the town’s heritage and history through creativity and storytelling; as part of our Yeovil Art and Heritage community project ‘Story of Yeovil’.

STORY OF D.I.Y

Part of Sound of Yeovil, we present STORY OF D.I.Y., an exhibition telling the story of Yeovil through a collection of Yeovil-related music memorabilia, such as Fanzines, tickets, posters, original photos, along with an extensive archive of vintage recordings. 

Celebrating the wealth of creativity in Yeovil through home-made music and its visual manifestation, the exhibition brings together a comprehensive collection of music fanzines circulated in and around Yeovil from the 70s onwards, including All the Madmen, Feeding the Fish, Still Crazy, Human Debris, Clique, Screed and other one-off wonders. It also shows original photos, artworks and rare finds contributed by individuals, especially for this exhibition.

SOUND OF YEOVIL EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

Get involved and join in with the Sound of Yeovil! Alongside the exhibitions, we are bringing together a programme of events for all ages. Make your own Pint Mug Sound System, Join us for the Share Your Stories Event and drop in to Yeovil Art Space to Make Your Own Zine on Saturdays throughout. Click below to find out more!

Online Exhibition in Yeovil’s Virtual Museum

Offering another perspective on the Sound of Yeovil we delighted to share this online exhibition from local historian Bob Osborn. The exhibition explores entertainment and youth culture in the past, focussing on the history of performance of sound and music in Yeovil dating back to medieval times and taking us through not only musicians and performers but to venues throughout the town’s history

Bob shares with us here a couple of highlights from the online collection…

(Pictured below on the left) “The 1960s’ photo of the band playing in the Sidney Gardens bandstand (courtesy of Jack Sweet), brings back memories for many older Yeovilians (but not me, I got to Yeovil in 1973).  The bandstand was destroyed by vandals in 1972.”

“The other (early 1980s?) photo is the interior of the Gardens Nightclub, on the corner of Clarence Street and Park Road, in a photo taken during its first week of opening. A whole generation of Yeovilians (including me) used to go “gardening” every week and enjoyed dancing around the plastic palm trees.”

Visit The Sound of Yeovil exhibition here and see the wider Museum and exhibition programme here.

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Sound of Yeovil Call Out for Music Scene Merch!

Do you have any tickets, programmes, posters, or photos relating to Yeovil’s music scene from the past and present day? We would love to include them in our upcoming Sound of Yeovil exhibition and displays. We want the exhibitions to share your stories and your experiences. If you have any objects you would be happy for us to showcase in the exhibitions we want to know about it  – please contact storyofyeovil@yeovilartspace.uk with any queries or want to find out more.

Get involved!

We are also inviting you to join the Story of Yeovil Community Curatorial group.  Are you interested in Yeovil’s music scene or looking at how we can explore the diverse sounds and stories of our town? – Read all about the group here!

Sound of Yeovil is part of a wider programme of exhibitions and events, the ‘Story of Yeovil’, a co-creation project with the town’s community.  Looking at the past, present and future, the project gathers stories from diverse perspectives through creative activities through three main themes: View of Yeovil, Sound of Yeovil and Taste of Yeovil.  For more information about the wider project visit our Story of Yeovil page.

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