Welcome to feel-good Marlborough!

There will be a real feel-good factor in Marlborough during April, making it a great place to visit and do business, says the Chamber of Commerce.

Providing a colourful backdrop throughout the month is the Children's Art Festival – a collaboration between retailers and schools.

Organised by We Love Marlborough and sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the month-long event starts on Saturday and Sunday, 2 and 3 April, when 1,500 works of art will be on display at Marlborough Town Hall.

Retailers have been visiting schools or encouraging groups of children to visit their shops for inspiration. The primary school children have created works of art based on the business with which they were twinned.

The resulting pieces include  papier mache piggy banks, spectacles, batik and embroidery, toys, sweetie boxes, scarecrow collages, jewellery and bicycle designs.

The best works of art can be found in the following retailers throughout the month: Crosby & Lawrence, Cook, Framemakers, Leather Craft, Marlborough Perfumery, Bertie Maffoons bicycle company, Susie Watson Designs, David Dudley jewellery, Landmark, Specsavers, The Merchant's House, The White Horse Bookshop, HSBC, Tesco, Waitrose, Ducklings Toy Shop, Acceler8 motoring and leisure accessories, The India Shop, Haine & Smith opticians, Oxfam bookshop.


For more information log on to www.welovemarlborough.co.uk

Flagship retail outlet Waitrose will reopen on Friday, April 8 after a week-long refit. The most obvious change will be the appearance of a new coffee bar and cafeteria seating 34, and the opening of a deli at the back of the store.

But behind the scenes, 10 year old refrigeration units will be replaced with new, environmentally-friendly chilled display cabinets. 

On Thursday, April 21 the Pewsey Road bridge is scheduled to reopen. The bridge – one of only two road crossings spanning the River Kennet – has been closed or partially closed for almost a year while vital structural works are carried out.

Visitors and residents will be happy to see the back of roadworks that have dogged the town since the beginning on 2010 – which started with the laying of new gas mains through the town centre.  

The month will culminate in a party fit for a king – and queen – on Friday, April 29 as residents celebrate the royal wedding with a family tea party in Priory Gardens followed by a barn dance in the evening, with an ox roast and music from Marlborough Ceilidh Band.

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton has particular significance for the town – Kate was a student at Marlborough College. 

Meanwhile the wedding ceremony will be shown on a big screen at Marlborough Town Hall. 

A new state-of-the-art sound system and cinema screen, installed at the town hall as part of a £1m refurbishment programme, will be unveiled during April.