CALNE'S most talented performers and artists will combine forces for a week long extravaganza of music and art this October.

Tickets are already on sale for the town's 29th annual Music and Arts Festival, which has a programme bursting with events to satisfy every taste.

The ten-day event offers a wide variety of top-class musical acts originating from Calne and the surrounding villages, including classical, jazz, folk and choral.

There will also be art exhibitions, workshops and a series of talks ranging from British Wildlife through the seasons to a talk entitled "An Unpopular Art," about stained glass.

Calne Music and Arts Festival committee's publicity officer Carole Browne said it was rare to find a small town with so diverse a programme of events of such a high standard.

She said: "Calne is unusual in that it has a disproportionate number of professional musicians, composers and artists in the community," she said.

"Everyone's very excited about it. I'm really looking forward to going to two concerts every day for a whole week."

The festival will start with popular jazz band Four Plus One, who will be performing a selection of traditional jazz in Phelps Parade between 11am and 12.30pm on October 4.

One of the highlights of this year's festival will be the return of Irish Band Tinkers Cuss. The quartet of musicians has built on its success at last year's event to become one of the most poplar Irish bands in the South West.

Their performance of energetic jigs, reels and traditional Irish ballads was a big hit at last year's event and they will be performing between 9pm and 11pm on October 10 at Marden House.

The next afternoon prominent local historian Peter Treloar, who shares the presidency of the festival with his wife, Marigold, will give a guided tour of historic Calne.

The group, which will set off from Marden House at 2.30pm, will be limited to 20 people, so book early. The tour will be followed by tea.

Between 10am and 12pm on October 4 ceramicist David Reeves will show people how to design and produce their own ceramic tiles, using ceramic crayons and colours.

The workshop will take place at Fynamore School and is open to anyone above the age of five. Participants are asked to bring two simple, original designs for a pair of 6ins by 6ins tiles, which will be fired during the week and exhibited in Marden House the following weekend.

The festival runs from October 3 to October 12. Tickets are available from the festival box office at Bank House.