Tinners Moon Festival got off to a great start last weekend, April 24, with a sell-out performance from Awale Soul from Senegal and a Gypsy-Tango cabaret.

And this weekend, until May 7, there are performances from Tom Tommey, who’s worked with Don Mclean, Leo Sayer and Paul Young; a community sing along with Rambunctious and Ashburton’s own calendar pin-ups; a feast of percussion with Taiko Journey; and the unique Harmonic Canon – a rotating double bell weighing half a tonne, created by Dartmoor sculptor Marcus Vergette.

The Ashburton Arts Tinner’s Moon Festival is in it’s second year, bringing performers from Senegal, Russia and more locally, for a fortnight of events including alternative folk, world music, baroque violin, jazz, film and theatre.

Su Maddock, chair of the festival, said: ‘The community Arts Centre in Ashburton is once again proving that you don’t have to be a big town to host world class events.

‘The opening weekend included amazing singer Ann Liebeck, who performed a Gypsy-Tango cabaret including songs from Edith Piaf. She had everyone entranced.

‘We are grateful for so much community support and we do try and keep our performances affordable. People pay what they can afford and we recognise that without volunteers Ashburton Arts would not exist.

‘The story of Ashburton Arts Centre is a remarkable one. The town’s old Methodist Church was put up for auction in July 2017, and people in the town put together pledges of donations and loans towards buying it – which they did. Since then, it’s emerged as ‘one of the UK’s best small music venues’ in a survey by The Guardian.’