It’s been nearly half a century since Pam Ayres first charmed the nation with her warm wit and comic verse on Opportunity Knocks, and she shows no sign of slowing down. Now, the much-loved poet and broadcaster is heading back to Swindon with a special one-off performance at the Wyvern Theatre on Sunday 2nd November 2025.
This won’t be just another date in the diary. The event is raising funds for Hatherop Primary School’s Big Build campaign, a £1.5m community project designed to give local children the modern, inspiring spaces they deserve.
Audiences can expect to hear some of Pam’s most treasured pieces from her latest collection Doggedly Onward: A Life In Poems, alongside reflections on a career that has seen her perform everywhere from village halls to Glastonbury Festival. The book itself, published last year, swiftly found its way to the top of the bestseller charts.
Speaking about the show, Pam said: “I can’t wait to be back at the Wyvern Theatre and be part of something truly special, helping raise funds for Hatherop Primary’s Big Build project. Ensuring our future generation have the inspiring environment they deserve to learn and grow in.”
Pam’s CV is as long as it is varied: bestselling poetry titles, two Channel 5 series on the Cotswolds, countless TV appearances, and in 2004 an MBE for services to literature and entertainment. In 2022 she even entertained festival-goers at Glastonbury with her familiar mix of humour and humanity.
Rooted in her rural upbringing in Oxfordshire and now living in Gloucestershire, her work often draws on the countryside, farming and wildlife. Away from the stage, she still finds time for painting, gardening, knitting, and, in a typically self-deprecating twist, practising the piano – which she only began learning at 75.
Tickets for the Swindon performance are already on sale at £40. For those wishing to make more of the occasion, a limited number of VIP packages (£60 extra) include drinks, canapés, and the chance to meet Pam herself.
For details and bookings: Wyvern Theatre – Trafalgar Tickets.
