ST. JOHNS is giving a foretaste of the excellence to come in Tenby's Arts Festival this year - the Open Art Exhibition in St. Johns Church Hall, Warren Street, is showing even more paintings than last year by 34 local artists.

They are Joan Griffiths, Daphne Ransted, Doreen Hammersley, Marlene Barker Williams, Anita Williams, Mary Rowlands, Anne Rollings, Philip Harris, Cliff Jones, Rosemary Evans, Evelyn Lewis, Jill George, Joan Crowther, Maureen Rogers, Theo Perry, Graham Hadlow, Rosemary Regelous, Desmond Barber, Irina Vareshkine, Yvonne Mannings, Marjorie Piper, Patricia Campion, Margaret McCracken, Ann Gibbons, Joan Cooper, Mervyn Palmer, Ann Jones-Phillips, Jane Parker, Henry Gardiner, Rebecca Brinton, Ashley Skyrme and Carol Brinton Thomas, with both professional and amateur artists showing alongside each other in a mass of talent.

On the first day, seven original works were sold and several prints and craft items. This promises to be a show worth seeing and repeating as a percentage of all the sales is to go to the St. Johns restoration fund, as there is still work to be done to refurbish some of the rooms inside the building, the repairs to the roof having been successfully completed.

Also this year the hanging of the exhibition was made so much easier as the Tenby Arts Club kindly loaned their hanging rods and Mrs. Yvonne Mannings learned all her modes and chains - grateful thanks go to you.

This year, to add a three-dimensional feel to the exhibition, some nine members of the Pembrokeshire Craftmakers are showing some of their recent work; this includes wood turned work by Tony Shell and Jo and Leigh Rihan, soft toys by Lilian Barker, hand-stitched pictures by Sylvie McCracken, work from wildlife artist Joanna Heneken, hats for sport or leisure by Julie Randell, local scenes intricately painted on wood by Anne Pare and pottery by Carol Brinton Thomas.

The Camera Club of Tenby will also show their most recent photographs, which are always of great interest as they find the unusual and beautiful view of the world we live in.

Entrance to this exhibition is free and is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm (except Friday morning and Sunday morning). Coffee and tea will be served.