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Music in the Minster is the brainchild of Marj Barton, this year's High Sheriff of Tyne and Wear. She has always wanted to provide more musical opportunities for the children of Sunderland, and this year it's happening.
The first production - Noye's Fludde by Benjamin Britten is a work specially written to let children of all ages and abilities dance, sing, and play with the very best professionals. It will take place on February
16th at 7.pm, and 17th at 3 pm & 7 pm in Sunderland Minster. It lasts only an hour and a quarter, but a huge amount is packed in!
Over a hundred young people are involved on stage, as they re-create the biblical story of Noah's Ark with words and music. The 'animals' are children from Castletown School, Sunderland, and the recorder players are from Hill View Junior and Northfield Schools. Young string players and percussionists are gathered from across Tyne and Wear.
Alison Barton, who plays Mrs Noye, says ”I'm always delighted to encourage live singing, particularly with young people. Noye's Fludde is a fantastic piece of music theatre - it's exciting and powerful, a definite 'must-see'!
Tickets are normally £6 for adults and £4 for children available from Sunderland TIC, 50 Fawcett Street, 0191-553-2001
Culture Club members can get 2 tickets for the price of 1 for the performance on Saturday afternoon - that's 2 tickets for £6!
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On Monday 5th February, The Sage Gateshead welcomes Courtney Pine and Band in Hall One (at 8pm).
Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, Courtney Pine, is a pre-eminent jazz musician and ambassador for British jazz.
His debut album in 1987 was the first serious jazz album ever to make the British top 40, and became a silver disc. He’s won two MOBO awards and was a featured artist in the BBC single, ‘Perfect Day’.
We welcome him back with his band, on tour to celebrate the re-release of the revolutionary Mercury Award nominated 1996 album ‘Modern Day Jazz Stories’, which was the first of Pine’s albums to feature sampling, and to preview material from his next album.
Tickets range from £7 to £19 but Culture Club members can purchase 2 tickets for the price of 1.
We are delighted to offer 10 Culture Club members and their guests the chance to enjoy supper at new restaurant, Strada on Wednesday 28th February, followed by a visit to the The Journal Tyne Theatre for a performance of Moscow City Ballet La Classique's Don Quixote.
First presented at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow in 1869, the ballet – which is showing for one night only - is adapted from the libretto of Marius Petipa based upon the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Music is by Ludwig Minkus and choreography devised by Marius Petipa and revised by Serge Manguette. The performance starts at 7.30pm.
If you are not lucky enough to win one of our prize packages you can buy tickets online from Ticketmaster. Alternatively tickets can be bought in person from the Metro Radio Arena Box Office - Monday to Friday 10am - 5pm and Sat 10am - 4pm, from The Journal Tyne Theatre Box Office 10am - 3.30pm Monday to Friday and event nights or by calling 0870 145 1200, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Located in the brand new development on Old Eldon Square Blackett Street, Strada offers diners a contemporary and stylish setting in which to enjoy a break from shopping or exploring the city or indeed a pre-theatre supper.
Made using only the finest fresh ingredients, notable dishes include southern Italian risotto with seafood, whole seabass roasted on the bone stuffed with thyme and fennel served with lemon and roasted cubetti potatoes; and pan roasted fillet of beef with a creamy shallot and green peppercorn sauce.
Integral to the unique Strada offering is their pizza - each theatrically spun by hand. Strada serves purely regional Italian wines as well as beers and spirits. In addition every table receives complimentary bottled purified water.
Strada is open daily from 12noon - 11pm and 12noon -10.30pm on Sunday. Call 0191 261 6070 or visit www.strada.co.uk for further details.
The Journal Culture Club has teamed up with Theatre Royal Newcastle to offer Culture Club members an amazing 2 for 1 ticket offer for the opening night (Monday 26 February) of brand new comedy, The Last Laugh, starring Martin Freeman (The Office) and Roger Lloyd Pack (Only Fools and Horses).
In this hilarious and moving satire, Martin Freeman plays a beleaguered comedy troupe writer who, obliged by law to submit his latest script for government approval, has to go toe-to-toe with a newly appointed hard-nosed government censor, played by Roger Lloyd Pack.
As he diligently attempts to rework his play, incorporating the censor’s multitudinous and unconventional edits, the most unlikely partnership starts to flourish and the men become engaged in their own world, crafting the funniest play they can imagine.
Audiences in the North East will be some of the first in the country to see this hilarious new play before it transfers to London’s West End.
The Last Laugh appears at the Theatre Royal from Monday 26 February – Sat 3 March 2007. Tickets are priced at £7.50 - £25.00 and can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office.
The Ale & Arty CAMRA Beer Festival returns to ARC, Stockton, for a third consecutive year this month, and after completely selling out of all of the 30 different beers, ciders and perries on offer last year, this year is set to be bigger yet.
The last festival was so popular with local beer lovers that it sold out of real ale by 10pm on Saturday, so the selection at the forthcoming festival will be increased to around 50 real ales, ciders and perry. This will include both favourites from earlier years and a number of new beers, including one or two unique festival specials. The usual attractions are also there, including the CAMRA stall, bottled beers and CAMRA tombola.
ARC will also be providing freshly prepared hot food available in the theatre amongst all the action. In the evening there will be live entertainment.
Thursday 15 February, 2007 kicks off with Dr Feelgood, (a Rhythm 'n' Blues band) and Friday 16 sees the return of the ever-popular Wildcats of Kilkenny. The music is rounded off on Saturday 17 by The Blues Brothers Experience, an eleven piece tribute to the showband of Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues. Tickets for all evening performances are £10, including beer festival entrance but Culture Club members can purchase tickets at the discounted rate of £8.
We all want to meet people from history. The trouble is everyone is dead!
So it’s time to prepare yourselves for HORRIBLE HISTORIES live on stage at the Darlington Civic Theatre. Using actors and groundbreaking 3D special effects, these two astounding shows - THE AWFUL EGYPTIANS and THE RUTHLESS ROMANS - are guaranteed to thrill you and your children. Historical figures and events will come alive on stage and hover at your fingertips.
The Awful Egyptians relates everything from the fascinating Pharaohs to the power of the pyramids. Discover the foul facts of death and decay with the meanest mummies in Egypt.
In The Ruthless Romans you’ll learn lots of interesting facts about the evil Emperors, the gruesome gladiators and lots more besides. Find out why there’s no place like Rome!
Schedule of Performances
Tuesday February 6: 1.30pm Ruthless Romans 7pm Awful Egyptians
Wednesday February 7: 10am Awful Egyptians 1.30pm Ruthless Romans
Thursday February 8: 10am Ruthless Romans 1.30pm Awful Egyptians
Friday February 9: 10am Awful Egyptians 7pm Ruthless Romans
Saturday February 10: 2.30pm Ruthless Romans 7pm Awful Egyptians
We are offering Culture Club members two tickets for the price of one for either performance on Tuesday 6 February or Wednesday 7 February.
Tickets cost £10 for an adult and £7.50 for a child. Group discounts also available.
If you’re struggling to motivate yourself to get out and about during the nippy winter months there is a way to enjoy the great outdoors, have fun and keep warm by trying your hand at ice skating.
Culture club members can take advantage of a 2 for 1 offer at the popular open-air ice rink at the Centre for Life in Newcastle’s Times Square until the rink closes on 11 February.
Skating@Life is perfect for a family outing, a skate with your mates, a group visit or children’s party.
After a whirl on the rink, why not go inside the Centre and uncover some science facts about the chilly weather. Science demonstrators around the Centre will be on hand to explain just how snow is made and how ice skating really works. Don’t forget that your membership card also entitles you to 2 for 1 on entry fees to the Centre!
The skating 2 for 1 offer is only available Monday to Friday and applies to the ‘Skate only’ option.
The skating offer is valid until 11 February 2007 and prices start from £5.95/£4.95 for adult/child skating tickets or £8.95/£6.95 for adult/child Combo Ticket.
Opening Times: Monday to Friday 10am to 8pm. Last skate at 7pm approximately.
For more information please call (0191) 243 8210
Would you love to make your own greetings cards but don’t know where to start? Well now’s your chance as we’re giving away 10 card making kits courtesy of 12 Birthdays card making club.
Each month, members of the club receive a super kit of card making goodies enabling them to make at least 10 beautiful cards. The kits contain ready-folded cards and envelopes plus paper, ribbon, gems, stickers and lots of lovely embellishments to make their cards really stand out. Each kit also contains a project sheet containing step-by-step instructions and photographs of the cards that can be made.
You don’t need to be particularly creative or artistic – simply follow the instructions and you’ll soon be making lovely cards to send to your family and friends.
To give you an idea of what the kits contain, for just £25 you will receive the first two packs. This includes an introductory pack followed by your first month’s pack. If you decide to join you will then pay a monthly fee of £18 and each month you will receive a fantastic new pack through the post. It’s like having a birthday every month!
The introductory pack also contains a handy storage container and cotton bag to store all your new goodies. Each month’s pack is themed so one month you’ll be making cards for women, another month wedding cards and so on.
For more information please visit www.12birthdays.co.uk or call 01434 674089
One of the UK’s biggest rock legends is taking to the road again this year, marking an amazing 50 years at the forefront of the music industry. Marty Wilde is one of the greatest names in the business with a career that spans more than five decades.
A rock and roll icon, Marty got his big break on the UK’s first rock and roll TV show - Jack Good’s Six-Five Special before moving to ITV with Jack Good where he appeared regularly on Oh Boy.
Along with being renowned as an amazing live performer, Marty has made his name over the decades by writing hit songs for stars such as Ritchie Valens, Dion, Frankie Laine, Bobby Vee, Lulu and even Status Quo!
An all-round entertainer whose appeal crosses the generation gap, this is an opportunity fans will not want to miss! And now four lucky fans are being offered the chance to meet the rock and roll legend as well as see him perform on February 8th at Whitley Bay Playhouse. Two winners will receive a pair of tickets to the Whitley Bay Playhouse, which will include meeting Marty before the show.
The innovative Tyneside theatre company Cloud Nine - they're the ones who walked and performed the length of the Roman Wall and also performed on the Tyne Ferry - are about to launch another surprise package.
Their new play KAT AMONG THE PIDGEONS, opening at The Saville Exchange, North Shields on Monday Jan 29th, is the end product of a unique year long drama experiment.
Working with writer and company artistic director Peter Mortimer a group of volunteers have created from scratch a full-length play and they are now bringing it into production. All the volunteers are aged 60 or over.
The play is not by any means a piece of cosy nostalgia. A tale of family revenge, it is full of sexual intrigue, betrayal and deceit as the two Pidgeon sisters gather at the funeral of their third singing-star sister, who've they've resented all their lives.
In order to inherit her millions they have to fulfill certain conditions, conditions which bring skeletons rattling out of cupboards. The exposure of uncomfortable truths sees the whole family face meltdown in this irreverent social comedy.
KAT has a large cast, music and a good deal of humour.
Tickets are normally £6.00/£4.50 (0191-2523505) but Culture Club members can claim 2 tickets for the price of 1.
Performances take place from Mon 29th Jan - Sat 3rd Feb at 7.30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.
Prize-winning artist Edward Clarke is to exhibit in a one-man show at Red Box Gallery. Clarke won the 2006 Wise Speke award for best drawing in the ‘Up Close and Personal’ show at the Hatton Gallery in 2006.
The forthcoming exhibition at Red Box Gallery, which specialises in showcasing the work of north-east artists, illustrates the diversity of Clarke’s work. Charcoal drawing of cosmopolitan urban sprawls taken from cities in England and Europe, including Newcastle, London, Barcelona, Seville, and Prague, are juxtaposed with beautifully tranquil coastal compositions featuring places such as Whitby, Brixham and Hartlepool.
“Willow charcoal has always been my most favoured drawing medium for landscape. It is so versatile, being bold and intense, and also soft and subtle. I have developed a very meticulous drawing technique. I keep the design of a picture tight and structured. However, I am conscious of the broader effects achievable with charcoal, and my landscapes all have strong tonal contrasts. In choosing a subject I look for views with depth and complexity.”
The exhibition will also include two examples of Edward Clarke’s portrait work: a pencil drawing of the artist’s mother and an oil painting of his father which are wonderful examples of the artist’s precise and analytical approach to portraiture, resulting in compelling and compassionate images of real people.
Since studying at the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he gained prizes for both landscape and portraiture, Edward Clarke has exhibited in various solo and group shows in this country and abroad. He often works to commission and has recently produced landscape works for the Northern Rock Bank, Tees Valley Regeneration and The National Trust, and portraits for Durham and Teesside Universities.
Red Box Gallery is offering 50 tickets to Culture Club members for the preview night of Edward Clarke’s show on 1st February.
Mention the Baltic and we immediately think of the best contemporary art installation in the North East. But what about the real Baltic? The sparkling blue sea that laps the shores of Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia surrounds a region that has been a best kept secret - but word is spreading, and rightly so.
The Baltic States offer ideal holiday destinations, nature, culture and history, sandy beaches, lakes and forests, ideal for family holidays or tailor-made tours. Admire the Baroque, Gothic and medieval old towns of Vilnius, Riga & Tallinn. Try farmstead or guest-house holidays in rural settings, stay in manor houses for a glimpse of times past, or enjoy four star spa hotels on unspoilt islands, where pampering is so expertly provided at such low costs.
Baltics and Beyond are the UK specialists in tailor-made travel to the Baltic region, also including Belarus, Russia & Poland. Sally Chambers, a Cumbrian lass, set up her business after living and working in Lithuania and falling in love with the area. With her experience and colleagues throughout the Baltics, Sally can arrange a holiday with a difference in this most fascinating part of Northern Europe.
To celebrate the North East's Baltic connection, Baltics and Beyond are offering Culture Club members a 10% discount on holidays booked within the next four weeks. So avoid the crowded Mediterranean, savour a warm welcome, good food, cheap beer and the tastiest ice cream around and see what the other Baltic has to offer.
For more information please call 0845 094 2125, Email info@balticsandbeyond.com or visit www.balticsandbeyond.com
For over a decade Andy Kirkpatrick has been one of the UK’s most accomplished mountaineers and public speakers, funding his passion for hard routes by talking internationally about his climbs. Over the last two years Andy’s reputation as a colourful, spirited, and off-the-wall storyteller has given him a much broader audience, where his boldness, determination, and hearty appetite for both humour and risk have made him a huge hit.
Andy has a hundred stories to tell, things such as skiing across Greenland with a paraplegic friend (600km in 29 days); a 13 day solo of Reticent Wall on El Capitan, the hardest rock climb in the world …and working as a chocolate diver on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There are many great comics on the UK scene but none come even close to having such incredible material to work with!
“Andy is one of the funniest of Britain’s top climbers and represents what is best in modern British climbing: boldness, innovation, sense of humour, irreverence, commitment, and an appetite for risk.” Sir Chris Bonington
Andy arrives at The Journal Tyne Theatre on Thursday February 1, 2007 and Culture Club members can purchase 2 tickets for the price of 1 (buy one get one free) on top price tickets (£12).
In February, The Journal Culture Club’s book group reviews Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George at The Biscuit Factory.
Set in Victorian England, Barnes' acclaimed literary thriller is loosely based on the true lives of a country lawyer who is falsely imprisoned and the writer (Arthur Conan Doyle) who sets out to save him.
With a mixture of detailed research and vivid imagination, Julian Barnes brings to life not just this long-forgotten case, but the inner lives of these two very different men. The reader sees them both with stunning clarity, and almost inhabits them as they face the vicissitudes of their lives, whether in the dock hearing a verdict of guilty, or trying to live an honourable life while desperately in love with another woman. This is a novel in which the events of a hundred years ago constantly set off contemporary echoes, a novel about low crime and high spirituality, guilt and innocence, identity, nationality and race; about what we think, what we believe, and what we know. Julian Barnes has long been recognised as one of Britain's most remarkable writers. While those already familiar with his work will enjoy its elegance, its wit, its profound wisdom about the human condition, "Arthur & George" will surely find him an entirely new audience.
Novelist Julian Barnes was born in Leicester and has enjoyed a varied career including a stint as a lexicographer on the Oxford English Dictionary, a journalist, reviewing for the Times Literary Supplement , a literary editor and television critic for the New Statesman magazine and The Observer.
Julian Barnes' work has been successful both commercially and critically on both sides of the English Channel, and he has won several awards including the E. M. Forster Award in 1986 and the German Shakespeare Prize in 1993.
REVIEWS:
“…meticulously researched and vividly imagined, both gripping and thoughtful” The Daily Telegraph
“It's one of Barnes's best. A beautiful and engrossing work which brings together some classic Barnesian themes (love, identity), introduces some new ones (spirituality, guilt and innocence), and hangs them all on a real-life miscarriage of justice from 100 years ago”. The Independent
The meeting will take place on Wednesday February 7, 2007 at The Byker Vista Café Bar in The Biscuit Factory 16 Stoddart Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 1AN. The session will last from 6pm to 7.30pm and costs £3.50 per person, payable on the night (includes a drink and snack).
The Journal Culture Club and Blackfriars Restaurant have cooked up a treat to offer members a free cookery demonstration and special meal offer.
Blackfriars is the oldest purpose-built restaurant in the UK, with its origins dating back as far as 1239. The restaurant was originally built to house the refectory for the ‘Black Friars’ and later served as a hostel to King Henry III.
Today Blackfriars specialises in classic but gutsy British food using fresh, local and seasonal produce – often direct from the farm. Owner Andy Hook is a member of ‘Slow Food’, an organisation which celebrates the pleasures of the table and a slow approach to food as opposed to the increasing popularity of fast food.
The cookery demonstration will take place on Monday 26 February at 12pm at Blackfriars Restaurant. Head chef Simon Brown will take one of the seasonal recipes from the menu and demonstrate how he creates one of Blackfriars’ celebrated mouth-watering dishes. The theme of the event is ‘Winter Preserves’ and Simon will be preparing goat’s cheese truffles with ‘cheats’ apricot jam and toasted brioche, Tamworth pork stew with dried figs, roast parsnips and Alnwick rum and Whitely Bay honey, lavender roast rhubarb and white chocolate fool.
Simon grew up in Canada where he discovered his love of fine cuisine. A graduate of the New York Fashion School, Simon has worked as a chef for over twenty years in North, Central and South America. He brings his extensive travel experience to his work at Blackfriars introducing a creative international slant to the menu.
This love of good food has led Blackfriars to become one of the most recognised restaurants in Newcastle - recently awarded ‘Best Restaurant in the North East’ by readers of The Observer in their coveted Food Awards and also Metro Newspaper’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’. Blackfriars has also gained an AA rosette and inclusion in the Which? Good Food Guide and Michelin Guide.
Culture Club members will be invited to stay for a three-course lunch with a glass of champagne and coffee for the special price of £15.
The event will be limited to 30 places for Culture Club members.
 
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