Silent Sunday
Category: My Medway
The Travelling Talesman – 9th May
The first Rochester LitFest event of the year!
As a warm up for Rochester Lit Fest 2014, we are pleased to present a night of storytelling at the Good Intent in Rochester on the 9th May. The Travelling Talesman has toured the country from Penzance to York, for feasts, festivals and fun since the early nineties
The Talesman tells stories of Norse Gods, Celtic mysteries, clever girls and Dragon Slayers, medieval mayhem, giants, goblins and halloween horrors. Originally specialising in Northern European tales, his stories are now drawn from all over the world.
At the Good Intent, The Talesman will present ‘Away With The Fairies.’ Tales of the magical and mischievous Small Folk… and when they were not so small delving in to their origins as the godlike Tuatha De Danann.
Tickets are £7 per person or £8 on the night. Doors open at 7pm.
Tickets are available at: https://talesman.eventbrite.co.uk
Find out more about the Travelling Talesman at:
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Silent Sunday
The Rats Bay Shindig – a weekend of arts, culture and river trips. Plus, good news from the Coastal Communities Fund.
A new family friendly extravaganza of festivities is taking place on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th April, when the area surrounding Sun Pier in Chatham will come alive with arts and culture between 11am and 5pm each day.
Overlooking the pier, Sun Pier House is opening the doors to the new Sun Pier Gallery and Tearoom for the first time. With panoramic river views, it’s set to become a scenic retreat in the busy town centre and will launch with a large exhibition of work by the 15 resident artists: ‘Presenting, Sun Pier House’ will incorporate a variety of art, craft and fashion.
The weekend also witnesses the launch of the first charter boat trips in a generation from the newly refurbished Sun Pier, with the Sailing Barge Edith May and Jetstream Tours providing unique river experiences for all ages. On dry land you’ll find the inaugural Sun Pier Arts Market, a new outdoor market set to take place regularly throughout the year. Stallholders will be offering a variety of work to buy, food to sample, activities to try and classic carnival games for all the family.
The Rats Bay Shindig has been instigated by the managers of new creative venue Sun Pier House, with the intention to bring some much needed life back to the west end of Chatham High Street. Over the course of the two days there is a full spectrum of entertainment on offer, including art workshops, live music performances, river trips, dance classes, exhibitions, history tours, evening functions and a Sunday night cult film screening. It’s a weekend not to be missed!
For enquiries please contact Heather Burgess on 01634 812 805 or heather@sunpierhouse.co.uk
In the past two years, the Medway art scene has seen a massive boom of activity in the west end of Chatham, with Sun Pier House, Printed Wonders, Coalshed Press and the Nucleus Hub all based there. This is set to expand further, with news that Medway Council was successful in its bid for funding from the Coastal Communities Fund. Granted £598,525, the council bid states:
“This project aims to drive the regeneration of Rochester and Chatham High Street by developing business units within existing but currently redundant space around Sun Pier House and The Arches. The area will be provided with incubation space and social enterprise support provision for cultural/creative industries. The project aims to stimulate activity in the creative arts and provide specialist training for the unemployed through an innovative “Art for Work” programme, providing access to employment in this growing business sector.”
For join in a conversation about the fund, search #coastalcommunitiesfund on Twitter.
Special visit to Jack and the Beanstalk
Guest blog by Stephen Jenner of GDS Productions.
The Kent Parent Carer Forum SEN children were special guests of Gillingham Dramatic Society Productions sell out production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Brook Theatre during half term.
Special arrangements were made for the children and their careers to attend the Thursday Matinee, leading the chairperson of The Kent Parent Carer Forum to say: “A massive thank you to GDS Productions for making the day a success and enjoyable for the children”.
Bright and colourful costumes, amazing dancing and one-liners that appealed to all ages were just some of the lovely comments received from the public after the performances.
Madam Mayor, Cllr. Josie Iles, who attended the Friday evening show and thoroughly enjoyed herself, needed no encouragement to join in with the clapping and laughing. She particularly enjoyed the joke at Medway Council’s expense: The Dame said “that the Beanstalk needs chopping down, so she instructed Simon to contact Medway Council and get it cut down immediately.” To which Simon replied: “You’ll be lucky – it’s Medway Council, you’ll be waiting months!”
GDS Productions now move onto their next production which will be Hairspray, in October at the Hazlitt theatre, Maidstone. Keep up to date with them on their Facebook page.
Ranscombe Farm Touring Exhibition
What does Ranscombe Farm Reserve mean to you? was a postcard competition organised by Plantlife, an organisation that protects wild plants and wildlife at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve, in partnership with Medway Council, as part of a Heritage Lottery project to continue Plantlife’s on-going education and outreach work engaging and involving local people in it’s wildllfe, landscape and heritage.
Launched in April this year, participants were asked to design a postcard-sized piece of art that illustrated what Ranscombe meant to them. Plantlife were looking for entries that were exciting and original showcasing Ranscombe’s wild flowers, landscape and history. There was an opportunity to win one of 15 prizes to be awarded across four age categories from young children to adults. In addition, the winners’ artwork has been printed as real picture-postcards.
To inspire local people, a series of free creative workshops were organised, run by professional artists at Ranscombe Farm Reserve, and free nature-inspired workshops were also offered to schools across Medway, with a handful of schools taking up the offer. Children created nature-inspired mono-printed flags and designed their own flowers.
The competition closed at the end of July with the final winning entries selected by three judges. The winners attended an awards ceremony on Sunday 1 September, as part of Plantlife’s Woodland Open Day with The Worshipful The Mayor of Medway Councillor Josie Iles as the guest of honour.
To celebrate this competition, an exhibition of the final winning artwork can still be seen in the following libraries across Medway:
· Cuxton Library – now until Tuesday 12th November
· Luton Library – Tuesday 12th November – Saturday 23rd November
· Rochester Library – Monday 25th November – Saturday 14th December
You can also find out much more about the work of Plantlife and Ranscombe Farm Reserve with various information leaflets available as well as the opportunity to take home a postcard pack of the winners’ artwork (while stocks last!).
For further information please contact Plantlife on:
Telephone: 01634 292062
www.plantlife.org.uk/ranscombe
Twitter @Ranscombe_Farm
Creative writing and heroic adventures
The last weekend of the Rochester Literature Festival approaches!
We’re halfway through but there’s still lots more to do!
Whether you’re an experienced writer or a fledging, stretching those itchy pen fingers for the first time, we have three opportunities coming up for you to hone your skills and find inspiration from like minded people. You’ll find links to the booking forms highlighted.
Firstly, Write Around Town, led by our friends Barry and Sam of ME4Writers. Join them on a tour of our fair city, and let its stories unlock your creativity with creative writing exercises.
Next, the Potlatch – bring something to the table. Pen(s) and paper are a must, together with your favourite book, or part thereof, that you feel interprets our Other Worlds, Other Voices theme.
Our final workshop is led by Philip Kane. In From Sorcery to Starships, Philip will help us to craft and explore a world of our own creation that can…
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Rochester’s Dance Junction to host Performing Arts College Taster Day
A chance to learn from experts in their fields is offered at a Taster Day at Dance Junction, Rochester, on Sunday 29th September.
The Centre – Performing Arts College is a small, highly selective and exciting young college offering the best in dance, musical theatre and dance teacher training for students aged 16+. The comprehensive and intensive three year full time course is aimed at the highly motivated student who wishes to pursue a career in theatre performance or dance teaching.
The Centre offers small class sizes, a highly regarded teaching faculty and its own agency. This level of individual attention and outstanding teaching coupled with fully equipped, air conditioned dance studios, an on-site dance shop and full access to the largest independently owed gym in Europe, adjacent to Rochester Dance Junction, enables The Centre to offer a holistic approach to training the performer of today.
Graduates of The Centre, are currently performing, choreographing and teaching worldwide. To find out more please visit their website.
To allow potential students the opportunity to work with some of the inspirational members of our teaching faculty they are running a Taster Day on Sunday 29 September from 10am – 2.30pm. Classes will include Hip Hop with Carrie-Anne Ingrouille: Blaze, Into The Hoods, Some Like It Hip Hop. Ballet with Nicola Moriarty: The Royal Ballet. Musical Theatre with Paul Harvard: author Acting Through Song and former Head of Musical Theatre at The Urdang Academy.
Their annual Open Day will be held this year on Sunday 10 November 12pm – 4pm. The day will consist of a tour of their fantastic facilities, the chance to meet current students and members of the teaching faculty and see first hand the outstanding work currently being produced at The Centre.
To reserve a place on one or both of the above events please send contact them via the website or call on 01634 848 009.
Storytelling at the Hastings Arms
Medway: Brilliant or crap?
Freelance journalist, Sam Jordison, has just released details of his latest book, Crap Towns, a tongue in cheek look at Britain’s urban sprawls. I don’t know how you nominated which town should be included but some Medway folk decided that our town* deserved a spot inside the covers.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know Medway isn’t perfect but find me a town in Britain that is. With the exception of the idyllic one road villages scattered across the country (and look closer, you’re sure to find even they have their less desirable spots) every town will have the same issues as anywhere in Medway – the late night revellers and other social concerns. The difference in Medway is the amount of people doing positive things to give the local community a reason to be proud. And yes, while there’s a nice line in self deprecating humour “If Kent is the garden of England, Medway is its compost heap” and we’re happy to take the piss out of ourselves, we’ll jump to the defence of our patch. There’s a huge number of individuals and groups working to make Medway a better place and it’s frustrating when some residents clearly can’t be bothered to find out about them.
No-one likes councils, it’s just a fact of life – doesn’t matter who’s in charge; But – free festivals abound for Medway’s residents, beginning with the Chinese New Year celebration in February and moving through the summer with the English Festival; Sweeps; Dickens; Fuse; Armed Forces Day; River Festival; Under Siege; Medieval Merriment; Will Adams, and then in December, we have the Dickensian Christmas. And they’re packed, not just with locals enjoying them but also bringing in people from outside the area to spend their cash in our local businesses.
If live music is what you want, we have Homespun, ME1, TEA Concerts, Medway Eyes, Motherboy Noise, Suburban Kings, Manny’s Music and more, holding festivals and free gigs night after night in local pubs and clubs. Phil Dillon of Medway Eyes is a major fan and supporter – check out his Flickr stream.
We’re rich in art and culture activities, and having a local consortium recently awarded Creative People and Places funding, this is only going to increase, with more people engaging the community in arts activities. Aligned to those already doing it – Rochester Literature Festival, LV21 and Creatabot to name but three – ongoing exhibits throughout the year at our galleries and other, more unusual spaces, and you’ll be tripping over arts activity from the moment you cross your doorstep. Assuming, of course, that you’re one of those positive residents who can actually be bothered to seek out them out. What’s on guides (both council and privately funded, such as WOW magazine) can be readily picked up or received through your letter box. Search on line for what’s going on in Medway and you’ll be inundated with results.
Heritage: Absolutely no excuse to not know about our history with the RE Museum; Historic Dockyard, Fort Amherst, Medway Archive Centre, the Guildhall Museum and Medway Libraries activities. Plus, it’s all around you, living history in the walls of the castle, cathedral and other ancient buildings.
Sport and hobbies: Loads of sports clubs encourage all ages to get involved, from badminton or sailing. Want something less strenuous? How about archaeology or Viking re – enactment?
Residents’ Associations: The community folks who, with or without funding, work tirelessly to make their area better: South Shore RA; Chatham Big Local; All Saints Community; DNA; White Road Group.
Parks and open spaces: Our landscapes are lovely, with Riverside, Ranscombe, The Vines, Victoria Gardens, Broomhill Park and so many more, most with ‘Friends of’ groups looking after them. Initiatives like Full Frontal Gardens have brought colour and nature to brick and concrete streets.
All the above mentioned are a mere snapshot of what can be found happening in Medway. Whatever your hobby, interest or work, you’ll find others like you and the means by which to meet them and share your enthusiasm. Many community activities are free, so why waste time and energy being negative? Embrace what’s on offer to enrich your life.
*Medway isn’t actually a town. It’s a river, upon which sit the five areas that make up the Medway Towns: Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham, Strood and the City of Rochester – we don’t recognize admin errors.
Jaye Nolan 