Tag: whats on

Metrocentre Puts The Kettle On For ‘Brew Monday’

By on 15th January 2016in In & Around

Retailers in Europe’s largest shopping centre are helping shoppers beat the January blues – by putting the kettle on…

Monday 18th January, or ‘Blue Monday,’ is widely believed to be one of the most depressing days of the year, as the excitement of Christmas wears off, the temperature plummets, and people return to work.

However, retailers at intu Metrocentre are hoping to sweeten the day by renaming it ‘Brew Monday’ and offering shoppers a range of free hot drinks, special offers and surprises.

Among the treats available at the centre on Monday will be free tea and coffee vouchers for Wetherspoon, while Oh You Pretty Things Champagne Bar is creating special blue cocktails and mocktails.

And, for those who are too blue to leave the house, intu Metrocentre will be running online competitions, including the chance to win a free afternoon tea for four at Lumley Castle Hotel, on Facebook.

The centre will also be giving away Muffin Break vouchers to Twitter users who share selfies having a brew on the day.

“To combat the January Blues, we want our customers to share a cup of tea or coffee with their loved ones, or have a brew on us,” said Helen Atkinson, marketing manager at intu Metrocentre.

“If we all join together, then there’s no reason why we can’t beat the blues and get the year off to a much happier start.”

For more information, click here.

Katherine Jenkins To Perform In Sunderland This Summer

By on 14th January 2016in Entertainment

One of the UK’s most popular classical singers is the first performer to launch a series of exciting concerts in Sunderland planned throughout the summer…

Katherine Jenkins has not only made classical music popular to a wide audience, but has also appeared in TV shows ranging from Pop Star to Opera Star and US hit show Dancing With The Stars, along with performing to audiences around the world.

And now the singer will be taking to the stage alongside The National Symphony Orchestra, at Sunderland’s Herrington Country Park on May 6th, giving North East music lovers the chance to see her in a stunning outdoor setting.

The show is the first to be staged by The Northern Sessions, a division of events company Sunderland Live, with plans to bring a number of top acts to the city throughout this summer, with a number of other big names to be announced in the coming months.

“It’s a massive coup for The Northern Sessions to start off its programme with a singer of the calibre of Katherine, who has such wide appeal,” said a spokesperson.

“We think this will be a fantastic event which should attract people from around the region and beyond.”

Tickets for Katherine Jenkins supported by National Symphony Orchestra are £33 each and will be available for sale at 10am on Monday January 18th. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.thenorthernsessions.co.uk.

Since debuting in 1998, Katherine has become one of the most popular classical-crossover artists of all time, selling more than four million copies of her ten studio albums.

The Sunderland concert marks the most northern of several UK performances confirmed for Jenkins in 2016, including a celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday at the Royal Albert Hall.

For more information about this and all further Northern Sessions announcements, visit www.thenorthernsessions.co.uk.

Blue Peter’s Valerie Singleton Hosts ‘An Evening With…’ In Durham

By on 14th January 2016in Entertainment

A Blue Peter legend is sailing into Durham for an evening looking back at her life and career…

 

Fans of papier mâché and sticky backed plastic will come face to face with presenter, actress and voice-over star Valerie Singleton as she hosts “An Audience With…” on Thursday 26th January.

Originally an RADA trained actress, Valerie was a successful voice-over artist when, in 1962, the BBC came looking for the perfect presenter to join existing frontman Christopher Trace on their children’s show Blue Peter.

Glamourous, yet never afraid to muck-in, Valerie took viewers ‘behind the rope’, to places and events they wouldn’t ordinarily see.

During a decade on the iconic show, she also took a lion for a walk, accompanied Princess Anne to Kenya for the Save the Children Fund, and met the misbehaving elephant Lulu, who caused chaos on the set of the show.

After leaving the show as a full-time member of the team, Valerie went on to present Nationwide from 1972 to 1976, and became Blue Peter’s roving reporter, popping up in the studio and on film reports, and fronting Blue Peter Special Assignments.

Her last report for the show was in 1981 – nearly two decades after she made her debut.

Stints on the Money Programme for BBC2 and PM on Radio 4 followed, as well as presenting duties on programmes covering such diverse topics as travel, history, alcohol abuse, violence in present day society, and a game show.

Tickets for An Audience With Valerie Singleton – on Tuesday 26th January at 7.30pm – cost £18 full price, £16 for concessions and £15 for Gala Friends.

And as part of the evening, a question and answer session will be held with audience members having a chance to put their own questions to the star.

To buy tickets, visit www.galadurham.co.uk, or call the box office on 03000 266 600.

North East Youngsters Represent UK In Euro Photography Exhibit

By on 13th January 2016in Have Your Say

A free photography exhibition featuring young people from across Europe revealing their hopes and wishes for the future is now on display at Gala Durham…

The Portrait of a Continent exhibition features pictures of youngsters from 23 countries across Europe along with their inspirational messages. The UK is represented by two pupils from St Mary’s Primary School in South Moor, Jack and Katie, both 10. They call on the other youngsters to inspire and shape the world around them, and many of the children are hoping for a more peaceful future for the next generation.

Funded by the European Union, Durham County Council hosts the Europe Direct Information Centre and the council’s International Relations Team invited the youngsters to take part. As well as the pictures and messages, a selection of free publications are also available to browse as part of the exhibition for people who would like to learn more about the work of the European Union.

The photographs are also available online here to allow the participating countries to see the exhibit. There’s also a quiz aimed at young people that can be downloaded from the site.

 

Durham County Council’s Brian Stobie, Europe Direct Information Centre Manager, said: “The exhibition provides a fascinating insight into the hopes and dreams of the next generation across the continent. The European Union was initially created as a means to prevent further war, so it’s both fitting and inspiring that peace, understanding and working together are recurring themes in the wishes of young people across Europe.”

Northern Writers’ Awards Open For Applications

By on 13th January 2016in Entertainment

Northumbria’s final year students and alumni have the chance to show their literary promise this month…

Applications are now open for a brand new award exclusively created for Northumbria students and alumni as part of this year’s Northern Writers Awards. The Northumbria Student and Alumni Award is open to final-year undergraduates, current postgraduates or alumni who have graduated from the University since 2013.

Worth £2,000, the award is open to writers of fiction and poetry who are based in the North of England. To enter, you must submit between 3,000 and 6,000 words of prose, up to three short stories (of no more than 6,000 words in total) or up to 30 poems, by the deadline of 3rd February 2016. The award will be judged by Professor Michael Green and colleagues from the Creative Writing team at Northumbria.

Supported by Northumbria University and Arts Council England, the Northern Writers Awards are the country’s leading talent development programme for writers, and attracted more than 850 entries from across the region last year. Organised by New Writing North, this year’s awards are worth more than £40,000 to emerging writers and poets.

Northumbria University Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Engagement) Lucy Winskell OBE said: “The Northern Writers’ Awards are a fantastic opportunity for new and emerging writers in the North of England, and I’m delighted to see the awards open for submissions once again in their 16th year.

“I’ll be very excited to see which talented writers win this year’s awards, and I’m especially pleased to see a number of new categories, including the new Northumbria University Student and Alumni Award, which is open to final year students and alumni of the University.”

She added: “The awards are at the heart of Northumbria’s partnership with New Writing North, and we were delighted to confirm a further three years of support earlier this year. Our continued investment demonstrates our commitment to celebrating and nurturing creative talent in the region. Northumbria’s partnership with New Writing North goes from strength to strength each year as we develop exciting collaborations for our students, staff and the wider writing and cultural community. This enables us to share expertise, develop innovative research and provide a wealth of unique creative opportunities.”

For aspiring writers, winning a Northern Writers’ Award can offer introductions to publishers and agents, support from New Writing North, and the possibility of mentoring and other professional development advice. The awards available for 2016 include the flagship Northern Writers’ Awards, which offer cash prizes of up to £5,000 for writers of prose and poetry, New Fiction Bursaries, which provide new writers an in-depth editorial report from The Literary Consultancy, and the new Northumbria University Student and Alumni Award.

The Channel 4/Northumbria University Writing for Television Award and The Clare Swift Short Story Award, sponsored by the North East Chamber of Commerce, are also among the categories. To find out more about these awards and to read the full terms and conditions for all categories, go to: www.northernwritersawards.com. To enter the Northumbria Student and Alumni Award click here.

The Northern Writers’ Awards are open for entry until Wednesday 3rd February 2016. Winners will be notified in June 2016, with the awards ceremony taking place on Thursday 30th June 2016. Northumbria University offers a wide range of courses in English Literature and Creative Writing. To find out more go to www.northumbria.ac.uk/humanities.

Tyneside Hotels Offer Valentine’s Day Packages

By on 12th January 2016in In & Around

Cupid’s arrow is aimed squarely at Tyneside, with Valentine’s offers at two top Newcastle hotels next month…

Grey Street Hotel takes its name from its location on Newcastle’s most famous city centre, Regency street, while the New Northumbria is at the heart of the upmarket Jesmond area of the city.

Between Friday 12th and Sunday 14th February, loved-up couples can enjoy an overnight stay at The New Northumbria and Grey Street Hotels, from just £60 and £70 per room, respectively.

For an additional £25 per room, Valentine’s weekend guests at each hotel can also upgrade to a Romantic Break package, which includes a bottle of prosecco, rose petals, sweets and bath salts.

For further information or to book, contact the Grey Street Hotel on 0191 230 6777 or at www.greystreethotel.co.uk, and the New Northumbria Hotel on 0191 281 4961 or at www.thenewnorthumbriahotel.co.uk.

Discovery Museum To Exhibit Human Rights Portraits

By on 10th January 2016in Entertainment

An exhibition of oil paintings by Newcastle-based artist Paul Piercy is to cast light on some of the world’s most dedicated human rights campaigners…

The Black Portraits opens at Discovery Museum on Saturday 16th January, telling the stories of 17 people from around the world who were imprisoned – or died – in pursuit of justice and liberty. Six paintings are to be shown for the first time.

Piercy’s subjects are the extraordinary people who not only dreamed of the freedoms and equalities we take for granted in the UK, but strove towards them peacefully.

Their faces are painted in thick, black impasto, an aesthetic that took on a profound symbolic meaning for the artist. He explains: “In 2010, I saw that Liu Xiaobo had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His story moved me, and I wanted to tell everyone I could about it through my painting. I quickly put a colourful backdrop together, but with my ‘sitter’ absent, I decided to use thick black paint for his face, so that it would catch the light and show his features.

“I discovered many, many other brave human rights activists in different parts of the world, and became moved to tell their stories too. It became apparent that seeing them all with faces in black impasto made a powerful statement about their death or imprisonment, so that’s how I continued.”

The most prominent global figure in the exhibition is Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She spent 15 years under house arrest by order of the country’s military junta before her release in 2010. Aung San Suu Kyi is now President of the National League for Democracy.

Some of those depicted, like Oleg Bebenin, paid the ultimate price for their activism. A campaigner for Belarusian presidential hopeful Andrei Sannikov, Bebenin was found hanged in suspicious circumstances in 2010. Sannikov – himself a political prisoner – also features in Bebenin’s portrait, and will host a free talk and film screening at Discovery Museum on Saturday 9th April.

Another, Ali Abdulemam, became known as the ‘Bahraini Blogger’ after founding a pro-democracy website in the late 90s. Accused of trying to subvert the country’s regime, he went into hiding for two years before emerging in 2013. He has now been granted political asylum in the United Kingdom and visits Discovery Museum to give a free talk about his story on Saturday 26th March.

Alongside The Black Portraits are five paintings which show full-colour likenesses of their subjects. The additional depictions of Binayak Sen, Lapiro de Mbanga, Ali Abdulemam, Andrei Sannikov and Guillermo Farinas were created after their respective releases from prison.

The exhibition runs from Saturday 16th January until Sunday 17th April, and is supported by a programme of public events, including talks and film screenings.

Discovery Museum is free to enter, and open seven days a week. Please see www.discoverymuseum.org.uk for further details and opening hours.

For more information on The Black Portraits project, visit: www.theblackportraits.org.

Voting Opens For Sunderland Retail And Style Awards

By on 7th January 2016in Local Biz

Sunderland’s booming retail sector and the city’s most stylish individuals and outlets are set to be celebrated, with the combining of two major award ceremonies…

For the first time, Sunderland’s Retail and Style Awards are joining forces to honour businesses, events and people who have helped put the city on the map.

The event is being jointly organised by the Bridges shopping centre and radio station Sun FM, with nominations for the 17 categories open today (January 7th).

Sponsored by Sunderland’s Business Improvement District, the awards will give shops, restaurants, bars, hairdressers and beauty salons the opportunity to be recognised.

Categories in the retail section include awards for large, medium and small retailers, best customer service, employee of the year, manager of the year, up and coming business and the Experience It Here award for the best city centre experience.

In the style section, nominations are being sought for the Most Stylish Mackem, along with sections for top bars, restaurants, salons, and individual awards for top bloggers and the city’s most glamorous mam.

Nominations can be made online at www.sun-fm.com/rsawards2016 and will close at the end of March, with the awards evening taking place at the Bridges on April 23rd.

Attendees at the glitzy ceremony – which will include live music, dinner and a fashion show – will also get the opportunity to come away with an award on the night, with a Red Carpet honour being given out to the best dressed.

“2015 was an excellent year for the retail sector in the city, and we welcomed a number of new businesses with some exciting plans going forward,” said Andy Bradley, Centre Director at the Bridges.

“These awards give retailers of all sizes – from leading high street names to our impressive range of independents – the opportunity to be recognised for the great service they offer.”

Julian Carter, Managing Director of Sun FM, added that the style section of the awards gave both individuals and leisure outlets the opportunity to shine.

“With the current regeneration and positive momentum, there has never been a better time to unite the already successful style awards into an even bigger retail and style event,” said Julian.

“We’ve put together a range of exciting categories which not only gives the city’s leading restaurants, bars and salons a showcase, but also there’s a chance for our most stylish individuals to be publicly acknowledged.”

“This is a great opportunity for us to showcase businesses of all types and sizes, including the city burgeoning restaurant and café scene and to recognise their innovation and hard work,” said Ken Dunbar, Chief Executive of main sponsor, Sunderland BID.

A shortlist for each category will be drawn up by a judging panel, which will then be put to a public vote.

A number of sponsorship opportunities are also available for the night, and further information is available by contacting Harry Collinson at harrycollinson@aol.com.

Hardwick Hall Charity Lobster Ball Reveals Star-Studded Lineup

By on 7th January 2016in Entertainment, Events

One of the most anticipated charity balls on the North East calendar will be returning this spring – with a 90s diva heading up the entertainment…

The annual Lobster Charity Ball will be taking place at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield, on Friday April 22nd, which will include a performance by Heather Small, the voice of M People.

The singer, whose many hits include One Night In Heaven, Moving On Up and Search For the Hero, will be taking to the stage at the glitzy event in aid of autism charity Daisy Chain.

Also featured on the line-up is party band Shakedown, and North East 20 piece big band Musicians Unlimited, with the evening hosted by comedian Brendan Healy.

The black tie event will give guests the chance to sample a four course gourmet lobster surf and turf meal prepared by the award-winning chefs from The Rib Room Steakhouse and Grill.

This year’s event also includes a cocktails and canapés reception, along with a Taittinger Champagne bar and complimentary wine, lager and beer for guests all evening.

“We are delighted to have been able to book a singer of the calibre of Heather Small for this year’s ball,” said John Adamson, owner of Hardwick Hall Hotel.

“The Lobster Charity Ball has a reputation of putting on brilliant performers, and this year will be no exception.

“It’s such a fantastic evening where everyone likes to dress up and come along and have a great time, while supporting an amazing charity.

“We are also grateful to our sponsors, including LA Taxis, Heineken and Bidvest, along with jobhunter.co.uk who are coming on board as our main sponsor for the first time.”

The evening will also feature a fashion show, with clothes from award-winning menswear store Woven, recently voted the Durham Retailer of the Decade.

Tickets for the evening, which will run from 7pm until 1am, are priced at £140 plus VAT, and can be purchased by contacting the venue’s events team on 01740 620253, or by emailing events@hardwickhallhotel.co.uk.

Over the past 13 years, Hardwick Hall has raised more than £520,000 for local charities by hosting both the Lobster Ball and the North East Oyster Festival.

#DrummondPuddleWatch: The Internet Reaches New Heights

By on 6th January 2016in In & Around

If you didn’t think watching puddles would be entertaining, think again…

 

Every now and then, the internet surprises us. There are days when it gives us something new, and we think to ourselves… “Yes. I didn’t know I needed this in my life, but now that it’s here, I’m grateful.”

Today is one of those days, and I’d like to direct you all to #DrummondPuddleWatch, the North East’s latest (and finest) reality show.

The action takes place in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where a camera is currently live streaming footage of a perilously large puddle across a public footpath. Admittedly, the plot is predictable, as a good amount of the show is simply pedestrians trying their best to cross the puddle, but the stunt work makes it an entertaining watch.

The stream has close to 20,000 viewers, making it one of the most popular since Shia LaBeouf’s recent marathon of his own face watching his own movies.

So far, nobody has fallen in the puddle, but there’s more than a few wet feet.

Keep it up, guys.

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