Grant brings Brahms to Stowmarket! Local choral society Stowmarket Chorale was delighted recently to receive news of the success of their grant application to Stowmarket Town Council. The £500 grant will help fund the Chorale’s concert of Brahms’ popular Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer and pieces by Purcell and Britten. It will take place on Saturday 30th March, at 7.30, at the United Reformed Church, Stowmarket – tickets are £15 (children/students free) from the Chorale’s website or on the door. The members of the 65-strong choir meet to rehearse every Wednesday evening at Chilton Primary School, enjoying the well known benefits of singing - physical and mental health, wellbeing, social cohesion, and downright fun! They put on three or four concerts a year, hiring professionals to take the solo and instrumental roles, and enable the residents of Stowmarket area to enjoy high quality live classical music on their doorstep. • Find out more at www.stowmarketchorale.org.uk
Society Spring Talks As the town's civic society one of the most important roles that the Woodbridge Society performs is to keep a keen eye on how the town develops. It does this by monitoring all planning applications with a view to commenting in ways that will ensure that Woodbridge's built environment retains its character. The Society's first talk this Spring is all about getting the best out of the planning system. The talk will be given by Bob Kindred, a planning expert, who will ask the question: Are You Being Served? How to Influence the Planning System. The meeting will be on Wednesday 6th March at 7.30pm in the Abbey School Hall (access from Cumberland Street). It will be preceded by the Society's Annual General Meeting. A month later the talk will be on the fascinating title of Brainy Dogs. It will be given by Helen Fairweather who is the chief executive of the Felixstowebased charity Headway Suffolk. The charity works with prisoners at Hollesley Bay to train dogs to work with people who suffer from head injury and brain damage. Helen will talk about this work. The meeting will be held on Wednesday 3rd April at 7.30pm, again in the Abbey School Hall. Visitors will be very welcome to both meetings.
Ford ’s Focus with Daniel Ford I regard myself as a well-rounded sports fan in that I follow many sports in great depth, however, one set of sports have never really tickled my fancy. US based sports simply don’t appeal to me, not only are they exhaustingly time consuming (the longest baseball game in history took over eight hours), but also I struggle to find any joy in watching them. Having said all this, in the last few months I have dipped my toe into watching American Football, and hence this article is about the greatest NFL player to ever live. Tom Brady. Let’s start off with the stats! Brady has won six Superbowls (the American Football equivalent of the Champions League final), this means that he has individually won more Bowls than any other NFL team in history, and is equal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has also thrown the most touchdowns in Superbowl history (the American Football equivalent of making the most assists). Furthermore, he also holds the record for the most touchdowns in postseason history. For American Football virgins let me summarise what this means, Brady turns up when it matters! Despite Brady being relatively unknown on British shores, let me assure you that he is a major celebrity in the US, he is their equivalent of Harry Kane. The reason behind this is founded in the position that Brady plays, he is the quarterback for the New England Patriots. Once again I’m sure this means nothing to the majority of you, so let me try to explain. The quarterback is the fulcrum of any NFL side, effectively they determine how their team plays, either by giving the ball to a teammate to run with or by throwing the ball to a teammate in the hope they will make a successful catch. Brady’s unflappable demeanour and tireless consistency are two key reasons why he is able to cope with the pressure of playing this position, something that many others fail to do. In contrast, Brady’s glittering career has been somewhat overshadowed by controversy. In 2015 a hugely controversial scandal over ‘deflategate’ emerged in the US, this saw Brady given a four match suspension for allegedly using illegally deflated balls in order to give him a better grip and hence gain an advantage. A combination of this and Brady’s immense success, which is resented by fans of other teams, is a key reason why Brady perhaps does not get the credit he deserves. In summary, Tom Brady is without doubt the greatest player ever to pick up an American Football, and if anyone can stop me from falling asleep whilst watching American sports, his side the Patriots have a good a shot as any.
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