DOGS ABOUT

I’m a three-year-old Cane Corso called Bagheera and just like my JungleBook namesake, I’m a faithful friend and protector of my family. They got me from Kent though my breed is actually from a place called Romania. They were on a waiting list for a year-and-a-half to get me and I like to think I was well worth the wait!

I cause a bit of a stir wherever I go - sometimes people cross to the other side of the street. Even police officers stop to meet me and ask all about what I’m like. I might look scary, but I’ve been trained so well that I’m very chilled and relaxed. I’m just a gentle giant who doesn’t like to be left on his own. I’m terrified of fireworks and thunder which will keep me awake for hours. l Have you got a dog who would like his or her 15 minutes of fame? Email your best photos to: info@livinginsuffolk.com

I was brought to live in Suffolk by my owner Gurmeet (pictured left) to live with the family. They say I’m a Velcro-dog - I stick close to my loved ones. His father Bhupinder, my dear grandpa (pictured on the right), suffers from multiple sclerosis and is in a wheelchair and I am always faithfully at his side.

I’m at my happiest when all my family are around me and I’m lying right in the middle of the room. Utter bliss!

AND I’M EVEN MORE LAID BACK! My name is Bess and I’m a 10-year-old Bassett hound originally from Bradford but now a Woodbridge dog about town. I’m very timid and dad Richard (pictured) reckons that I’ve even tried to run away from chihuahuas! I love a leisurely walk, sunbathing in the garden and my favourite food is roast lamb leftovers on a Sunday. Life is good!

What’s new in your lively local arts scene?

Angela Hagan has the lowdown … a performance of Donizetti’s The Love Potion (L’elisir d’amore) in September 2020 in Elmhurst Park”, he says, “the first live music event in Woodbridge after lockdown, which was very well received”. This followed in 2021 with Mozart’s The Magic Flute (DieZauberflöte), also in Elmhurst Park, but last year, for a variety of reasons, their performance of Strauss’s The Bat (Die Fledermaus) - pictured - took place in Woodbridge Community Hall.

Opera For Woodbridge

This year’s production will be Rossini’s Barber of Seville which, like last year, will be held indoors at Woodbridge Community Hall, on Saturday 7th October at 5pm. Co-producer Nick Fowler tells us, “Thanks to generous funding from Woodbridge Town Council and others we, the producers Nick Fowler and Caroline Blois, are delighted to again be able to offer the performance free of charge”.

Although free, Nick explains that the performance will be ticketed, and can be booked by emailing, tickets@ operaforwoodbridge.uk

“We started as Opera in the Park with l Visit, operaforwoodbridge.uk l You can get your copy via Ruth’s website at, ruthleighwrites.co.uk; on Amazon; and at Woodbridge Books in the town’s Thoroughfare.

“This year our event is not until October and so we will be in the Community Hall again”, says Nick. “As always, we engage professional soloists from all over the country with an orchestra of local professional and semi-professional players led by well-known local conductor and pianist, Andrew Leach. The performance will incorporate a group of children drawn from the ranks of the children’s opera company, Jubilee Opera. Our operas are becoming part of the Woodbridge live music scene and we are keen for this to continue, either in the Community Hall or in the park”.

THE JANE AUSTEN FAN CLUB!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen fans are desperate to get their hands on new books written about her world. Suffolk author Ruth Leigh has just published a collection of short stories around minor Pride and Prejudice characters. Mrs Philips (Mrs Bennet’s sister), Sally the maid, the teenage Harrington sisters, Mrs Annesley (Miss Darcy’s companion) - all of them now have their own story and through them, the eager reader can gain access to the elegant interiors of Pemberley, Rosings, Netherfield Park and Longbourn.

Ruth was rereading the novel during lockdown and realised that in around 1780, there would have been a lively teenage girl looking for a husband in a small Hertfordshire town. Her name was Miss Gardiner and under her married name, she is a major character. Ruth carried on, creating amongst others, a bitter blackmailing cook, an impoverished young woman who finds love in an unexpected place, a giggly teenage girl and a sensible matron with a romantic heart.

“People’s yearning for good Jane Austen fan fiction is endless,” explains Ruth. “I’m delighted to have published a collection of Pride and Prejudice short stories with Resolute Books, called A Great Deal of Ingenuity, which I hope my readers will enjoy”.

WAVENEY & BLYTHBURGH ARTS

The work of 12 local and regional artists is on show with Waveney & Blyth Arts at Potton Hall, between Blythburgh and Westleton. It features a wide variety of sculpture, including 28 pieces of 3D construction and sculpture in stone, clay, wire, multimedia assemblages, glass and steel, ranging from abstract to expressionistic and figurative subjects. The exhibition has one foot in the formal garden but lies mainly in the wider landscape of Potton Hall’s beautiful wildflower meadow. Entry is free and everything is for sale. Artists taking part include Surinder Warboys, Cindy Lee Wright, Shaun Pickering and Tobias Ford - see his Goshawk, pictured. Ford is well known for his sculpture, Pakefield Man, which was commissioned for First Light Festival.

The trail is open every day from 10am until 4pm at Potton Hall, Blythburgh Road, Westleton, Saxmundham, IP17 3EF. l Check it out at, waveneyandblytharts.com