FineCity Magazine - March 2017

Issue 64 March 2017

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Visits East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH)

An Interview With...

Pete Goodrum meets Pete Bunting from Red Lodge Country House

FINEplaces

Fine Fiction

We preview Steve Browning’s new book, Returning, which starts and ends in Norwich

FINEpeople FINEarts FINELIVING FINEFood

PLUS

Tony Cooper takes a look at the forth-coming Norfolk & Norwich Festival

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Issue 64 March 2017

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Visits East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice s (EACH)

AN INTERVIEW WITH...

Pete Goodrum meets Pete Bunting from Red Lodge Country House

FINEPLACES FINEPEOPLE

FINE FICTION

We preview Steve Browning’s new book, Returning, which starts and ends in Norwich

FINEARTS FINELIVING

PLUS

FINEFOOD

FINE people

52

Tony Cooper takes a look at the forth-coming Norfolk & Norwich Festival

NOR WIC H

FINE Arts

Issue 64

60

Your community magazine FineCity Magazine would like to thank all those who have contributed to this issue.

This includes but is not limited to: Pete Goodrum, Stephen Browning, Tony Cooper, and Tim Barnes-Clay Cover Image courtesy of: EACH

Editor Jonathan Horswell @JonathanHorswel

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© FineCity Magazine Disclaimer: No part of this magazine may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, either wholly or in part, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Publisher.

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They will, however, immediately investigate any written complaints. The Publishers reserve the right to amend such submissions and cannot accept responsibility for any loss.

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06 | March 2017

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Pete Bunting Pete Goodrum meets Pete Bunting to learn about Red Lodge Country House, at Narford. www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 07

FINEPeople

T

he weather is a little better than the previous few days, but this is still February and it’s still cold. Out here, in rural Norfolk this morning, it’s not raining, but it’s cheerless. The big Norfolk sky is like a slab of grey slate, and the wind is biting as it blasts through the still mainly bare trees.

And then Pete Bunting is at the door of Red Lodge Country House, in his chef ’s whites, welcoming me in. And then we’re in his kitchen. And then the world is a brighter, friendlier, warmer place. It’s a place of heat from the Aga, and the smell of fresh baked bread. A place where the pale winter sunlight

suddenly becomes brighter as it bounces back and sparkles off hanging utensils, and where ingredients are spread out on a vast central island table, each with their own aroma, mingling with that bread smell, filling the place with - what’s the word? - oh yes, happiness!

Pete makes me coffee. And he carries on working, talking happily as he kneads dough.

He’s making pizzas for a lunch, and he’s got a timetable to stick to. But he’s not rushed. You can actually see the care, and love, he puts into this food.

The journey here has been interesting. Red Lodge Country House is not easy to find. Sat Navs regularly mislead people, and I’ve not used mine, choosing instead to follow the instructions Pete had give me on the ‘phone. ‘Well done’, he says. ‘The number of people who say ‘don’t worry, we’ll find you’ is amazing. I usually say to them ‘ok - call us when you’re lost. And they do!’’

No journey to Red Lodge Country House though can be as interesting as Pete’s. He begins at the beginning.

‘I grew up in Norfolk and went to High School here. I’d come here when my family moved back to Norfolk in 1978 when I was about 10’.

When I ask what he did after school he delivers a remarkably precise date. ‘September 17th 1985. I joined the army. Not a date you forget!’.

He’d been in a cadet force at school, which he found exciting, and when his mother had asked him one day what his plans were he said he was perhaps thinking about the army. ‘I swear, no more than 15 minutes later she had me in the car on the way to the recruiting office!’

He joined the Royal Engineers. ‘I’d rather hoped to go into the Household Cavalry, having grown up around horses, but the recruiting sergeant explained it didn’t quite work like that!’

Posted to Chepstow he served his army apprenticeship learning combat engineering as well as carpentry. ‘You had to do an ‘artisan’ course as well as soldiering and there had been a bit of carpentry in the family history’ he explains.

feature by:

Pete Goodrum Writer, broadcaster @petegoodrum

08 | March 2017

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FINEPeople Apprenticeship over, having learned much about bomb disposal and ‘the dangerous stuff ’, and via being garrisoned at Aldershot he was sent to Kenya. He spent a lot of time there, building bridges and such. ‘There were worries about being posted to somewhere really dangerous, but all in all it was a good life for a young man’. He did 7 years in the army.

And then what? I ask.

‘I went to Chicago’ Why? I Ask, not unreasonably I think.

He smiles. ‘Honestly?’ he asks.

Yes. ‘I love the blues’.

That’s it?

‘Well, also a girl I was going out with had a sister there. So I went. With a bag and a 100 dollars’.

Do you play the blues? I ask. His answer is truly wonderful. He smiles a broad smile and says ‘I own guitars’

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In Chicago he found work in the construction business. After a couple of years he was sitting in a bar, on a freezing day, when a friend suggested they go to New Orleans. For a man who - as you will learn - has spent some time in America he has no trace of an adopted accent.

Except for one thing. He always pronounces New Orleans as New Awlins - just that one name consistently comes out as a southern drawl. I’m putting it down to the blues in his soul.

The only question he asked of his friend was if ‘New Awlins’ was warmer than Chicago.

When a quick check of the weather channel on the bar’s TV revealed that it was currently 70 degrees there, they went. They went, even though all they had as a plan was to sell removable ‘tattoos’ from a pick up truck. And they went via Memphis, ‘because of Elvis’.

‘I was only planning on staying for Mardi Gras, but I was there for 10 years’.

He met a girl, and stayed. But it’s obvious listening to him that, a girl aside, it was the town he fell in love with too. He talks quickly and enthusiastically about the blues, the food, the people - the life there.

He’d broken his leg in Chicago which had somewhat hampered his construction abilities so ‘somehow’ he found himself doing some

cooking, and liking it. In New Orleans the two occupations combined as he found work refurbishing and building bars and restaurants.

It grew into a good business. In fact he became a General Contractor which meant he was recognised by the authorities as competent to work on civic projects. Because of that he was head hunted into an organisation that took him to St Louis. Much of the work was repairs after catastrophes, which sadly was in high demand.

We talk more of music, and how the great blues musicians passed through St Louis. I also notice at this point that blues music has been playing in the background all the time we’ve been talking.

The years passed. He married. The time came to be interviewed for USA residency and that meant a gap, and leaving the country, while they waited for the interview date to be set. They went to France to wait it out. And they never went back.

‘When they were ready to interview us they wanted us to go to New Orleans. And Hurricane Katrina had hit. It seemed like there was no New Orleans to go back to’.

He came back instead to Norfolk. For a while he ran a catering business, but ‘when the

2017 March | 09

FINEPeople downturn came, around 2008, people stopped spending’ He worked for a marketing company which, ironically, took him back to the world of bars and restaurants. For 7 years or so he was ‘corporate man’.

What came next was a period of personal disasters. It’s not my intention to dwell on them here, but bereavement and a car accident that broke his neck and put him in a coma changed him.

‘When you come out of stuff like that somehow the font of your corporate emails doesn't seem to matter quite as much any more’. He says it from the heart.

He went back into catering and then ‘when this place became available I took it. I saw it as the opportunity to do something ……..different.

Offer a different experience’.

You’ll have taken my point that Pete’s journey to Red Lodge Country House has been more interesting than mine!

So, what of ‘this place’? It’s a 17th century country house. It is remote. It is wonderful. ‘I could have evened out all the floors, sorted out some of the rough edges and painted all the interior pastel green so that it was a ‘boutique’ country house hotel’ he says. ‘But I didn’t’.

And we must all be thankful that he didn’t.

Because Red Lodge is not like other places. It’s not been compromised to fit the stereotype.

It’s very, very special.

Let’s start with the kitchen, where I’ve been listening while Pete’s been talking - and cooking - all this time. The Aga came with the house. It’s old. It’s eccentric. But it’s real. He cooks on it all

the time. He runs classes on how to cook on it.

Nothing in this kitchen is here for effect. There are no ‘props’. Everything in this kitchen is used.

Every day.

When he cooks here every day he does it with the skill and love of a real chef. But, it’s spontaneous. If you eat here, you eat what he’s cooked. It’s gone noon and he says, ’I’m doing dinner tonight - I’ve no idea what I’ll be cooking yet. We don’t do menus’.

When he shows me around the rest of the house there’s the same feeling. The feeling that you’re in someone’s home. It’s real.

The dining room is big, and so is its table.

Guests can book as a party. They can stay.

Maybe go clay pigeon shooting, and come back for dinner. When they do, they can play the piano if they want to. They can sit around the table all night if they want to. They bring their own booze - because Red Lodge is not licensed and Pete ‘isn’t about selling them a pricey glass of wine’.

Corporate guests, weekenders wanting to explore Norfolk, families sometimes……they’re all welcome. Even a dinner booking for the evening - although it has to be booked ‘I don’t wait about in the kitchen all night every night in case we get a booking for a table for two - it’s not what this place is about’.

And it’s not. ‘This place’ is about a talented chef effectively opening his home to people who want to enjoy really good, home cooked, innovative food in a genuinely lovely and totally unspoiled 17th century country house.

It’s about breakfasts that aren’t just the ‘full English’; they’re a meal where the bread is home made, the bacon is home cured, and the jam is made from the fruit of the trees you can see from the windows of the house.

It’s about meals made from the best ingredients Pete can find.

And it’s about time Pete got the pizzas he’s been preparing into the oven. When I arrived Pete had apologised in advance that he had to leave at a certain time because of this lunch.

At no point this morning did I see him look at a clock or his watch. Somehow though all it’s come together. This pizza dough has risen and proved whilst I’ve been sat in this kitchen.

We’ve covered his life story, John Lee Hooker,

10 | March 2017

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FINEPeople

Elvis, the history of the blues and how Cajun cooking evolved. He’s been utterly charming, entertaining and he’s shown me around the house. And somehow, at the same time, he’s made a stunning, wonderful lunch.

Pete Bunting is a happy man. He exudes contentment. He talks with great affection of his partner, Louise, and her busy career. And now, as he prepares to serve that lunch he returns to the subject of this house and what he’s trying to achieve. ‘I’m determined to stick to the idea. The idea of not being mainstream.

Of trying to do something different. Something better’.

As we step outside, because he still finds time to say goodbye, with great courtesy, despite the demands on his time, I’m back into the cold, and the sky is still grey. He points to the trees.

‘They’re bare now. But all of those - they’re a walnut grove. We get loads of walnuts. I make a great ice cream with them’.

Of course he does. It’s a genuine, fresh ingredient, picked outside his front door. And of course he does something unexpected and innovative with them. Because this isn’t the mainstream. It’s Pete Bunting, at Red Lodge Country House.

His dream he said has been to deliver a really different experience for customers; of their being comfortable, and enjoying his hospitality in a truly relaxed way. Of serving really good food to people who appreciate it. In a proper country house.

Pete Bunting is a man whose dream has come true.

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2017 March | 11

12 | March 2017

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2017 March | 13

EACH

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge visits EACH hospice in Quidenham

14 | March 2017

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FINEPLACES

E

ast Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) was delighted to welcome HRH The Duchess of Cambridge to its Quidenham hospice in January, with the charity’s Royal Patron seeing for herself why the nook appeal – which is close to the £5 million mark – is so vital.

The Duchess was greeted by some 40 flagwaving children from local schools before being given a posy by four-year-old Nell Cork, whose brother Finnbar received care at Quidenham before sadly dying in August last year.

Her Royal Highness was then taken on a tour of the hospice by EACH Service Manager Jane Campbell, observing Isabella Benton and Amy Hewett, both six, and Bradley Jackson, 11, taking part in an art therapy session, as well as Paige Scott, four, using sensory equipment. She also took time to meet each child’s family, including Finnbar’s.

The Duchess spent the second half of her visit talking to staff and volunteers who work at Quidenham as they updated her on the nook appeal and EACH’s urgent need to raise funds.

The appeal aims to raise £10 million for a new purpose-built hospice – which will be known as the nook - at a five-acre site in Framingham Earl.

EACH’s current Norfolk hospice was opened in 1991 and, due to the increasing numbers of children with life-threatening conditions and complex healthcare needs visiting Quidenham, the hospice has now outgrown its current site.

The new hospice, closer to the centre of the county, will help to provide more families with the same facilities as those offered by the charity’s hospices for Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk.

EACH Chief Executive Graham Butland said: “It was a pleasure for everyone at EACH to greet Her Royal Highness once again, on what was her first visit to our site in Quidenham.

“The Duchess was given a really good insight into the difficulties our staff and volunteers face as a result of Quidenham having outgrown its home, and the huge difference a purpose-built modern hospice will make to the care they can provide to so many families.’

To support the nook appeal visit www.each.org.uk/the-nook or contact the EACH Norfolk Fundraising Team on 01953 666768 or at Norfolk@each.org.uk.

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 15

FINEPLACES

A Walk Around the Fine City Celebrate English Tourism Week 25 March – 2 April with free walking tours of Norwich

E

ach year VisitEngland, England’s national tourist board celebrates English Tourism Week with a host of events and offers. In 2017 VisitNorwich is pleased to be working with Norwich Tourist Information Centre (TIC) during Tourism Week to launch two new 90 minute walking tours whilst at the same time inviting local people to join a walking tour for free - inspiring them to become tourists in their own city.

The new tours entitled Words and Wanderings and Passages Through the Past will uncover places, people and stories throughout Norfolk history. The former tour is inspired by famous local writers and authors and the places they frequented. Included amongst others will be Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Browne and Harriet Martineau.

The latter will take walkers through some of Norwich’s historic nooks and crannies. All

16 | March 2017

tours are led by incredibly knowledgeable local guides who take enormous pride in sharing their stories and accounts with others. The guides also love a bit of banter and positively encourage questions whilst walking through the streets of Norwich!

The new tours will be part of a wider themed offer of walking tours which commence in April and run until October. Special tours take place during the year on selected dates themed around Nelson, Halloween and Christmas.

Anyone wishing to book private tours can do so all year round.

The free tours taking place during English Tourism Week are Words and Wanderings, Saturday 25 March at 11am and Wednesday 29 March at 2pm and Passages Through the Past Friday 31 March at 11am and Saturday

1st April at 11am. Numbers are limited and those wanting to participate must book their free tickets by calling 01603 213999 more details are at www.thenorwichshop.co.uk.

Michelle Hurren, Tourism Development manager said: “Norwich is an amazing place to walk around, with over a thousand years of history reflected in its streets. Walking with a guide and hearing the stories really brings the heritage to life.”

Melanie Cook, PR manager, VisitNorwich said: “Free ways to discover more about where you live and work are great opportunities. English Tourism Week is the ideal platform to shout about our heritage, geography, things to do and events. I want to encourage as many people as possible to take advantage of the free tours to learn more about Norwich.”

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FINEPLACES

Tourism Superstar Highly Popular Norwich Business Owner Reaches Shortlist For VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar 2017.

D

uane Dibartolomeo - one half of the hugely successful Grosvenor Fish Bar team in Norwich - has reached finalist status in the 2017 VisitEngland Awards for Excellence in the Tourism Superstar category. Nominated by VisitNorwich, the Tourism Superstar annual award run by VisitEngland and supported by The Daily Mirror celebrates people who go above and beyond in a tourism role.

advice, his local knowledge and his good sense of humour.

Those who are regulars at the Grosvenor will know how Duane delights customers with his ‘unofficial’ on-the-go advice about where to visit and shop in Norwich, events and how to make the best of time spent in the city.

Both locals and visitors appreciate his friendly

Duane said: “Those of you who know me, know I like to talk, and I have a captive audience – the queue. In theory I am supposed to get orders to make sure they are ready by the time customers get to the till, that sometimes happens! But most times we get caught up in

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Duane and Christian (Motta) bought the Grosvenor Fish Bar in 2012 when they moved from New York (Duane is originally from Miami).

The business was formally owned by Christian’s father, who over 35 years built up a strong clientele and thriving business. The Grosvenor has been a chippy for over 80 years in total.

a conversation about what’s new, what is going on in Norwich - we have a collection of flyers for local events - it helps guide visitors to the varied events available here in Norwich.”

Melanie Cook, PR manager, VisitNorwich said: “VisitNorwich is absolutely thrilled Duane has reached finalist status in this popular award and we trust that the people of Norwich will votes in their thousands for Duane to be crowned Tourism Superstar 2017 when the public votes opens on the Daily Mirror website on 7th February.

VisitNorwich has had one of its member businesses shortlisted 4 out of 5 years in this category with ultimate success in 2014 when Busby Allen from Potters Resort won the competition to become Tourism Superstar 2014.

We have everything crossed Duane can do it for The Norwich Lanes and Norwich this year.”

2017 March | 17

FINEPLACES

Vote for England’s Tourism Superstar 2017 Voting opens from 8am Tuesday 7 February to decide the winner of VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar 2017.

T

he competition, run by VisitEngland and supported by The Daily Mirror, features 10 shortlisted candidates who need your votes to win and be crowned Tourism Superstar 2017. Visit MailGate has detected a mismatched link to “maxemail.visitbritain.com” appearing as mirror. co.uk/tourismsuperstar to watch a short film featuring the Superstar finalists and have your say on who takes the title by casting your vote online from 8am Tuesday 7 February (when the link will be live).

The voting will open on Tuesday 7 February and the winning Tourism Superstar will be announced during English Tourism Week 2017 (25 March - 2 April).

VisitEngland Director Patricia Yates said: “The sheer calibre of this years’ entrants is testament to the outstanding customer service that is the foundation of England’s tourism industry. I really encourage you to join in and vote as we celebrate our Tourism Superstars who consistently go above and beyond customers’ expectations, and who contribute so much to ensure visitors have a great time.”

VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar initiative is in its sixth year and recognises the heroes within the industry who far exceed the call of duty to ensure visitors have the most amazing experience.

The shortlisted candidates are: Gemma Garwood, Falmouth Town Crier, Cornwall Gemma, 32, is currently the youngest Town Crier in the UK. She has been in the role since March 2016 and quite literally shouts Falmouth’s praises whilst walking round the town making people smile. Gemma is very active in the local community and eagerly spreads the message of Falmouth as a premier tourism destination far and wide. She is a trained performer and took on the role with the aim of breathing new life into an old tradition. Gemma does more than just shout about her town, she helps improve it, for example she coordinated spring cleaning 18 | March 2017

efforts with local businesses in March 2015 and will be getting stuck in again this year. Most recently she was involved in the GB High Street of the Year Awards and is currently organising a competition to elect a young Town Crier for Falmouth from local primary schools.

Peter Jay, Volunteer, Cotswold Water Park Trust, Wiltshire Peter has been a volunteer for the Cotswold Water Park Trust for more than five years during which time he has had a significant impact on the visitor experience. As the Water Park is spread over three counties, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and a bit of Oxfordshire and has 150 lakes, it can be a confusing place for the first time visitor. Peter helps tourists navigate the area and all its activities by manning an information desk at the busy Gateway centre, which sees more than 250,000 visitors annually. Every Saturday and on many Bank holidays and school holidays Peter, and often his wife Jenny, can be found helping visitors with advice, leaflets, maps, local information and much more and always with a friendly smile and an enthusiastic disposition.

Peter is known for ‘going the extra mile’ with visitors whether by helping a Japanese tourist whose hire car had a puncture or locating the owners of lost car keys. In addition to manning the desk, Peter manages 12 volunteers on the information desk, drawing up the rota and training new volunteers.

Gillian Scotford and Jane Carver, Cofounders of Accessible Derbyshire, Derbyshire Gillian and Jane set up the registered charity Accessible Derbyshire 2014 to raise awareness of the wide-ranging challenges faced by disabled people, their families and carers as both visitors and residents. Drawing on and inspired by their experiences of raising three children with a range of physical and mental disabilities, they work tirelessly to improve access to accommodation, attractions and activities across the Peak District and Derbyshire area. They do this by sharing information offering practical help and investing in equipment and support services. They also offer training and advice to a broad range of businesses, organisations, groups and individuals.

The charity’s motto is: “one life, live it”.

Karl Gibson, Pub Landlord, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham Karl has been running Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem since 2012. The pub, which is said to be one of the oldest pubs in England, dates back to 1189, and the cellars, where the beer for the castle was once brewed, are set in the caves of the adjacent Nottingham Castle and date back to 1070. In addition to his landlord duties, Karl also provides tours of the infamous pub cellars free of charge and acts as an unofficial tourist information centre. He is very knowledgeable about the city of Nottingham and its attractions as well as its history and enjoys enlightening visitors with tales of medieval brewing techniques and revealing the cellars gory history which saw prisoners chained to the walls.

Duane Dibartolomeo, Owner, Grosvenor Fish bar, Norwich Duane has owned the Grosvenor Fish Bar since 2012 shortly after he first landed on England’s shores. Originally from Miami, he spent much of his later life in New York before selecting Norwich as his home. Duane has brought his own American brand of customer service to Norwich and meets and greets every customer. He entertains the queue with his humour and banter and speeds up the process with his knack for remembering regular customers’ usual orders. Duane has a larger than life personality and is a warm and welcoming host who goes out of his way for his hungry customers. He is not just a fish and chip shop owner but acts as a tourism advisor helping visitors decide what to visit in Norwich, where to shop and what to look out for.

Kevin Robson, Tour Guide and Owner, Wild Dog Outdoors, Northumberland Kevin set up Wild Dog Outdoors in 2013 and is primarily a tour guide of Hadrian’s Wall, providing insightful and passionate tours on the Wall’s Roman and ancient history.

He delights in regaling visitors with tales of Northumberland’s place in Britain’s history and exploring the iconic sites within the county. www.finecity.co.uk

FINEPLACES hand and has become a firm favourite for many visitors.

Anyone who goes on a tour with Kevin is treated to secret stories and anecdotes, usually the reserve of archaeologists and historians, which bring the locations to life. Most of all Kevin loves to enchant all those around him, using his skills to bring the magic of Northumberland to life.

Alan Anderson, Park Ranger, Auckland Castle, Durham Alan has been a Park Ranger at Auckland Castle for more than 17 years and still works tirelessly to maintain its deer park and gardens to the highest possible standards. Alan unlocks the park daily at 5am – even on Christmas Day – and is out come rain, snow or shine maintaining 200 acres of ancient parkland and woodland and enhancing the natural habitat of the local wildlife. In addition to his day-today responsibilities Alan works with students from local schools who are at risk of being expelled, mentoring them and teaching them about the park and its wildlife. This work has been so successful that one of the students is now hoping to become an apprentice at Auckland Castle. Alan is a truly warm and engaging person and is a real treasure of the Castle. Full of knowledge, passion, enthusiasm and dedication, he is always happy to lend a

Liz Hill, Founder, Rural Concierge, Herefordshire Liz started her own business in 2013 providing travel itineraries and tours to visitors and residents for groups and individuals. Liz is passionate about Herefordshire and making it accessible for all to visit the attractions and gems of the county. Rural Concierge is primarily online, but Liz can also be found at her kiosk in Hereford’s Butter Market. Along with her team, where they come face to face with visitors providing them with a wealth of information and advice about how to get ‘off the beaten track’ within the area. And this is how Liz delivers above and beyond what would be expected of a tourism professional and why she won the Best Rural Tourism Business Award at the National Rural Business Awards in 2016.

Paul Schofield, City Tour Guide, Hull & East Yorkshire Paul is a freelance English Heritage Accredited tour guide mainly focusing on the city of Hull and the East Yorkshire market town of Beverley.

Paul is an unassuming, dedicated local hero and ambassador for Hull and East Yorkshire. For the last 28 years, rain or shine, Paul can be found at the head of a group of visitors uncovering

the hidden treasures of Hull to tourists. Paul’s depth of knowledge of the area, its history and its people truly enhance the experience for all those who tour the city with him. He talks about everything from the architecture, to its ties to the abolition of slavery and the historic importance of Hull in England’s history. His welcoming and friendly nature combined with his enthusiasm and passion for the region are what made Paul the only double winner of the Remarkable Yorkshire Passion Award at the Visit Hull and East Yorkshire Tourism Awards in 2010 and 2016.

Leye D Johns, Host & Compere, Viva Blackpool, Lancashire Leye started his working life in the NHS but, as a natural showman, what had been a second job as a live entertainer took a more serious turn when he and a co-investor set up Viva Blackpool. In 2012, Viva Blackpool transformed a large empty Mecca Bingo Hall into a one room entertainment and events complex, dedicated to providing quality entertainment to Blackpool’s residents and visitors. Despite a tough start Leye has persevered with his demanding role putting a smile on the faces of more than 50,000 visitors. In the process he has brought much needed jobs to the local community whilst supporting numerous charities. Viva is a year round venue ensuring visitors are entertained and leave Blackpool with happy memories.

Local nominee Duane Dibartolomeo outside Grosvenor Fish bar, Norwich, Photo Andrew Kelly/Archant

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2017 March | 19

N No or rw fo ich lk & Fe st iva

l

Night Magic Hocus Pocus. Photo: John-Paul Bichard.

20 | March 2017

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FINEARTS FINE CITY arts correspondent, Tony Cooper, reports on this year’s Norfolk & Norwich Festival

T

he largest arts festival in the East of England and the fourth largest in the UK, the Norfolk & Norwich Festival (running from Friday 12th to Sunday 28th May) builds upon the success of last year’s festival which saw 57,000 people attending all sorts of events (free admission and otherwise) over a hectic 17-day period.

And within the festival’s rather short time frame there’s a hive of bustling arts’ activities to devour for locals and visitors alike ranging from five world premières to a major new art installation not forgetting a world-class series of concerts and a host of large-scale outdoor events which, over the past few years, have made such a big contribution to the overall activity (and success) of the festival.

The festival provides a big boast to the local economy, too. Last year, for instance, it generated £3.9 million of economic activity to the area while nearly 3000 people participated and well over 900 children

and young people took part in educational events.

One of the festival’s core activities is the well-loved and well-attended Adnams Spiegeltent which, once again, pitches in Chapel Field Gardens. Within its confines there’s a characteristically-vibrant and attractive programme including the headline show ‘Driftwood’ from the Australian-based circus company, Casus Circus. A colourful concoction of explosive encounters, the work touches upon hidden looks and humorous discoveries featuring incredible aerial hoop, rope and swings as well as some impressive acrobalancing routines. And a cabaret of magical delights, combined with Victorian era vaudeville, will be delivered in true theatrical flair and splendour by Hocus Pocus Theatre and Gossamer Thread’s Vaudeville Company in their aptly-named show, ‘Night Magic’.

The Spiegeltent will also host an evening with Eimear McBride, Sarah Hall and Megan

Bradbury who’ll explore art and sexuality sharing their experiences of articulating identity, gender and sexuality through their creative work, And with Norwich feature by:

Tony Cooper Writer tc@tony-cooper.co.uk

No Dogs No Indians, Siddhartha Bose.

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 21

FINEARTS being England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, the festival teams up once again this year with Writers’ Centre Norwich presenting a world-class literature programme exploring revolutions in art, sexuality, technology and identity including Will Self talking about his new work ‘Phone’ examining the influence of 20thcentury technologies on the human existence while Siddhartha Bose’s new work ‘No Dogs, No Indians’ uncover forgotten stories while looking at the effects and legacy of British rule in India on the 70th anniversary of the country’s independence.

The City of Literature Weekend - taking place over three full days: Friday 26th to Sunday 28th May - features a host of events such as Robert Service talking about the impact of the Russian Revolution in its centenary year while the fifth Harriet Martineau Lecture ‘Speaking Truth to Power’ - focusing on campaigning journalism round the world - will be delivered by two of Mexico’s finest journalists, Lydia Cacho and Anabel Hernàndez.

And following its début last year, ‘The Story Machine’ is back up and running at The Shoe Factory Social Club, formerly Sexton, Son & Everard’s shoe-manufacturing factory at St Mary’s Works (Duke Street). A host of readings and so forth will be on hand including a brandnew work by Haruki Murakami, a film and audio exhibition by Helen Macdonald, Sarah Wood and Oliver Laing and stories from prizewinners: Ben Okri, Tessa Hadley, KJ Orr and Thomas Morris et al From a performance point of view, the festival will host three world première performance pieces; a brand-new verse play from multiaward-winning writer and performance poet, Luke Wright (‘What I Learned from Johnny Bevan’) set against a backdrop of scuzzy indie venues and 1980s politics; ‘Stormy: The Life of Lena Horne’, by Camilla Beeput with creative direction from Clarke Peters, celebrates the centenary of one of the greatest AfricanAmerican singers of the 20th century; IOU by Rear View sees audiences take to the streets of Norwich on a moving adventure in a custombuilt double-decker bus with performance poets, Cecilia Knapp and Jemima Foxtrot.

Frankie Vah, Luke Wright.

22 | March 2017

Performance highlights also include leading UK disabled artists, Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis’ work, ‘The Way You Look (at me) Tonight’, exploring one’s habits and practices of perceiving each other; Quarantine’s quartet about the human life-cycle, ‘Spring.

Summer. Autumn. Winter’, Race Horse Company’s latest show, ‘Super Sunday’, a show big on flying, big on thrills and big on mind-blowing skills and Akram Khan’s ‘Chotto Desh’ - a bewitching, thrilling and poignant tale of a young man’s dreams and memories www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS

Vox Luminis & Frelburg Baroque Consort.

from Britain to Bangladesh - fusing dance, storytelling, interactive animation and speciallycomposed music.

The Voice Project’s annual offering this year is entitled ‘The Arms of Sleep’, a major world première for the festival. It comprises a tenhour choral work that unites forty audience members joining the choir to travel into the space of sleep. Guests will each be given a comfy bed and spend the night drifting between sleep and wakefulness, to be woken in the morning by a dawn chorus. The piece - featuring specially-written music by Helen Chadwick, Orlando Gough, Jonathan Baker and Jon Hopkins - is centred upon the Georgian-built Assembly House in Theatre Street, Norwich. www.finecity.co.uk

Casus Circus. Driftwood.

2017 March | 23

FINEARTS

Museum of the Moon, Luke Jerram.

Highlights of this year’s contemporary music programme, co-curated by EFG London Jazz Festival producers, Serious, include jazz star, Dee Dee Bridgewater; acappella group and social-media sensation, Naturally 7; Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson (their only date outside London); Portuguese singer, Lula Pena; Brad Mehldau Trio; a rare UK appearance from Totó

La Momposina and one of the most exciting new jazz groups, Ezra Collective, among many more such prominent acts.

The festival’s classical music programme co-curated for the first time by the Britten Sinfonia - includes Britten Sinfonia’s Beethoven programme featuring Thomas Adès; the City of

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted

by Karina Canellakis, featuring Karen Gomyo soloist in Mendelssohn’s violin concerto; Steven Isserlis performing Bach’s cello suites alongside cello miniatures by the Hungarian composer, György Kurtág; internationally-renowned pianist, Paul Lewis, playing Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Weber; Vox Luminis and Freiburg

Rana Begum. Photo Philip White.

24 | March 2017

www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS Baroque Consort performing Monteverdi’s Vespers; the outstanding soprano, Carolyn Sampson, accompanied by Joseph Middleton (piano) - a brilliant and exciting partnership exploring the idea of madness offering works

by Schumann, Brahms, Fauré and Debussy et al.

The festival has forged a new and exciting partnership, too, with BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists thereby giving audiences the opportunity to hear some of the most promising new talent from around the world including Kathryn Rudge (mezzo-soprano) and James Baillieu (piano) performing works

by Schubert, Britten and Bridge, Annelien Van Wauwe (clarinet) and The Amatis Trio playing Ravel’s A minor piano trio and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time while the Calidore Quartet will deliver works

by Dvořák, Ligeti and Tchaikovsky.

The Tarmacsponsored outdoor programme once again brings world-

class performers from across Europe to Norwich’s parks and open spaces completely free of charge. The programme includes Luke Jerram’s large-scale public artwork, a giant inflatable moon, ‘Museum of the Moon’, complete with deckchairs placed firmly on the ground allowing audiences to bathe in the moonlight alongside a programme of lunarinspired live music, dance and performance.

The outdoor programme continues with Thrill Laboratory’s VR playground, which plants eight sets of swings round the city allowing audiences to don virtual-reality headsets and take experimental trips influenced by the pace at which audience members choose to swing. TheatreFragile turns up with a narrativemasked theatre piece and, having met with local refugees and support groups, bring their voices to the centre of an interactive performance.

The Garden Party also returns for the middle weekend of the festival showcasing sound installations, circus, live music, dance, reallife arcade games, giant origami and a roaming cottage on chicken legs.

The festival contines its membership of the Creative Europe In Situ network and the UK based, Without Walls, bringing to the festival the very best outdoor work from the UK and across Europe. Both networks are supporting NNF’s own commissions.

The visual art programme includes a major new exhibition from Turner Prize-winning artist, Richard Long, who’ll present site-responsive pieces at the historic house and well-kept gardens of Houghton Hall. It’s his biggest exhibition of work since his retrospective at Tate Britain in 2009. Ground-breaking German artist, Hans-Peter Feldmann, will present ‘Art Exhibition’ at East Gallery (NUA) and Rana Begum will transform the Mezzanine Gallery at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts with an immersive installation and wall-mounted reliefs, taking advantage of the building’s spacious architecture. It’s her first museum show anywhere in the world.

For the fourth-year running the festival will hold ‘Meet Me at the Spiegeltent’ programme running during the daytime presenting a programme of free events include ‘Bounce and Rhyme’ sessions for 0-5 year olds, Mamasupials baby-sling dancing fun, Hartbeeps Taster creative play and music sessions and The Afternoon Social for all ages coming together in an afternoon of socialising and intergenerational activities.

Alongside multiple events for families in the Tarmacsponsored free outdoor programme and the ‘Meet Me at the Spiegeltent’ programme, singer Juliet Kelly will present the Jazz Family All-Stars, a family-fun tribute to jazz singers past and present while Ireland’s hilarious Lords of Strut - Ireland’s most lovable idiots - returns to the festival with ‘The Family Show’ comprising satire, surrealism and silly comedy with flashes of surprising acrobatic skills and dance.

But there’s more - there always is at NNF! Therefore, visit the festival’s website at www.nnfestival.org.uk to find out Box office (situated at Norwich Theatre Royal) 01603 766400 The Family Show Lords of Strut. Photo Ben Hopper.

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 25

FineCity Fiction Returning Stephen Browning’s novel Returning starts and ends in Norwich Lanes via UEA, Norwich Cathedral and the mountains of southern Taiwan. Here is how it begins…..

Rejection can be a deadly business 1 Richard Blackstone Richard Blackstone fumbled for the light switch as he stumbled out of bed. It was still a little dark: the digital clock said ten past eight.

He looked around his bachelor flat and it was not a pretty sight, though he had many times

seen worse. Clothes lay on the carpet, a couple of empty wine bottles and the remains of a half eaten pizza littered his chrome and glass television table. Of Julia, there was no sign.

‘Oh well, maybe she left early to get home for a wash and change before work,’ he muttered.

What was it she said she did? PR? Yes, she was sharp and funny - she would be good at that.

First dates don’t always go well - Richard had

much experience in this department - but Julia and he had really hit it off, he thought. He was 35 and it was really about time he got married - ‘ticking clock!’ he laughed to himself - yes, men DO have the syndrome, too! He really hoped they could meet again. He felt unusually light-hearted as he grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste from the small bathroom and began to brush furiously.

It was then that he noticed the note attached to the fridge door with a magnet - the paper was delicate and pink. He left the brush in his mouth as he removed it and sniffed. Ah! Freesias.

Yes freesias suited Julia, he thought.

He felt ‘ giddy as a

feature by:

Steve Browning Writer www.stephenbrowningbooks.co.uk

26 | March 2017

www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS schoolboy’ like Scrooge after his conversion in a Christmas Carol. He opened the letter. Where would Julia suggest they meet next time?

‘I don’t know what to say, Richard,’ it began.

‘I hope you can forgive me.’ He read on as toothpaste oozed down his front until his jaw dropped completely and the brush fell to the floor also. ‘ I do not deserve you......it is my fault, not yours......I realise I am not ready for a serious relationship......I just need some space......

I know you will find someone really nice .....’ It was a classic - it contained all the phrases.

He dressed quickly but with especial care. He had important work to do this morning, Julia or no Julia. Just as the clock struck nine, Richard opened the front door to his block of flats and strode to the waiting Jaguar. He noticed a speck of toothpaste on his left lapel. How did that get there?

‘No 10, James, please.’ The Minister pressed the button and the window whisked down.

He stuck his head out. ‘And no, gentlemen, I will not be getting married. I can’t afford it and, besides, who’d have me?’ The car drove off in a gale of laughter and ribald comments from the gentlemen of the press.....

‘I think I handled that rather well, James, don’t you?’

‘Most certainly, Minister. As you always do. And sir.... I think you have some toothpaste on your suit, not much, just a little speck, up there on the left lapel.....’

2 Eugene Eugene closed the doors of his little café ‘TAIWAN!!’ Everything was quiet in Norwich

Lanes apart from a few drunken cries and shouts emanating from the pubs around the market place a few hundred yards distant.

‘What is it with English people and alcohol?’ he wondered for the umpteenth time.

Norwich Lanes may not be as famous as those on the seafront at Brighton but they are almost as extensive. They are on the ancient side of the city extending uphill from the site of the old Duke of Norfolk’s Palace - a smelly place by all accounts, being built on the edge of the river that carried sewerage out of the city - to the market place. You can buy almost anything in the shops here - a trombone, a wedding dress, skis for your next trip to the French Riviera, a Polish ukulele, a first edition book or a fragment of genuine medieval glass. And, being a mecca for tourists and locals alike, it is a perfect place to try your luck with a uniquely-

‘Minister of State, do you have anything to say following your statement yesterday in Parliament about the need for universities to produce more good scientists?’

He had thought, when he first got this piedà-terre away from Parliament and in a rather unfashionable area of London, that the press would leave him alone whenever he needed some privacy. Not so - just look at them, pushing each other, poking microphones, clicking cameras. Oh well, he should be used to it by now. Wasn’t though. Never would be.

Hated it.

‘Yes, Mr Blackstone, sir, are you going to cut university funding for the Arts? Why? Are you a closet arts-hater, Sir?’ ‘Despite some irresponsible jibes to the contrary by some of you, I am not a closet anything.’ They laughed at that. Minster of State for Universities and Science, Richard Blackstone and MP for Norwich (Lower Cathedral Ward) had, on the whole, a jocular and friendly relationship with the press.

‘What were you doing here, sir? Did you entertain a young lady here last night, sir? Will you be getting married?’

‘We all know , as I said when the Prime Minister of our great nation did me the honour of appointing me Minister of State two months ago, that the country needs austerity - we must all do our bit and that includes the Universities. Are you doing yours?’ He flashed his famous smile. ‘That is all for now, gentlemen.

I will issue a further statement later today.

Thank you!’

His driver opened the rear offside door. ‘Where to this morning, Sir?’ www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 27

His Mummy was very successful in advertising.

In fact, Dominica de-la-Par as she was known to the media (Ethel Brown, actually, but that is a long time ago) revelled in her son. As long as he wasn’t there. She had given birth to him.

Wasn’t that enough?

‘Give me my son,’ she said to Manny, the Nanny. The occasion was a TV show: ‘Successful Women: Wake up to Parenting AND Career.’

Dominica looked fabulous. She had a lovely smile, being lovely herself. The camera turned towards her and it loved her, too.

Little Stevie was thinking of a banana and milk.

Dominica muttered: ‘This is for us, you little sod.

Look cute!’ Stevie puked a little bit of banana onto her dress.

‘This is my most beautiful son, Stevie,’ she purred.’ He is one year, seven and a half months. I have raised him all on my own whilst pursuing my career. YOU can do it, too.’

themed cafe which was, of course, exactly what Eugene had done.

He sighed, stretching his tired back.

Eugene who, despite his name which his parents had given him as a nod towards European culture, was from Taiwan. His Mum and Dad were from a little fishing village on the south coast of this most beautiful place and had scrimped and saved to send him to the University of East Anglia to do his PhD in European Philosophy. He had received his doctorate two years since and the photograph of Eugene receiving the honour was prominently displayed on the wall of his small business premises.

His bike was in the back, stacked up vertically to save space. He took it down and manoeuvred it out of the back door. ‘OK, Lamplighter Street!’ he said as if the bike were a taxi and could understand him. Then he turned it southwards. ‘Bonk, bink, bonk!’ went the wheels over the cobbled stones.

He always felt sad at this time of the day, missing his family. He was tired and the night is an unforgiving time. Goodness! It was seven a.m. in his homeland and people were just getting up to work. His Mum would be steaming the bread and getting the family together for breakfast. His Dad would be up OK, eager to get on with the deals that awaited him in his food distribution business. But his lazy brother, Dewai, was difficult to arouse from his slumber. Oh! How he wished he was there! His bike gained speed down the hill towards Coslany, the most ancient part of the most venerable city of Norwich.

He drew up at a sign that said ‘Simpkins Brewery’. This was a building that had once 28 | March 2017

‘What happened to his Dad, Domenica? Where is he?’

‘Absolutely no idea. Who needs men anyway? Just get a good dishwashing machine instead much more practical and it shuts up when you click the off-switch!’

‘Who is he, Miss de-la-Par?’

produced some world-famous Norwich ales.

It was now converted into pretty nice flats.

Since the success of ‘TAIWAN!!’, Eugene had been able to rent one of them, not the best it must be said, being among the smallest and down by the dustbins on the ground floor, but it was OK. He stored his bike, went into the bedroom and flopped. He needed to be up at six the next day. He would shower then. He went to sleep.

3 Dominica and Little Stevie Little Stevie was the world’s most beautiful baby. He knew this because his Nanny told him so. How was he? Well, he was chubby, with the smoothest skin and fat, fat arms and legs. He had huge blue eyes – surely bigger than anyone, ever – and golden/white curls that cascaded down his face. His Mummy had forbidden any hair-cut.

Domenica smiled at the memory of that one, wonderful night in Bermondsey.

‘That, as you know, is something that will never be divulged.’ She knew that the more she prevaricated, the more the press-pack would salivate and speculate, and that suited her very well. ‘Please ask no more!’ She wiped away an imaginary tear. God, she looked beautiful!

Flash pics. Immense applause. She imagined the reviews in the papers tomorrow - ‘Mysterious superwoman shows how it can be done!’ or maybe, ‘The moment I fell in love with the fabulous Domenica.’ Even ‘Domenica for Prime Minister!’

Little Stevie, very afraid at all the noise, and terrified of this woman, emptied his little bladder all down his Mummy’s dress.

4 Eugene and Leemei Eugene liked to have his café up and running by 7.30 in order to catch folk on their way to work. He would do a roaring trade in steamed bread – juicy and chewy – until about 11. These were still heated in the patented steamer he www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS Norwich is a beautiful place – the most complete medieval city in the UK – but, truthfully, not the hub of international cuisine.

They had traipsed around, but had ended up eating some very poor egg-fried rice. The English seem to have this idea that egg fried rice is ordinary rice with the odd pea and fleck of carrot and egg in it.

had brought over from Taiwan several years ago as he had found it impossible to continue eating the dry and tasteless English bread which he bought from the university grocery shop.

The steamer had a micro chip that could tell the exact amount of time needed to rejunevate practically any food that had curled up and died.

He smiled as he remembered bringing in the alien-looking machine to Norwich International Airport. It had been on the last flight which arrived at 9.30 via Amsterdam. The customs officer had asked him to wait behind until everyone else had gone. He found Eugene’s story as to what it did scarcely credible and insisted that it be unpacked, supplied with water and plugged in. As Eugene’s suitcase had gone missing, they had lots of time to chat.

This airport official had become one of ‘TAIWAN!!’’s regulars and would probably arrive at any minute. His name was Terry.

Steamed bread came in an almost infinite variety of flavours. The most popular by far was plain white, served with maybe a fried egg or kumquat jam. Terry, tho’, liked walnut and cinnamon with some fresh fruit. Sometimes he would have ‘brown sugar’ steamed bread which was a bread bun that had real brown sugar inside: when heated, this became liquid although you had to be careful not to burn your mouth as you bit into it.

They had, from that moment formed a lovely bond. The trouble for Eugene was that the bond was not an equal one. He had read that someone very wise has said that, in every relationship, one of the parties is more committed than the other. In his case, he felt much more: it was like he was sitting on an upturned bucket – very uncomfortable. He wanted to touch Leemei’s arm gently as they sat side by side, eating; he wanted to look deeply into her grey eyes; he wanted to softly run his lips over her cute little eyebrows and, oh! touch that irresistible button nose; and.....

‘Eugene - what you doing?!’

Eugene realised he looked very silly, with a look of dog-like devotion and munching egg fried rice only

inches from Leemei’s face. ‘Oh sorry, something wrong with my contact lenses - can’t seem to see unless I get up real close!’

Leemei knew what was what, of course.

Women tend to know this kind of thing and, besides, in this case it was very obvious. But she was engaged to be married, when she had graduated, to a man who belonged to one of the most influential business families in Taiwan And graduation in English Literature was coming up very soon.

Leemei went over to the closet to put on her working uniform - it had TAIWAN!! Today and Tomorrow! superimposed in red over a

Leemei came in on the dot, as ever, at 8.

Eugene’s little heart – who ever made up that description was more concerned with literal rather than poetic truth as Eugene had a heart as big as a lion (or perhaps a dragon, coming from the Far East) – did its usual ding-dong. For a second he felt light-headed and extremely silly. He had known Leemei for about two years. They had met following a UEA lecture on Charles Dickens and he had fallen in love with her straight away.

‘Dinner?’ he had suggested ‘Yes, I would love to, but where? I am a vegetarian.’

‘Me, too, Leimei. Hey! Let’s go into town and seek out some good Taiwanese veggie food.’ www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 29

FINEARTS representation of the nation of Taiwan in green (Eugene’s idea ). Eugene beamed, a great big happy grin across his face. ‘Morning, sweetheart!’ he said. Eugene liked to call her ‘sweetheart’ and he thrilled that she did not object. ‘Going to be busy today – the Minister may be coming in for a chat. He phoned yesterday to say he had a very unsatisfactory meeting with his senior Civil Servants about university funding - didn’t really understand what they were talking about.’

‘He could always come and see me at home - we do live in the same block although his penthouse and my single-flat-by-the-dustbins are as different as chalk and cheese!’

‘Isn’t that what civil servants are for?’ asked Leemei, ‘to make up unintelligible gobbledegook about policy so that the serving Minister will not know what is going on, and then they can just get on with running things in the old way?’

dissolute, probably gay, time-wasting bumbler with flashy teeth.’

‘Well, you know Richard. He’s that rare thing - a good politician with a simple heart. I honestly think he still believes a lot of things are black and white!’

Eugene and Leemei had an unusual and quite affectionate relationship with Richard Blackstone, local MP and newly appointed Minister of State. Two years previously, when he was just a plain MP, he had been invited to the University of East Anglia to give a talk. What was it on? ‘Honesty in Politics’ or some such.

Difficult to remember as he had not actually given it. Overlooked by the organiser, the date

‘Well, I think it does him good to come in and see us - he can talk his heart out and know that no-one will go blabbing to the newspapers.

He doesn’t have a family - it must be difficult.’

30 | March 2017

‘You’re never at home, my sweet, and, anyway, I think he likes to come in here and sit out of sight so he can listen to his constituents.’

‘Yeah! I guess. Except when they insult him.

Like last week when that guy called him a

‘I think he was kind of flattered, being called so many things at once - mind you, he probably only worked it all out when he got home.’

coincided with a concert for Ed Sheeran, East Anglia’s new global superstar. Just Eugene and Leemei had turned up. Instead of the talk, they had gone to the university’s fabulous central bar and whiled away first one hour and then another. By 2 am they were all firm friends.

The three of them had kept in regular touch after that. When Eugene left the university and needed a place to stay, Richard had arranged for him to have the most modest flat in his very

upmarket block, the Simpkins Brewery complex.

He was thrilled when he learned that Eugene planned to stay in Norwich and run TAIWAN!! and regularly dropped in to see his ‘young bro and sis’ as he began to think of them both.

Leemei looked at Eugene - this good guy. She liked him so much. Did she love him? Could she? No. She couldn’t - everything would go to pot if she did - everything. Her life, her family, her future. Oh no - it must not be allowed to happen. The family of her betrothed was extremely powerful, bordering on untouchable in Taiwan. There were hints of darkness that sometimes came to her in dreams and she awoke, shivering, sweaty and cold. She was www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS trembling a little now but it had never before happened in the bright light of day. She was being silly.

‘I’ll get on with the bubble tea’, she said. She put the tapioca balls into the sweet and milky tea mix. ‘English people have gone a bundle on this – you will make your fortune, Eugene.’

Terry came in on his way to the airport. ‘Hi Guys! Give me some walnut bread and chopped plums if you have them. And some bubble tea – hot. Did you see Dominica de-la- Par on TV last night? That lovely little boy of hers spewed up and weed all over her dress. Laugh! I thought I would never stop! But who’s the Daddy, that’s what we all want to know, who’s the Daddy?’

FIVE STARS OUR OF FIVE! Amazon UK Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I really enjoyed this witty adventure set in the diverse cultures of Taiwan and Norwich city. Steve Browning captures the essence of both in this fun tale of romance verses duty. I look forward to the next episode!

The complete novel Returning is available in paperback and Kindle from bookshops, Amazon UK and the usual online suspects For news of Stephen Browning’s books and articles please go to the website www.stephenbrowningbooks.co.uk or webpage www. facebook.com/ stevebrowningbooks

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 31

FINEARTS

Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail

Call out for artists to take part in popular sculpture trail

A

pplications are now open for artists to apply to take part in a popular sculpture trail which is set return to south Norfolk this August.

The Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail annually attracts thousands of visitors to the region to see the work of artists from around the country.

Organised by Waveney & Blyth Arts, the event, which has taken place at the River Waveney Study Centre near Bungay for the past three years, will this year take place at The Raveningham Centre, four miles south of Loddon.

32 | March 2017

The trail is part of ‘Celebrate the Waveney & Blyth 2017’, an annual programme of events that highlight the unique character of the two valleys situated in north Suffolk and south Norfolk.

The Raveningham Centre offers a very different location with new opportunities for site specific work and sculpture in the grounds of Castell Farm, a Tudor farmhouse with an old orchard and kitchen gardens.

Over the years Raveningham has become known as a unique venue for a number of arts activities including Festival in the Garden, Easter Folk Day, Antiques Fairs and Musical Events.

Nicky Stainton from Waveney & Blyth Arts said: "We are very excited by the opportunities that the new site at Raveningham will bring to the Waveney Sculpture Trail.

“The site is very different to previous years and includes an orchard, pond, shrubberies and lawn areas, which will provide a wonderful variety of spaces for artists to respond to.

“There are a lot of other attractions on offer with the Ravenous Cafe, East India Trading Company's wonderful rugs, Cannell Antiques, Helen Howes Textile Artist and other units nearby. Visitors will discover a real treasure trove." www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS

In 2016 more than 3,250 visitors visited the trail to see the work of 45 artists, generating around £7,000 worth of sales.

Both established and up-and-coming artists are encouraged to apply to take part in the 2017 trail.

“We have a lot more work to get the site ready for the public, in a similar way to the first year at the Earsham site, but it’s already started to feel magical as the snowdrops and aconites are starting to flower in the orchard.

Curator Sarah Cannell said: “I am thrilled to be curating the sculpture trail again and am really looking forward to the challenges of the new space.

“My overall vision is to continue to encourage public interaction with contemporary art in a rural setting and to this end we would like to invite applications from artists and sculptors keen to respond to this beautiful site.”

“I can’t wait to start working with new and familiar artists on the project to develop ideas over the next few months.

All artwork on the trail will be available for sale and there will be an opportunity to sell cards, prints and books related to the artwork.

www.finecity.co.uk

This year there will be two awards for participating artists, The Visitor’s Choice award and The Curator’s Choice award.

To apply email Miss Cannell via sarah.cannell1@ gmail.com for an application form. The closing date for applications is Sunday, February 26 2017.

More information can be found on the Event page at www.facebook.com/WaveneyBlythArts 2017 March | 33

FINEARTS

An artist of sensitivity harbouring vision and flair FineCity arts correspondent, Tony Cooper, reminisces about the Norwich-born artist, Michael Andrews, the subject of a new exhibition at London’s Gagosian Gallery

I

knew Michael Andrews well. He was a regular (and a welcome) visitor to my family home at 48 William Street, Norwich, not too distant from his family home at 13 Park Lane.

Born in Norwich in 1928, the second child of Thomas Victor Andrews and his wife, Gertrude Emma Green, Michael - who did his bit for his country serving his National Service in the Army between 1947 and 1949 - had an elder sister Joyce and a brother David who worked at the Norwich Union following in his father’s footsteps.

Michael, sadly, passed away in London in 1995 at the age of 66. Although his burial took place at Glenartney, Perthshire, in the Scottish Highlands, his funeral service was held at St Mary’s, Battersea - the church where William Blake married Catherine Boucher in 1782 and where Turner, who painted the Thames from the vestry window, was interred in 1851.

Another house closely associated with Michael in Norwich was No. 3 Chester Place (off Earlham Road). In the drawing-room of a large and comfortable Victorian terrace house (complete with aspidistra) owned by a dear friend of the Cooper family, Peter Ward, Michael set up a studio where I often watched him at work while acting as tea-boy and general factotum.

The Colony Room Landscape, c.1959 Photo: Lucy Dawkins/Gagosian

In this studio Michael - while in his late twenties - painted a grand and imposing work: ‘Late Evening on a Summer Day’ - an imagined scene of languid and erotic decadence influenced by the work of the French-born painter Pierre Bonnard.

He worked on it for the best part of a year and it was destined for the junior common room of Wadham College, Oxford, but was rejected by the purchaser, the Dean of Chichester, the Very Reverend John Hussey, because of the salaciousness of its subject. The painting’s now in a private collection.

And another canvas partly worked on at Chester Place - ‘The Family in the Garden’ - portrayed in a subtle way the restrained atmosphere and manners of middle-class domestic life focusing on Michael’s family relaxing in their back garden. His father is prominently placed (seated) in the forefront of the picture as befitting the head of the family.

Strange as it may seem, I never saw either of these canvasses in their completed state until this latest exhibition at the Gagosian. It was a most telling moment for me!

An erstwhile member of the Norwich Twenty Group, Michael - who married June Keeley in Edinburgh towards the end of his life in 1994

but together for many years - was brought to my parents’ house by another Twenty Group stalwart, Peter Gooch, who, in turn, was a bosom friend of my eldest brother, Kenneth.

The youngest member of my family, I was raised in an artistic environment - the house was a magnet for artists, musicians, actors and literary characters by the dozen. There was always someone about and always, it seemed, someone knocking out a tune on the upright piano.

If Matthew Gudgin (presenter of BBC Radio Norfolk’s Drive Time programme) refers to me as ‘Radio Norfolk’s Culture Vulture’, I often remind myself that it was Michael, in fact, who originally used the term to describe me. He nicknamed me the ‘Cooper Family Culture Vulture’ but Kenneth was, most definitely, the ‘Culture Guru’.

Michael adored my parents, Albert and Alice.

And with my father, whom he always referred to as ‘Mr Cooper’, he persuaded Michael to stick it out as an artist and not follow his father and brother to the Norwich Union as his grandmother had so dearly (and clearly) wanted.

They regularly shared a pint or two either in Norwich but more often than not in London doing the round of pubs in St Martin’s Lane.

Every time I attend English National Opera productions at the London Coliseum, I think of them enjoying themselves pub hopping down this popular and smart London thoroughfare.

There’s no doubt whatsoever, Michael was an extremelygifted and talented individual feature by:

Tony Cooper Writer tc@tony-cooper.co.uk

34 | March 2017

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FINEARTS

The Colony Room I, 1962, Collection of Pallant House Gallery Photo: Mike Bruce/Gagosian

right from the outset. He got to grips with the skill of oil painting by attending Saturday morning classes at the Norwich School of Art in St George’s Street in 1946. Three years later he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art studying there until 1953. One of his favoured tutors was Professor William Coldstream, who taught him to draw.

A regular, too, at the Norwich Jazz Club at the Bedford Arms in Bedford Street, Michael loved the house band, The Mustard City Stompers, led by Alfie Garner on trumpet, while enjoying Albert blasting the place to bits with his earthy rendering of ‘Doctor Jazz’ written by that legendary New Orleans cornet player, Joe ‘King’ Oliver.

the Digswell Arts Trust, for a period sharing a studio with Patrick Swift.

Michael was a good buddy to Craigie Aitchison - a fellow student at the Slade - who became godfather to his daughter, Melanie, baptised at the magnificent Gothic-style church of St Michael the Archangel at Booton near Reepham by the Reverend Willis Feast, who ecould well be described as the unofficial chaplain to local artists. Peter Ward provided the music seated at the harmonium, I was an acolyte serving as thurifer and my brothers were the backbone of a makeshift choir.

Perhaps, these two well-loved Norwich ‘dives’ acted as a prelude to the era when Michael frequented The Colony Room, the private members’ drinking-club in Dean Street, Soho, in the company of such other luminary figures of the art world as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach - an inseparable trio!

When in Rome (no pun attended!) Michael was so impressed by The Spanish Steps that he depicted them in an extremely fine painting which I’ve long admired. I was in Rome last year and walked these steps - a majestic set climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top - with Michael in my thoughts.

Willis Feast was always on the scene and a regular at The Jolly Butchers in Ber Street dressed always with an ill-fitting poloneck grey jumper. The pub was a haven for bohemian-type characters. Michael was a regular and people flocked to the Butchers just to hear the deep-growling voice of the blues-singing landlady, Black Anna, whom my brother, Albert, duetted with for a great many years. www.finecity.co.uk

London was the right place for Michael but after getting his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (BFA) from the Slade in 1953, he packed his bags and left for Italy to study in Rome after winning the Prix de Rome scholarship.

But the Eternal City, sadly, was not for him and he soon returned to London to rekindle his bohemian lifestyle whilst returning to the Slade in 1958. But this time to teach, a post he held in tandem with a teaching post at the Chelsea School of Art. And from February 1958 to June 1960 he held a Fellowship at

The Lowestoft-born artist, Jeffery Camp - who now lives in south London - and the ceramicist, Hans Coper - whose work can be seen at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (UEA) - were also at Digswell at the same time as Michael.

By and large, Michael - who described painting as ‘the most marvellous and elaborate way of making up my mind’ - was a private, quiet and shy person who shunned publicity. He was, by his own admission, a painstakingly slow (but meticulous) worker producing fewer than 250 paintings and watercolours. Remarkably, he only had seven one-man shows during his lifetime.

A sensitive and caring person, too, Michael was terribly upset by the death of his friend John Minton who in the mid-1950s found 2017 March | 35

FINEARTS himself out of sympathy with the abstract trend that was becoming fashionable in art. Feeling marginalised, despairing and suffering from psychological problems he took his life in 1957.

However, Michael - a leading member of the ‘School of London’ - came to prominence through an exhibition organised by the Arts Council in 1981, the first substantial exhibition of his work in over 15 years. It contained more than 60 works gathered from private and public collections including 20 large canvasses and an exceptional group of watercolours.

The person who actually coined the phrase ‘School of London’, the American-born artist, R B Kitaj, conceded that such a school only existed in his head. That’s good enough, I guess! Other members of this close-knit family included Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. ‘There were ten or more world-class painters working in London’, he said, ‘and they would receive a lot more attention and encouragement if they were to constitute a movement.’

While it was none too clear how much they had in common, they at least flew the flag of figurative painting when it was distinctly unfashionable. But in Michael’s case it went a stage further. He harboured a deep interest and involvement with the subject of landscape which occupied his later work especially the large and striking canvasses of Ayers Rock and the Scottish Highlands.

And for the last quarter century of his life, Michael was preoccupied with four series of landscapes - Lights, English Landscape and, of course, Ayers Rock and Scotland - as well as ‘School’, a series depicting different groups of fish.

Lights VII: A Shadow, 1974

immediate efforts at recovery and their attempt to conceal that they have perhaps been badly hurt or upset’. This might explain why the big fat man falling over seems to grin and bear it instead of crying out in shock.

The image of the body destabilised in space was of interest to a number of artists in the 1950s including the likes of Francis Bacon and Anthony Caro as well as the Italian-born sculptor, Marino Marini.

Another work held by the Tate that I equally admire is ‘Melanie and Me Swimming’ painted

in the late Seventies. The work depicts Michael treading water in a dark pool while holding his daughter as she kicks and splashes happily about.

I have a postcard copy of it lodged on a bookcase in the entrance-hall of my house as well as a framed poster hanging in the lounge of the Ayers Rock exhibition held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1991 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. The first time that I had seen the Australian canvasses. The memory of Michael is alive at 61 Bracondale!

Therefore, in Michael’s current exhibition at the Gagosian, selected works from the five related series are presented under three elemental themes: Earth, Air and Water, curated

by Richard Calvocoressi, director and senior curator at the gallery. He knew Michael well and organised two exhibitions of his work during his lifetime.

One painting, though, that doesn’t fit any of these categories and, therefore, not included in the exhibition (and one that I’m particularly fond of) is ‘A Man Who Suddenly Fell Over’.

In common with much of Michael’s work the picture is partly autobiographical and was painted for his Diploma Examination shortly before leaving the Slade and facing a period of uncertainty.

He said that the painting was ‘about the complete upsetting of someone’s apparently secure equilibrium and about their most 36 | March 2017

School I, 1977

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FINEARTS Michael’s first solo show was at London’s Beaux-Arts Gallery in 1958. An enterprising gallery, it was founded by portrait sculptor, Frederick Lessore, in 1923 and was closely associated with the Kitchen Sink School and the School of London. The gallery - which gave a strong platform for young and up-and-coming artists - was run by Frederick’s wife, Helen Lessore. The first shows of Barbara Hepworth and her husband John Skeaping were staged here as well as the first solo shows of Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff.

Eventually, Michael returned to his roots moving back to Norfolk in 1981 settling with his family in the peaceful south Norfolk village of Saxlingham Nethergate. Here he painted two fine works to celebrate 1150 years of the village’s illustrious history. Both entitled ‘Sax AD 832’, the first was completed in 1982 and the second followed a year later.

But the works he produced towards the end of his life of scenes of Scotland and London are admirable to say the least. In fact, the last picture Michael completed was the Thames painting entitled ’The Estuary’, a moving and monumental canvas of more than seven-feet tall comprising six shadowy figures visible on the mudflats by the shore of the Thames.

With few exceptions, his paintings after 1970 are devoid of people, though not without an implied human presence or drama. The heightened or dreamlike realism that he achieved at this time was partly the result of painting with a spray-gun and using waterbased acrylic paint which allowed him to cover the canvas with large expanses of a single colour.

School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack Tuna, 1978

this f****** little squirt?’ ‘He’s Mr Cooper’s youngest son’, Michael politely replied. Then everything was alright.

At the core of the exhibition, however, are paintings from the seven-part cycle of the 1970s which Michael called ‘Lights’. Viewers

observe or imagine a gas-filled balloon floating over a succession of landscapes - from field to sea, from Waterloo Bridge to Brighton Pier - in search of an ideal resting-place.

The title of the series derives from Arthur Rimbaud’s famous suite of prose poems, Les

SAX A.D. 832 - First Painting, 1982 Photo: Lucy Dawkins/Gagosian

There’s no other British artist that I can think of in the second half of the 20th century who immersed himself so deeply in the elements of landscape as Michael. ‘It seems to me impossible not to paint religious landscapes of aboriginal Australia,’ he wrote in 1986, ‘just as it is almost impossible not to paint historical landscapes in Scotland.’

Both the Australian and Scottish series are included in the exhibition which is nothing but brilliant and begins with a small and interesting section devoted to The Colony Room which, in the late Fifties, Michael painted a significant landscape mural for and this is seen alongside his celebrated 1962 work ‘The Colony Room’.

I well remember Michael taking me there to see the progress of his work on the mural.

After climbing the steep and dingy-looking carpeted staircase to the club, I was met by the irascible owner, Muriel Belcher, who rudely asked who I was - or to spell it out: ‘Who’s www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 37

FINEARTS tramp whom Michael sometimes saw when he occupied a communal studio in Digswell, Hertfordshire, in the late Fifties. Characters like ‘‘Digswell Man’’, as Michael called him, ‘‘possess a true knowledge of human life … through their fundamental life’’.

‘The obsessive adding and scraping off of clay that Giacometti employed in his sculptural works are closely related to the figures seen in the ‘‘Lights’’ series,’ Colin explained.

‘Extraordinary, too, is the squeezing of paint through the silkscreen process found in the art of Andy Warhol which Michael heavily used in ‘‘The Lord Mayor’s Reception …’’

Permanent Water Mutidjula, by the Kunia Massif (Maggie Spring, Ayers Rock), 1985 - 1986

Illuminations, which, by the way, Benjamin Britten set to a marvellous song-cycle in 1940.

Influenced by his reading of Zen Buddhist thoughts and the idea of Sixties’ countercultural figures such as the Scottish psychiatrist, R D Laing, Michael interpreted the balloon as a symbol of the ego encased in a bag of skin and its search for a landing-place as a quest for unselfconsciousness.

In the ‘School’ paintings, depicting fish in water in a magically-luminous setting, they act as a metaphor for human interdependence while Michael’s interest in group behaviour, first seen in his ‘Party’ pictures painted in the Sixties, manifest themselves in ‘The Deer Park’, ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Good and Bad at Games’ while the ‘Lights’ series, which followed, presented views from the air.

Overall, Michael’s work has been well received but one that courted controversy was the painting recording the civic reception hosted by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Norwich, Mr and Mrs C B Jewson, held in Norwich Castle Keep on the eve of the installation of the first chancellor of the University of East Anglia, Lord Franks, on 23rd April 1966, following the untimely death of the chancellor elect, Lord Mackintosh, on 27th January 1964.

Michael based his work on 50 black-andwhite pictures he had taken from the Keep’s balcony of the great and the good of the city and county and delivered a striking seven-foot square picture executed in oil and screened photograph-on-canvas. But the work proved controversial to the core with some members of the Museums Committee bewildered by the technical processes that he employed.

38 | March 2017

Mr R W Ketton-Cremer of Felbrigg Hall thought that the painting was ‘disappointing’ while the committee chairman, Mr Leonard Howes, who appears in the picture, described it as ‘a photograph which had been painted up’ whilst James Hipwell said ‘it is a travesty of a painting’.

However, the director of Norfolk Museums Service, Mr Francis Cheetham, heartily defended the work backed up by Professor Peter Lasko, the art historian and a former director of the Courtauld who came to UEA to set up a degree course in the history of art. Cheetham profoundly said: ‘… that it was an accepted technique to use photographs in much the same way as an artist might work from sketches.’

After a 5:3 vote in favour, the painting was purchased by the Norwich Museums Committee in 1969 for the sum of £1005 but after grants from the Victoria & Albert Museum Purchase Fund and the Gulbenkian Foundation the cost to Norwich ratepayers was in the region of £320.

I spoke to Norwich-born Pop artist and former Slade student, Colin Self, who knew Michael well. He said: ‘Michael was deeply upset by all the controversy surrounding the painting especially the negative attitude and comments expressed by some of the committee members which were widely reported in the local press.’

‘I feel that in Michael’s case he engaged with all of these concepts which gave him a strong foundation for his classical belief and vision.

However, all of this knowledge and ideology seemed to fall on deaf ears in Norwich and, like John Sell Cotman, he turned his back on the city that he loved so much.’

Like it or loathe it, one can view the painting which has a very long title perhaps the longest in the history of art - ‘The Lord Mayor’s Reception in Norwich Castle Keep on the Eve of the Installation of the First Chancellor of the University of East Anglia’ - at Norwich Castle Museum where it is permanently on display.

Seek it out!

But if you want to see Michael’s work on a grand and epic scale take a trip to London to view Earth, Air and Water at the Gagosian Gallery - running to Saturday 25th March. It’s worth every penny!

Travelling by Greater Anglia from Norwich (and all stations on line) to London Liverpool Street, take the Central Line to Oxford Circus. The gallery (situated at 20 Grosvenor Hill, W1K 3QD, off Berkeley Square) is a short walk away.

All Images © The Estate of Michael Andrews. Courtesy James Hyman Gallery, London Thames Painting: The Estuary, 1994 - 1995 Collection of Pallant House Gallery Photo: Mike Bruce/Gagosian

He further added: ‘It must be said, too, that through Michael’s creative philosophical life he took on board the idea of Willem de Kooning’s broad Tachist brushwork which is self-evident in his 1959 painting ‘‘Study for a Man in a Landscape’’ (Digswell) portraying a www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS

Northern Ballet – Casanova

N

orthern Ballet is all set to bring history’s most infamous Italian adventurer to life with its brand new ballet Casanova which will premiere in the company’s home city of Leeds next March before touring to seven UK venues, arriving in Norwich from April 4-8.

The ballet will transport audiences back two and a half centuries to decadent 18th century Venice, telling the sensational story of a man of many surprises in a seductive masquerade of passion and politics.

Commissioned by artistic director David Nixon OBE, and with a brand new score by modern classical, film and television composer Kerry

Muzzey, Casanova will be the first full-length ballet by the award-winning choreographer Kenneth Tindall, who previously danced many roles for the company in a performance career spanning 15 years.

Kenneth said: “Casanova lived a life far richer and stranger than most fictions and the physicality, theatricality and energy of his exploits make him a perfect subject for the stage.”

He collaborated on the story for the new production with historian, actor and dramatist Ian Kelly, who lives at Eye in north Suffolk.

Ian’s book on Casanova was a Sunday Times Biography of the Year in 2008-9. He has also written other 18th century biographies on Beau Brummell, Antonin Carême ‘Cooking for Kings’ and Samuel Foote in Mr Foote’s Other Leg (Winner, Theatre Book of the Year 2013), as well as a more modern autobiography on fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, which he co-wrote with Dame Vivienne in 2014.

As a stage actor, Ian is perhaps best known for his role in Lee Hall’s award-winning The Pitmen Painters, as the art teacher Robert Lyon, and his own stage adaptation of Mr Foote’s

40 | March 2017

Other Leg, directed by Richard Eyre, ran at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last year, with the author taking the role of King George III opposite Simon Russell Beale.

He is thrilled to now be working on a ballet and much of the ground work to-date has been done at his Eye home where there has been a sense of following in the footsteps of one of the greatest choreographers of all time, Sir Frederick Ashton, who lived at Chandos Lodge in Eye. “It is unique that in the 21st century that there should be a new ballet coming out of Eye,” Ian said. “It’s almost unique to have a modern biographer and non-fiction as a source of material for a new ballet and I feel immensely blessed that rather than asking to take the rights and do with it as they will, Kenny asked me to come on board as a co-scenario writer. That has been a fascinating journey as a dramatist and creative writer already - and there is more to come.”

It was Ian’s fascination with the 18th century which led to him spending many hours researching in dusty archives across Europe, delving into the rich seam of writings left www.finecity.co.uk

FINEARTS behind by Casanova, including his 3,600 folio pages of memoirs.

“This is a true story and it is rooted in some of the realities of 18th century life,” Ian said.

Casanova was born in a theatre to a Venetian commedia dell’arte actress and his life story was “the stuff of theatre”. But Ian is keen to separate the man from the myth and said there was a question hovering over him as to why “a fiercely proud intellectual and polymath, who tried all his life to be treated seriously as a philosophical writer, should largely only be remembered as a man who slept around quite a lot and then wrote about it.”

He explained Casanova wrote 42 books, published on mathematics and Polish history, wrote eight opera libretti as well as part of a libretto with Lorenzo Da Ponte for Don Giovanni, and he was the first person to translate The Iliad into modern Italian. He spoke six languages and wrote fluently in four of them, and was in correspondence with Voltaire, Rousseau, Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great, and he met Dr Johnson and James Boswell on a visit to London. He also travelled 75,000 miles in an era when it took as long to travel in a day a distance we would now expect to travel in an hour.

“He would very possibly be appalled by his modern reputation,” Ian said.

The new production will be set to an original score by modern classical, film and television

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composer Kerry Muzzey and for a writer to hear his words expressed in music has also been “a joy” for Ian. “I nerd around in archives most of the time as a writer and to have that music land on my laptop electronically - and it is ravishing, the most beautiful music and everything I could have possibly have dreamt of - that has been one of the most moving parts of it all from my point of view. You become a bit obsessive as a biographer and I feel I know those characters intimately. They have been dead 200 years and most of them have been forgotten, and here we are trying to recreate some of the passions they felt when they were alive. There’s something just heartsoaring about that and that’s one of the things music can do. I’m in awe of it and to see the astonishing talent of Kerry Muzzey brought to bear on what was originally some of my research is humbling.”

Ian would like to think, if they get the balance right in this balletic telling of his life story, then Casanova “would be proud”.

Northern Ballet’s Casanova is at Norwich Theatre Royal from April 4 to April 8, 2017. Tickets available from the box office in person , on 01603 630000 or online at www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk

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FINEARTS

Dancer

Cinema City Norwich-born film buff, Tony Cooper, looks at special screenings at Cinema City this month

Films to look out for

Elle (Director: Paul Verhoeven)

Viceroy’s House (Director: Gurinder Chadha)

A successful businesswoman gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her. Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte and Anne Consigny.

In 1947, Lord Mountbatten assumed the post of the last Viceroy of India charged with handing the country back to its people. He lived upstairs at the house designed by Edwin Lutyens which was the home of British rulers whilst 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants lived downstairs. Starring: Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon and Hugh Bonneville.

It’s Only The End Of The World (Director: Xavier Dolan) Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a terminally-ill writer returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying. Starring: Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard.

Prevenge (Director: Alice Lowe) Widow Ruth is seven month’s pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way.

Starring: Gemma Whelan, Kate Dickie and Jo Hartley.

42 | March 2017

The Time of Their Lives (Director: Roger Goldby) Determined to gate-crash her ex-lover’s funeral on glamorous French hideaway Ile-de-Re, former Hollywood siren Helen (Joan Collins) escapes her London retirement home with the help of Priscilla (Pauline Collins), a repressed English housewife stuck in a bad marriage. Pooling their limited resources, they hit the road together by coach, ferry, car and foot in a race to get to the funeral on time, becoming entangled in a love triangle with a reclusive Italian millionaire (Franco Nero) along the way. On this unforgettable journey, they find true friendship in one another - and have the time of their lives. Starring: Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero.

Kong: Skull Island (Director: Jordan VogtRoberts) A team of explorers and soldiers travel to an uncharted island in the Pacific, unaware

that they are crossing into the domain of monsters, including the mythic Kong. Starring: Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L Jackson.

The Lost City of Z (Director: James Gray) Based on David Grann’s best-selling book of the same name, The Lost City of Z is the truelife drama which centres on British explorer, Colonel Percival Fawcett, who disappeared while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s. Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Tom Holland and Sienna Miller.

Personal Shopper (Director: Olivier Assayas) Personal Shopper revolves around a ghost story that takes place

feature by:

Tony Cooper Writer tc@tony-cooper.co.uk

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FINEARTS in the fashion underworld of Paris. Starring: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger and Sigrid Bouaziz.

The Salesman (Director: Asghar Farhadi) Forushande (The Salesman) is the story of a couple whose relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Starring: Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini and Babak Karimi.

Free Fire (Director: Ben Wheatley) Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shoot-out and a game of survival. Starring: Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley and Michael Smiley.

Beauty and the Beast (Director: Bill Condon)

Buster Keaton's The General

An adaptation of the Disney fairy-tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who falls in love. Starring: Dan Stevens, Luke Evans and Ewan McGregor.

generated over ten million YouTube views within two months of its release.

Special events

Sunday 2nd March (7.30pm) / Monday 6th March (1pm)

Dancer Thursday 2nd March (6.15pm) This is the UK première of Dancer which will be followed by a Q&A and performance by Sergei Polunin. Broadcast live from the London Palladium this exclusive event will connect Sergei Polunin with his existing fans as well as introducing him to a brand-new fan base.

Directed by Academy Award nominee, Steve Cantor, Dancer offers a uniquely-personal portrait of a most singular man and dancer.

Blessed with astonishing power and poise, Polunin took the dance world by storm and became the Royal Ballet’s youngest-ever principal. At the peak of his success, aged 21, he walked away, driven to the brink of selfdestruction by stardom - his talent more of a burden than a gift.

Goodfellas [18]

Henry Hill, a small-time gangster, takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of The Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners’ success but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?

Buster Keaton’s The General [U] Sunday 5th March (5pm) Against a meticulously-evoked Civil War background, Buster risks life, limb and love as he pursues his beloved railway-engine, hijacked

by Northern spies up to no good for the Southern cause. The result is everything one could wish for: witty, dramatic, visually stunning, full of subtle, delightful human insights, and constantly hilarious.

Peter Kramer, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at UEA and author of the BFI Classic, ‘The General’, will introduce this special 90th anniversary screening and lead a post-screening discussion and book-signing.

Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars

From archive footage of Polunin training at the age of four to be an Olympic gymnast to intimate material shot by both his parents plus in-depth interviews with family, friends and colleagues as well as footage of his life on and off the stage, members of the audience will witness every step of his journey to stardom.

Dancer - an unprecedented look into the life of a complex young man who has made ballet go viral - also includes a special contribution from the renowned photographer and director, David LaChapelle, who in 2015 shot Polunin’s dance to Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’ and www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 43

FINEARTS Silent Voice

magazine exclusively for these screenings. This film will feature Mojo’s editor-in-chief, Phil Alexander, in conversation with The Spiders From Mars drummer, Woody Woodmansey, whose own acclaimed memoir, My Life With Bowie: Spider From Mars, has just been published by Sidgwick & Jackson.

International Women’s Day: Cameraperson [15] Wednesday 8th March (6.15pm)

Discover Tuesdays: Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars Tuesday 7th March (8.45pm) Directed by pioneering rock film-maker, D A Pennebaker, this documentary and concert film captures Bowie and his band, The Spiders From Mars, performing at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 3rd July 1973. It was at this now-

infamous concert that Bowie made a sudden announcement, shocking fans and media alike by stating ‘it’s the last show we’ll ever do’.

Rather than marking his withdrawal from music, his declaration signalled the retirement of the Ziggy Stardust persona and the end of a hugely-influential chapter in Bowie’s own story.

In addition to the concert movie, the evening will include a new film produced by Mojo

For 25 years American cinematographer Kirsten Johnson has roamed the globe for some of the documentary world’s biggest directors including Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) and Laura Poitras (Citizenfour). Drawing on footage she’s shot for countless other directors, in Cameraperson Johnson has assembled a unique memoir of the images that have most marked her to reflect eloquently on the relationship between truth and the camera frame. Poetic and thoughtprovoking, Cameraperson (winner of a host of prizes including the Grand Jury Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest) is a masterclass in what it means to film and be filmed. It’s a ‘must-see’ for anyone with an interest in documentary film-making.

Love Witch

44 | March 2017

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NT Live: Hedda Gabler [12A] Thursday 9th March (7pm). Encore showing: Tuesday 14th March (2pm) Hedda and Tesman have just returned from their honeymoon and the relationship is already in trouble. Trapped, but determined, Hedda tries to control those around her only to see her own world unravel.

Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair, Jane Eyre) plays the title-role in a new version by Patrick Marber (Notes On A Scandal, Closer) while Tony Award-winning director, Ivo van Hove (A View From The Bridge - Young Vic Theatre), returns to the National Theatre offering a modern and compelling production of Ibsen’s masterpiece.

of prize-fighter, Jake La Motta - and the destructive urges of the masculine psyche progressing from his strutting days as unbeaten champion boxer in the 1940s to his pathetic degeneration into a fat slob in the late 1950s.

Centred round a physically and emotionallyharrowing performance by Robert De Niro, Raging Bull is a film of near-operatic intensity, a sympathetic, tragic portrait of a deeplyunappealing man.

World Art: Botticelli Inferno [12A] Monday 13th March (6.15pm) As part of the World Art in Cinema, Botticelli Inferno is a fascinating and informative art documentary focusing on the undisputed

With its clear homage to 1960s and ’70s s exploitation movies, writer-director Anna Biller’s 2007 feature, Viva, set the tone for this tonguein-cheek but gorgeous-looking horror-comedy.

Shot on saturated 35mm Technicolor by David Mullen, with Biller supervising everything else from costume design and art direction to the editing, The Love Witch is lovable, non-stop fun, spiced up by added gore.

A Silent Voice [12A] Wednesday 15th March (8.45pm) A heart-wrenching romantic anime drama, A Silent Voice follows a youngster named Shoko.

After moving to a new school, she’s taunted because of her hearing impairment, principally

by Shouya, who leads the class in teasing her.

When Shoko is eventually forced to transfer to another school, Shouya’s classmates, in turn, ostracise him for his cruel behaviour. Years later, as a young adult, Shouya’s riddled with guilt over his humiliation of Shoko. Living an aimless life with no friends, he’s determined to find her and try to atone for his sins. But is it too late and what might her reaction be?

Dementia-Friendly Screening: Dad’s Army [PG] Friday 17th March (11pm)

Bolshoi 16/17 A Contemporary Evening

MET Opera: La Traviata [12A] Saturday 11th March (5.55pm).

Encore showing: Monday 13th March (12.30pm) The outstanding Bulgarian-born soprano, Sonya Yoncheva, reprises her role and acclaimed interpretation of the doomed courtesan, Violetta Valéry, appearing opposite rising American tenor, Michael Fabiano, as her lover, Alfredo, in Verdi’s thrilling work, La Traviata.

Thomas Hampson sings one of his most acclaimed Met roles as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s disapproving father, in a revival of Willy Decker’s staging conducted by San Francisco Opera music director, Nicola Luisotti.

Raging Bull [18] Sunday 12th March (7.30pm) / Monday 13th March (1pm) Raging Bull is Martin Scorsese’s extraordinary, compelling examination of the career www.finecity.co.uk

master of the Renaissance - Sandro Botticelli.

Filmed in stunning historic locations such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Vatican, the documentary explores the mysteries behind the artist’s 102 meticulous drawings of Dante’s Divine Commedia including the intriguing ‘Map of Hell’ centrepiece as featured in Ron Howard’s film, Inferno, starring Tom Hanks.

Discover Tuesdays: The Love Witch Tuesday 14th March (6pm) After her husband dies, Elaine (played by rising star Samantha Robinson) leaves her old home in San Francisco to settle in a creepily-idyllic small Californian town - here she plans to use her demonic powers to snag her dream lover.

She succeeds in seducing her very first date, but when, not uncoincidentally, he dies shortly afterwards, Elaine puts a suspicious local cop (Gian Keys) quite literally under her spell, which prompts a series of increasingly vile and violent events.

The Narrator announces: ‘The year is 1944.

On the brink of defeat our nation has a secret weapon. These heroes are Britain’s last line of defence…’ and we’re off and running with a fond recreation of the BBC sitcom which at its peak commanded up to 18 million viewers. Johnny English Reborn and St Trinian’s director, Oliver Parker, teamed up with regular screenwriter, Hamish McColl, to fashion a period-perfect tale of the somewhat picaresque, pratfall-prone Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard. Their story is picked up in 1944 just after the original series ended.

The iconic roles are taken on by a great cast of British character actors including Bill Nighy (Sergeant Wilson), Toby Jones (Captain Mainwaring), Michael Gambon (Private Godfrey), a moustachioed Tom Courtenay (Lance Corporal Jones) and Catherine ZetaJones as visiting journalist, Rose Winters.

Bolshoi Ballet Live: A Contemporary Evening [12A] Sunday 19th March (3pm) Music: Benjamin Britten, Max Richter, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonid Desyatnikov.

Choreography: Hans Van Manen, Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Alexei Ratmansky.

2017 March | 45

FINEARTS Cast: The Bolshoi Principals, Soloists and Corps De Ballet.

For one exciting evening, the Bolshoi takes on a bold new challenge in Hans Van Manen’s Frank Bridge’s ‘Variations’, Sol León and Paul Lightfoot’s ‘Short Time Together’ and Alexei Ratmansky’s ‘Russian Seasons’. This encounter between some of the best dancers in the world and the masters of contemporary choreography results in an outstanding synthesis, raising Van Manen’s formal beauty, León and Lightfoot’s intensity and Ratmansky’s witty brilliance to a new and exciting level.

The King of Comedy [PG] Sunday 19th March (7.30pm) / Monday 20th March (1pm) New Yorker, Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), is so desperate to get a break on TV as a stand-up comedian that he starts stalking (and worse) a chat-show host Jerry Langford played by Jerry Lewis. With this

darkly-witty tale, Martin Scorsese zoned in on an unhealthy obsession with celebrity and the potential pitfalls of mistaking television (or film) for real life.

Philosophers at the Cinema: There Will Be Blood [15] Sunday 19th March (4.30pm) A sprawling epic about family, faith, power and oil, There Will Be Blood (introduced by Vincent M Gaine) is set on the incendiary frontier of California’s turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. He takes a chance when he hears of a little town Out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground and makes his lucky strike. But as the well raises his and the town’s fortunes, nothing will remain the same; conflicts escalate and every human value - love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the

bond between father and son - is imperilled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.

Exhibition on Screen: The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism Tuesday 21st March (6.30pm) Following the smash-hit Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse from Season III of Exhibition on Screen this new film is based on the hugely-popular exhibition The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and The Garden Movement from the Florence Griswold Museum, Connecticut, widely considered the ‘home’ of American impressionism which took its lead from leading French artists such as Renoir and Monet. It then followed its own path and, over a 30-year period, speaks as much about the American nation as it does about the artistic movement.

The story of American impressionism is closely tied to a love of gardens and a desire to preserve nature in the midst of rapid

ROH 2016/17 Madama Butterfly

46 | March 2017

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FINEARTS urbanisation in that country. Looking at studios, gardens and famous locations throughout the eastern United States, UK and France, this mesmerising film is more than a feast for the eyes.

Discover Tuesdays: Sweet Dreams Tuesday 21st March (6pm) A lush drama encompassing decades of family history. Veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s latest film focuses on Massimo, a middle-aged man unable to come to terms with the loss of his mother.

MET Opera: Idomeneo [12A] Saturday 25th March (4.55pm).

Encore showing: Monday 27th March (1pm) James Levine conducts a rare Met revival of Mozart’s Idomeneo, set in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s classic production, which has its first Met revival in over a decade, stars Matthew Polenzani in the title- role while other members of the cast include Elza van den Heever, Nadine Sierra, Alice Coote and Alan Opie.

Cape Fear [18] Sunday 26th March (7pm) Martin Scorsese’s retelling of the 1962 chiller reworks the key characters and their relationships, giving Robert De Niro’s psychotic ex-con Max Cady a motivation to pursue lawyer Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). His

Certain Women

character, in turn, is morally flawed and more ambivalent than in the original. All of which only serve to increase the scare-factor as Cady starts wreaking revenge on Bowden for his perceived failures when defending him on a rape charge many years before.

Free Fire Preview (plus Q&A with Ben Wheatley) Tuesday 28th March (8.15pm) Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shoot-out and a game of survival.

Discover Tuesdays: Certain Women [12A]

Tuesday 28th March (6.15pm) Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Wendy and Lucy, Night Moves) directs Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone in this portrait of independent women whose lives intersect in a small town in Montana.

Based on Maile Meloy’s short stories and lovingly shot against the stunning backdrop of mountains and open landscapes in 16mm, the stellar cast and newcomer, Lily Gladstone, are superbly directed by Reichardt.

ROH Live: Madama Butterfly [12A] Thursday 30th March (7.15pm) Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is one of the most popular of all operas with ravishing music and a heart-breaking story of a loving geisha deserted by her callous American husband. Much-loved soprano, Ermonela Jaho, sings the title- role for the first time at Covent Garden, in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s stunningly-beautiful production.

The exotic imagery of the Nagasaki setting is drawn from 19th-century Western artists’ romanticised views of Japan while Puccini’s music brings alive the birdsong of the morning, the ritual of a wedding and the seduction by naval officer B F Pinkerton (sung by exciting young tenor, Marcelo Puente) of his young, innocent and loving bride.

EOS American Impressionism

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Well-known moments in the opera include the impassioned aria ‘Un bel dì’ (One fine day) as the abandoned Cio-Cio-San clings vainly to her dreams. Royal Opera music director, Antonio Pappano, acclaimed for his interpretations of Italian opera, conducts this intense and gripping journey from light and excitement to darkness and self-sacrifice.

2017 March | 47

FINELIVING

Pensions are still changing The Chancellor announced yet another change to pension legislation in his Autumn Statement. Phil Beck explains.

P

ension flexibility has been with us for some time now: since April 2015 pension savers over the minimum pension age have been able to access their savings as and when they wish, although all but the first 25 per cent is taxed as income. There had been early concerns that people might blow their pension pots on expensive toys like yachts and fast cars, but the reality seems to be that, in the main, people have been sensible in their approach.

A significant factor that is sometimes overlooked is that once you start accessing your pension savings the tax relief you can get on any future contributions can be reduced. The standard Annual Allowance for contributions stands at £40,000 – i.e. you will get tax relief on any contributions up to this amount. However, once you access your pension benefits, your Annual Allowance can be cut. Until April 2017, the reduced Annual Allowance – known as the Money Purchase Annual Allowance or MPAA – is £10,000 but the Chancellor has announced that the MPAA will drop to just £4,000 from April 2017 onwards.

This measure does have sensible thinking behind it: the Chancellor is trying to prevent people simply taking cash from their pension savings and then putting it back in again in order to get a second tranche of tax relief. This recycling of pension cash is perhaps rare but is clearly not desirable from the Government’s perspective. However, the new threshold does have implications for those who want to access their pension but will continue working and therefore want to continue making regular contributions.

Further changes to pensions are likely to be announced in the Chancellor’s next Budget on 8 March.

The value of an investment and the income from it could go down as well as up. The return at the end of the investment period is not guaranteed and you may get back less than you originally invested. The tax treatment of investments depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change.

For independent financial advice, contact Phil on 01603 706740 or email phil.beck@almarygreen.com. Please remember that the advice here is generic and we recommend that you get individual personalised advice.

What this shows is that it is really important to plan carefully before you start taking withdrawals from your pension savings. The first thing to bear in mind is that pension savings are investments and can stay invested within the tax-efficient pension framework until you need to spend the money. There is generally no need to extract the money simply to invest elsewhere. You should also remember that your withdrawals (other than the initial 25 per cent tax-free portion) will be taxed as income at your normal rate. Taking withdrawals while you are still earning could see you paying tax on your pension at a higher level than you might pay in retirement.

Pension savings are, of course, designed to provide you with an income in retirement and it is important not to lose sight of this function. A financial adviser will help you work out what your current pension savings can deliver in terms of income and whether making larger withdrawals at given points will compromise your standard of living later. Pension flexibility has brought a raft of new opportunities, but it is important to fully understand the implications of any steps you take, so please do get advice before doing anything that is irrevocable.

In all discussions about pensions and retirement income, we shouldn’t ignore the option to take out an annuity. Annuities provide a guaranteed income either for life or for a fixed term but have somewhat fallen out of favour since the new flexible rules came into force in April 2015. However, there are still good reasons why they might be suitable for some people and are an option to be explored alongside more flexible solutions.

48 | March 2017

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Dad always brought her roses, today was no different It’s the little things that make a funeral special Here for you every hour of every day

01603 625495

for your local funeral director www.eastofengland.coop/funerals

Follow us on Twitter @finecitymag

Follow us on Twitter @norfolkonmymind

GRAND OPENING 10TH-11TH MARCH

NEW

BARBERSHOP

MR. N O R W I C H MR. Barbers Norwich is a stylish, traditional barbershop for the modern day gentleman, brand new to Lower goat Lane. We offer the highest quality haircuts, wet/ dry shaves and much more. For more information please contact norwich@mrbarbers.co.uk

2a Lower Goat Lane, Norwich, NR2 1EL

T. 01603 664 329 E. norwich@mrbarbers.co.uk Mrbarbersnorwich

www.finecity.co.uk

Mrbarbersnorwich

2017 March | 49

FINELIVING

Sound Sleep I

Buying a new bed this month, look for the big tick logo.

t’s March again and that means one thing, it’s National Bed Month. This National Bed Month, for the first time ever, consumers can now buy a new bed with the reassurance that it is ‘officially’ safe, clean and honest.

The National Bed Federation’s ‘NBF Approved’ large tick logo means the manufacturer who made that bed has been independently audited to make sure they follow all the required procedures to produce safe, clean and hygienic mattresses. In short, that they are what they say they are.

The move follows increasing mistrust among consumers about the products they are buying – particularly those where the contents are unseen and taken on trust, like beds and mattresses.

The NBF is the UK trade association for British bed manufacturers. And to meet its new Code of Practice, member companies have had to go through rigorous and independent audits. “We wanted to ensure that our mark of approval really meant something,” said Jessica Alexander, executive director of the NBF. Particularly important to anyone buying a new bed is its safety and the reassurance that the mattress meets strict British flammability regulations. If it doesn’t then it could prove fatal if ignited. Silentnight Beds have released a video

50 | March 2017

of flammability tests on mattresses undertaken in their laboratory, the results are shocking. A non-compliant mattress, which was purchased online, therefore on sale to the public, was on fire within two minutes and releasing significant amounts of toxic fumes within three minutes, by this time the fully compliant mattress had fully extinguished itself. Within six minutes, the room is fully consumed with smoke and fire, the average response time for fire fighters in the UK is nine minutes.

Less dramatic but still concerning are health and hygiene issues. We all want to think the nice new bed we are getting in to is clean and hygienic – and the NBF Approved logo means consumers can be sure that the bed they are buying comes from a manufacturer with all the right procedures in place to be sure it is just that.

And lastly, we want to know that the mattress we are buying contains exactly what it says it does. Not to do so contravenes the Trades Descriptions Act – and again, the big tick logo means you can be assured the product you are buying is as described.

It’s an initiative that The Sleep Council both supports and endorses. Said spokesperson Lisa Artis: “This is great news for consumers and we would urge anyone buying a bed to look out for the NBF’s new mark of approval – it’s designed to keep people sleeping safe as well as sound.”

Said Jessica Alexander: “For reputable manufacturers, the NBF Approved logo is merely confirmation that they are – and always have been - following all the right procedures. Unfortunately there are less scrupulous traders out there who are now selling products that can’t be trusted – and with a mattress it’s hard to know what you are buying.

The new NBF Approved logo means people can buy a mattress in the certain knowledge that it is safe, clean and honest.”

Sound Sleep, award winners in the Bed Retailer of the Year category at the 2016 National Bed Federation awards, backs the National Bed Federation’s new code of practice and are committed to supplying clean and safe products, so you can have a sound sleep knowing that your bed is fully compliant to UK laws and regulations.

Feel free to visit us in store for more information.

When you buy your next bed, make sure you look for the big tick!

Sleep Safe. Sleep Sound. Sound Sleep. www.soundsleepbeds.co.uk www.bedfed.org.uk www.sleepcouncil.com

www.finecity.co.uk

FINELIVING

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 51

Red Lodge Country House

H

ome of country living & gourmet food A warm welcome awaits you in this traditional Country House reminiscent of days gone by. Roaring fires, comfy sofas, country walks and the feeling that you’re not so much a guest as a welcome friend come to visit. Red Lodge has an impeccable pedigree.

Dating from the late 1800’s we form part of Narford Hall, one of Norfolk’s oldest Landed Estates with over 3000 acres, 1500 acres of which is woodland and actively managed with the recently restored Parkland and Avenue. Red Lodge was named after a Virginia Creeper that covered the building turning a glorious ruby red in the Autumn sun. Whilst the Virginia Creeper may have been lost in the mists of time, the history and tradition of

52 | March 2017

Red Lodge continue. Narford Hall was built in 1702 and the family occupying Narford are the descendants of the original founder.

Everyone at Narford respects the history and tradition of the Landed Estate and at Red Lodge we offer you an experience of life the way it used to be – relaxed, connected to the natural world with food sourced locally and prepared according to traditional methods.

Red Lodge cures their our own bacon, bakes their our own bread. The venison served for dinner will come from the fields and woodlands on the Estate. Your game pie is raised by hand, with pheasant and goose shot on the Estate often by the current Incumbent.

They even have their our own flock of hens to provide your breakfast egg! Care is really taken to return cooking back to its grass roots.

Starting with superlative raw materials and highly experienced Executive Chef will elevate the simple to the extraordinary providing you with one of the best dining experiences you are likely to have, ever If it’s shooting you are looking for, Red Lodge Experience Days is a great place to find them!

Clay pigeon shooting is one of the best shooting days you will find. This great experience is for professionals or beginners, no matter what level you are at, you are guaranteed a great time. You will be given training on how to use a shotgun and then as soon as that’s done, it’s over to you! Fire away and see how many you can take down! www.finecity.co.uk

If its archery you are looking for (coming soon), then the Introduction to Archery experience is the one to go for! With this very appealing day out you'll need skill and steady nerves to hit the main target with your bow and arrow. This experience is great fun and can get competitive.

Discover your inner Robin Hood and this could be for you!

So whether it’s a shooting days or archery days out you are looking for, then you are in the right place! It’s just a matter of which one you'd rather choose

Welcome to Red Lodge Home of Country Living & Gourmet Food A warm welcome awaits you in this traditional Country House reminiscent of days gone by. Roaring fires, comfy sofas, country walks and the feeling that you’re not so much a guest as a welcome friend come to visit. Red Lodge has an impeccable pedigree. Dating from the late 1800’s we form part of Narford Hall, one of Norfolk’s oldest Landed Estates with over 3000 acres, 1500 acres of which is woodland and actively managed with the recently restored Parkland and Avenue Introducing our bespoke private dining experience in Scarletts@Redlodge, our excellently appointed Georgian dining room. Book your family dinner or romantic getaway at Red Lodge and you will experience exquisitely prepared meals to your order served at our Walnut & Ebony dining table.

Booking available upon request How about giving the gift of an overnight stay in The Mulberry Room with dinner and breakfast, gift certificates available Bespoke evening meals from £15.00 pp Cookery courses form £45.00

www.redlodgenorfolk.com www.finecity.co.uk

Tel: 01760 339 525 2017 March | 53

FINEFood

Easters of Norwich

This is Our Story

Peter sold the retail shop in 1990, to expand and increase the fresh produce range. This became possible by concentrating on selling to restaurants, pubs and hotels.

For more than 40 years, Easters has been at the forefront of supplying a wide range of produce, at a competitive rate and with a reliable service, to some of the best loved places in Norwich.

The business has resided in Northumberland Street Norwich for 7 years and signs are that they will be there for many many years to come.

E

asters is a family run, high quality, food wholesaler, operating in the heart of Norwich City Centre.

Easters offers an extensive range of fresh fruit, vegetable and herbs as well as dairy, frozen, dried goods, in addition to oils and Mediterranean products.

For more information please visit www.eastersofnorwich.com

The bespoke, hand-prepared vegetable service, Easters offers is unique and they are committed to supplying local produce in all categories and whenever possible. Easters customers choose them because they supply good quality, fresh products and provide a reliable and unbeatable service.

Peter Easter started out in 1975, in a small shop called Magpie Stores, in the St. Augustine area of Norwich.

Fresh

01603 622890 www.eastersofnorwich.com 54 | March 2017

Local

156-158 Northumberland St, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 4EE

Family Run

01603 760565 sales@eastersofnorwich.com www.finecity.co.uk

FINEFood

WAITROSE Waitrose Norwich Eaton Centre, Church Lane, Eaton, Norwich NR4 6NU Waitrose Wymondham Norwich Road, Wymondham, NR18 0SH Waitrose North Walsham Cromer Road, North Walsham NR28 0NB www.finecity.co.uk Waitrose Swaffam Castle Arce Road, Swaffham, PE37 7HT

Branch Services

For more information on Summer food and drink inspiration. Visit the Waitrose website for recipes and ideas to make the most of the sunshine with your family. waitrose.com

Food Counters & Ranges Fish Cheese Delicatessen Rotisserie Meat Bakery Kosher Range Customer Facilities Lottery Counter Cash Point Cafe Waitrose Car Park Parent/ child Parking Customer Toilets

Other Services Glass Loan Fish Kettle Loan

Shopping Services Waitrose Entertaining Quick Check/Quick Pay John Lewis Click & Collect 2017 March | 55

Green is “Cool”

F

ashions come and fashions go and mostly pass me by, leaving me unfazed.

I find myself puzzled by the need to re live the past, or maybe I’m justifiably concerned that I’m witnessing such 70’s horrors second time round!

But…chuffed to bits am I to see that greenery in the form of interior plants, in our homes, on wallpaper and fabrics is back. Not that it ever left my life to be honest. My home is actually like a forest, but that’s excusable as my business is plants…but it always has been a lush and verdant space.

A plant deprived home, or office, is not a place I can envisage. Plants make people happy and they make our surroundings a healthier living, breathing space.

Posh Plants “Interior Plant Service”… we can deliver beautiful interior plants from small succulents up to 2m tall palms, we will deliver and place them in the perfect position in your home and advise on the best care to keep your new plant looking fresh and healthy.

Self watering planters are available and can make keeping plants easy.

Call Sue on 07703 347014 for more info.

Mother’s Day is not long now, so make sure she feels appreciated and loved.

From stunning bay trees to spring flowering planters the nursery and online shop has lots to chose from.

Green is “cool”.

Posh Plants now offer “Silver Leaves”…a range of modern jewellery, designed and made by Sue Huckle here in Norfolk.

As humans we are happier and calmer when around other living things…especially when those living things are thriving.

Created from silver and gold and hallmarked by the Goldsmith’s assay office each piece is inspired by plants and nature!

So, this is where Posh Plants can help.

www.poshplants.com…online shop

With a lifetime loving and nurturing plants we have gained knowledge and experience which can ensure you can live in harmony with your plants.

Posh Plants Seven Acres Nursery, Common Road, East Tuddenham. NR20 3NF. 07703 347014

56 | March 2017

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Posh Plants

Award Winning Landscaping and Design

topiary, plants, shrubs and trees to hire or buy

Sue Huckle is the inspiration behind many award winning gardens, offering a professional and creative approach to the art and science of garden design.

At Seven Acres Nursery we have a range of lovely plants and containers for sale, as well as our beautiful collection of large topiary plants available to hire for weddings, parties and your workplace!

Paving and Pathways Ponds and Water Features Lawn Laying Walls and Brickwork Timber and Decking Driveways, Fencing and Screening Garden Design by Georgina Read

07703 347014 email: sue@poshplants.com website: www.poshplants.com

Posh Plants, Seven Acres Nursery, Common Road, East Tuddenham, NR20 3NF

T: 01953 852139 E: info@lifestylelandscaping.co.uk W: www.lifestylelandscaping.co.uk

Is Your Conservatory Is your Conservatory Too Hot in Summer or Too Cold in Winter?

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The widest choice of Tapco Slate Tile colours

Suitable for all conservatory styles and sizes

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Dry fit slate effect standard with 50 year guarantee

19 layer thermal barrier quilt

01603 301100 • www.comfortableconservatories.com Your Local Branch: 16 Alston Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR6 5DS Showroom Open 9:30am - 4.30pm 7 Days A Week

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 57

CARPET | VINYL | LUXURY TILE | SISAL | WOOD 94 COLMAN ROAD, NORWICH, NR4 7EH 01603 443588 arbons.co.uk OPEN 7 DAYS

58 | March 2017

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Trinity Stained Glass

www.trinitystainedglass.co.uk 01603 622099 103 Ber Street Norwich NR1 3EY

www.finecity.co.uk

2017 March | 59

Norwich Fashion Week 2017 Six sensational events not to be missed at Norwich Fashion Week 2017

T

ickets are now on sale [3 January 2017] for the five main shows and a day of talks, workshops and heritage events at the Design and Enterprise Day to be held during Norwich Fashion Week

2017 (NFW17), which runs between 9 and 17 March.

Now in its seventh year, NFW17 is set to be bigger and better than ever, with all the core

shows once again taking place at OPEN, a vibrant and contemporary building in the heart of Norwich.

As with previous years, the week will be launched with the Mercedes-Benz of Norwich Retailers Show on Thursday 9 March. This event showcases the fashion trends available from local independents and high-street retailers. It has become a firm favourite with fashionistas across the city who are looking to spot key items for their spring and summer wardrobes.

Hot on the heels of the launch show is the Dipple & Conway Hair and Make-up Show on Friday 10 March. This show was first added to the core line up last year, and proved so successful it has become a permanent fixture.

The show celebrates the creative collaboration between stylists, designers and make-up artists.

This year the event has been given a theatrical vibe and will cover top-to-toe fashion looks, from dramatic hair styles and gorgeous glasses through to glamourous body art, all designed to further enhance the outfits and finish the overall look.

The ever-popular Vintage Show, sponsored by Zaks Authentic American Diners, returns on Sunday 12 March and will feature a cheeky nod towards the disco glamour of Studio 54. With the city famed for its vintage scene, this show captures the essence of Norwich’s vintage boutiques and styling through the ages. Expect a party vibe and styles from the 40s through to the 90s, plus re-worked vintage fabrics and modern vintage repro.

Those looking for the next big thing, or hoping to be inspired by home-grown talent, shouldn’t miss out on this year’s Designer’s Show on Tuesday 14 March. Sponsored by Norwich Cosmetic Clinic and Brasted’s, this event is becoming an increasingly popular platform for an eclectic mix of local designers, tailors, milliners and stylists to showcase their talents and inspire the audience with stunning creations.

60 | March 2017

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FINEFASHION One of the core aims of NFW is to support and educate local, fledgling designers. As well as providing them with a platform to showcase their work, the Design and Enterprise event also makes a welcome return on Wednesday 15 March. First added to the core line up last year, the all-day event will feature inspiring talks and entrepreneurial advice seminars, creative education sessions for local schools.

The week culminates in style with the quirky Fashion Excess Show on Friday 17 March.

This evening event, which runs until 2am, fuses alternative fashion styles with live music and a party atmosphere. Inspired by a mix of Fashion Rocks and Victoria Secrets fashion shows, it is perfect for those who love mixing up their style and rocking an individual look.

Emma Harrowing, Director/Chair of the NFW board, said: “We’re proud to say that NFW16 featured some really strong looks and some of the best shows to date. But that doesn’t mean we have been resting on our laurels. We are determined that NFW17 will create even more of a buzz in the city. All the events are designed to celebrate and promote Norwich’s vibrant fashion scene and they all bring style to life with a combination of wearable looks and catwalk inspiration.

“NFW is a Community Interest Company and all those behind the annual event work on a voluntary basis. One of our key aims is to continue to positively promote, support and provide valuable opportunities for the creative community of Norwich. We hope as many people as possible will join us during NFW and enjoy being a part of the city’s largest, annual fashion event. Every year the week gains more kudos and it is really helping to promote Norwich as a fashion-forward location.”

NFW is supported by Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) each year. To find out more about NFW17 visit: norwichfashion. co.uk. Tickets for all the above shows are available from 3 January via the box office at OPEN on www.openorwich.co.uk or 01603 763111.

NFW 2017 shows at a glance

www.finecity.co.uk

All NFW17 shows take place in the main hall at OPEN, Bank Plain in Norwich • Thursday 9 March, starting at 8pm: MercedesBenz of Norwich Retailers Show • F riday 10 March, starting at 8pm: The Dipple & Conway Hair and Make-up Show • S unday 12 March, starting at 8pm: The Vintage Show, sponsored by Zaks Authentic American Diners • Tuesday 14 March, starting at 8pm: The Designers Show • Wednesday 15 March, between 10am – 4pm: Design and Enterprise Day • F riday 17 March, starting at 9pm: Fashion Excess More information on each of the shows is available at www.norwichfashion.co.uk Tickets available via the box office on www.opennorwich.co.uk

2017 March | 61

Jeep Renegade

Exclusive First Drive - Jeep Renegade ‘Night Eagle’ Location: Sicily.

T

he Jeep was made for battle. In 1940, the looming U.S. involvement in World War II pushed the army to appeal for a new vehicle appropriate for war.

And so the Jeep - a work-in-progress vehicle relentlessly evolving on its open patent, tailoring to shifting demands of combat, was produced - and sent overseas to the hostilities.

The Jeep name itself is infused with folklore, but the label is most likely derived from GP, or General Purpose, which may have been the initial moniker of the military-design vehicle.

Indisputable, however, is Jeep’s far-reaching saga.

It’s quite literally a narrative of movement: U.S. soldiers across European borders during World War II; women working on Jeep assembly lines, President Roosevelt sitting in a Jeep in front of lines of black American soldiers.

Fast forward seven decades and, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the first Jeep, I was invited to Sicily to sample Jeep as it is now – and as it 62 | March 2017

will be. The line-up of Jeep concept cars being showcased at the company’s ‘You Don’t Drive it, You Live it’ Italian event perfectly underlined the brand’s natural synergy with customisation, and the desire for personalisation that the brand inspires.

Vehicles were on hand for us to drool over and try out around the Italian island, which, by the way, is home to Europe’s highest active volcano, Mount Etna. The smoke pouring from the top of the angry volcano seemed to add to the drama of the Jeep models. They demonstrated how Jeep can meet the requests of customers looking for a unique look, combined with the legendary capabilities of the American brand.

Hero of the firm’s extreme aesthetic treatment is, perhaps, the Renegade. Launched in September 2014, the model has expanded the Jeep global vehicle line-up massively. By entering the growing small sport-utility vehicle (SUV) segment, while staying true to the fun-and-freedom lifestyle Jeep is known for, the Renegade delivers something

special. It offers a blend of best-in-class off-road capability, open-air freedom and convenience. The result is an efficient vehicle offered to attract an adventurous customer to the Jeep marque.

Taking it up a level is the new ‘Night Eagle’ special edition. Designed to enhance the bold design of the Renegade, it is based on the Longitude midrange trim. It features black styling cues with satin-finished grey elements - such as the ‘Jeep’ badge on the front grille, the fog light frames, the roof bars and the feature by:

Tim Barnes-Clay Writer @carwriteups

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FINEmotors dedicated badge, combined with exclusive 17” black alloy rims.

What’s more, this special edition introduces a new matte paintwork, appropriately named Volcano Sand, which was on the model I drove.

It complements the other four available colours: Carbon Black, Alpine White, Glacier Silver and Solar Yellow. The Volcano Sand-liveried Renegade Night Eagle sports a 2.0 diesel 140 engine, combined with a six speed manual transmission and Active Drive 4x4 system. On the inside, a leather steering wheel, exclusive fabric seats with electric lumbar adjustment on the driver’s seat, UConnect with five inch screen, manual climate control system, cruise control and rear parking sensors make for a highly comfortable and technological ambiance.

There is an instant charm to the Renegade’s driving behaviour. Thanks to light pedals and its high driving position, from where you can see the swollen American-style bonnet, the Jeep feels authoritative and yet user-friendly. Over normal bumps the ride is slightly quivery and it hardly ever settles, but such a criticism could be directed at any contender in the class. The engine pulls vigorously, although it becomes harsh

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beyond 3,000rpm. However, this doesn’t matter, because it’s a bona fide resilient off-roader first and foremost, and so sounding tough is part of the appeal. Undeniably, the Renegade is the most capable small SUV on the rough stuff.

It’s also a top family motor because the seats are wide and there is ample room for four people.

Additionally, the Renegade has a far more appealing character than most cars of its ilk. What’s more, it

sports a stout interior design and wide-opening doors that allow good space for fitting child seats.

It is expected that a limited number of Night Eagle models will be produced in 2016, so if you’re interested, visit your local Jeep dealer quickly. The Renegade Night Eagle can be specified with a 2.0 Multijet (120 HP or 140 HP) lump; a 1.6 Multijet 120 HP power unit or a 1.4 MultiAir 140 HP engine, depending on the market.

2017 March | 63

FINEAdvice

Marketing

Join in our Success Story Welcome to the ‘FineAdvice’ section of FineCity Magazine About Us:

In a fast moving world, where the media seem to be ever more distant from people’s real concerns, it is vital that community lifestyle magazines like FineCity Magazine find and print the information and news that is important to local people.

That’s where we come in; two years ago we added FineCity Magazine to our portfolio of publications which include; Dispatch Magazine in Attleborough & Diss and a second publication in Wymondham & Dereham. We also publish Norfolk on My Mind for North Norfolk and Suffolk on My Mind for Suffolk. Over the fifteen years we have been publishing magazines our publications have become some of the most well respected community lifestyle magazines, and a “must-read” across a Norfolk & Suffolk.

Our distribution is enormous; Dispatch is delivered Free of Charge Door to Door to 30,000 homes and businesses. FineCity

Magazine is delivered or collected around the City centre by 12,000 people each month, and Norfolk on My Mind has 10,000 copies available for pick up across 800 pick up locations. Suffolk on My Mind is seen by 10,000 people in Bury St Edmunds and across Suffolk. This gives us a combined readership of 155,000 every month.

FineCity Magazine: Promote your business in our ‘FineAdvice’ section in our rapidly growing FineCity Magazine. We are inviting just one company from a few specialist market sectors, to feature in our new ‘FineAdvice’ section with a combination of editorial and an advert on a full page, in the same design and layout as this page is being presented to you. We are offering you the full page (normal cost £505.00) for just the cost of a half page advert £295.00. You pay for the advert we’ll give you the editorial (425 words) for FREE.

FineCity Magazine is growing throughout Norwich, now with a 12,000 print run every month, and available for pick up at our prestige partner locations which includes; John Lewis, Waitrose, Jarrold, Cinema City, MadderMarket, The Theatre Royal, The Forum, Norwich Library, The Norwich Tourist Information Centre, Norwich Airport, Castle Mall and Intu Chapelfield, and further copies are delivered Door to Door around Eaton, Cringleford, Easton, Newmarket Road and The Golden Triangle area of Norwich.

Come and join FineCity and be part of our success story!

The FineAdvice section is designed to offer readers advice, and enable your company to be the exclusive provider.

Advice by:

In addition to the above, we will also include your company within our daily tweets and Facebook page completely free of charge.

FineCity Magazine @finecitymag 01953 456789

Meet The Family FineCity Magazine

Dispatch Magazine 2016

Dispatch Magazine 2016

Norfolk On My Mind Magazine 2016

Suffolk On My Mind Magazine 2016

Issue 64

March

2017

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FINEAdvice

Utilities

Save Money If you’re like most people you’ll want to SAVE money during 2017 Well you can, it’s really simple and thousands of people are doing it. ✓ Would you like to pay less for your utility bills? ✓ Would you like shops like Sainsbury’s, Boots, Halfords, Debenhams and hundreds of others to pay your utility bill for you? ✓ Would you like every light bulb in your house replaced with the very latest low energy LED bulbs FREE of charge, which will reduce your electric bill by around 15% per year? ✓ Would you like up to £200 to help you switch from your current provider? ✓ Would you like an award winning customer services centre based in London available to chat to ? ✓ Would you like award winning products and services recommended by Which? Magazine? ✓ Would you like all your utilities on one monthly bill, with just one monthly direct debit? ✓ Would you like a written Guarantee that you will save money when you switch all your services to us, or we will give you back ‘Double the Difference’?

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✓ Would you like someone to arrange everything for you to ensure a seamless transfer?

If you would like to receive all of the above YOU CAN and I will personally pop in to see you to arrange everything. The only think you need to do save money is make me a cup of tea.

Who’s behind this initiative?

It’s being provided by Utility Warehouse, the Nation’s most trusted utility supplier. In addition to gas and electricity, they provide landline, broadband and mobile phones giving you the convenience of all your utilities on one monthly bill.

Utility Warehouse is operated by Telecom Plus PLC, a major British company whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The company provides its members with great value, great savings and the best possible customer service. Perhaps it’s not surprising that, in a survey, 93% of Utility Warehouse customers said they would recommend them to a friend.

Utility Warehouse is very different to other suppliers because they’re a club - a Discount

Club.They don’t have any high street shops and because (unlike their competitors) they don’t spend customers’ money on expensive advertising campaigns on TV, they can afford to charge their customers less for the same services.

They have also received numerous awards from Which? Magazine and Moneywise, and have over 600,000 satisfied customers which increases daily.

If you want to save money, all you have to do is call me 07802 690589, and I’ll pop in and show you how much you will save. Or you can go to www.Utility-Bills.co.uk and request an online quotation. Please do get in touch and save yourself some money. Trust me - you won’t regret it!

Advice by:

Jonathan Horswell Mentor @jonathanhorswel 07802 690589

2017 March | 65

FINEAdvice Success – why not you?

Are you bored broke or just fed up?

• Do you ever feel like you are worth more than you’re currently earning?

• Do you ever feel like there’s not enough time in the day?

• Do you ever feel like you have a greater purpose than the path you’re currently on?

• Do you want to make changes, make more money, have more free time, be with positive people and build a great future for yourself and your family?

If you want things to be different, YOU have to make the change. Life doesn’t have a remote control, so you have to get up and change it yourself. And of course if you do nothing, guess what... Nothing changes, you will be in the same place this time next year.

If you’d like More Money, More Free Time, build a better future for you and your family and you’re open mind enough to just look at how

66 | March 2017

Money you can change your life and earn an unlimited monthly income which grows and grows every month, take a look at our website and get instant access to see how simple it is to be in control of your own destiny.

This is NOT a ‘Get Rich Quick Scheme’ but it is a ‘Get Rich Quicker System’ where you can earn a full time ‘residual’ income working just a few spare hours each week, and change your life in a very short space of time. Why should you work 40 plus hours a week for 40 plus years of your life?

So what is ‘Residual Income’?

Residual income (also called passive income) is income that continues to be generated after the initial effort has been made.

Compare this to what most people focus on earning: linear income, which is “one-shot” compensation or payment in the form of a fee, wage, commission or salary which is directly proportional to the number of hours invested in it - 40 hours of pay for 40 hours of work.

Here’s an example of Residual Income; In 1998 my college spent 35 minutes showing a friend

of his how this business works. Last month he got paid for that conversation for the 216th time for that 35 minute chat, 18 years ago.

So… how soon can you spare 10 minutes so I can answer all the questions I know you’ll have, and explain how you can get started immediately?

Remember this: “If you think it’s too good to be true, I still get paid. If you take a look and join me, we BOTH get paid. If you don’t join me, well I still get paid!”

Take a look at our website and get instant access to find out more about this great opportunity. www.Successpro. me.uk

Advice by:

Jonathan Horswell Mentor @jonathanhorswel 07802 690589

www.finecity.co.uk

amber dew events fp

TEAM BUILDING

WITH AMBER DEW EVENTS LIMITED

Amber Dew Events provide team building sessions based on the lessons from Top Motor Racing Teams.

These events are delivered by our facilitator and high performance specialist PJ Stevens with the added dimension of racing driver Martin Donnelly.

•

Communication Skills

•

Leadership

•

Clear Roles and Goals

Team building events are available at any suitable hotel, office venue, or office space.

•

Presentation Skills

•

Delivering the Message

•

Developing High Performing teams

•

Increasing Staff Engagement & Motivation

•

Change Management Events can be held at any suitable hotel, conference venue or office space to meet your needs.

As an added dimension, racing simulators can also be brought to your venue to enable interactive simulator racing as a team initiative and incentive for your employees or clients. Your business…your event…your venue…your choice…

Within your business, leadership and people development are crucial for success, we provide a truly superb training programme that will help develop a range of employee skills and business benefits including;

Why not learn and team build through the Amber Dew Events Pit Stop Challenge?

For more information, visit the Amber Dew Events website: www.amberdewevents.co.uk/experiences 2017 March | 67

www.finecity.co.uk

Or call FREE today on

0800 564 2220

UPCOMING EVENTS AT CARROW ROAD

FRIDAY 7th APRIL AN EVENING WITH PHIL TUFNELL

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

Friday 10th March AN EVENING WITH ED BALLS VIP Tickets £99 or Standard Tickets £65

Friday 7th April AN EVENING WITH PHIL TUFNELL VIP Tickets £99 or Standard Tickets £65

Saturday 6th May MOTOWN & NORTHERN SOUL NIGHTS £7 in advance or £8.50 on the door

Friday 28th April RED CARD COMEDY £12 in advance or £13 on the door

Friday 26th May RED CARD COMEDY £12 in advance or £13 on the door

Sunday 26th March MOTHER’S DAY CARVERY Adult’s £29.95 12yrs and under (2 courses) £12.50 Under 3’s menu free Friday 31st March RED CARD COMEDY £12 in advance or £13 on the door

Friday 26th May CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENING FEATURING HAYLEY MOSS & BENJAMIN LAKE VIP Tickets £65 or Standard Tickets £45

Friday 31st March CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENING FEATURING GIARDINO STRING QUARTET VIP Tickets £65 or Standard Tickets £45

For more Information or to Book visit www.canarycatering.co.uk/events or call 01603 389039