Calling all Little Cooks
The Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival always offers a really great range of events and activities for kids, and this September is no different. Sub headed the Children’s Food Festival it all happens on Hove Lawns over the 6th and 7th of September where budding Jamies and Delias can indulge their kitchen fantasies, and it’s all free.
There’s a chance to make Japanese rice pandas to a range of really excellent workshops, including making and filling pancakes. The event supports the Rockinghorse Appeal and aside from the foodie stuff, there’s face painting with Fairshare, badge making, cupcake decorating and craft tables. Lose the kids in a few hours of foodie fun – and there’s even a chance to win a place on Cookery Doodle-Doo’s October half term Cooking Club. Roll up those sleeves….
Saturday 6 September 10am – 4pm, Sunday 7 September 11am – 4pm
Hove Lawns FREE
Child Friendly Brighton
Hey parents. In case you didn’t know about this, there’s a website dedicated to bringing you information and details on venues in the Brighton area that are specifically child-friendly. The site is the brainchild of Shoshana Plail, who set it up as a mother tired of searching across the web for places to take the kids. If you fancy dinner out with your delightful offspring, or you’re looking for kids’ activities or events, you need to know about this.
www.childfriendlybrighton.co.uk
The Fearsome Beastie comes to life
Lovers of Sussex-based children’s author Giles Paley-Phillips will be excited to hear that his award-winning children’s book The Fearsome Beastie is being made into an animated film, with stellar stars Alison Steadman and Brian Blessed offering their dulcet tones.
Actor and raconteur Blessed meet with the author before the recording of his role as The Fearsome Beastie of the title and was the first big-name to sign up. Blessed, who will actually play the Beastie, said: “I’m always on the look-out for original projects and as soon as I read the book and started thinking about Beastie, I knew that I had to be involved. I think children’s animation is having a fantastic resurgence and I’m proud to be a part of this animation.”
Alison Steadman signed on to be the narrator after being sent a copy of the book and is recording her scenes later this month. Co-directed by Slurpy Studios’ Katie Steed and UCA Farnham MA Animation student Jon Hunt, Steed said, “We are very excited about bringing The Fearsome Beastie to life. Brian Blessed and Alison Steadman were our only choices for these roles so we’re delighted to have them on board and to get the project underway.”
Co-director Jon Hunt added “I can’t quite believe how big the film has become. Since we’ve targeted voice artists and got actors of Brian and Alison’s calibre on board, it has really snowballed, which is super exciting.”
The film will be out Spring 2015
www.fearsomebeastie.com
Little Green Pigs do fly
Little Green Pig is a registered Charity based in Brighton & Hove. As a ‘candidate’ of the Ministry of Stories, they are working towards opening a fantastic secret shop and writing centre in the London Road area in 2014. In the meantime, they work across the city – look out for them in schools, libraries, galleries, youth clubs and even scribbling on buses (on paper of course!)
The charity offers children and young people space and time to get creative with words. They believe in the power of the imagination and that fantastic and transformative things happen when you pick up a pen and share your story, and encourage this vital form of self-expression, helping to build confidence, communication and social skills. Creativity and fun are at the heart of the action plan.
The charity offers free writing workshops for young people in Brighton & Hove aged 7 to 18, focusing resources on young people most in need and closest to the future base in London Road. Working in partnership with teachers and families they also offer free writing workshops to local schools whose pupils experience social or educational disadvantage. Their after-school and weekend workshops are open to all.
The charity is always looking for volunteers to help, so if this sound like you, get in touch with them via the website. But they’re pleased to hear from anyone who can get involved and the charity runs a series of workshops and events.
More information from www.littlegreenpig.org.uk
Sing their praise
Students from Burgess Hill Junior School had a unique experience when they were invited to sing at St. Paul’s Cathedral’s lunchtime recital. The choir, made up of nearly 50 girls, travelled to London where they were fortunate enough to rehearse in the internationally acclaimed choir practice room.
Parents, teachers and hundreds of tourists gathered to hear the girls sing an unaccompanied half hour recital under the dome of Wren’s 300-year-old cathedral.
Julie Playford, Conductor and Head of Junior School Music at Burgess Hill, said: “What an enriching experience it was for the girl.”
Coping with the challenging acoustic, the girls produced a well-balanced programme featuring well-known pieces including Brother James’ Air and a Jubilate Deo.