Back to the Meadow, come and play ...

Can you remember a time before the X Box, when children skipped and played in the street? Well just for one day, Saturday the 22^nd of October, Meadow Street (from Alfred Street to Orchard Street) will become a playground, so come along and join in the fun!

Bring your family and enjoy the day that time forgot. From 11-4pm you are invited to join Central Children’s Centre and local businesses and traders to come and play on Meadow Street.

Come in fancy dress to claim your free party bag:

Weston-super-Mum is running hula hoop competitions and Sustainable Weston are planting trees (in pots to take home) There will be face painting and henna tattoos, story time from Weston libraries, baby massage in the children’s Centre, a Lego workshop, badge making from Warm Families

There will be prizes and balloons and bunting and so much more.

Atlantic Fish Bar are providing fun activities for the children and a special menu including fishy shaped chips. RM Signs & Textiles will be holding a raffle, first prize a hoodie, second prize a t-shirt and 10 runners up prizes of baseball caps! ‘Chance 2 Dance’ will also be joining in the fun with Street Dance Performances’. There are also activities in Weston-super-Mare Museum on Burlington Street, which is just around the corner and in case of very bad weather some of the activities will be moved in to the Museum. Whatever the weather there will be fun and activities in the street, so if it’s raining come along, wear your willies’ and have fun. Can’t wait to see you there.

To find out more about what is on and how you can join in call Mary Morgan from the Neighbourhoods Team on 426998

Little Chill

We've just spent four days of pure, exhausting fun at Big Chill Festival at Eastnor Castle Deer Park.

This was a very well organised event: entry to and exit from the Festival was effortless, the Crew helped us lug our bags from the car to a camping pitch in the Family Area and two of them even lent a hand in putting up our tent, a feat that is always difficult alone on a (slightly) windy day. The weather was generally OK, with some heavy downpours of rain that didn't spoil the fun as there were so many undercover activities to enjoy.

The crowd was friendly and we met some new friends, the acts were excellent and the Little Chill Kids' Area offered a range of exciting things to do - painting, circus acts, bands, sandpit, model and costume making, storytellers, yoga, Baby Chill, dance ....

And we completed most of the challenges set by you. Thank you to all who took part in our Festival:

On Facebook, Laura said, "Challenge Lestie to skip on stage, and you to host a dinner party!" Sorry Laura, this is the closest we got to this one #fail:

Sweet Meal with Lynette and Tom

Swinging Poi at Deer Park Stage

@CocoBrownsCafe tweeted, "I want to know what your favourite food & drink was or just the best you see @BigChillFest. Inspiration for me!"

Lebanese Mezze of Fool Madamas, Batata Harrah, bulgar and salsa

On the original Weston-super-Mum blogpost, Keith Ramsey said, "Just go with the flow, relax and do whatever feels right"

Home sweet Home

Wheelbarrow Girl, Asleep

On twitter, @KarenBlakeArt said, 'Id like to see a phot of BOTH of you in the circus area of Little Chill, trying something new":

Spinning plates at the Big Top

Unicycle
Proud on our stilts Look! I can do it!

Thank you so much for these challenges, they made the experience all the more enjoyable at a Festival to be 100% recommended!

I've posted more photos on my Weston-super-Mum profile

The Big Chill Festival Website





- by Becky Condron

Little Chill at the Big Chill at Eastnor Castle Deer Park

At the beginning of June, we wetted our appetite for summer festivals as mother and daughter at Sunrise Celebration Festival in Somerset.

I learned a few things:

· That a wheelbarrow adorned with soft and colourful blankets is a very good idea when you have a small child who may want to have a rest/get noticed.

· That it’s sensible to have no plans and to go with the flow

· To eat little and often

· To get there as close to the beginning of the festival as you can, so as to ease small child in gently.

· To not worry if she wants to play in the tent when it first goes up. This should be seen as part of that acclimatisation process; there’s plenty of time for the Madness.

· To dress her in patterned clothing and definitely nothing white

· That asking people to set challenges is really very enjoyable, especially when it comes to the inevitable tweeting-through-festival.

So, as we prepare for our second festival of the summer – The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire – I invite you to link in to their website (link below), have a look around and set us more challenges to do while we’re there. Again, take into consideration that I have a 5 year old with me and limited financial resources.

The Big Chill has a festival within a festival, The Little Chill, which has ‘entertainment laid on especially for younger audiences as well as housing the family camping area and facilities’ - and this is where we are sure to be spending much of our time.

The Little Chill sounds very exciting, with illustrators and authors, dance and drama workshops, a circus area, the Enchanted Garden WITH GIANT UV BUTTERFLIES J, bands and, get this, Caberet! Tom Baker will be there. Tom Baker! One of my Doctor Whos.

The link to the Little Chill is here.

I’ll be documenting much of this via twitter @Dr_Reba

What do you want us to do? We will endeavour to rise to the occasion.

BOOMFEST

An exciting new FREE festival for children

and young people in North Somerset

Friday 19^th – Sunday 21^st August 2011

Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare

Boomfest is an exciting new 3 day festival for children, young people and families and will be held from Friday 19^th – Sunday 21^st August in Weston-super-Mare.

The FREE festival will offer a variety of performances and workshops for all ages including live music, dance and free running, theatre, film, comedy, performance poetry, graffiti, BMX-ing, skateboarding and art exhibitions. There’s a whole programme of family activity too including lots of great events for the under 5s.

Festival organisers have been overwhelmed with over 100 applications from all over North Somerset and far beyond from children and young people wanting to get involved.

The programme has been largely arranged by four young apprentices, aged 18 to 22, who run a youth arts co-op called boomsatuma.

Apprentice Amy Davis said “Boomfest is the most fantastic opportunity for young people to own their own festival. I hope as many as possible will get involved.”

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME ANNOUNCEMENT

Early Years

An exciting programme of activities for 0-5 years from 12 noon – 4pm daily including arts and crafts, fashion, music, soft toy play area, dance and storytelling. With the North Somerset Play Forum, North Somerset Children’s Centre team, and Weston-super-Mum.

Live Bands

boomsatsuma Mainstream project auditioned over 60 bands during the last 6 months offering the monthly winners a day in a professional recording studio. Watch the very best bands play live from 5pm – 9pm on Friday 19th, and throughout the weekend on the Main Stage and Big Top there’s live music, dj-ing and mc-ing including talented musicians and bands from Weston College.

North Somerset Slambassador Championships

SLAMbassadors UK return to WSM to finish what they started! Catch the poetic depth, musicality, spirit and stunning live performances from North Somerset youth as they tear apart the stage on Friday 19th in the Big Top. Featuring Joelle Taylor and Louise Hill plus guests. It's a brave new word...!

Fashion

An amazing Fashion Show on Saturday 20th with young people from Girls Allowed, North Somerset Youth Service, Barnardo’s, and the Hans Price Academy modelling a collection of outfits designed during boomsatsuma fashion courses at Weston College and Weston Youth Centre. With MC Chris Wakeling.

Dance

Catch hugely talented local dance crews in an exciting programme with headliner Tommy Franzen from BBC’s “So You Think You Can Dance”, top UK b boy crew Physical Jerks, and all girl street dance crew Fresh Dance Company on Saturday 20th.

With workshops for all ages in Breaking, Street Dance, Contemporary, Capoeira, and Parkour/Free running displays from 4pm in the Dance Tent daily.

Weapons of Sound

Having played major festivals all over the world, Weapons of Sound are internationally acclaimed as the UK's greenest band who thump out their brand of percussion on an array of unusual instruments – from shopping trolleys and plastic barrels to gas pipes and scaffolding poles!

Ever wanted to be a World Record Holder? Join Weapons of Sound as Boomfest goes for a new record of 750 people for the World’s Largest Junk Orchestra on Saturday 20th at 4.30pm!

Colourscape

Colourscape is a visually stunning labyrinth of huge inflatable chambers creating a truly remarkable and unique performance space. Open Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st, visitors can open up their senses and stimulate their creativity with a variety of performances and workshops.

Over the two days there will be a range of musicians performing inside Colourscape. Michael Ormiston is Europe's top Mongolian Overtone Singer - hear him create several notes at once with his voice while playing Mongolian Horsehead Fiddle. Ansuman Biswas is an amazing Asian percussionist and they will be joined by Colourscape director Simon Desorgher on flutes and Rosie Nobbs.

Only their second visit ever to the South West! Adults £3, Children (under 16) £2.

Beastie

Do you want to be let into a jaw dropping secret and catch a glimpse of something amazing? Bring your children along to say good-bye to Beastie on Saturday 20th, the very special new friend that children aged 6-10 all over Weston will have had an extraordinary adventure with this summer.

Bash Street Theatre

Bash Street Theatre perform their internationally renowned silent slapstick comedy The Station on Saturday 20th at 6pm. Set in dilapidated railway station in the age of steam locomotives, be prepared for a dramatic train crash, a daredevil rescue and some great comedy action from this award-winning street theatre company.

Rotations

Rotations is a unique fusion of BMX flatlanding, breakin’ and contemporary dance, creating a visually thrilling performance on Sunday 21st of high-energy twists, flips, breaks and world class BMX tricks that is pulsing with energy, verve and invention.

Coneheads

Join the Natural Theatre Company and develop your Conehead character in a fun workshop and perform at Boomfest with full costume, make up and camera!! No experience necessary. Come and find out how to be a Natural on Sunday 21st!

Pierunder Exhibition

The Pierunder exhibition is a showcase for talented young artists from across North Somerset; their exciting work includes fashion pieces, paintings, photography and sculptural installations.

The festival site will include a Main Stage, Circus Big Top, Dance Tent and marquees throughout the park offering performances, workshops and activities for children, young people and families.

A full programme will be announced in August.

You can also find us on Facebook

For more information please visit www.boomsatsuma.com

Festival Partners include:

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Aquila Events

Barnardos

Barcode Youth Café

Broadoak School

Bournville Primary School

Behaviour Improvement Team

Inspire

North Somerset Council

North Somerset Early Years Team

North Somerset Rangers

Playforum

Somerset Wood Recycling

Theatre Orchard Project

Weston College

Weston Excellence

Weston-super-Mum

Weston super Television

Hans Price Academy

Xtnd Learning & Leisure for All

YMCA

North Somerset Youth Offending Team

For more information please contact:

Andy Jeffery E: andy@boomsatsuma.com

Cultural Projects Co-ordinator M: 07775 027468

North Somerset Council T: 01275 884220

Pitch-a-Tent at Puxton Park

We erected our tent at Puxton Park to overcast skies on a thankfully dry evening. We hadn’t brought very much with us: you learn to camp light when you need to and, anyway, we’d only be here for 18 hours – the doors opened at 4pm on Saturday and all tents were packed away by 10 the next morning, plus the burger bar complimented the fruit and biscuits we’d bought from the Farm Shop there, which took the whole cool box and stove carrying out of the equation, though some people did light their own barbeques.

In all, 17 tents were pitched at the circumference of the ‘Main Arena,’ leaving plenty of space for the kids to run and play, if needed. But really, with so much to do here, we only went to the camping area to sleep.

Our first stop {and one we returned to often over the hours that followed} was the jumping pillow and, with so few people at Puxton, I was able to bounce as hard and as high as I could, delighting my daughter. This may have been the best part of spending an evening as a camper – we felt as though we had the place to ourselves. The Play Barn was open till 9:30pm, which is also when the toilets closed. Throughout the evening, three keen young lads strummed their guitars and sang barely audible numbers at the entrance to the building, next to the burger van on the other side of the doors. We slid, bounced, crawled, swung and squealed our way through a couple of hours.

At 8:30pm we passed the cows, goats, sheep, ponies, chickens and alpacas and all trotted down to the Twilight Zone for a highly entertaining owl display, where we learned a few things about these creatures’ habits. Children and adults got to be hand perches for a range of birds and the Owl Guy, who clearly loves his job, had us all taking part in some way, even if only through our laughter and listening.

Then we went back outside for a sheep race. We were giving betting slips, so C decided on Sheep Number 6, who didn’t win but that was fine because everyone got a lollipop prize. Next we were treated to a slightly wild trip around the Park on a cart, pulled along by a big red tractor, The Wurzels playing loudly in our ears. Completely bizarre and very Somerset. We absolutely loved it.

I barely had time to catch my breath when she pulled me over to the wooden fort as the sun went down. Finally it was time for bed with no resistance from a happily exhausted almost 5-year old.

We awoke to full sunshine, had a touch of breakfast in The Meadows restaurant and then made our way to The Barn for some more sliding and twisting – all by 8:30am. We found our way once more to the jumping pillow, where she perfected her gambol, and then we went to say ‘Hello’ to the adorable new-born piglets, snuggled up with Mummy Pig. A quick look in the Falconry Centre and time for one more swing before collapsing the tent and packing the car. Another stop at the Farm Shop for Sunday’s bread and milk to take to our home, just 10 minutes away.

My only problem with this £10 a night Pitch a Tent at Puxton Park is that they don’t do it more often. We would go at every available opportunity. It’s the most relaxed camping trip that we have ever been on. And that’s saying something.

A big thank you to all the staff, who were so friendly and very helpful. And to Clover the Cow :-}

Puxton Park website

- by Becky

Murders and Ghosts of Olde Weston with Weston Walks

We met under the granite arch on Weston's sea front on an evening well suited to tales of mysterious deaths and long-forgotten murders. The wind was high and so was the tide as it lashed over the sea wall, the spray from it wetting our faces just enough to taste our seaside town, the grey sky accentuating its many colours of brown and grey.

Those of us on tonight's tour of Weston's murky past had our own local ghost stories to tell - mine of a woman who used to visit me in South Road while I tried to sleep, a woman who nobody had told me about, although they all knew. Mike, our guide, invited conversation as we pushed along the front to Knightstone Island.

And so the stories begin. Tales of dead brides in baths, Jack the Ripper suspects, sororicide, butchered butchers, love turned sour, policemen who perished. Accounts of bigamists, cads, thugs, the mentality unstable, the infuriating and the innocents. The perpetrators hung, transported, locked up, acquitted and disappeared.

Mike is a natural story teller, who elicits sympathy for some of his subjects and mistrust of others. He puts the points across and asks tricky questions, "Do you think she killed him?" He describes vividly the characters and the setting (many of the stories are, understandably, from the Victorian era, Weston being a town of little over 100 people at the turn of the Nineteenth Century).

The Weston Walks' Murders and Ghosts tour takes the party up to higher ground, so be prepared to hill-walk a little. I know this town very well but walking around the Shubbery and the areas above Grove Park with a knowledgeable and entertaining guide made me see my home in a different light. I communicated with the topography of Weston and with people I shall never know.

Future visits to some of these crime scenes will get me thinking of Weston's long departed over and again. And I will always wonder whether that stolen cheese was really worth it? But that's a story that Mike should tell you ...

Murders and Ghosts of Olde Weston takes place at 7:30pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening and cost £4 for adults and £3 for children. Booking is essential. Weston Walks also does daily Seaside Strolls, where history and entertainment combine. For more details, see www.westonwalks.co.uk

Written by Becky Condron

Weston's Outdoor Treasures on Foot or by Bus

Weston is the ideal location for getting out in the open air and for walking, running and exploring. For the price of a picnic (we take one everywhere with us) and maybe a bus fare, leisure pursuits in this town are many. Two years of being a non-car family has really shown me how much there is to do in Weston with young children, at very little cost. All these hills mean that you will develop strong legs and sturdy kids; we've certainly become a family that isn't afriad of a little rain, or a lot of rain come to that.

Bus routes up to South Road mean that the Old Town Quarry and Weston Woods are easily accessible to all, although a slow walk up through Grove Park and to the top of Queen's Road will also lead you there, and this area is no more than ten minutes on foot from the High Street. Alongside the Quarry entrance is a path to the woods that will lead you to Water Tower or the Encampment (Iron Age Fort), depending on whether you take the left or right path at the top.

Old Town Quarry

Weston Woods, Encampment

If you have a whole day, drop down by the Water Tower and head over to Sand Bay, which isn't as far as you might imagine, though for this you will need food and drink as there is nowhere in Sand Bay to buy anything at all, which for the budget-conscious parent must be a plus! And any energetic child will be in his element here, with all those sand dunes to slide down and millions of tiny shells to find. If you don't fancy the walk back, the Number 1 bus runs half-hourly from the beach, along the magical toll road and back to Weston town centre.

Winter at Sand Bay

Going the other way, catch the 14A or the 5/5A/5B from Worle or Weston to Uphill and check out the boats in Uphill Boat Yard, climb up to St Nicholas Church and take in those magnificient views (you can see Glastonbury Tor from here!). Wildlife aplenty and lots of room to run.

Brean Down & Boat Yard - View from Uphill

It's comforting to know that all of these Weston treasures are really easy to get to, even without a car!