Prepare to be Entertained - Panto in Bristol and Weston

Hooray: it’s panto season once more. If British campery, shouting at the top of your voice, rubbish jokes and self-deprecation is your thing, then the West is the place to be.

This year, those living in North Somerset are lucky enough to have easy access to two very different and highly entertaining pantomimes: Dick Whittington at the Bristol Hippodrome and Cinderella at the Playhouse, Weston.



Dick

You don’t expect to be handed a pair of 3D glasses when you go to the theatre to see a traditional panto, do you? That’s what happened when we collected our tickets to Dick Whittington at the Bristol Hippodrome. We were in for a treat.

With her trademark tottering walk, her love of huge hair and that high-pitched, unique cackle, Barbara Windsor is an inspired choice as Fairy Bowbells. One of the first things we hear is that famous, and more than a little annoying, giggle of hers, which transports so many of us back to the days of Carry-On humour. And Eric Potts, the scriptwriter, who has cast himself as a proper pantomime dame in the role of Sarah the Cook, don’t ‘alf milk Babs’ lengthy career to delightful effect.

Here she comes, sitting upon a star, floating high above the stage while the well-choreographed and exquisitely dressed dancers move gracefully to the EastEnders theme tune. She tells us all about the 16 year Nightmare she’s just awoken from (yes, you’ve got it), before joining the troupe to do the “Lambeth Walk,” Oi! From then on there are Walford and Carry-On jokes aplenty, particularly ones involving breasts.

And that Dick loves a good old singsong too! Throughout the performance, Owain Williams, in the title role, unleashes his trained-for-theatre voice onto us, belting out a catalogue of songs by anyone from Take That! to Michael Buble (uh-huh).

For the second year running, it’s Andy Ford who truly steals the show as this year’s panto fool, Idle Jack. With his West Country accent, his silly expressions and his perfect timing, he delivers the mostly deliberately terrible gags with comic genius. Eric Potts makes sure Jack doesn’t forget Portishead in his repertoire but my favourite joke of the night (apart from all the ones about willies) is, understandably, when the cast is about to sail the oceans. “Bristol for the Continent,” shouts Jack. “Weston for the incontinent!”

My four year old was made up with this trip to the theatre and particularly with Dick’s dancing cat, courtesy of Omari Bernard. She shouted at the stage along with everyone else and, when it was time to put on the 3D glasses, she gasped, “They’re coming in my eyes. Are they coming in your eyes? They’re magic glasses.” Spellbound.

The set is spectacular in all its symmetry and sparkle and the costumes simply beautiful on one hand and outrageous on another: I’m thinking here of Sarah the Cook’s outfits, particularly her terrible lime green bikini! Cue Carry On Camping with absolute predictability but, hey, this is pantomime.

At the end of the show, we all have a sing song in ship-shape Bristol fashion. Oh, what fun to shout “Gurt Lush,” and “Cheers Drive,” as loudly as you can and with no inhibitions. Ooh, saucy.

Cinders

The Playhouse, Weston, delivers a less lavish production than the big city 20 miles up the road, but it’s no less enjoyable because of this. I noticed it last year; the way panto in Weston juxtaposes ballet and dance with absolute tomfoolery to great effect.

And because this year the Playhouse brings us Cinderella, we get two pantomime dames for the price of one in the form of those delightful Ugly Sisters: Ravishing Rita, played by Mark Two, and Wicked Wanda (Jamie Steen). And they cause havoc, those two hags – spraying the audience with super-soakers or with water from their boobs and at one point threatening us with a hosepipe (“Thanks, Linford”), tormenting poor Cinderella, and dressing in the most hideous outfits of leopard and Dalmatian skin, Christmas tree/cracker, cakes and birdcages, among others.

The scriptwriters, Keith and Ben Simmons (with additional material by Lee Waddingham) have done their homework on the local area and jokes about the Bourneville and Bleadon are thrown in, as well as mentions of the outlaying villages. Buttons is played convincingly enough by Sean Wilson (Martin Platt from Coronation Street) and his on-stage presence demands unavoidable reference to Corrie and sour-faced Gail.

Costume design is good, with glitter and twinkle in all the right places. The best scene must be when the girl in rags turns into a princess, accompanied by falling snow and a very cute white Shetland pony. “Did they come from the beach?” asked the four year old who once again wiggled, sang and shouted her way through the show, as much of the audience did.

In the role of Cinders, Kelle Bryan, formerly of the band Eternal, gives good voice to many a tune, the majority of which I’d thankfully never heard before, and this is when the production really comes together, so convincing are Kelle and the cast of dancers, with children from the Tina Counsell School of Dance and Drama completing the family feel.

We boo-ed, we hissed, we cheered, we laughed, we screamed, we shouted our “Behind yous” and our “Oh, no, he didn’ts” but the biggest hysteria from the adults came when the Ugly Sisters, Baron Hardup (John Lyons of A Touch of Frost fame) and Buttons failed to get to sleep in a haunted house. Deliberately misplaced props and costume calamities caused uproarious laughter from the audience, who had completely thawed out by this point.

And now we’re on fire. So much so that I think we’re going to go to the ball all over again!

Oh yes we are!


HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Dick Whittington is on at the Bristol Hippodrome until 9th January 2011
Cinderella is on at the Playhouse, Weston until 9th January 2011

Ping and Pong - Splash

Book Review - Ping and Pong: Splash.
Written by Amy Trevaskus, illustrated by Alison Heath


"I've got you a present."

"Wow!" said my 4 year old girl.

Two minutes later, we started to read Splash, the first in a series of books about Ping and Pong. She's just started school and has recently learned most of her letters, phonetically of course.

As I told her how Lucy was going to the park with her two friends, Ping and Pong, miniature beings, who live in the clock in the hall, she listened. On the fourth page, My Girl let her fingers glide over a series of letters and voiced them, "P-I-N-G. P-I-N-G," she looked up to the ceiling. "Ping!" she announced suitably proudly. Then she searched the text. "P-O-N-G. Pong!" We both got excited. And so the journey has begun.

After school today, still with her uniform on, she sat down with Ping and Pong and read quietly to herself. I was unable to hear the words of the story, until she shouted, just like Pong does, "I LOVE PUDDLES!"

At bedtime, we revisted our new friends. She relayed the story, in her own words first. It went something like this:

"Right, what do you think is in the story?" I ask what happens. "That's Lucy. Look. Ping got all ready to go out in the park. She puts her boots on just in case it rained. They went out. What do you think happened? It's really good!" She turns the page, "Hello frog, where did you come from? I came from the pond." There is no frog in this story, it's called imagination ;)

"And what do you think happened? It's not good! It got raining and raining and raining. And Pong said, 'I LOVE PUDDLES'. And what do you think happened? She poured water out of her boot. That's Ping."

Then, she spells out ten words. We both get excited again. Cue my turn to read the story, this time in the author's own words, beautifully written and cleverly illustrated, one of those books that I actually enjoy reading and one that she hangs onto every word of, only interrupting me to give her analysis, "Pong likes to go up high in the swing, Ping doesn't like swings a lot." Or to ask a question, "Why is she taking the water out of her wellies?"

We finish reading our new book and she says. "I love Ping and Pong. I love your presents, Mummy. Thank you."

If only all bedtimes were this easy! She's asleep now: I wonder what she's dreaming about....

Weston-super-Mum has a signed copy of Ping and Pong: Splash to give to one lucky winner.

For more information about Ping and Pong and to order your own copy, please visit their website

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!

StoryShed @ North Somerset Museum

We hadn't been to North Somerset Museum in Burlington Street since their highly successful arts and crafts sessions with Helen and the Punch & Judy shows by Professor Walton during the summer holidays, so after Bargains 4 Babies and Toddlers at Victoria Methodist Church on Saturday, we decided to pop in for an hour.

The women on reception kindly let me put my shopping bags behind the desk and we entered the courtyard to a new but temporary structure - StoryShed! This turned out to be a locally recycled wooden hut decorated with all manner of sparkly and interesting items, each one relating to one of the stories that you can listen to on the laptop inside.

My 4 year-old, attracted initially by the fairy lights overhead, made a bee-line for the computer and clicked randomly. The first story we listened to (and that she wanted to hear 3 times!) was called "Dancing at the Hippodrome," all about Jasmine's experience of going to the Bristol theatre, a venue we could both relate to. Hearing another child's voice kept mine transfixed and she listened intently. An accompanying logbook assigns each story a set of keywords that can be used as an educational extension and you can search for the related objects dotted around. We looked for an item or two on display that might be connected to the story and we found a pair of ballet shoes.

Produced by Theatre Orchard, StoryShed brings together pupils from our local Priory Community School and adults from Somerset Racial Equality Council's Friendship Group, who, between them, have documented their personal experiences and diverse cultural backgrounds. It's a good example of how interactivity can really work in a museum setting, relying on visual, audio and kinesthetic stimulus.

It kept us occupied for a good 10 minutes and then she was off to dress up as a ladybird, torment Mr Punch, decorate a paper vase with coloured pencils and set up an imaginary picnic for both of us.

Storyshed closes on October 22nd.

Weston Hospicecare "Strawberry Jam" Bike Riding Fundraiser

Over the last few weeks the fundraising team at Weston Hospicecare have been busy planning a new and exciting event called the ‘Strawberry Jam’. The event is a cycling event and is suitable for families and keen cyclists alike. The Hospice hopes to raise over £10,000 from the event which would pay for all the medication to keep patients pain free in the Hospice In-patient Unit for well over 12 months.

The Hospice is a lifeline for people with life-limiting illnesses all over Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding communities such as Burnham on Sea, Cheddar, Wedmore, Yatton and Congresbury. The Hospice sees 1300 patients and their carers through their doors every year and without it a lot of these people would have nowhere else to turn. The funds raised at the Strawberry Jam will contribute to the £3 million that the Hospice needs to raise every year to keep its services running – Only 20% of these costs are funded from the NHS.

One team that is getting really excited about the event is the team in ‘Cupcakes’ the new Hospice café that opened in Weston-super-Mare this summer.

Mark who heads up the team at Cupcakes says “I started working for the Hospice in the summer and I absolutely love it. I am from Weston-super-Mare and being local it has always been an organisation very close to my heart, I am very proud to now be part of it. There will be a group of us taking part in the Strawberry Jam including the volunteers that help out in the shop. We are being very ambitious and are going to have a go at the 50 mile route, we have started to get sponsorship in already and are determined to raise as much money as we can so there is no going back now!”

If you would like to take part in the event either on your own, as a family or as part of a team it takes place on Saturday 2nd October and you can choose from 3 routes.

10 Mile: The Strawberry Line - Yatton Station to Cheddar (passing through Congresbury, Sandford Winscombe and Axbridge)

25 Mile: From Cheddar to Uphill - through Cocklake, Wedmore, Blackford, Mark, Burnham on Sea, Berrow, Brean, Lympsham and Bleadon

Or for the toughest test of strength and endurance the…

50 miler which smashes through the Strawberry Line section and out into the 50 mile all out circuit! You will pass through Hutton, Locking, Banwell, Puxton, Congresbury, Wrington, Claverham.

Olly Joseph who is organising the event says “We have had amazing feedback from this event which is great as its new this year. We have been very careful to make sure that it is suitable for everyone so whether you are a family with young children or a keen road biker there is a route for you. Spaces are limited so hurry to ensure that you have your space reserved, you can pop into cupcakes to pick up your registration form and talk to the team there about the event or give me a call - I guarantee it’s going to be a fun day!”

To register for the event call the fundraising team today on 01934 423960 or visit the website www.westonhospicecare.org.uk/strawberryjam

A free day of FUN at Weston's new Water Park

Woo-hoo!! This week we spent an afternoon at the new Water Park on Weston’s sea front.

It’s free. Completely free. Doesn’t cost a penny. And for this reason alone, I was ready for absolute mayhem. It must be chaotically busy right?

Well, yes, there were certainly a lot of people enjoying the July sunshine, children everywhere, darting from swing to slide, from fountain to fountain, mums and dads all over the place, changing nappies and drying little bodies. But, no, the Tardis-like size of the place means that there is enough room for everyone and, in fact, it was a relaxing experience.

There are enough trees to find some shade and the wall that runs all the way down the left side of the park means that you can easily rest against something solid. Everyone seemed to be taking the fun in their stride and the sound of laughter and excited screams dissolved up into the skies above. I don’t even think I heard anyone crying.

We bumped into a few other Weston-super-Mums with children ranging from babies to four years old (the Summer Holidays had not yet started but the Park invites anyone under the age of 13, let’s see whether the tempo changes now schools have broken up). The café offers inexpensive snacks, drinks and toys and I was amazed to pay only 30p for a Mini-Milk!

My four year old went on just about everything and three hours were taken up in the blink of an eye. We met a boy called Sportacus, who showed us his talents for standing up on the zip wire, so that My Girl had to follow suit and proceeded to stand on the adjacent zip wire, on the regular swing AND at the head of the snake swing that sits at least four kids at a time. She insisited on taking off her wet swimsuit and replacing it with her dress, in order to whiz down the curly slide atop the climbing frame castle and she made music on the upright glockenspiel type instrument.

I stood with her in the water pool, which has no depth at all and is suitable for those not yet old enough to walk. The water levels go up and down and I hadn’t noticed that I was standing on a floor fountain until it hit me from below, quite a surprise – but a funny one! Even more entertaining to see it happen to others.

This is a must-visit for the summer and I felt so at ease with this excellent and safe playground that, next time we go along, I am sure to take a book to read.

:0)

By Becky @ http://www.docbec.com/

Weston-super-mums first monthly meet up

On Saturday July 3rd, The Purple Sheep Centre on Hughenden Road threw its doors open to the Weston-super-Mums for our very first monthly weekend meet up. It was a particularly special day for me, as my girl Ruby had turned one a couple of days before, so we were kicking off her weekend birthday celebrations here.

By the time we arrived, there were plenty of people already there and taking full advantage of the glorious weather. Outside The Purple Sheep Centre is a great space with loads of outdoor toys and play equipment. In such a safe environment where the kids could run free, the mums and dads at the event were able to relax and have a coffee and cake whilst their kids played. There was a really welcoming vibe to the place, and it was great to see a few new faces who I have not met yet at other meet ups and playdates.

We decided to make the most of the fact that most of the action was happening outside by having a cheeky go on the bouncy castle. I have been to The Purple Sheep a couple of times before, but it has always been too busy to take Ruby on the castle. Today with most of the kids being under 5, it was the perfect time. Also, I couldn’t let her on on her own, could I?! (I LOVE bouncy castles….) I was able to let Ruby off to explore, and she loved it, laughing her head off when others were jumping on it and flinging her around. She was only ever in danger when 3 over excited four and three year olds wanted to take it in turn holding her whilst bouncing. She gave me a look as if to say “quick, mummy, SAVE me…” so we jumped off and back out into the sunshine.

After blowing it out candles and eating birthday cake, we all carried on playing, chatting and enjoying the sun. It was amazing to see how a simple chocolate cake could make all the kids gather in one spot so quickly though…..

When the time came to leave, none of us could believe the event had gone so quickly. We all reckoned most of the kids could have gone for at least another hour of play. Its safe to say that the first super mum gathering was a roaring success and we can’t wait for the next one!

Weston-super-Mum will be having a monthly meet up at The Purple Sheep Centre on Hughenden Road in Weston on the first Saturday of each month. For more details of the next event, keep an eye on the website, www.westonsupermum.com