Primary Times Warwickshire & Solihull Back to School 2019

Primary Times Warwickshire & Solihull
LOCAL NEWS
4
Warwickshire & Solihull
NEWS
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Major Writers & Broadcasters
Lead Literary Festival’s Winter
Line-Up
The Stratford Literary Festival
will be packing some of the
most respected writers and
veteran broadcasters into
a weekend of events this
November.
In a programme of events
running from 1st to 3rd
November, the Festival will
transport you from the world’s
newsrooms to India of the Raj
and even fair Verona, over three
days of events for all ages.
For families, there’ll be loads of
half term fun for all ages with
comedian Ben Miller meeting
Father Christmas, the hilarious
Andy Seed exploring all things
gross, celebrating 50 years of
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
with the chance to help build a
giant one, and the opportunity
to explore the story with sensory
stimulation through Arty Splatz.
The Word Wizards will be
letting you in on the naughty
vocabulary of Roald Dahl, and
events for children round off
with some Really Big Pants
Theatre Company storytelling
fun.
A busy schedule will include
veteran broadcasters Sir Trevor
McDonald and John Humphrys,
as he hangs up his BBC Radio 4
Today programme headphones
for the last time, and both will
be discussing the highlights of
their careers, the interviews they
have done with world leaders
and the world affairs they have
covered over the decades.
Historian Sir Max Hastings
reveals details of his new
book on the Dam Buster raids.
The outspoken Birmingham
Yardley MP Jess Phillips will be
campaigning for more open
government in her book Truth to
Power, and BBC’s Carrie Gracie
will tackle the equal pay debate
over which she left her role as
China editor. Award winning
historian Tom Holland will be
discussing how Christianity
has endured since the earliest
times, as outlined in his superb
new book Dominion, and the
Oxford University Shakespeare
expert, Emma Smith, will be
bringing a new slant to the
Bard’s work. Cheesemonger
Ned Palmer takes us on an
odyssey around the British Isles,
with tickets including a glass
of wine, cheese to sample,
and a copy of his book, and
producer David Parker reveals
never-before-seen footage of
Laurie Lee talking about his
beloved Cotswolds. Finally, the
legendary Jenny Eclair takes us
from stand up to sit down with
life as a novelist.
‘Our Winter Weekend is
crammed this year with loads
to see and do,’ says Festival
Director, Annie Ashworth.
‘and will hopefully provide a
diversion after the will we/
won’t we Brexit deadline of
31st October! We’re offering
up a platter that includes fair
pay and fair play, the future of
broadcasting, Father Christmas
and cheese – so a bit of
everything!’
This year’s Winter Weekend
is sponsored by David Hunt
Lighting, who are long-time
supporters of the Festival.
Waterstones will be selling
books and the programme
cover is designed by Stratford
artist, Sara Huxley-Edwards.
All events take place at the
Stratford Play House, United
Reformed Church or Hotel du
Vin and tickets are available
by phone on 0333 666 3366,
online via the Festival website at
stratlitfest.co.uk or in person at
Stratford Play House.
For further information:
stratlitfest.co.uk
BACK TO SCHOOL 2019 | www.primarytimes.co.uk/warwickshire
Leamington Music
Education Programme –
Where The Music Starts
Have you heard of Leamington
Music before? They put on
concerts bringing international
musicians to venues across
Leamington and Warwick and,
they bring these musicians to
schools too: last year, through
their Education Programme,
ten musical ensembles gave
twenty nine workshops in
seventeen schools throughout
Warwickshire playing live music
to well over 3,500 children and,
this year, the programme is
even bigger.
Concert activities are extremely
varied – this year they have
string quartets, early music
bands, brass ensembles,
pianists, guitarists and even
a recorder quartet who play
every type of recorder there is,
including one that is well over
six feet tall!
Leamington Music is offering
the following workshops to
schools: in October: Curzon
Brass – a brass quintet
which is formed of two
trumpets, a French
horn, a trombone and
a tuba. In November,
guitarist Andrey
Lebedev from Australia;
the Palisander Recorder
Quartet who are doing
a Family Concert called
“Beware the Spider!”;
and the Talich String
Quartet from the Czech
Republic who play two
violins, viola and cello.
An exciting Early Music
ensemble, The Gonzaga
Band, come in January
with cornetts (a very old
version of the trumpet), violins,
a harpsichord (an ancient
type of piano with a very
interesting sound) and a singer.
There’s another string quartet
in February – the Consone
Quartet – and then, in March,
musicians from Ensemble 360
will be giving workshops before
their Family Concert of the
brilliant book “Sir Scallywag and
the Battle of Stinky Bottom”.
Leamington Music work in
partnership with Warwickshire
Music to bring live music to
schools all over the county
(not just in Leamington and
Warwick) and they want to
bring these musicians to YOUR
school! If you would like them
to play for your children, just ask
the school to fill in the form on
their website –
www.leamingtonmusic.org/
education – and they will do
the rest.
Choose How You Move in
Leamington Spa
You can now earn rewards for walking, cycling or using public
transport in Leamington thanks to a new app-based rewards
programme, ‘Choose How You Move Leamington Spa’
powered by BetterPoints, a behaviour change platform.
Delivered by Warwick District Council and BetterPoints
in partnership with Warwickshire County Council, the
programme aims to encourage anyone who lives, works,
shops in or visits Leamington Spa to log their green travel
in return for BetterPoints that are redeemable on the high
street, or can be donated to
charity.
The BetterPoints app is
available for free download
now on Android and OS and
the Choose How You Move
Leamington programme
will be available for an initial
period of four months. For
more information and tools
to plan your journey, visit:
www.warwickshire.gov.
uk/activetravel