Please see below a brief digest of upcoming events during July.

Tuesday 5 July - West Suffolk Young Musician 2011
7.00pm
An opportunity to hear the cream of West Suffolk's young musicians, showcasing their talents and competing for the title of West Suffolk Young Musician 2011. Vocalists, pianists, string, brass and woodwind players will perform a wide variety of music of all styles. A panel of adjudicators will decide the Winner, who will be presented with their prize and trophy on the night. The evening's entertainment will also feature a short performance from Competition's Patron, Dominic Seldis (Principal Double Bass, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra).

Sat 9 Jul - LMA Stage School End of Year Showcase
Junior showcase 3.30pm
Senior Showcase 7.30pm
Local Stage School Lights, Music, Action presents a showcase of Acting, Musical Theatre, Stage Band, Classic Vocals, Contemporary Vocals and Dance. Their music will span many genres from madrigals to Mozart and Sondheim to Schwartz.

Tuesday 12 July - Saturday 16 July – Half Hour Call present Into the Woods
7.30pm each day
Matinee performance Saturday 2.30pm
Following the success of their sell out showcase Don't Stop Me Now, Half Hour Call brings one of Sondheim's most intriguing and imaginative works to the Theatre Royal stage. The Tony Award winning musical, Into the Woods is an enchanting story of wolves, witches, magic beans and giants, who reside in a fairytale land where, for a short while, their wishes come true.

Week 1 - Monday 25 July – 29 July
Week 2 - Monday 8 August – 12 August
Drama Extravaganza - The Guildhall
Starts 10.00am each day
After last year’s resounding success, the Theatre Royal is offering two drama extravaganzas in the summer holidays! 5-12 year olds can come along to one of either two weeks, where they can get stuck into drama and creative activities with theatre professionals. This year, the Theatre will be discovering the enchantment of Rwandan Folk Tales to celebrate Bury St Edmunds’ Rwandan Olympic visit next year.

Tuesday 26 July - Wednesday 27 July – Potted Potter
3.00pm and 7.00pm both days
All seven Harry Potter books in seventy minutes. Watch CBBC's Dan and Jeff take on the ultimate challenge, with the help of endless costumes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props, and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic.

The excellent Harleston Choral Society, conducted by Chris Bracewell, celebrated their 10th anniversary with a concert at St John’s Church, Harleston on 18 June 2011.

The moment the orchestra, led by Miles Golding, began the introduction to Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’ the audience knew they were in for a good evening. This is a truly majestic piece of music, which the choir obviously enjoyed performing. Then came a real treat. Trumpeters John Coulton and Bevan Mac with orchestra and continuo performed the delightful double trumpet concerto by Vivaldi – a highlight of the evening.

The second half performance was Haydn’s ‘Nelson Mass’.

Despite being described by Haydn himself as a ‘mass for times of distress’, this work makes a very joyful sound. A feature of the piece is the amount of time that soloists and choir sing together, which adds greatly to the overall quality of sound.

One must pay tribute to the excellent Liz Brice(soprano) who had a major role to play. She was ably supported by Catherine Denley (alto), William Falconer (tenor) and Stefan Berkieta (bass-baritone).

But, what the audience will really remember is the overall quality of performance and the sheer enjoyment of performers and listeners alike.

Well done Harleston Choral. Your late founder, Ann Gee, would have been proud of you.

May the next 10 years be as joyful!

www.harlestonchoralsoc.org.uk

SeaChange Arts are working in partnership with Great Yarmouth Community Library to hold a variety of free creative workshops over the summer. The workshops are being funded by The Big Lottery Fund.

A session for families to create ‘plant pot heads’ is being held on Saturday 2nd July from 11am until 2pm. The plant pots will be decorated and seeds and wild flowers planted in them to create ‘hair.’ Participants can take their pots home at the end of the workshop and watch them grow over the next few weeks.

On Tuesday 5th July 2011, local adults are being invited to help bring some more colour to the Library’s Growing Together Community Garden by painting the fish on the blue metal work surrounding each of the flower beds. The fish represent the ‘silver darlin’s’ or herrings that Great Yarmouth used to be famous for. This session will run from 10am – 12pm, and the Library are also keen to meet any volunteers who would like to help with the upkeep of the garden in the longer term.

A circus and performance workshop will be taking place on Saturday 23rd July from 1 – 4pm to launch the Library’s Summer Reading Challenge. People of all ages can try their hand at performance, clowning, face painting and stage make-up, as well as different circus skills including tightrope, juggling, Diablo, devil sticks, spinning plates and much more.

On Saturday 13th August a professional story teller and puppeteer will be running a story telling session. They will be animating magical stories, and also giving parents the opportunity to learn some storytelling techniques that they will be able to use at home.

For all of the workshops there is no need to book a place– participants can just come along on the day. For those workshops that are suitable for children, children under 8 years old must be accompanied by an adult.

SeaChange Arts have been working with Great Yarmouth Library to deliver creative workshops for the community since the beginning of June. So far, local people have taken part in several environmental art workshops in the Library Garden, and have created plant labels to help visitors identify the different plants that are growing and a beautiful sculptured willow fence which is helping to protect the plant life.

Caroline Fernandez, Community Development Worker, said "These workshops are a great opportunity to get creative, have some fun, learn new skills, and also enhance the Growing Together Community Garden."

For further information about any of the upcoming workshops, please contact Laurie Miller-Zutshi on 01493 846187 or email laurie@seachangearts.org.uk

Suffolk’s award winning ‘Respect for dementia’ campaign is launching subtitled versions of its anti-stigma video to promote equality during Dementia Awareness Week 2011 3 – 9 July.

‘Respect for dementia’, a campaign by Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, produced anti-stigma materials promoting awareness of dementia, including a video launched during Dementia Awareness Week 2010.

The video, which explores how dementia affects the person diagnosed and their loved ones, in being re-launched in three subtitled languages: Bengali, Chinese and Polish.

The Trust funded the translations of the video using money awarded from NHS East of England’s 2010 Innovation Awards for its ‘Respect for dementia’ campaign, which it also used to create translated bookmarks.

Gabriel Tamaya, project lead for ‘Respect for dementia’, said: “We were awarded prize money of £2000 for tackling inequalities in healthcare. We decided to invest this money back into the community and reduce the stigma surrounding the condition by promoting information and services to some of Suffolk’s biggest ethnic minority groups.”

The film re-launch supports the theme for Dementia Awareness Week - ‘Remember the person’ - which is about looking beyond someone’s dementia diagnosis, and remembering that they are still a person.

The subtitled videos are available to watch on the campaign website: www.ifyouknew.co.uk.

Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust works in partnership to provide mental health services to people in the county of Suffolk, with the exclusion of Waveney, and in the town of Thetford in Norfolk. It also provides an alcohol treatment service and learning disability services to the county of Suffolk.

Its website is at www.smhp.nhs.uk. For a full breakdown of services and financial performance, see the Trust’s annual report online under ‘Information>Reports’

DSA's chief executive Rosemary Thew said:

“Not all examiners are members of the PCS union and even if they are, we cannot be sure that they will not turn up for work. We therefore want candidates to attend so that practical tests can be delivered if possible. Theory tests are not affected and will be taking place as planned.


“Candidates who turn up but are unable to take their tests because of industrial action will not have to contact DSA to re-book. They should hear from us with a new date within five to ten working days. We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause and will do everything we can to minimise disruption for our customers."

If no examiner is available for a test, a new date will be rebooked automatically by DSA and the candidate will be sent details of the new test. If candidates fail to attend they will not be able to claim out-of-pocket expenses if their tests are cancelled and they will need to rebook their own tests.

DSA’s customer service centre for practical tests might also be affected by the strike action. Customers who wish to book a practical test will still be able to use DSA's internet booking service at direct.gov.uk/drivingtest.

Details about claiming out-of-pocket expenses can be found at direct.gov.uk/drivingtestexpenses.

When Shakespeare includes not one, but two sets of identical twins (twin servants and twin masters separated in infancy), what can result but the most hilarious series of mistakes? Add to the mix a wayward husband, a domineering wife and frustrated sister, a father under sentence of death, accusations of theft, infidelity and fraud, and you have the recipe for one of Shakespeare’s most entertaining and accessible plays.

Roughcast capture the sheer exuberance of the play in a frenetic and fast-moving production set in the sultry Eastern Mediterranean, complemented by colourful live music and featuring an “A list” of local acting talent.

See us on:

Thursday 23rd June – Stradbroke Villiage Hall – 01379 856 745

Friday 24th June – Halesworth Cut - 0845 6732123 or at The Cut Box Office

Friday 1st July – Hoxne Swan Gardens – 01379 856745

Sunday 3rd Framlingham Festival - 01728 724649

Tickets are £8 for all venues and £5 for under 18’s. Tickets might be available on the door at some venues, depending on availability.

SeaChange Arts are looking for young people from across Norfolk aged between 13 and 25 years old to take part in an exciting new circus project. Participants will work with professional artists to produce a brand new piece of street theatre which they will then perform at the region’s largest free International festival of street art and circus, the Out There Festival. They will also be given the chance to explore and research the circus and entertainment heritage of Great Yarmouth to use as inspiration for the piece. Participants can chose whether to take part in either the heritage or performance side of the project, or both.

The Heritage sessions will take place on 25th, 27th and 29th July at the Norfolk Records Office in Norwich. Participants will be shown how to create a contemporary circus archive and receive training in oral history. Spaces are limited to 10 participants per session, and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

In order to help with their research, SeaChange Arts are looking for local people who have memories of the circus in Great Yarmouth to be interviewed by the young people. Memories can be about anything at all to do with the circus (perhaps visiting as a child, knowing one of the performers or remembering when animals used to perform in the shows), and SeaChange would love to hear from anyone who would like to share their experiences. The memories will be stored in a permanent archive at the Norfolk Records Office, and will be used by the young people to inspire the creation of the new circus performance. The interviews will take place in Great Yarmouth on 2nd and 4th August.

The performance workshops will be running at the Priory Centre in Great Yarmouth on 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 30th and 31st August, and on 4th and 11th September. Participants will work with professional artists to create the piece to be performed at the Out There International Festival of Street Arts and Circus 2011. The young people will also have the opportunity to attend workshops with the UK’s leading contemporary circus company, No Fit State Circus, to learn skills including aerial, acrobatics and juggling. These sessions will take place in Great Yarmouth on 13th, 14th and 15th September.

The final performance will take place as part of the Out There Festival on Sunday 18th September in the town’s St George’s Park.

To request an application form for the project, or if you would like to share your memories of the circus, please contact Laurie Miller-Zutshi at SeaChange Arts on 01493 846187, or email laurie@seachangearts.org.uk.

Macmillan Cancer Support is once again preparing for its largest annual fundraising event, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. With 2011 marking the charity’s 100th anniversary, Macmillan is committed to making this year’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning the biggest one ever. Though the given date for the event is 30th September 2011, participants are reminded that they can hold their Coffee Morning for the charity on any date of their choosing.

Whether at home, in the church hall, at the village fete, on the beach or in your workplace, a Coffee Morning for Macmillan can take place anywhere you choose. It’s all about having fun, eating cake and making a big difference. Even £1 can help cancer patients and their loved ones across the region and beyond receive vital emotional, medical, practical or financial support.

Last year 43,000 people across the nation made their cuppa count, raising a staggering £8 million for people living with cancer. As treatments improve, people are living with cancer for longer meaning the work of Macmillan is needed more than ever. World’s Biggest Coffee Morning turns 21 this year too so there is even more reason to put the kettle on.

Registrations are now open. Go to coffee.macmillan.org.uk or call 0845 602 1246 to receive your free fundraising pack and help make 2011’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning the biggest one ever for Macmillan Cancer Support.

It soon became apparent that my bee was not a typical bumble bee although it had characteristics of a Bumble bee called Bombus sylvestris. The books told me to look at the tip of the abdomen which was unfortunately rather difficult from the photograph.

Before I gave up and sent my image to an expert I decided not to go with my blinkered attitude of the bombus genus but to turn a few pages and look at similar species.

Soon I came upon my friend. It was! A Cuckoo be called Pisythrus campestris.

I was overjoyed at finding this unknown species, to me before and soon found the bee has an interesting lifestyle. They typically enter the nests of pollen-collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and, if the female cleptoparasite has not already done so, kills and eats the host larva. In a few cases where the hosts are social species (e.g., the subgenus Psithyrus of the genus Bombus, which are parasitic bumble bees that infiltrate nests of non-parasitic species of Bombus), the cleptoparasite remains in the host nest and lays many eggs, sometimes even killing the host queen and replacing her - such species are often called social parasites, though a few of them are also what are referred to as "brood parasites".

Many cuckoo bees are closely related to their hosts, and may bear similarities in appearance reflecting this relationship. This is why it was so very similar to the other genus Bombus.

Colin Jacobs.

The Earsham Festival will take place this year during the weekend of July 16/17th 2011 and once again the emphasis will be on family entertainment.

On Saturday, July 16th, there will be the annual Mini Beer Festival in the village hall from 11.00am until late and a Family Fun Day on the village green in the afternoon.

Attractions will include horse drawn carriage rides round the village, Earsham School dancing display, Bungay High School musicians and Beccles Gym Club display.

There will be charity stalls, craft stalls, traditional games and competitions, childrens’ craft activities, bouncy castle and other inflatables and a variety of refreshments. Good quality food will be available throughout the day with dancing in the village hall in the evening to the music of two local bands.

The theme for the weekend will be teddy bears. On both Saturday and Sunday there will be a walking photo trail round the village looking for teddy bears, on Sunday All Saints Church will host a hunt the teddy bears competition and on Sunday afternoon there will be a teddy bears’ picnic in the Church grounds.

Also on Sunday there will be flower displays and craft displays in the Church.

Morning coffee and cream teas will be available during the weekend at the Church and events will conclude on Sunday with Songs of Praise for all the family at 4.30pm.

For further details please telephone 01986 893445.

Tickets - members £2.50 (yearly membership £10 pro-rata) - non-members £5.00 on the door. Licensed bar. Contact bungayfilmclub@hotmail.co.uk www.bungayfilmclub.com or 01986 896949/01986 894338

Travel back to an intrepid age of aviation with this early newsreel, as famous pilot H.J.D. Astley makes an ill-starred attempt to take off from the North Wales coast at Pwllheli.

Astley takes it all in good spirit; the son of a millionaire, he had been a racing driver before taking up flying.

The woman in the film is likely to be his wife Mary Kinder, an American actress. Astley was no stranger to close shaves, and would survive another near miss on a flight from France to England, but his luck ran out.

During a show in Belfast on 22 September 1912, the 30,000-strong crowd saw his monoplane plummet 100 feet to the ground, where he died of head injuries. (Simon McCallum)

Our first Festival of Norfolk & Suffolk Ciders is being held at Halesworth White Swan on the weekend of 1st to 3rd of July 2011.

A range of locally produced draught ciders and a perry will be available from Friday evening onwards complimenting our usual extensive of range of sixteen traditional and fruit ciders, so there should be something to suit everybodys tastes.

There will be Live music on Friday by Guitarist/vocalist Terry Adams and on Saturday evening by Irish Folk duo Fo'c'sle.

There will also be a teatime bbq with locally produced butchers Sausages, Burgers etc.

For further information please ring 01986 872273 or www.halesworthwhiteswan.co.uk or find us on facebook.