by Dee | Feb 16, 2016 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
Check out this website at www.woodlandtrust.co.uk for some wonderful half term and holiday experiences for you and the kids.
From their ‘Out and About’, to their ‘Amazing adventures’, ‘Fascinating Foxy Facts’, ‘Your local Wood’ and ‘Be a Wildlife Tracker’ – this will be a revelation to the grown ups as you explore some of the most exciting hidden woodlands throughout the UK.
If you want to remain London based, then the kids are more than alright with this treasure trove of family-friendly activities and events.
The kids are in charge at the Southbank Centre once more in February as their two-week children’s festival returns. The theme for 2016 is Roald Dahl, and you can expect a wide range of captivating theatre, dance, music, film and comedy plus readings from some of the UK’s favourite authors, with free and ticketed events for young people of all ages.
The bill includes David Baddiel, Judith Kerr, Rastamouse, Cressida Cowell, Mary Hoffman, Laura Dockrill, Cerrie Burnell, Ben Bailey Smith, the world premiere of interactive experience ‘The Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl’ and other events celebrating author’s centenary.
Highlights include the chance to hop on to The Giant Storytelling Bed; a host of workshops to get stuck into, from clay sculpture to sign language; the opportunity to hear the entirety of Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ on the Clore Ballroom stage (Feb 18); a live illustration of the epic story from Dahl’s final book, ‘The Minpins’ set to the music of Sibelius played by London Schools Symphony Orchestra (Feb 15); hip hop posturing in the Rap Factor battles; Cressida Cowell presenting the final book in her ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series; and Holly Smale discussing the latest ‘Geek Girl’ book.
Check the Imagine Festival webpage for details of dates, prices and times.
Recommended: read their countdown of the 100 best children’s books
For those of you heading or living North this Summer, a real discovery is this small family run farm which has been in the Sunderland area since 18th century. Over the years the family has been involved in many types of farming from milking Friesian cows, growing potatoes, crops and rearing cattle. Even just a decade ago, Down at the Farm was a large cattle enterprise run by the Weightman family with over 400 Limousin cows.
In 2007 the main cow field was designed and converted into a purpose built farm park. Their aim was to bring a little bit of countryside education, together with lots of fun and play for their visitors in a safe environment. They are primarily a seasonal attraction which changes according to the farming calendar and time of year and they are growing steadily each year. Their main season runs between Spring & Autumn – they close every winter. They have a wide variety of farm animals to hold and stroke, play areas and activities to make your day even more fun! They have lots of different types of farm animals for you to meet from sheep, cattle, donkeys, and pigs.
Just like the farm, their animals needs change with the seasons, depending on whether they are breeding , giving birth or needing shelter and their animal activities and talks are the perfect opportunity for them to inform their visitors of these changes.
They also have a small collection of non native species of animals such as Reindeer, Snowy owls, Meerkats, Raccoons and Reptiles. In doing so, they hold a zoo license which ensures that they meet the required welfare standards for these animals. Please see their animals page for more information on specific animals. They are also undertaking small conservation projects to encourage wild birds to come back and nest at the farm, as well as redeveloping pond areas to encourage wildlife habitats. They also believe that by allowing specific areas of the park to be left in a wild state, they will help more habitats to form.
www.downatthefarm.co.uk
by Dee | Feb 5, 2016 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
Growing up in the seventies in a household where UFOs were very much the centre of discussion and aliens were a given in our Society, seemed completely normal.
My parents, often heralded ‘the Godparents of Sci-fi’ were the pioneers of programmes which paved the way for blockbusters like Star Wars, Close Encounters and Star Trek.
I am the first to admit that this enviably enriched environment was taken for granted by me at the time, but looking back I can now thankfully share the experiences and appreciate the knowledge more than most of my contemporaries.
My father Gerry Anderson took a fact finding trip to Nasa at the time he was researching for the programmes UFO and Space 1999, and came back buzzing with excitement at his findings. He had trouble doing the sky Space Walk across the bridge as he suffered from vertigo, but the rest was intriguing for him and he shared stories of UFOs and Alien encounters that had been given to him from experts at the Space Station.
I had spotted an incredibly dazzling ‘shooting star’ one early morning when staying with relatives in the country, and as I described it to him, he told me in no uncertain terms that the vision I had seen was probably a ‘close encounter’. I believed him, and have been fascinated by the subject ever since.
For anyone investigating the UFO phenomena will have heard about the ‘Black Knight’ an unusually shaped black object circling the Earth. The USA blamed Russia in the fifties for secretly launching the spaceship, but the Russians were equally baffled by the craft.
The film ‘Men in Black’ depicted aliens living within our society, and of course, where there is fiction there is an element of truth, and you only have to scan the Close Encounter websites for evidence of such findings, or read former Canadian Defence Minister, Paul Hellyer’s account of Aliens in our society.
A very close friend of mine living in the States is a woman now in her late sixties, whose husband was in the Military. They both spotted a spherical shaped silver flying object near a Military base, which swooped above them, turned in the sky and and flew off. They were both stunned but put it down to a secret Government craft, but on investigation, have never had a satisfactory answer from the Government or the Military to this day.
There are groups of UFO spotters all over the World, and even in the UK, where another acquaintance told me of a sequence of events with no logical explanation, with reference to sights and glimpses of unusual flying objects which landed at key spots in our own back yard.
Without sounding like a weird sci-fi fantasist or conspiracy theorist, if you are a believer or just fascinated by the subject, why not take some time out to explore some of the UFO links and decide for yourself.
Equally, we would love to hear from you if you have had any ‘unusual’ experiences relating to UFOs or unexplained sightings. After all, the Universe is constantly expanding, and there is so much we have to learn about our own Galaxy and beyond.
www.ufosightingsdaily.com
by Glotime | Jan 22, 2016 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
This week on GloTIME we have been talking a lot about the stars of stage and screen and the Oscars and the Grammies. Now it is time to get back down to earth and take a tip from our Grannies.
They say the best remedies are the ones handed down from our ancestors, and remembering hours of happy times in my own Grandma’s kitchen, I would like to share some of her special tips along with other great vintage solutions.
Ten top tips:
- When cleaning steel cutlery, add a little bicarbonate soda to take off those extra stubborn stains.
- Red Wine stains can be removed by pouring salt over the area and leaving for several hours.
- Candle wax spilled on clothes or furniture can be easily eradicated by ironing over the offending area with thick brown wrapping paper – the wax will be absorbed into the paper. For excessive damage, repeat the procedure until all the wax is removed.
- A dab of toothpaste is recommended for stubborn stains on clothes and crayon marks on the walls.
- Ballpoint ink marks can be removed by rubbing them with a dab of clear alcohol.
- Clean laminates with baking soda and water paste on stains for 10 to 15 minutes and wipe up with a wet cloth
- Pots and pans that are stained can be cleaned with white vinegar, soak them for thirty minutes or more and then rinse in hot soapy water.
- Add a few drops of olive oil into hard water which will make the soap lather easier and keep the skin from getting rough.
- Ketchup is amazing when cleaning copper pots and pans – they come up a treat.
- Peanut butter is a great remedy for removing labels and stains from glassware and porcelain dolls or ornaments.
- We would like to hear from you with any special ‘hand me down’ tips that we can share on GloTIME. After all, we can all do with a little help from our Grans. Ooops I can feel a song coming on
