Category: entertainment and leisure news

OXFORDSHIRE’S millennium will close with a flourish in five county towns at the end of the year. Winter Light ? a series of colourful finale events ? will bring the curtain down on a special year which has highlighted the county?s rich creative life with new festivals and collaborations, from Luminox (a spectacular light and fire spectacle in Oxford?s historic Broad Street) to the Children?s Food Festival and Alice?s Day.
Winter Light continues the theme of light, fire and spectacle which has run throughout Oxfordshire in 2007. Son et lumiere, fire pictures and giant illuminated cones will create a magical atmosphere to light up the festive season.
Link
to the Winter Lights programme of events

Symphonie Conique in Chipping Norton and Henley

Centrepiece of the celebrations will be Symphonie Conique, a magical forest of spires – some of them up to 40 feet high ? which change colour and also respond to people around them with different sounds. A soundtrack unique to Oxfordshire has been created, which includes bells, horses? hooves and even the Friday night chip shop!
Symphonie Conique, which is produced by French company, Airvag and has travelled around the world, will make an appearance in Chipping Norton on December 6 (creating an echo of the ancient Rollright Stones on the Common), Henley (reflecting in the water and on one thousand years of history by the riverside) and Oxford (Broad Street) on December 7. All ten cones will then be reunited in Oxford for one magical showing.

Symphonie Conique will add a millennium dimension to the Christmas lights switch-on and festive celebrations in Chipping Norton and Henley. In Chipping Norton, a candlelight procession to the Common is part of an evening which also includes late-night shopping (until 9pm), stalls, roundabouts and rides, a Christmas bazaar in the Town Hall and a pig roast. In Henley, traditional celebrations also include late-night shopping, plus carol singing round Christmas tree in the town square.

Oxford: White Night

In Oxford, Symphonie Conique will be part of White Night, when the city?s galleries, theatres, museums and open spaces host a special late-night evening of art, music, dance and performance. White Night is a popular event in many cities across Europe and the county?s millennium closing event will create a similar festive idea for Oxfordshire and a link with its European neighbours.
White Night will include a chance to meet the Tudors at the Museum of Oxford; a ghost fest and ice sculptures at Oxford Castle; Nightfair before Christmas, a live art fair and entertainment in Gloucester Green produced by OVADA gallery; flambeaux, harpsicord and carols at the Ashmolean Museum; music in the foyer at Oxford Playhouse and late-night cabaret at the Burton Taylor theatre; the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museum by torchlight plus community choirs and musicians; slam poetry at the Museum of the History of Science; and guided tours of Modern Art Oxford?s current exhibitions with refreshments, music and conversation (with the Oxford Muse) in the caf

THAME’S historic Spread Eagle Hotel has announced its programme of events for Christmas and the New Year – including a Piper to herald in the new year.
The Spread Eagle offers a wide choice of dinner dances with live music to make any family or corporate festival celebration special, Christmas day and Boxing Day lunches and lots more!
See the website
for more information and how to book.

PARTY in the Paddock – Saturday, October 6, 7pm – 12pm’ish, Westfield Lodge, Alvescot Road, Shilton, Oxon, OX18 4AW. Tickets are

WINSTON CHURCHILL, Roger Bannister and Rosamund the Fair are just a few of the famous faces appearing in an exhibition to celebrate a thousand years of Oxfordshire history.
Oxfordshire County Council’s museum stores have been raided to uncover portraits from the county’s past, appearing on knives, spoons, biscuit tins, matchboxes as well as more conventional backgrounds.
The exhibition, called Who is Who? A Thousand Years of Oxfordshire Faces, will be on show at the county council’s Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, from September 22 to November 18.

Images on display range from popular fairground clowns and legendary characters to exquisitely painted female portraits of local families in velvet lined golden lockets.

A beautifully painted cricket bat used to advertise St. Giles brickworks, sits alongside a brass pipe-stopper in the form of a jockey’s bust, and some 1930s hat stands from Capes Department store in St. Ebbes.
The exhibition includes interactive activities for children and there will be a special programme of events for children during half-term, as well as talks and workshops for adults.

An interactive timeline will provide historical context and a touch screen will reveal how widespread portrait images were before the late 20th century media revolution.

Oxfordshire County Council curator Cherry Gray said: “The exhibition is a wonderful mix of art and artefacts, all of which have a strong link with Oxfordshire and reflect its past in terms of home life, work and play. There’s something in it for all the family.
“Many objects have a story to tell, like the uniform of Nurse Cornish who worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital during the First World War.
“The uniform evokes memories of the time when the hospital grounds were filled with marquees to cater for heavy wartime casualties, and how other civilian “armies” must have slaved in laundries, with nothing but soap and water to keep thousands of medical staff and patients in starched collars and bed linen.”

Museum opening hours: Tues-Sat10am to 5pm; Sun 2-5pm; closed Mondays. Free admission. Telephone: 01993 814104

Faces of Oxfordshire: Who is who? A thousand years of Oxfordshire faces
22 September 2007 – 18 November 2007
Explore fascinating stories of generations of people living in Oxfordshire.
Oxfordshire County Museum, Woodstock

InTentCity Festival
22 September 2007
Colourful collection of decorated tents, each with a different theme.
South Park, Oxford

The Big Draw
Throughout October
Loads of workshops and fun activities at galleries and museums across the county, with Faces of Oxfordshire as a major theme. Including Thame Museum

Art in Woodstock
23-28 October
Historic town turns into one giant art gallery, with exhibitions, competitions and a community art wall.
Woodstock

Oxford Chamber Music Festival
26 September 2007 – 29 September 2007
Four days of varied concerts on the theme of ‘Seven’ by international musicians.
Oxford

Testament to a Trade
04 October 2007 – 06 October 2007
Dynamic cross-cultural theatre project examines the origins and impact of the slave trade in Oxfordshire.
Touring Oxfordshire

Banbury Canalside Folk Festival
12 October 2007 – 14 October 2007
A folk festival that everyone can enjoy, with a special Oxfordshire Folk and History Day on Sunday, covering a thousand years of Oxfordshire music with all-local bands.
Banbury

Oxford Lieder Festival
12 October 2007 – 27 October 2007
The UK?s only significant, large-scale Festival of song.
Oxford

Big Village Special Settings: Guo Yue
03 November 2007
World renowned Chinese flautist and chef delights audiences both musical and culinary.
Sutton Courtenay Abbey

Faces of Oxfordshire: Hidden Faces
10 November 2007 – 17 November 2007
Innovative video art from people with learning disabilities.
OVADA, Oxford

Faces of Oxfordshire: West Ox Arts Gallery
23 November 2007 – 16 December 2007
Exhibition celebrating 1,000 years of Oxfordshire faces.
Bampton

Common Threads
30 November 2007 – 01 December 2007
Textile exhibition plus concert with internationally renowned gospel choir Black Voices celebrates Oxfordshire?s diverse communities.
Jacqueline du Pr

AN Oxfordshire teenage band has raised over

ONE of Thame Players’ longest serving actors is about to bow out in style, when he take the role of ‘Sir’ in Ronald Harwood’s play, The Dresser.
70 year-old David Bright has been acting for 40 years and has now decided to call it a day. But not before going out in a blaze of glory.
In ‘The Dresser’ he will play the part of an aging Shakespearean actor leading a troupe of actors touring the provinces in 1942. David has always seized the chance to play the Bard?s great parts, as well as other more contemporary classic roles. In this play he gets the chance to do both – as ‘Sir’ prepares for his 227th performance of King Lear.
The dresser in the title is Norman, who has for many years been constantly by Sir?s side to prepare him in whatever way is necessary for his next performance. Very much at the weary end of his career, Sir needs all the persuasion and cajoling Norman can provide to get on stage.

The Dresser is based on Ronald Harwood?s own experience as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, one of the last great actor/managers. Although Harwood wrote many other plays, The Dresser is undoubtedly his finest work and the play is being performed by Thame Players at The Players Theatre in Nelson Street, Thame, between Tuesday, Septemer 11 and Saturday, 15, at 7.45pm each evening. Tickets cost between

EDUCATIONAL GRANTS. Now that the A-level results are out and university/college places confirmed, prospective students (resident in Haddenham) are invited to apply to the Haddenham Educational Charity for a small grant towards the purchase of books and equipment for use on courses starting this autumn.
Application forms are available from the parish office (open Tuesday and Thursday mornings) or you can leave a message on the parish council’s voicemail on 292411.

RECYCLING. Don?t forget to put your glass box out on Wednesday (29th August) (collections are a day later than usual – after the Bank Holiday) as well as your paper, cans, plastic bottles and general rubbish.

Tues 28th Give Blood. There is a blood donor session (1.30-3.25pm and 4.15-6.45pm) at Haddenham Village Hall. If you are a new donor, please arrive half-an-hour before the end of a session to allow time for registration.

Wed 29th Skate Park. AVDC will be bringing its mobile skate park to Banks Park, Haddenham (10am-1.30pm).

Sat 1st Sept Haddenham Horticultural Society’s Annual Autumn Show is on September 1 and there’s a chance to compete in a range of classes: horticultural, domestic, art, handicraft, photography or children’s. Those wishing to enter exhibits are reminded that the deadline for the return of entry forms is 8pm on Wed 29th. Non-members who still don’t have a schedule, can pick one up at Blooming Fruity, Haddenham library, Parminters (butchers), or call Gay Jordan (291490) or George Marshall (291739).
There are some new classes this year – for a pair of cabbages, a Streptocarpus in a pot and an item of jewellery. All this year’s floral art classes have titles on the theme of dances and the Mystery Cake has an unusual ingredient – tomato soup! There’s still time to take a photo of rooftop(s) or of vegetable(s) for the photography classes (or of tree(s) for the children’s classes) and the digital class (where photos may be freely manipulated) is for any subject. The committee has, this year, reintroduced a class open to all ages of children – a collection of marzipan vegetables – and there are new classes for under-11s – for a painted stone and a glove puppet. In the classes for 11-15 year olds there is also a new puppet class – glove or string – and this year’s non-kit model is for an aeroplane.

FESTIVAL Dance House at Towersey Village Festival, Nr Thame, Oxfordshire, is the place to party with the best in Folk, Roots and Acoustic Music. Dance the night away or chill out in the bar and caf

SONGBIRD Productions, an Aylesbury based youth theatre group, is to present ‘City of Angels’ ? the hit musical comedy that took Broadway by storm.
Winner of six Tony Awards in 1990, including Best Musical, City of Angels tells two tales; one a dark film noir-style story complete with sizzling femme fatale, Alaura, and gritty private eye, Stone, the other a glamorous look at Hollywood in the 1940s through the eyes of budding screenwriter, Stine.
Elements of both stories are off-set by the clever use of colour in costume, the interesting casting with each actor playing two roles, not to mention the dazzling musical numbers enhanced by the 20-piece onstage big band.

Songbird Productions, a local youth theatre group based in Buckinghamshire, formed only last December and all members have been working hard in order to make City of Angels, their first production as a group, a great success. Whilst this show will be their theatre debut as a group, members have been part of productions before both at school and university, with many of them first meeting years ago as members of Aylesbury Music Centre.

The group?s original aim was to provide an opportunity for local, young people to be part of a large-scale musical production, where involvement was not restricted to the stage and where opportunities behind the scenes were just as important. With the entire cast and technical team made up of young people aged 16-21 from Buckinghamshire, City of Angels is set to be an exciting musical production with a lot of community spirit.

The project takes places in August with two weeks of intensive rehearsals culminating in 4 performances of the show.

Performance details:
Thursday 30th August ? Saturday 1st September 2007
All 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday Matinee
Tickets: