Enjoy the September sizzle in Norfolk’s National Gardens Scheme “Open Gardens.” The last of the “New” gardens to open this year “The Grange” at Heydon launches the change in seasons. It is set in the historic village of Heydon, with a three acre garden in a romantic setting. The local tea shop set in the picturesque village completes the perfect garden day out. It’s location is only a few miles away from Holt, a pretty Georgian market town, nestled in the North Norfolk countryside. The garden features herbaceous borders surrounded by old walls with views to parkland, a pond with fountain and ancient yew topiary with a new walk of malus.

September promotes the classic and contemporary style gardens, from the plantpersons garden at High House Gardens, Shipham to the three halls, Mannington, Lexham, Bradenham and Bolwick Hall, contemporary garden, East Ruston closes the “NGS Open Garden” season on the 2nd October. These are gardens for all seasons and entice visitors to return and enjoy the revolving changes more than once.

NGS County Organiser Anthea Foster said “Despite the unpredictable weather this year the NGS Open gardens are forecasting good visitor numbers. Throughout the open garden season a combination of gardens can be enjoyed at a relatively low price. It is a chance to down the garden tools and admire the hard work of another gardener and pick up a few handy hints for garden planning for the next season while helping raise funds for the charities of the National Gardens Scheme.”


NGS Ambassador Alan Gray said “Few people realise that the "yellow arrow open garden" sign is the trade mark of the National Gardens Scheme. The charities which benefit from the NGS are: Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Crossroads Care and Help the Hospices, The Queen’s Nursing Institute, The Royal Fund for Gardeners’ Children, NGS gardeners’ careership (the National Trust) and Perennial - Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society. Founded in 1927, The NGS raises over two million pounds each year. Last year Norfolk raised nearly seventy thousand pounds. In one garden alone twelve gallons of tea were served this year. Refreshments and plant sales not only provide an enjoyable part of the garden visit but a valuable source of fundraising. It also puts Norfolk on the map as not only a tourist destination but one for garden enthusiasts. Thank you to all the National Garden Scheme Garden Owners and their visitors that have helped achieve this!”

If your garden is of high quality, character and at least forty-five minutes interest Contact County Organiser Fiona Black to discuss opening your garden. Tel 01692 650247

For more garden day out ideas visit your local Tourist information, garden centre, nursery or open garden to pick up a Norfolk NGS Garden Guide or visit www.norfolkgardens.org.

Emma Armitage (23) and Lorna Johnson (22), both recent graduates from Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA), have been awarded licentiate status by Norwich Twenty Group (N20G) and will be exhibiting at the group’s autumn show, which openend at the John Innes Centre on Saturday, August 28th. The show runs until Wednesday, September 15th 2010 and is open daily, 10am to 5pm, with free admission, www.norwich20group.co.uk.

Emma Armitage and Lorna Johnson both live in Norwich and graduated from NUCA in the summer. Rory McShane, Chairman N20G explained: "Every year we review NUCA’s Fine Art final degree show looking for students creating original work that takes art that extra stage further. Lorna and Emma’s work really stood out and we hope they enjoy their year as licentiate members of N20G. It so important for us to encourage the next generation of artists in Norwich and Norfolk."

An illustrator who studied graphic design and illustration at NUCA, Emma Armitage will be exhibiting The Keyman, the children’s book that she wrote and illustrated for her final degree show. The book is about a man who collects keys. She will also be displaying some new characters that she is developing for her next children’s story.

Emma Armitage said: "I have always loved drawing and aim to create quirky and fun work. I am hoping to develop a career as a children’s book illustrator and am really grateful to Norwich Twenty Group for giving me this opportunity to showcase my work."


Lorna Johnson focussed on print making, new media and photography during her NUCA course. For her degree show she made an installation of acrylic rods coming out of the wall at different depths in a scattered pattern. Each tip was covered in blue powder, which glowed in the sun, giving visitors to the show an exciting visual experience.

She is planning to exhibit one of her photographs combined with an installation in the Twenty Group show. Lorna Johnson said: "Taking part in the N20G autumn show is a fantastic opportunity for me. It is very exciting to be exhibiting with some of Norfolk’s top artists."

Norwich Twenty Group @ John Innes Centre features the work of more than 40 of Norfolk’s top artists, from traditional figurative painting to abstract painting, sculpture, stone carving and imaginative site installations.

As well as the exhibition of large works, there will be an opportunity to pick up many small items in the Art Bazaar. All Art Bazaar items are donated by N20G members to raise money for the group and are sold for £15.

New Members exhibiting with N20G for the first time are Martin Laurance, Keith Pomeroy and Julia Sorrell.

Rory McShane Chairman N20G added: "Our autumn exhibition celebrates the rich mix of styles and ideas coming from some of Norfolk’s top artists and will be a colourful, energetic and original show."


"The group, as the name suggests, was originally made up of 2O artists from Norfolk who came together to discuss work and ideas. We have now expanded to more than 80 artists, following a series of highly successful exhibitions and collaborations, and include recent graduates from Norwich University College of the Arts and new members with long established reputations such as Derek Morris."

Norwich 20 Group


N20G was formed in 1944 comprising professional artists from the Norwich School of Art and Design. The group is no longer limited to 20 and now has more than 70 members, several of whom exhibit regularly in the West End and abroad. All aspects of the practice of contemporary fine art are represented e.g. sculpture, print, photography and painting.


Over the years the membership has included nationally known artists, for example, Bernard Reynolds and Jeffrey Camp. Colin Self has taken an active role as have numerous art historians and architects. Mary Newcomb, one of Britain’s best loved artists, famous for her visionary ruralist paintings, who died in 2008, was a member of N20G for many years. Her work often sold at exhibitions for around £20. It now changes hands for five figure sums. Current N20G members include Andy Campbell, David Holgate, Ros Newman, Vanessa Pooley, Louise Richardson and Laurie Rudling.

What's most important to you when it comes to enjoying your food? Most people would no doubt immediately answer 'taste' but what about smell or appearance, the way it feels or the noise it makes when you munch it? These are senses we all take for granted but if we want to enjoy our food to the full, perhaps we need to learn how to appreciate them more. This year's Aylsham Food Festival is offering youngsters an interactive way of encouraging them to use all their five senses when eating and enjoying food.

The Taste Adventure is an initiative created by the Slow Food organisation, an international movement that seeks to provide an antidote to today's fast food culture. There are a number of branches of Slow Food across the UK and 'foodie town' Aylsham is proud to be one of these. Each year, Slow Food Aylsham organises a 3-day Food Festival which for 2010 will include The Taste Adventure.


On the morning of Saturday 2nd October, Aylsham Town Hall will be welcoming children, up to 12 years old and accompanied by an adult, to take part in The Taste Adventure where they will be invited to visit the five Sense Zones: Seeing, Touchy, Noisy, Smelly and Tasty. For each zone there is a tabletop activity which will bring the sense to life and enable the children to explore the use of that sense in relation to food. In the Touchy zone, for example, the children will be asked to reach inside a series of boxes and feel the contents. Through touch, they will be asked to identify foods that have different textures.

There will be a Taste Adventure Passport for each child to mark down their answers for each of the five zones, with prizes for the most accurate.

Entry for The Taste Adventure is completely free - just turn up any time between 10am and 2pm - but only children with an accompanying adult will be able to take part.


The 2010 Aylsham Food Festival starts on Friday 1st October with an evening buffet dinner at Aylsham High School, prepared and served by Hospitality and Catering students. Tickets for this sumptuous meal, costing just £18.50 per person will be available throughout September at Salad Days fruit & veg stall in Aylsham Market Place. In addition to The Taste Adventure, Saturday 2nd will also see an extended farmers market in the Market Place and Kids Cooking Workshops at the High School, run in association with the lottery-funded 'Let's Get Cooking' campaign. Invitations to participate in the workshops will be circulated via the Town's primary schools.

Rounding off the Festival will be Sunday's Big Slow Breakfast in the Town Hall. This ever popular event is bound to sell out quickly so don't delay in getting your tickets - again available from Salad Days throughout September and costing just 5 for adults and £3 for children under 12.

Now in its fifth year, Aylsham Food Festival sets out to promote local food and its associated businesses. Coinciding with British Food Fortnight and the Norfolk Food Festival, it has gone from strength to strength and is an important event on Aylsham's foodie calendar. There are more details at www.slowfoodaylsham.org.uk

The web has evolved in the last ten years, from simple text pages to rich, interactive applications including video and voice.

Unfortunately, very old browsers cannot run many of these new features effectively.

So to help ensure your PC can use the latest, most advanced web apps, we encourage you to update your browsers as soon as possible with the latest versions:

Safari 5.0+

Firefox 3.6+

Google Chrome 4.0+
 
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0+
 

- 20 national & local exhibitors
- at Carrow Road stadium
- free entry
- not for profit event organised by Norfolk branch of national charity

Companies and individuals who are in any way connected with the plumbing and heating industry should pay a visit to Carrow Road in Norwich on Thursday 7 October. That's when plumbing and heating exhibition p&h east will be taking place, organised by the Norfolk branch of national educational charity, The Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering (CIPHE).

p&h east will feature 20 leading national and local exhibitors, including such household names as Baxi, Vaillant, Saniflo and Mira alongside Anglian Water, Suffolk-based GAH and Norwich Gas Centre. Starting at 3.00pm and closing at 8.30pm, the exhibition will be opened by CIPHE national president Allan McKintosh and offers free entry. The venue is the Business Suite at Norwich City FC's Carrow Road stadium where of course there's plenty of free parking.

Pre-registration for p&h east is available at the dedicated website, http://pandheast.webplus.net where there is also a full list of exhibitors.

The Management at Lowestoft's Marina Theatre has announced that it has secured an historic seventh year of residency with the world famous Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO).

In a major coup for the Marina Theatre, the Orchestra has been resident at the Edwardian venue since 2005. In the six years that it has already held the residency, the association has brought world famous musicians, soloists and conductors to Lowestoft, with the link hailed as one the most successful of its kind throughout the UK.

Ian Maclay, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra says:

"We are thrilled to confirm an extension to our association and announce details of our brand new 2011 series at the Marina Theatre. As Resident Orchestra, we continue to enjoy the loyal support of audiences from Lowestoft and the surrounding areas, and we do hope that our new season of concerts offers something to suit all tastes - from Broadway and West End musical magic to popular and evocative English orchestral works."

Theatre manager Martin Halliday added, "We are extremely proud of our association with the RPO and are delighted that once again the Orchestra has agreed to extend its residency at the Marina. Since the association began it has enabled us to present some of the finest musicians in the world here on stage in Lowestoft. It is a great honour that the Orchestra has agreed to further extend their residency and shows a great deal of faith in both the future of the Marina, its management and its audience."

Acknowledged as one of the UK's most prodigious orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra enjoys an international reputation for bringing audiences worldwide first-class performances and the highest possible standards of music-making across a diverse range of musical repertoire. This was the vision of the Orchestra's flamboyant founder Sir Thomas Beecham, whose legacy is maintained today as the Orchestra thrives undertaking a very busy schedule of UK concerts, international touring and recording. As we release news of the 2011 series in Lowestoft today, the Orchestra is embarking on its first year of a prestigious annual residency in Montreux, Switzerland.

Cllr Stephen Ardley, portfolio holder at Waveney District Council which owns the Marina said: "We are absolutely thrilled that the RPO has agreed to extend its association with the Marina Theatre. To have one of the best orchestras in the world resident for another year is just fantastic."

Chairman of the Friends of the Marina, Peter Wilson also welcomed the news, "With the reduction in the theatre programme over recent years and the current worry regarding the outsourcing of the venue, the news that the RPO has agreed to stay with the Marina for another year is an enormous boost. The Marina's association with the RPO is the envy of many towns and cities across the country and I am delighted that the Orchestra has shown and continues to show such commitment."

Tickets for the seventh year of residency will be available from mid September to coincide with the launch of the venues forthcoming Autumn season. Before that music lovers can look forward to the RPO performing a special Opera Gala on October 2 with virtuoso Chloë Hanslip featuring in a programme to include Beethoven's Violin Concerto on November 27. For more information please call the box office on 01502 533200.

It’s become a common feature of modern cars to be fitted with a spare tyre or space-saver tyre which is a different size in order to save room and weight.

DSA would like to remind driving instructors that any vehicle presented for test must be fitted with:

• the same size tyre on the same axle

• tyres that are not subject to speed restrictions