Established in 2009 and being held at the Gordon Russell Design Museum for the first time this year, winning designs of the annual Gordon Russell/ Rycotewood prize are on display within the original grade II Listed workshop for all visitors to enjoy, from the 10th March to the 30th June.

Sponsored by the Hands of Wycombe, the Gordon Russell/ Rycotewood Prize recognises the very best of Britain’s up-and-coming contemporary furniture designers and celebrates the legacy of the renowned 20th century furniture designer Sir Gordon Russell MC (1892-1980).

As well as presenting the winners’ finished pieces, this exhibition features each artist’s original concept, design and working drawing, alongside a contemporary glass and textile design display. Richard Paice, Chairman of the Trustees of the Gordon Russell Design Museum said: ‘The combination of clear design thinking and exceptional craftsmanship would have appealed to Gordon Russell‘s vision of the fusion of hand and machine.  These pieces on show are exemplars of quality design and knowledge of materials’.

Aviator Desk by Ben Croft, Rycotewood Furniture Centre, 2011

Stroud International Textiles is bringing world class international speakers to the Symposium on May 5th. This exciting Symposium is attracting wide interest with bookings from France and Canada as well as nationally. This in turn supports Stroud’s economy and raises its profile for excellence. Stroud in May is the place to be with people who are shaping the future of textiles and the applied arts.

Helen Storey, Professor of Fashion and Science at London College of Fashion has collaborated with chemist Professor Tony Ryan from the University of Sheffield and Trish Belford, textile designer, to bring us Catalytic Clothing – clothing and textiles that seek to purify the air we breathe. People from different worlds whose minds have come together in highly successful art and science collaborations are sharing their innovative and inspiring thinking on May 5th as part of the Pairings symposium organized by Stroud International Textiles.
Other speakers include Jessica Hemmings (writer); David Gates (bespoke furniture designer, winner Jerwood Award, Wesley – Barrell prize); Alice Kettle (lead artist); Claire Curneen (leading ceramicist); Shelly Goldsmith (textile artist) are among the line up for an exciting day of discussion and discovery. These are People who Shape our World through exchange and dialogue.
Details: http://www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk/
Tickets online £60 Conc £40 includes lunch.
Free brochure available

Erin O'Connor in the world's first air purifying dress

Cheltenham Literature Festival

The ever-popular Cheltenham Literature Festival returns this year from 7th-16th October – 10 days, 500 events and 600 speakers make it one of the biggest yet. This year sees appearances from iconic actor Christopher Lee, former SAS operative and author Andy McNab, Popular critic and columnist Caitlin Moran, explorer Ranulph Fiennes and satirical writer Will Self. The festival this year occupies multiple venues across both Imperial Square and Montpellier Gardens. This year’s guest directors include Ben Fogle, Anjum Anand and Mike Atherton, each representing different themes; from Adventure to Money, Food to Sport.

Sarah Smyth, Artistic Director of the Festival comments;

This year’s programme is hugely exciting – not only are we celebrating our move to Montpellier and the birth of the new Festival quarter, but the programme is bulging at the seams with hundreds of mouth-watering events. Getting my hands on the brochure for the  first time today gave me a huge thrill and I hope that the audience of 120,000 who joined us  last year come back for more at what’s going to be a tremendously exciting ten days.

Cheltenham Film Festival

This year’s Cheltenham Film Festival, from 4th-6th November, is something really exceptional, bringing to Cheltenham three days of unforgettable special screening events and much more. Almost every screening event is complemented by an exclusive supporting introduction or post-screening panel discussion with a range of special guests. If you’ve got a passion for cinema then you’ll have the opportunity to exclusively hear some truly celebrated film industry professionals speak, and discuss their work. We are proud to be presenting within this year’s programme a celebration of several of Cheltenham’s most prolific individuals, including Edward Wilson and Brian Jones!

The Cheltenham Film Festival is proud to present Simon Pegg as its official patron for 2011. The Festival also boasts a series of appearances by big names from the small and silver screen – distinguished actor and playwright Steven Berkoff, veteran Film presenter Barry Norman, comedian Adam Buxton and BBC film critic Mark Kermode. It is an event not to be missed by film fans!

Cheltenham Comedy Festival

Cheltenham is something of a fertile ground for festivals – and the brand new Comedy Festival in November is sure to be an excellent and hilarious addition!

 The brainchild of Mark Makin of local makin projects and Graeme Merifield, Director of the Wychwood Festival, who have teamed up with lead producing partners Cheltenham Borough Council and Parabola Arts Centre along with other local arts organisations and venues to bring this exciting event to Cheltenham from the 15th – 19th November.

The line-up for the festival features an impressive list of the UK’s most well-known comedians – Ed Byrne, Kevin Eldon, and Sarah Millican are all set to perform, as well as some more off-beat favourites like Chap-Hop artist Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer and Boothby Graffoe, who is taking one night off from his tour supporting Omid Djalili. Events take place in Cheltenham Town Hall and the Parabola Arts Centre, as well as local comedy club Slak Bar, over five days in November.

Gloucester gets a flavour of the Edinburgh Festival as the Guildhall lines up an exciting preview show with two rising stars of the comedy world.

Josh Widdicombe has made a lot of waves in the comedy circuit over the last three years. In 2010 he won FHM’s Stand Up Hero competition and was named Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, his original musings and quirky punchlines securing him support slots for established acts such as Kevin Bridges and Alan Carr. Currently preparing for his slot at this year’s Edinburgh Festival with a show entitled ‘If This Show Saves One Life’, Josh Widdicombe is fast becoming one of the most in-demand up-and-coming comedy acts in the UK.

Also receiving rave reviews across the UK is Andrew Lawrence, the sheer power of his diatribes and his beautiful and impressive use of the English language gaining him recognition as one of the most passionate and talented new acts on the circuit. Double nominated for Chortle’s Best UK Headline Act and as seen on BBC 1’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, audiences can’t help but be captivated by the bleakly dark comic world he creates.

You can see both these comedians at the cut-price cost of just £5 for one night only – that’s half the price of a ticket for The Big Laugh (which, incidentally, will be returning later in the year).

Saturday 2nd July / Doors 8.30pm / Tickets £5 adv, £8 door / Over 18s only

For tickets visit Gloucester Guildhall’s Box Office, call 01452 503050 or book online at www.gloucesterguildhall.co.uk

Tickets are also available from the Tourist Information Centre on Southgate Street.

The Gloucestershire Youth Players (GYP) group was founded in September 2007 by Edward Derbyshire, for young actors over the age of 16. The group was designed to complement the Gloucestershire Young Shakespeare Theatre, or GYST (the only UK based company for 12-16 year olds performing solely Shakespeare, uncut and unprompted) which began in 2005.   The GYP are an entirely voluntary-aided company dependent upon ticket sales and donations for our survival.

In 2008 the group performed Twelfth Night and were delighted to be invited to perform at Longborough Festival Opera and the RSC Dell Gardens, things continued to grow and in 2009 the group performed their production of Hamlet. 

In 2010 things the group performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream; there were four performances of this darkly humorous, highly-paced, energetic show at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Dell Theatre, with audiences exceeding 250 per show. The group were also privileged to perform once again at Longborough Festival Opera. Amongst the reviews received, the group were thrilled to hear that they ‘engaged youngsters who were quite sceptical about Shakespeare’ and that it was considered ‘the best show yet by GYP.’

2011 looks set to be the biggest and most exciting season so far for GYP, with a return to Longborough Festival Opera performing The Taming of the Shrew. GYP are also delighted to have Felicity Montagu on board now as their Patron.

The Gloucestershire Youth Player’s aims are to bring invigorating versions of Shakespeare’s texts to audiences in and around Gloucestershire.  The focus is to give young people a springboard into the brilliance of one of the greatest playwrights in the English language by producing these seminal texts with an ensemble based company of serious young performers, attempting to make it accessible and imaginative in its interpretation whilst keeping as faithfully as possible to the text.

Find out more on the GYP website

People love to write poetry about Westonbirt. The editor of the Westonbirt Magazine regularly receives many poems inspired by the beauty of the arboretum and people’s experiences amongst the trees.

Haiku poetry competition

To celebrate autumn, when Japanese maples become the stars of the show, Westonbirt Arboretum are asking you to create your own haiku-style poems inspired by the arboretum in autumn. The best will feature on our autumn trail where your creativity could be enjoyed by 100,000 visitors!

Haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry that is intimately linked with nature, feelings and experiences – perfect for Westonbirt. In English, haiku are typically three lines long, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven in the middle line. The challenge is to paint a mental image in the reader’s mind in a concise way. Here’s an example:

In the wide, tall glade
Turning orange and red, leaves
Green behind for fall.

By Elizabeth T’Sas

Local poet and performer and supporter of Westonbirt Arboretum, Rosie Bailey, will judge the competition and will be looking for entries that capture both the essence of a Westonbirt autumn experience and the traditions of this ancient poetry form.

You can bend the number of syllables a little, but entries should capture the essence of a Westonbirt autumn experience and the traditions of this ancient form of poetry.

Send in your poem by adding it to the Poetry Corner forum or by mail to:  Editor, Haiku Competition, Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, GL8 8QS. The deadline for entries is Friday 24th June 2011.

Visit Taurus Crafts in Lydney from 21^st May to 26^th June to see A Walk in the Woods – an exhibition of Sarah King’s Forest of Dean scenes painted in oil on canvas.

http://www.tauruscrafts.co.uk/

So what have we got for you?
We’ll have demonstrations and workshops from cooking legends such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Richard Corrigan, Yotam Ottolenghi, Fergus Henderson and Mark Hix. Hone your skills at the Daylesford pop up cookery school or get digging at a gardening workshop with Monty Don or Alys Fowler. We’ll be toasting your health at the HIX Champagne and Seafood Bar but also browsing the artisan producer market and sampling some of the finest street food the UK has to offer. We can’t possibly fit it all in here so please do check the full line up on the website.

The soundtrack to your weekend will be in safe hands. Our good friend KT Tunstall will headline Sunday night and we simply can’t wait to share the delight that is Fat Freddy’s Drop – all the way from New Zealand for Harvest alone this summer. The rousing Futureheads and newcomer Benjamin Francis Leftwich will be joined on the music stage by so many more bands – to be announced very soon. We’re also very proud to welcome Communion (Mumford & Sons side project) to Harvest who will be curating our second music stage along with the brilliant Notting Hill Arts Club.

We have a whole host of exciting and uplifting treats for all the family. Charlie and Lola will be bringing their award winning stage show, Best Bestest Play to the big top. The global hit spectacularly mixes 2-D and 3-D worlds adapted from some of the freshest and funniest episodes. We are also honoured to be welcoming Opera Holland Park and their adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic Fantastic Mr Fox By Tobias Picker & Donald Sturrock.

In between these amazing roaming shows there will be adventures, games, street theatre, workshops (including conducting your own orchestra!), circus skills and bubbles. We love bubbles.

For those of you joining us for the whole weekend, we have teamed up with our great friends at Yurtel to bring you the Harvest Hotel. Forget everything you know about camping and treat yourself to an indulgent weekend of the highest quality glamping, Harvest style! Check out Alex James Presents Harvest for all the details.

The Chantry was home to Dr Jenner from 1785 until his death in 1823. It was from here that he pioneered many scientific and medical breakthroughs, most notably vaccination in 1796. Visitors can explore at their leisure this elegant Queen Anne house and gardens, the ‘spooky’ attic rooms, and enjoy a cup of tea and slice of cake in the adjacent Old Cyder House Garden Cafe, which spills out into a sunny walled garden. As they walk around, they are soaking up the historic atmosphere, safe in the knowledge that history happened ‘here’.

Visitors will be welcomed to the site via the new ticketing, shop and tea-room area in the Old Cyder House. They will be personally welcomed into the Chantry before watching a new introductory video presented by Professor Mark Horton, presenter of BBC’s Coast.

Following a grant from the Country Houses Foundation, Dr Jenner’s Grade II thatched summerhouse, the ‘Temple of Vaccinia’ has been completely re-thatched and restored to its former glory. Electricity finally reached this historic landmark in 2011 allowing the museum to install an exciting new video installation, with new interpretation, funded by the Wellcome Trust. New audio-guides will take the visitor on a journey around the house and into the gardens for the first time, narrated by Professor Horton.

An official public launch of the newly restored Temple and family-friendly event will take place on Saturday 21 May 2011, to be opened by Joe Cerrell, European Director of the Gates Foundation. Former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, has written a new poem to mark the occasion, which will be officially premiered on the day. Professor Horton will also say a few welcoming words. The afternoon celebrations will all be family-friendly.

The Edward Jenner Museum has recently launched a fundraising appeal to restore Jenner’s Grade II* Listed Chantry home as well as to re-plant his garden. It is hoped that by incorporating new research by Dr Clare Hickman and working with garden-designer Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, the former 18th century garden can be re-instated to its former glory. Historic Berkeley is day out for all of the family. Dr Jenner is buried inside the adjacent 13th century St Mary’s church. Berkeley Castle is just a two minute walk from the museum; both the museum and castle offer a ‘Joint Ticket’ making a superb day out. www.jennermuseum.com