Parting is such sweet sorrow

Friday was a very sad day at SLP towers. We lost our deputy editor and our news editor as well as three reporters thanks to the voluntary redundancy process that was dumped on us in late January. I came home and cried! It was so sad to see them all go and the office will be a very different animal from next week. There are still three more members of editorial who are due to leave in the next three weeks so by the time we get to April it's going to be fairly horrific. However, two new reporters are going to be recruited and I've been given the chance to go full time which I have accepted. So it's not all bad by any means.

I know this is a good step for me as it's going to be excellent experience. However I'm just really sad that Paul (dep ed) and Lawrence (news ed) won't be there to help steer the ship. Without them I'd have really floundered over the last 18 months. They cracked the whip but were always really fair and never seemed phased by the copy they got from me! They also were really excellent at making constructive criticism - in short they were very good at their jobs and the SLP is going to be all the poorer for losing them. But because they are so good I'm sure they will have no problems finding other work.

The rest of us will soldier on and I am sure it'll be OK. It'll just be different and I've got the best possible opportunity now. The only downside is not being there for my kids as much as I'd like. Tom starts school in September and Lucy goes into Year 3. I'm sure they'll cope though.

so, could be the start of an exciting next few months. Onwards and upwards!

A stitch in time

I can't remember exactly how old I was when I learned to sew but it must have been about the age of eight. My grandmother was a prolific seamstress and made an entire collection of clothes for my Sasha doll one Christmas.
I've still got the outfits in a box somewhere as they are absolutely beautiful. 
I was lucky enough to go to a school where they encouraged crafts such as sewing and pottery making but encouragement from my grandma was really helpful.
(I even made a skirt which I still have!)
Now my seven year old daughter Lucy wants to learn how to sew and I've tried to teach her. At seven, she still has little fingers which aren't quite as dextrous as an adults' so I looked around for a kit to get her started.
Just before Christmas I happened to be in Brighton and saw in a gift shop something which fit the bill perfectly. It was a rag doll made by Felt Craft (I've since found out you can get them from www.dotcomgiftshop.com)
Nicole is a delightful soft rag doll, which you can create with this simple to use sewing kit. The  kit contains pre-cut felt, fabric, buttons, stuffing, needle, velcro and easy-to-follow instructions. Although Lucy says she has funny eyes, the finished doll is very cute and Lucy was very proud of her achievements. 
It has meant she now has the sewing bug and this week made a small felt bag for her teacher. She cut the felt, threaded the needle, added some decorations, and sewed the whole thing all by herself. And very proud she was too!
It's a great skill to have and now she has plans to make clothes for her dolls and bags and purses for her friends.
It's taught her how to concentrate and she has let her imagination run riot in terms of designs and things to make. Brilliant.

Eye over London

Being invited to a champagne breakfast on the London Eye is something not to be sniffed at. So, last week I accepted said invite and found myself at this iconic structure with several other journalists for the unveiling of the Eye’s latest attraction.

The gadget we were all there to see and play with is a Samsung Galaxy tablet which aims to give anyone taking a ride in one of the pods a more interactive and informative trip.

Simple to use, just find a building that you see outside that you want to find out more about, tap on the screen and up pops a 3D image of said landmark plus some history and key facts about it.

You can scroll round 360 degrees to see and find out more about the 44 landmarks across the city which are included – the furthest being Wembley Stadium, 12km away.

Not only that but you can also get to see what they look like at night time simply by tapping the moon icon on the screen.

For technological simpletons like me it’s easy to use so the kids will have no problem. Its only downside was that I was completely hooked and spent so much time playing with it that I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the views!

The tablets have been introduced following market research done by the Eye to find out how peoples’ experiences of the Eye could be made better. The research, conducted over three months last year, found visitors wanted more information about what they could see from the pods.

I think the tablets are a clever addition to the whole experience and should prove popular for both visitors and London-dwellers alike. They do not intrude into your enjoyment of the ride as you don’t have to use them. But if you do, they provide an insight into some of the buildings which make up this great city.

For more information about all of the London Eye’s products as well as the new core experience visit www.londoneye.com or follow the London Eye on twitter www.twitter.com/thelondoneye. Alternatively customers can book using the telephone booking line - 0871 781 3000

King John at the Union Theatre, Southwark

If political intrigue, double dealing, and behind the scenes scheming and back stabbing are your thing then a trip to the lovely and intimate space that is the Union Theatre in Southwark to see King John should be right up your street.

This little performed play by William Shakespeare is the story of a monarch who will do whatever it takes including lie, murder, betray his nearest and dearest and go to war, to strengthen his ever-weakening grip on the Kingdoms of France and England.

His claim to the throne in both countries is tenuous at best. His two elder brothers are dead, but across the channel, young Arthur, the son of his elder brother, survives and is attracting a growing following and presenting something of a threat.

With all the typical Shakespearean ingredients of war, marriage, political negotiations, murder, and excommunication, we watch as King John tries, ultimately in vain, to retain power.

To complement the dark overtones of the plot, the set is dark and minimal with nothing more than four small square tables and a couple of chairs which depict everything from a deathbed to a throne, a battlefield to a castle.

The cast continue this colour theme wearing heavy duty boots and armour breast plates under dark grey or black heavy duty trench coats.

With a minimal set it is left to the actors to bring the dialogue to life and they do so very well.

King John is brilliantly portrayed by Nicholas Osmond. He shows us a man who is a complex and frightening mix of extreme cunning, manipulation and cowardice, often behaving like a petulant child desperate to get what he wants and keep it at any cost.

In the end he is consumed by corruption and greed, and veers towards the slightly mad and eccentric as he sees his power and life ebbing away.

Even in death though, he clings on to the crown so much so that Philip the Bastard has to climb astride him to positively rip it from his grip.

Other stand-out performances from this top notch cast include Samantha Lawson who is brilliant as Arthur’s devoted but intense and angry mother Constance.

Rikki Lawton’s dynamic and energetic Philip the Bastard is a firebrand and hot headed man who starts out enthusiastically supporting King John but ends up becoming frustrated and fed up by his King’s actions.

There are also some great touches including the unforgettable scene when Hubert (John Last) has to kill Arthur (Albert de Jongh) and gets out the blow torch, and the scene towards the end where King John, haunted by the ghosts of those he has killed, sees them dance a waltz around him.

This is a great production full of drama and humour and is recommended.

King John at the Union Theatre.

Box Office: 0207 261 9876

204 Union Street, Southwark. SE1 0LX

info@uniontheatre.freeserve.co.uk

Until Saturday, February 11

Tickets £18, concessions £15

The Scarecrow at the Unicorn Theatre

The Scarecrow - The Unicorn Theatre

A story about a scarecrow who is often rained on and blown about by the wind is the latest offering for children at the brilliant Unicorn Theatre in Tooley Street.

Two men plough a field in winter and plant plenty of seed. Then along comes a family of crows who have no respect for the hard work the men have done, and set about destroying the crop.

To try and scare off the feisty and persistent crows the two men fashion a scarecrow out of two branches, an old suit jacket, a balaclava, a scarf and a hat. And so the scarecrow is born.

Over the course of a year the two men look after their scarecrow occasionally bringing him new clothes to wear, and in turn the scarecrow looks after the field and the crop and strikes up an unlikely relationship with the crows who just won’t leave him alone.

The story follows this relationship through the seasons from their beginnings as enemies where the crows land on the scarecrow and peck him and steal his straw, to their conclusion as friends and the birth of the baby crows in his hands.

It is a story which is in turn beautiful, charming and rather dark at times and told with affection, humour, music, song, dance, movement, puppetry, and fun.

Iain Armstrong and Mick Jasper are the two men, the scarecrow and the crows and music is provided by Sharon Lindo and her violin.

Both my kids loved the show and it was a real treat to meet Iain and Mick afterwards to see how they made the puppets and chat about the story.

At three and a half, Tom was a bit young for it to hold his attention for the full 50 minutes so I would recommend it's more appropriate for children aged five and above. It is another gem of a show at this lovely theatre.

Unicorn Theatre, Tooley Street

Tue 17 – Sun 29 January 

11am, 1.45pm, 2pm, 4.30pm

Tickets £9 ‐ £11

http://www.unicorntheatre.com/
Box Office: 020 7645 0560
Twitter: @unicorn_theatre