1 Magazine - Winter 2018

Issue 75 Winter 2018

CHRISTMAS MARKETS 2018 WHAT’S NEW | OUT & ABOUT | FASHION MOTORING | THEATRE | & MUCH MORE

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ARTS FAIR EAST East of England’s biggest art event returns to Norwich, perfectly timed for Christmas shopping 30 November - 2 December

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ver 200 artists from Norfolk, the UK and further afield, will be taking part in the eastern region’s largest and liveliest contemporary art fair at St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich from 30 November to 2 December.

Art Fair East has been likened to a London art fair transported to Norfolk. It has an international outlook that puts it on a par with the best the capital can offer. It showcases quality galleries, dealers and artists and in just four years has established itself as a permanent fixture in the diaries of many prestigious dealers, becoming one of the country’s leading fairs outside London.

All types of artwork are included, from painting, printmaking and photography to sculpture and mixed media – all original and all carefully selected by event organisers Will Teather and Brian Korteling. As artists themselves they are passionate about getting more people interested in original contemporary art and helping artists to make a living from their work. And their commitment is paying off. Now in its 4th year, Art Fair East has regular artists and dealers who return each year alongside new exhibitors who are keen to get their work seen by thousands of art lovers and potential buyers.

Brian Korteling said ‘We aim to deliver the best the art-world has to offer as well as introducing regional artists to a wider audience – we get a lot of artists from all over eastern England, but we also get exhibitors from across the UK and overseas, from as far afield as United Arab Emirates, China, Pakistan and Lebanon.’

Will Teather added ‘Because we select the exhibitors we can make sure there is a good variety of work that will appeal to different people and give an assurance of quality’ New participants this year include popular Norfolk-based artist Lucy Loveheart who creates magical pictures with a naïve and childlike charm. She has made commissioned work for private clients, Chatsworth House, Kew Gardens and Amnesty International as well as for companies such as Habitat, Liberty and Café Rouge. Also exhibiting for the first time is Rachel Carter who is based on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border. Rachel

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creates amazing garden sculptures, as well as smaller indoor pieces, that look as if they are woven from willow or crocheted, but which are in fact made from bronze using a unique process that ensures every piece is an original. Simon Dry’s SweetArt limited edition prints are bold graphic images of ice lollies, Quality Street, Dolly Mixtures, jelly beans, wine gums, Jelly Babies and other iconic sweets – they look good enough to eat!

One of Art Fair East’s regular exhibitors is the Underdog Art Gallery from London Bridge, who deal in artworks by famous names including Damien Hirst and Banksy. Sammy Forway, Director said ‘Art Fair East is a wonderful exhibition opportunity.

It is a great way for us to create interest in our gallery and artists outside London. We met a lot of talented artists at the fair and have worked with a couple of them since. We also love the chance to talk to visitors about the artists we represent.’

As Jo Mullins of Norfolk’s Heart of Glass gallery says ‘Art Fair East keeps getting better, with a wide selection of art to suit all tastes and budgets and a very friendly, welcoming atmosphere.’ It’s one of the highlights of the year and it makes a great start to the festive season.’

Art Fair East is sponsored by Musker McIntyre. www.artfaireast.com Art Fair East 30 November - 2 December St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Plain Norwich NR3 1AU Friday 30 November 10.30am - 5.30pm Saturday 1 December 10.30am - 6pm Sunday 2 December 10.30am - 5pm Admission: £3.50, £3 concessions, accompanied under 14s free.

2018 WINTER | 9

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For more information please call Heather or Pauline on 01953 454363 | E: stay@sherbourne-house.co.uk

12 | Diss & Attleborough

8 Norwich Road, Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 2JX

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Christmas menu 2018 STARTER

MAIN COURSE

DESSERT

Homemade Butternut Squash Soup

Roast Turkey with Chipolata Sausage, Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce

Traditional Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce

Smoked Haddock & Mozzarella Fishcakes with a Lemon Yoghurt Dressing Fresh Melon and Parma Ham A choice of Coffee and Tea

Two Courses – £16.95 Three Courses - £21.95

Slow Roast Salmon Steak with a Lemon Butter Sauce, Potatoes and Vegetables Roast Vegetable and Humous Puff Pastry Pie All main courses are served with roast potatoes and traditional vegetables

Homemade Classic Tiramisu Fresh Strawberries and Shortbread Assorted Cheese Platter with traditional accompaniments

festive afternoon tea Come and celebrate Christmas with us at Sherbourne House. Our hotel is the perfect location for a Festive Afternoon Tea with friends and family.

We are happy to cater for different dietary requirements with prior notice.

Served with Tea and coffee and of course Christmas Crackers – £17 per person Served with a glass of mulled wine each – £19 per person We are happy to cater for numbers from 10 to 40.

To discuss your requirements, to book a visit or a function please call Heather or Pauline on:

01953 454363

For your afternoon tea, we will provide a delicious selection of sandwiches* and festive treats which will include: • Turkey, Cranberry and Stuffing on Malted Bread • Traditional Sandwiches of Smoked Salmon and Cucumber and Mature Cheddar and Onion Chutney • Pork and Cranberry Sausage roll • Chocolate Orange Yule Log • Christmas Spiced Fruit Scones with Preserve and Clotted Cream • Warm Mince Pies served with Brandy Cream Our menus are freshly made to order and can be customised to your tastes and requirements.

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WN TO RT PO

U YO

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HIN BE

After enjoying half-a-dozen operas by Richard Wagner at the famous Bayreuth Festival including a fascinating and colourful new production of Lohengrin by Yuval Sharon, Bayreuth’s first American director, I headed off as usual to Belgium in tow with my erstwhile travelling and dining companion I affectionately refer to as ‘Miss X’ for a pit-stop at Liège (a city striding the river Meuse in the country’s French-speaking Wallonia region) in readiness for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. It’s a mighty big date in the Formula One calendar (usually the last Sunday of August) and an event we rarely miss.

An unlikely partnership but opera and motor-racing works for me - and works well, too. And for this year’s Bayreuth Festival it also worked well as I was joined walking up Bayreuth’s well-trodden Green Hill to the famous Richard-Wagner-Festspielhaus - the ‘Temple’ to this great 19th-century composer and built to his detailed specification solely for the staging of his masterful Teutonic works - by another formidable Norfolk-born Wagnerite, Roger Rowe. He was in seventh heaven, so was I and, like me, he absolutely adores Bayreuth. For Miss X, though, I’m not quite so sure where she stands on this front but, without doubt, she loves F1 racing.

That’s good enough for me. She found herself in seventh heaven, too, as Sebastian Vettel (her favourite on the grid) won Spa driving for Ferrari. Brmm! Brmm!

However, we both heartily agree that following the race (and the impromptu and lively F1 party on Eau Rouge) there’s no better place to relax and unwind than at the well-appointed Au Point de Vue restaurant strategically situated at Place Verte in the centre of Liège. Here we either celebrate or lick our wounds depending upon the result. This year it was champagne all round, of course. But whatever the result of the race, the result that comes from the kitchen at the Point is always a ‘winner’. The haunt of many international racegoers, perhaps the restaurant ought to be renamed The Chequered Flag!

Norwich-based travel writer, Tony Cooper, takes in grand opera and F1 racing on his continental escapade to Belgium

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Rested, revived and ready to go, we departed Liège for Ostende (located in the Flemish province of West Flanders) to explore the Belgian coast. On reaching Ostende (East End) travelling by train via Brussels and passing through those delightful and historic Flemish towns of Bruges and Ghent we hurriedly took the coastal tram to the town of Westende (West End) to find our hotel - Sint Laureins. That proved easy-peasy as the hotel had its own tram-stop which shared the same name as the hotel. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere but close to everywhere, the hotel has been in the hands of the Bogaert family - Guido and Sabrina and their charming daughter, Lesley - for a good 40 years.

We had good quarters, excellent food (Guido’s a master chef by the way and, therefore, oversees a good kitchen) and

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Tony Cooper and Renee Gobert

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2018 WINTER | 15

a room with a view. Miss Honeychurch would have approved.

A stunning panoramic sea-view, in fact, that made it easy to understand while Ostende and, indeed, the whole of the Belgian coast proved (and still is to a certain extent) a popular holiday destination for English visitors - and as far back as the late 19th century, too.

However, the overall image of the town was propelled to greater popularity and prosperity when the Belgian kings, Leopold I and Leopold II, decided to spend their summer holidays there.

Therefore, important monuments and villas were built to please them including the Hippodrome Wellington horse-racing track and the Royal Galleries while Ostende quickly became known as ‘the queen of the Belgian coast’. I can see why!

And so could film producers, it seems. For instance, Nicole Garcia shot scenes here for her 1998 French-made film, Place Vendôme, starring Catherine Deneuve as Marianne Malivert and Alain Jessua did likewise for his 1977 French-Italian crime-thriller, Armaguedon, starring Alain Delon as Dr Michel Ambroise while Ostende’s most revered artist, James Ensor, briefly got into the picture inasmuch as a poster of the artist’s ‘Self-Portrait with Flowered Hat’ could be seen hanging in the bedroom of Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s 1978 American slasher film, Halloween, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis, making her big-screen début.

Influenced by such important 20th-century artists as Paul Klee, Emil Nolde and George Grosz, James Ensor died in November 1949 aged 89 and the house in which he lived from 1917 to 1949 at Vlaanderenstraat 27 was subsequently turned into a museum.

An Ostender through and through, Ensor (whose museum is more than worth a visit) remained in Ostende during World War II despite the risk of bombardment and in his ripe-old age he was an honoured figure among Belgians whilst his daily walk made him a familiar figure amongst townsfolk.

But if walking becomes too much, the coastal tram, De Kusttram the longest tramline in the world at 68 km (42 miles) in length and run by De Lijn - provides the necessary answer as it connects all the cities and towns along the entire Belgian (West Flanders) coast between De Panne near the French border and Knokke bordering the Netherlands. The service makes a total of 69 stops with a tram running every 10 minutes during peak summer months and every 20 minutes in winter. And reliable, too, let me add. It was regularly used by me and Miss X over our week’s stay. In fact, we covered each and every one of the 69 stops.

And one of our favourite stops turned out to be Blankenberge.

Apart from the resort’s wide sandy beaches (used by a battalion of kite and windsurfers in keeping with the whole of the Belgian coast) the resort boasts a lovely 350-metre long art-deco pier (aptly named Belgium Pier) constructed in 1933 and, surprisingly, the only pier existing in the country. Interestingly, here we met Jan Vandenbussche, whose grandfather, Gaston Vandenbussche, ran a profitable summer business of offering donkey rides for the kids.

A refreshing and affable person he was a mind of information about the pier and works there as a waiter. But what a waiter!

He proudly served us a tantalisingly-sweet dish of traditionallymade waffles (when in Belgium, eh!) filled with large red cherries and finished off with a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream topped by a generous portion of Chantilly cream. Greedy boy!

However, rushed off his feet, Jan still found time to give us a tour of the works in which we came across an historic picture of his grandfather minding his beach business. Without doubt, the Belgium Pier is a big asset to Blankenberge as much as Cromer Pier is to Cromer. Piers of the realm, they’re both gems, steeped in history and visited by all and sundry.

Look out! There’s the Knokke tram approaching.

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COA STA ALO L TRAM NG THE CONN EC ENT IRE TS ALL BEL GIA THE C ITIE N (W SA EST FLA ND TO NDE WN S RS ) COA ST” “TH E

Blankenberge’s a carnival city, too, and, luckily, we caught the annual August Flower Parade (Bloemencorso) while a two-day marching event bursts through the town on the first weekend of May. Quick march!

Blankenberge also figures in Anthony Trollope’s novel, Phineas Finn, as the scene of a duel between the eponymous hero and Lord Chiltern while the worldrenowned Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso, wowed a packed house here in 1910. And as part of the overall carnival scene, Patrick Le Fustec was ‘riding’ with a replica 18th-century two-tier Venetian carousel proudly (and colourfully) dominating the old market square.

Sporting a strong and illustrious history, Blankenberge was before World War I an exclusive holiday resort frequented by royalty. HIRH Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife HH Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were regular visitors and the royal couple were planning to travel to Blankenberge for their summer holiday in 1914 but were assassinated in Sarajevo in June of that year by Gavrilo Princip.

Knokke (at the end of the line) proved an invigorating and surprising day out in more ways than one but De Panne (at the other end) is for another day. Really, that day can’t come quick enough. However, the big surprise at Knokke was coming across what I thought to be a London red double-decker bus but on closer scrutiny it turned out to be a bus from the fleet of Eastern Counties Omnibus Company manufactured by Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft. Originally, it plied the route from Norwich city centre to West Earlham but it still serves the public but now as a stationary vehicle operated by Patrick Gobert and

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2018 WINTER | 17

his family serving that Great British dish, fish-and-chips. In its new incarnation the bus is appropriately named ‘Busserie’ - a nice play on words!

Surprisingly, on returning to Norwich, I came across my London double-decker after all parked in Surrey Street. Cor blimey, guv!

I may well have travelled on it as the bus in question was the no 38 that plied the route from Clapham Pond to Victoria and one of its stops was Rosebery Avenue, Islington, where one alighted for Sadler’s Wells Theatre - a theatre I know very well.

Now a private-hire vehicle, John Stewart (a Norwich-based chartered surveyor) was the driver for the day (his boyhood dream coming true!) and his scenic route took him from Clippesby to Dunston Hall. I hope he and his passengers had a jolly good day.

Tickets, please!

FEATURE BY:

Tony Cooper WRITER TC@TONY-COOPER.CO.UK

18 | WINTER 2018

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The Belgium Pier at Blankenberge in all its glory.

FACT FILE Tony Cooper travelled all the way to the Continent by train from Norwich Thorpe Station to London Liverpool Street with Greater Anglia and then by Eurostar ‎from London St Pancras International to Brussels onward to Bayreuth via Frankfurt and Nuremberg travelling on an Inter-City Express (ICE) operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB). All Eurostar tickets to Brussels are valid to and from any Belgian station at no extra cost. For further information and best-value fares visit www.eurostar.com Greater Anglia run regular services from Norwich to London Liverpool Street. Fares start from £10 one way but need to be booked in advance. For more information and best-value fares offered by Greater Anglia check out www. greateranglia.co.uk and for Deutsche Bahn (DB) www.deutschebahn.com Keep in touch with the Bayreuth Festival by visiting www.bayreuther-festspiele.de For further information on Flanders visit www.visitflanders.co.uk and for Hotel St Laureins www.st-laureins.com

Patrick Le Fustec’s replica 18th-century two-tier Venetian carousel.

2018 WINTER | 19

PAUL FROST GUITAR LESSONS

I am Paul Frost, I have played guitar for 40 years, and have been playing in bands from the age of 12. I currently play in two local cover bands, namely Backstreet and Stony Ground, I also occasionally perform as part of an acoustic duo.

GUITAR LESSONS To suit most styles, Beginners welcome!

Contact Paul: 01953 888 193 paul.frost@freeuk.com

Originally self taught, I constantly try to achieve a higher standard of playing and musicianship.

I now teach guitar myself from my home in Banham and the lessons are generally conducted once a fortnight at either 30 minute or 1 hour sessions.

Both beginners or more experienced players are welcome, and I am able to teach most styles of music.

I am a member of the Registry of Guitar Tutors and able to help students with both RGT & Rockschool grades in playing electric, acoustic, and bass guitar.

20 | WINTER 2018

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Contemporary, classic or chic modern

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2018 WINTER | 21

S N A R T N I T S O L

S U C R I C N O I T A L

A taste of Italian culture comes to Norwich this Christmas with Lost in Translation Circus’ spectacular, The Baron in the Trees (Il Barone Rampante), inspired by Italo Calvini’s 1957 novel of the same name. The show runs at The Oak Circus Centre from Thursday 13th December to Sunday 16th December with performances daily at 6.30pm.

A family show, it will feature astonishing and astounding performances from Lost in Translation performers and friends.

High-flying aerial stunts and amazing acrobatics mix with slapstick poetry and juggling to create a show to thrill young and old alike.

Live music will accompany each of the acts which are loosely based on Signor Calvini’s well-loved story.

Journalist, short-story writer, novelist, essayist, Signor Calvini lived from 1923 to 1985. He was born in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba and died in Siena, Italy. At the time of his death he was the most-

in Translation Circus, ‘a playful, romantic fable, in fact, set in the 18th century surrounding the adventures of 12-year-old Cosimo. It’s one of the children’s books that we always read at Christmas out of tradition and it’s something that I’ve grown up with each year since childhood.’

Norwich-based Lost in Translation has become one of the country’s leading and best-loved contemporary circus companies. Warm humour combined with breathtaking virtuosic skills has won the company a host of admiring fans wherever they perform. They have toured widely throughout the UK and the Continent and enjoyed audience and critical success at the Edinburgh Festival. Earlier in the year, Lost in Translation hosted Chapelfield Summer Circus celebrating the 250th anniversary of circus which formed part of Norwich being one of the six official UK Cities of Circus 2018.

translated contemporary Italian writer and one of his most notable works (dating from 1957 but revised two years later) is the novel, The Baron in the Trees, which lovingly tells the story of 12-yearold Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, eldest son of the Baron, who climbs a tree as a protest of being forced to eat snails and vows that his feet will never touch the ground again.

Therefore, he spends the rest of his life in the trees and even has an aerial library for his books. As he grows up he has adventures with bandits and pirates, falls in love and watches the revolutionary ideas of The Age of Enlightenment unfold beneath him.

‘It’s a great story,’ exclaimed Massimillano Rossetti, Director of Lost

Lost in Translation’s Christmas show at The Oak Circus Centre is fast becoming a Norwich tradition, too. The atmosphere of the show coupled with the cosy and warm auditorium is friendly, relaxed and inviting. Last year the show sold out all its performances by appreciative family audiences enjoying traditional Christmas family entertainment.

Box office: 01603 568634. Tickets: adult £10; child £6; family (2 adults / 2 children) £28; on-line bookings: www. theoakcircuscentre.org

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Keep track of Lost in Translation events and shows by visiting www.lostintranslationcircus.com

2018 WINTER | 23

Success Invest in your future

Have you ever though you are worth more than you are currently being paid, or perhaps you’re bored doing what you are currently doing, or you’re worried about pension plans, or you just want a ‘Plan B’?

Well - In addition to my web development business I also spend an hour here & there, in the ‘nooks & grannies’ of the day, building an additional business and a great additional income.

In the traditional World of work the ‘Boss’ may ask you to work the occasional overtime, which nine times out of ten we agree to do, and they pay you the average hourly rate of

24 | WINTER 2018

around £12.00 per hour. If you would like another £12.00 you work another hour. This is traditional and it’s how most people go through life.

However, the smart people look for ‘Residual Income’ where they work an hour and then get paid for that hours work again and again and again.

Song writers do this extremely well – they write a song and record it and they get paid every time their song is played.

This is called ‘Residual Income’ and I really like this concept!

Of course it may not be for you, but at least you will have seen what I am doing and you can make that decision, rather than me denying you the opportunity and you might know someone who is looking so you can help them.

How soon would you like to change your future, earn more money and have time freedom?

Get in touch and I’ll help you every step of the way. www.SUCCESSpro.me.uk

I’d love to share with you what I am doing, as you may feel you’d like to do it too.

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THE VOICE PROJECT

The Voice Project celebrate its tenth anniversary with a special choral concert in Norwich in December. Tony Cooper reports

I

n celebration of a decade of song, Norwich’s Voice Project Choir is presenting a very special Christmas concert in the city on Saturday 22nd December at St Andrew’s Hall. The show - aptlynamed The Sky is Full of Light - comes from the song written for the choir by famed jazz musician Barbara Thompson and, indeed, one of the first to be specially written for them. The concert will feature a host of Voice Project’s favourite pieces from the past decade alongside new seasonal songs especially written for the event.

The choir will be joined by a coterie of special guest singers and musicians who have collaborated with the choir over the years including regular collaborators Human Music while the acclaimed British saxophonist, Andy Sheppard, will head the instrumental line-up. And with innovative visuals by artist Sal Pittman - whose work is driven principally by a visual response to sound and the graphic line combining slide-projectors, animation and digital film coupled by atmospheric lighting the event promises a visual feast as well as an aural delight.

Created by experienced singers and educators Sian Croose and Jonathan Baker, The Voice Project Choir is genuinely open to all. It’s a true community choir that absolutely anyone can join whether they have any experience of singing and music or not.

There are no auditions and everything is taught by ear with no need to read music.

However, despite this their performances are produced to exacting professional standards. They perform music that is specially written for them by internationally-renowned composers and present it www.1Magazine.co.uk

in a variety of innovative ways using lighting and projections to create spectacular events that live long in the memory.

‘We don’t have a permanent choir,’ explained Sian. ‘Some people sign up for every project and some join for one and return at a later date. I think that flexibility helps keep everything fresh. Over the years we have had hundreds of different members.’

Jonathan also explained: ‘We shall also have members of choirs we formed in Brighton and elsewhere joining us for this special anniversary and, hopefully, it will be a true celebration of the past 10 years and a launch-pad for the next 10.’

The Voice Project Choir - who have been featured on television on BBC1 and ITV, on prime-time French television and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 - perform annual commissions at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival appearing with significant guests from the jazz and contemporary music fields. They took their groundbreaking show The Arms of Sleep (which involves a sleepover for the audience) to this year’s Brighton International Festival and have appeared at the London Jazz Festival and at the Coutances Festival in France.

Guest musicians and composers have included the likes of saxophonist Andy Sheppard, actor Orlando Gough and pianist Gwilym Simcock as well as Swiss pianist/composer Nik Bärtsch, Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and American trumpeter, Jon Hassell, who has collaborated with David Bowie and David Sylvian amongst others. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.voiceproject.co.uk 2018 WINTER | 27

GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKETS

20 18 German Christmas markets are famous the world over, 1MAGAZINE travel writer, Tony Cooper, checks out three of his favourite Rhineland destinations

28 | WINTER 2018

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Romanian-born cellist, Andrei IoniČ›Äƒ (photo: Daniel Delang)

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2018 WINTER | 29

NORWICH AT CHRISTMAS

E

very year in December, people from all over the world descend upon Germany to have fun and savour the Christmas markets. They’re famous and can be found all over the country, of course, but the ones that I favour are Nürnberg, Berlin and Cologne. Three of the best!

If Nürnberg’s Christmas market takes up street after street, in Berlin it’s very different, as it has well over 50 Christmas markets in various locations across the city. Whether you prefer a contemplative and magical Christmas market or a lively and urban one you’ll find it in Berlin.

As for Nürnberg, you couldn’t get a better setting, as this lovely and inviting town in Upper Franconia, has its Christmas market spread throughout Altstadt (Old Town) with the focal-point right where it should be - the main market square. Here you’ll find one of the city’s most famous landmarks, the Schöner Brunnen (the Beautiful Fountain), which, according to local legend, if you turn the ‘golden ring’ on the grille three times and make a wish, your wish will come true. Ah, well!

Over the last few years, the Charlottenburg Castle Christmas market plays host to one of the most famous of all in the German capital. For the festive season the castle and its park are immersed in a special romantic light show. And alongside attractive temporary and permanent exhibitions inside the castle, the market offers carefully-selected arts and crafts and ancient handicrafts as well as well-chosen gastronomic items housed inside festivelydecorated huts and exclusive glass pagodas.

Anyhow, visitors are greeted by about 180 wooden stalls festooned with red-and-white cloth which gives the market the name ‘Little Town of Wood and Cloth’. About a further 200 stallholders are selling traditional wares, too, such as Nürnberg spicy gingerbread (which is simply delicious), fruit loaves and bakery goodies. Plus there’s a whole range of typical seasonal

But the Berlin Christmas market I always enjoy can be found at Gendarmenmarkt. It does the trick for me and Gendarmenmarkt, just off Unter den Linden, is my favourite thoroughfare in Berlin.

An architectural jewel it was created at the end of the 17th century as a market place for the Linden Markt therefore deriving its name from the Regiment Gens d’Armes.

The most conspicuous building in the square is the Konzerthaus, designed by the Brandenburg Gate designer, Carl Gotthard Langhans, and flanked by the elegantly-domed French and German cathedrals, which offers the square a perfect and harmonious balance. A statue of Friedrich von Schiller (Germany’s most famous poet) admirably finishes it off. As such, it provides a marvellous setting for a Christmas market.

And every year during Advent, pleasant aromatic smells of roasted almonds, hot cocoa and mulled wine greets visitors to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church Christmas market, near to the Kurfürstendamm, the opposite end to Unter den Linden when Berlin was a divided city. More

items to purchase ranging from Christmas tree angels, cribs, ornaments, candles and toys to an abundance of arts and crafts products.

However, one thing to look out for is the ‘Nuremberg Plum People’ - little figures made from prunes. They’re novel! And by way of sustenance, there’s the famous Nürnberg bratwurst to get stuck into washed down, of course, by a pint or two of the best while a mug of mulled wine will more than warm the cockles of your heart.

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than 170 craft and Christmas market stands are set up around the historical church in the centre of the city while an abundance of fairy-lights surround the elaborately-decorated Breitscheidplatz, where the focal-point is a 20-metre-high Christmas tree.

Berlin’s largest Christmas market can be found in Spandau Old Town which hosts 250 stands during the week and 400 at weekends plus there’s a stage programme (including a Christmasthemed rock concert every Friday) ensuring all-round family

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entertainment. But with more than 50 Christmas markets to explore in Berlin, Miss X and I still end up at Gendarmenmarkt.

As Cologne’s a main hub for the German railway network, Miss X and I usually spend a couple of days here on our way back to England via Brussels to Eurostar it back to London St Pancras. We find the city one of our favourite destinations and not only did we enjoy the Cathedral Christmas market last year but we also found a brilliant jazz club at Papa Joe’s in the Buttermarkt close by to the old fischmarkt by the river.

But with all these markets, I think the most impressive is at Cologne Cathedral, due to the huge backdrop of the imposing Gothic-designed cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Beneath the cathedral you’ll find the largest Christmas tree in the Rhineland complemented by well over 160 festively-designed wooden pavilions. Here you can watch artisans at work, enjoy mulled wine sipped out of festive-decorated mugs or you can choose from an unlimited choice of sweets and local delicacies.

Cologne easily competes with Berlin on quality but not on volume.

They have only seven markets to go for. But, that’s not bad, eh!

Among them are four biggies located at Cologne Cathedral, Alter Markt, Neumarkt (Cologne’s oldest) and Rudolfplatz. Every year these four markets alone attract almost two million visitors. Then there’s the Floating Christmas market and the Christmas market at Stadtgarten while this year there’s a new one to add to the list - the Cologne Harbour Christmas market, located near the city’s famous chocolate museum - and that’s worth a visit in its own right.

But Cologne has something very special in their cathedral that everyone - well, nearly everyone - makes a visit to see. About 6.5 million people shuffle round the cathedral every year making it the most visited sight in Germany but at Christmas time it’s heaving as you can imagine because sited behind the High Altar you’ll find the relics of the Three Wise Men (The Magi). We all know about this famous Biblical trio of travellers (Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar) from the traditional Christmas story chronicling their journey to Bethlehem bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the Infant Jesus.

34 | WINTER 2018

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As you can imagine the Holy Boys are graciously housed in a large gilded and decorated triple golden sarcophagus studded with Byzantine jewels which is considered the high point of Mosan art, a regional style of Romanesque art emanating from the valleys of the Meuse and Rhine.

However, the Holy Boys were not quite on schedule as the German hi-speed rail network (ICE) would have surely been.

But, eventually, they made it to the most famous ‘stable’ on earth arriving on 6th January (Twelfth Night), known to Christians the world over as the Feast of the Epiphany.

But I was intrigued to find out how their bones (or relics) ended up in Cologne uprooted from Milan. They ended up in Cologne, I understand, by the power and might of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick ‘red beard’ Barbarossa, a man who possessed a pretty good CV by all accounts. He was crowned all over the show!

He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt in 1152 and crowned in Aachen in the same year while also being crowned King of Italy in Pavia two years later.

Not being content with two crowns he landed the top job of Holy Roman Emperor in 1155 and was duly crowned by Pope Adrian IV. And, greedy boy, he even managed to add another one to his tally and was crowned King of Burgundy at Arles in 1178.

Politics, I guess, doesn’t change? But, four crowns it’s a bit heavy going!

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But he failed to keep things a-going in the northern Italian cities especially Milan and sacked and ravaged this great and powerful city. With revenge in mind, I would suggest, this is probably the reason why the Three Wise Men were moved to Cologne in 1164 with a bit of political manoeuvring from the archbishop of Cologne, Rainald von Dassel. He must have been very pleased with the outcome!

But another thing I questioned is how did they land up in Milan in the first place? With a bit of digging I found out. Let me tell you.

Listen carefully! The story goes that Bishop Eustorgio (who later rose to sainthood - a necessity in the Roman Catholic Church) brought the Magi’s remains from Constantinople to Milan on an ox-drawn carriage in the 4th century and founded a church to shelter them.

This account, however, may be slightly off the mark as the basilica that bears his name is thought to have been built a century later.

But that’s a minor point, though! However, the church remains one of Milan’s oldest and most-respected churches and every year, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the bishop leads a procession of the faithful to honour the season of Christmas.

However, to heal the wounds or, perhaps, as an act of Christian brotherhood, fragments of the bones and garments were returned to Sant’Eustorgio just over a century ago. This church, I found out, was an important medieval centre for pilgrims on their journey to Rome or the Holy Land simply because of the Three Kings connection, so it’s a shame that they were taken away in the first

2018 WINTER | 35

place. However, one can still pay homage to them in the altar of the Magi chapel by the empty sarcophagus of the Three Wise Men. But the Magi’s presence never abandoned the church and in their honour the bell tower is topped by an eight-pointed star instead of the usual traditional cross.

A good story for sure but that’s the story of the Three Wise Men. As such, it must make Cologne Cathedral’s Christmas market leader of the pack. Well, nearly!

Auf wiedersehen!

FEATURE BY:

Tony Cooper WRITER TC@TONY-COOPER.CO.UK

36 | WINTER 2018

FACT FILE Tony Cooper travelled all the way to the Continent by train from Norwich Thorpe Station to London Liverpool Street with Greater Anglia and then by Eurostar ‎from London St Pancras International to Brussels en route to various destinations in Germany travelling on an InterCity Express (ICE) operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB). All Eurostar tickets to Brussels are valid to and from any Belgian station at no extra cost. For further information and best-value fares visit www.eurostar.com Greater Anglia run regular services from Norwich to London Liverpool Street. Fares start from £10 one way but need to be booked in advance. For more information and best-value fares offered by Greater Anglia check out www.greateranglia.co.uk and for Deutsche Bahn (DB) www.deutschebahn.com

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Sir Henry Wood at the Royal Albert Hall.

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TRUE STORIES LIVE

Heart-warming true stories for a cold winter’s night.

Norwich-based arts writer, Tony Cooper, finds out more

T

rue Stories Live at Norwich Arts Centre offers a convivial and relaxing evening that has blossomed over the past couple of years to become a regular sell-out success. It’s a lively, moving and unpredictable event with stories on a changing monthly theme ranging from heart-warming to revealing or from funny to sad.

Joining the December line-up is ITV News arts editor Nina Nannar and writer/actress Helen Linehan who’ll tell their own true stories on the theme of Heroes. For ITV News, Nina Nannar covers stories from the world of arts and entertainment and interviews influential figures and household names. But are any of them her heroes?

Will she spill the beans on anyone famous? Are her heroes closer to home?

On the other hand, comedy writer, Helen Linehan, is the creator of the hilarious BBC TV sitcom Motherland starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Diane Morgan. She’s also known for speaking out about her and her husband Graham’s experience of abortion in support of the campaign to decriminalise abortion in Ireland.

Founder and organiser of the event, Lucy Farrant, said: ‘True Stories Live invites people to go on stage and share something about their own lives with a warm and supportive audience. We’re seeking to bring people together and create a special sense of community so that people go home with positive feelings about themselves and each other. In these uncertain times we believe more than ever in the power of community and empathy to galvanise and inspire.’

True Stories Live is hosted by Radio 4/Sky TV writer, poet and performer Molly Naylor who will also be hosting a workshop on Wednesday 28th November. Those attending will be coached in

40 | WINTER 2018

True Stories Live compère, Molly Naylor (photo: Robin Mair)

the art of public speaking as well as garner useful tips on how to make stories interesting and fun. More information on how to take part and/or attend the workshops visit www.truestorieslive.co.uk Adding to the overall ambience of this special festive edition of True Stories Live will be DJ78, Norfolk’s favourite vintage recordspinner who can often be heard on Cerys Matthews’ BBC6/Music radio show. He’ll be playing an eclectic selection of his favourite 78rpm shellac discs that’s sure to include some unusual versions of festive favourites on his two matching 1930s HMV wind-up gramophones.

One audience member described True Stories Live as ‘like eavesdropping into people’s stories in the pub . . . and here, I’m allowed to!’ A first-time performer also said: ‘I was absolutely petrified before I went on but I feel amazing now, the audience was really receptive. I had so much fun and it also boosted my confidence… everybody should do it.’

True Stories Live Christmas Special can be enjoyed at Norwich Arts Centre on Sunday, 9th December, 7.30pm, £pay what you can.

Advance booking, though, is recommended.

Norwich Arts Centre, St Benedict’s Street, Norwich NR2 4PG 01603 660352 www.norwichartscentre.co.uk FEATURE BY:

Tony Cooper WRITER TC@TONY-COOPER.CO.UK

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ITV arts correspondent, Nina Nannar.

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2018 WINTER | 41

DISS MUSEUM Ghosts of Diss

T

he centre of Diss is full of ghosts, as I have found out through talking to local people. The first three premises I visited are next to each other in the Market Place and were once town houses.

At the travel agents a girl said that she was entering the loo once and had her hand on the door handle when the door was violently opened inwards, although there was nobody there.

Next door, at Boots, Angela said that a girl had heard a sound like the rustle of crinoline along a passage. Several had heard noises like someone sweeping, when there was nobody there.

One girl, who was supposed to have experienced things, was too embarrassed to talk about it. (Some said she made it up.)

At Beales, Yvonne said she had seen a shadow when there was nobody there and had heard distinct noises. Stock that had been carefully placed had been violently disturbed and a glass table had shattered overnight. One girl, Karen Ready, who said she had psychic feelings, had seen and talked to a figure in green velvet and a lace collar. His name was Robert. I pointed out that the last man to be publicly hanged here was Robert Carleton, a tailor who would have had his premises in the middle of town.

At what was until recently Johnsons the cleaners, previously Chenerys and other businesses over the years, there was a ghost

called George. Workmen often found things had been moved and were unwilling to go upstairs. A girl felt something brush past her at the top of the stairs and she went cold. A pin cushion disappeared and its owner asked George to return it. When she came back the pin cushion was back in its normal place. The building has two cellars and a rumoured tunnel to the old King’s Head building. This information came from Herbie and Joan Carlton.

Up Market Hill at Albrights, Gloria said that coloured things had been disturbed in the night, as though children had been fascinated by them and played with them. At the Corn Hall someone said that there was a figure sometimes seen in the doorway between the bar and the main hall.

At 1 Church Street, the house by the churchyard, there had been unexplained noises and footsteps, next to where the Guildhall School used to be.

The hairdressers at the Dolphin House said there was the ghost of a small boy and a woman in long boots and skirt. Staff have been asked to see to a customer, only to find that there was nobody there. Things have often been moved.

Next time you are walking through Diss, that figure you see at an upper window might not be a hairdresser or a Boots girl having a break.

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2018 WINTER | 43

H C EA

Have a jolly good Christmas on EACH

E

ast Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) has a family of over 1,300 volunteers who the charity says Christmas is a time for giving and East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) hopes you will give to its cause this festive season in exchange for a whole lot of fun at one of its upcoming events.

The first sprinkling of Christmas magic will be in Ipswich on Saturday, 24 November. EACH is hosting a magical lantern walk, starting and finishing at DanceEast and taking in just over two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the waterfront in between. Proceedings will be drawn to a close with some festive entertainment and refreshments. Walkers will also be able to take part in a raffle and other exciting activities.

will receive a festive goody bag, too. Also on Sunday, 16th, Griff Rhys Jones will take the floor at Ipswich Town’s Sir Bobby Robson suite. His 90-minute set will feature a new mix of tales, standup and anecdotes ready for Christmas and the New Year. Topics will include voluntary work, royalty, family Christmases past and present, plus Suffolk and Essex.

Tickets for the lantern walk cost £10. Under 3s go free and there is a team ticket available to groups of four or more that costs £8.50 per person. Those prices include a lantern, LED tealight and certificate. Registration is from 5.30pm. Under 14s must be accompanied by an adult.

Into December, EACH has two Santa fun runs taking place in Norfolk. The first will be over two kilometres (1.2 miles) on Sunday, 9 December at Norwich’s Eaton Park. The second will be over five kilometres (3.1 miles) in Poringland, starting and finishing at Framingham Earl High School, on Sunday, 16 December. Both will get under way at 11am.

Tickets are £15 for anyone aged over 13, £8 for children, £40 for a family of four, or groups of six or more can enter for £14 per person. There are exclusive discounts and benefits for corporates.

Those aged over 13 will get a Santa suit whilst children will get a Santa or elf hat. Medals will be given to everyone and children www.1Magazine.co.uk

2018 WINTER | 45

I

arrive at Bayreuth’s railway station from Nuremberg in glorious sunshine and I’m more than pleased to be here because once again I’m attending the Bayreuth Festival which is like no other festival of its kind on earth. His music, however, transforms my inner senses. But not everyone would agree with that sentiment, especially my other half whom I affectionately refer to as ‘Miss X’, a Wagner widow by choice. Without a shadow of doubt, Wagner was one of the most important and significant composers of the 19th century and his ideas transformed opera that has had lasting effects to this day.

Inaugurated in 1876, the festival launched with a performance of Das Rheingold in the company of such distinguished composers as Bruckner, Grieg and Tchaikovsky while Wagner’s father-in-law, Franz Liszt (who travelled to Norwich in September 1840 to give a piano recital at the Assembly House as part of his Grand Tour of the UK) also witnessed the grand occasion.

But still after making nine visits to the festival my thoughts race back to my first visit in 2010 and my first walk up the steeply-inclined Siegfried Wagner Allee, named after Richard Wagner’s son, and commonly known as the Green Hill.

My first encounter with Wagner on home soil, I thought. As such, it sent shivers down my spine.

If the Gods dreamt of Valhalla, I simply dreamt of Bayreuth. And here I was after years of ‘dreaming’ walking the stairway to the Gods - to Valhalla!

I enjoyed the ride of my life with Brünnhilde and her Valkyries in full flight in Wagner’s exciting fouropera work, The Ring of the Nibelungen (‘The Ring’ for short), in a realisation by the legendary German director, Tankred Dorst.

At the same time there was also great excitement on the Green Hill for Frank Castorf’s brand-new Ring in preparation for Wagner’s bicentenary in 2013. It was a ‘year of years’ for any Wagnerite! The Ring that year took control of the world (anyhow, that’s the idea of it!) and most of the world’s leading opera-houses mounted a production.

Castorf (who grew up in East Germany) is an avantgarde theatre director like no other and he delivered a stunning production that was as controversial as the director himself but I found it to my liking and following its five-year stint in the Bayreuth repertoire (from 2013 to 2017) the second opera in the cycle (Die Walküre) was pulled out of the pack and given just three performances at this year’s festival. I was more than happy to be in the Richard-WagnerFestspielhaus to see it - and for the sixth time, too.

Ringed out! Never!

Unconventional to the corer, Castorf dumped the opera’s traditional romantic Rhineland setting for the rough-and-tumble world of oil prospecting transporting the scenario to the city of Baku on the Caspian Sea in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Therefore, ‘Black Gold’ became the treasured Nibelung hoard, a political tool like no other.

Legendary opera star, Plácido Domingo, found himself in the pit causing a few raised eyebrows because 46 | WINTER 2018

BAYREUTH Most of Tony Cooper’s travelling, particularly in Europe, takes in some cultural pursuit one way or the other.

Once again he finds himself back in Bayreuth on the Wagner trail

OPERA HERO: Plácido Domingo in the pit conducting Die Walküre (photo: Enrico Nawrath)

Audience members gathering on Bayreuth’s famed Green Hill for a night of nights!

of his limited experience of conducting Wagner - and for the first time at Bayreuth. Heavens above! However, apart from one or two inconsequential issues from my viewpoint he conducted pretty well and Die Walküre, after all, is a work he knows well as he has sung the role of Siegmund and, indeed, other such important Wagnerian roles as Lohengrin and Parsifal and, indeed, recorded Tristan und Isolde, Die and Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser.

But conducting at Bayreuth, especially Die Walküre, was, in effect, a mighty big challenge and, I think, he admirably rose to that challenge silencing most of his critics along the way. A few miserable boos crept in at curtain-call but the Bayreuth booing mafia were soon sent packing down the Green Hill.

Overall, though, the orchestra was on good form and in the opening bars of the first act, a test for any conductor, Domingo captured the essence and urgency of Wagner’s rich and powerful score by extracting from his charges some invigorating and forceful playing vividly portraying the stormy and unsettled weather in which the exhausted young warrior, Siegmund, is seen fleeing from his enemies looking for shelter while in the opera’s big number ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ Domingo gradually built up the piece to a thrilling and exciting climax which was glorious to hear especially in the confines of Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus.

Castorf’s Ring carried a punch and most certainly had a baptism of fire but, gladly, found its feet over its five-year run. I think that it will be nostalgically remembered for all sorts of reasons not least by the copulating crocs that occupied centre stage in the last act of 48 | WINTER 2018

Siegfried interrupting the ecstatic love duet between the Burning Hero and Fiery Brünnhilde. Whatever next? I wonder? We’ll just have to wait and see as and when the 2020 Ring unveils itself. The clock’s ticking!

Lucky me, I also engaged in five other productions including a challenging new staging of Lohengrin directed by Yuval Sharon, Bayreuth’s first American director. He delivered an electricallycharged and imaginative production that - like Hans Neuenfels’ rat-infested one - challenged the traditional boundaries of opera direction which, hopefully, is now finding favour with Bayreuth’s traditionally-minded audience.

The celebrated husband-and-wife team of Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy created a host of intriguing sets and costumes. Born in Leipzig in the 1960s, Rauch - whose work focuses on a bold subjectmatter probably reflecting the influence that Socialist Realism had on him as a young man - gathered his thoughts together and the inspiration for the sets (as disturbing as the plot itself) came from actually listening to the score of Lohengrin whilst working in his studio.

Based on a well-loved German legend written by an unknown German author, the actual story of Lohengrin relates to other traditional and fairy-like stories that belong to the ‘Knight of the Swan’ tradition, a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat in defence of a damsel in distress, his only condition being that he must never be asked his name.

Therefore, the fairy-tale elements in Lohengrin are strong with the www.1Magazine.co.uk

Good represented by Lohengrin and Elsa of Brabant and the Bad

by Ortrud and Frederick of Telramund.

I felt a nod was given to the fairy-tale legend by Mr Sharon inasmuch as the central characters were adorned with diaphanous wings (made of thin semi-transparent cloth) but here they represented flying insects - and like all insects, attracted to the light. There was a lot of light in this production to bug them and at the closing moments of the opera they dropped like flies. Those worn by Elsa, though, would have perfectly fitted the part of the Fairy Queen Iolanthe in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta of the same name.

Not looking princely or regal whatsoever, Lohengrin turned out to be a maintenance electrician in a production that often turned up a surprise or two. Kitted out in a light-blue standard-fare uniform he arrived not as a knight-in-shining-armour in a grand and ceremonial way but landed on top of an electric power generating plant by means of a silver-coloured drone (that’s what it looked like to me, anyway) announced by a streak of white lightning and seen through the clock-face of the plant’s tower with the hands modelled in the style of flash lightning which, in fact, also mirrored his sword. Perhaps the image of the clock acted as a countdown to his eventual unmasking in the last act when he regretfully (and sadly) returns to Mont Monsalvat owing to his identity being blown.

Bowing out of the repertoire this year was Jan Philipp Gloger’s daring production of The Flying Dutchman in which he switched the scenario from the nautical world to the world of business and commerce. I also revisited Parsifal specifically written for the Festspielhaus which became Wagner’s final and farewell work to the world completed in January 1882 and took in Tristan & Isolde, echoing the legendary days of King Arthur and widely considered to be one of the greatest works ever written to pure erotic love.

And catching up with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, directed by the wonderfully-quirky director, Barrie Kosky, artistic director of Komische Oper, Berlin, proved the icing on the cake. He delivered a brilliant and entertaining production which first saw the light of day at the 2017 Bayreuth Festival.

Born in Melbourne in the late 1960s, the grandson of Jewish emigrants from Europe, his name in now indelibly linked to Bayreuth as he becomes the first Jewish director to hold court at Bayreuth over its illustrious 142-year-old history. He’s also the first person outside of the Wagner family to direct Meistersinger at Bayreuth.

That’s quite an honour and I think, too, an important and significant step by Katharina Wagner - artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival and daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and greatgranddaughter of Richard Wagner - of appointing Kosky as it supports her strong viewpoint of bringing to the fore Richard Wagner’s anti-Semitic stance and his family’s later association with Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.

This vision is also reflected in the revamped exhibition focusing on the Bayreuth Festival housed in Villa Wahnfried (complete with a swishy new extension) where Wagner lived with his wife Cosima and their children from 1874 to 1882. Although a museum since 1976 (it reopened to the public just over four years ago) this is the first time that the era of the Third Reich has found its place in the exhibition. Most certainly, the last piece of the jigsaw. You cannot erase history and neither should you but at the same time the sins of the father cannot be brought upon the children.

Therefore, in Mr Kosky’s riveting and exciting production of Die Meistersinger - a work that’s essentially a hymn to the supremacy of German art - Wahnfried takes centre stage and features prominently in the first act replacing the traditional setting of St Catherine’s Church. Here we meet Herr Wagner and his wife Cosima entertaining friends in the book-lined drawing-room engaged in a ‘read-through’ of Meistersinger in which the Jewish conductor, Hermann Levi - who conducted the first performance of Wagner’s Christian-based and final work, Parsifal, in July 1882 is portrayed (and humiliated) as Sixtus Beckmesser.

And Franz Liszt (Wagner’s father-in-law) also turns up and pokes his nose into things, too, offering a tune on the piano from Meistersinger in a way that irritates the composer no end that he pushes him off the stool, takes over the keyboard and shows the

CONTRETEMPS! Christa Mayer (Brangäne, Isolde’s maid), Petra Lang (Isolde), Iain Paterson (Kurwenal, Tristan’s servant) in Tristan und Isolde (photo: Enrico Nawrath)

www.1Magazine.co.uk

2018 WINTER | 49

‘youngster’ how to do it. A nice quirky touch from Kosky that really epitomises his style.

However, the pivotal role of Walther von Stolzing (portrayed as Young Wagner) and sung by a big ‘favourite’ of the Green Hill, Klaus Florian Vogt, delivered a performance that was well portrayed and, indeed, well-received at curtain-call. His entrance into Wahnfried’s elegantly-furnished drawing-room was very unorthodox as he came by a precarious route tumbling from a model of Wagner’s Steinway Grand. Waiting for him at the other end was, of course, Eva (portrayed as Cosima) eloquently sung by American soprano, Emily Magee.

The Master Singers arrive by the same precarious route with the chains of office denoting their trade dangling heavily from their necks. Robed in traditional processional gowns (inspired, perhaps, by the Nuremberg Renaissance painter/printmaker Albrecht Dürer) they could easily have passed off as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men from the pantomime, Dick Whittington.

But Rebecca Ringst’s sets were far from ‘pantomime’ and carefully designed to capture the correct scale and detail of the opera’s respective scenes. For instance, Wahnfried - created as a doll’shouse box set - was as accurate, I should imagine, as one could possibly get of Wahnfried in Wagner’s day and in this respect so, too, was room 600 used for the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46 while costume designer, Klaus Bruns, was just as thoughtful in his ideas and produced a good wardrobe.

Mr Kosky always seem to have plenty of tricks up his sleeve and gave a dramatic and stylish ending to act one as members of the audience seemed transfixed witnessing Wahnfried slowly retracting to reveal room 600 with a single GI on duty warning of things to come. The same set was cleverly adapted for the second act but the courtroom floor, free of furniture and completely grassed over, found Wagner and Cosima tucked up one corner enjoying an al fresco lunch.

FACT FILE Tony Cooper travelled all the way to the Continent by train from Norwich Thorpe Station to London Liverpool Street with Greater Anglia and then by Eurostar ‎from London St Pancras International to Brussels onward to Bayreuth via Frankfurt and Nuremberg travelling on an Inter-City Express (ICE) operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB). All Eurostar tickets to Brussels are valid to and from any Belgian station at no extra cost. For further information and best-value fares visit www.eurostar.com Greater Anglia run regular services from Norwich to London Liverpool Street.

Fares start from £10 one way but need to be booked in advance. For more information and best-value fares offered by Greater Anglia check out www. greateranglia.co.uk and for Deutsche Bahn (DB) www.deutschebahn. com Keep in touch with the Bayreuth Festival by visiting www.bayreutherfestspiele.de

A nasty and disturbing scene brought act two to an unsettling and rowdy close as Beckmesser became the target of a brutal pogromstyle attack. The townsfolk flared up in arms egging on the forces of evil and, disturbingly, the Bayreuth stage became dominated by an inflatable caricature of a Jew, a copy of such Jewish characters that were regularly published in the Nazi weekly tabloid, Der Stürmer, by Julius Streicher, a prominent official in the Nazi Party from 1923 to the end of the Second World War. And when deflated, the only evidence remaining of the inflatable was the black skull-cap heavily embossed with the Star of David. The scene was so powerful that it left me thinking (and I should imagine, others, too) long after the final curtain.

There’s so much good stuff in Meistersinger but none comes better than the ‘Morgentraum’ quintet. Arguably, the composer’s greatest ensemble piece celebrating the radiance of love and art.

It was superbly (and beautifully) sung by the opera’s five main characters in the confines of the empty Nuremberg courtroom with the flags of the four occupying nations - the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the USA and France - unfurled and lining the back of the court. It was powerful stuff. But, that’s Bayreuth!

FEATURE BY:

Tony Cooper WRITER TC@TONY-COOPER.CO.UK

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WAGNER SUPERSTAR! Waltraud Meier as Ortrud in Lohengrin (photo: Enrico Nawrath)

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BRECKLAND HOMECLEAN DOMESTIC CLEANING SERVICE

We provide the following services: Regular Weekly or Fortnightly Cleans One off Sparkle Cleans and End of Tenancy Cleans

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Wiltshire Farm Foods ‘Tis the season to be jolly.

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’is the season to be jolly, and with the festive period fast approaching, this year we want to celebrate this special time with our customers. Wiltshire Farm Foods is the UK’s leading provider of home-delivered frozen meals; with over 300 dishes to choose from across a variety of ranges, there are options to suit all tastes, appetites and dietary requirements.

Come rain or snow, our dedicated drivers will work tirelessly to get your festive feast straight to your door!

As well as all the delicious food, Christmas is also a time for giving, something we love doing here at Wiltshire Farm Foods. That’s why this year, we want to give our loyal customers something special to say Merry Christmas! When ordering our Christmas Selection Pack of 7 mains and 4 desserts (already great value at £38.99), we will throw in a box of 6 Mince Pies for FREE≠. Our way of helping to make your Christmas extra special. Treat yourself – go on, it’s Christmas!

Our Winter brochure is packed full of your Christmas favourites, including Hearty Roast Turkey, Wiltshire Ham and Roast Pork with Cranberry Stuffing. As well as all our classics, we have also introduced some new dishes to our range - delicious Chicken in Mushroom Sauce, succulent Beef Brisket in Red Wine Sauce and Mushroom, Leek & Cheddar Bake – which will ensure you are spoilt for choice this season.

≠Offer available for orders between 15th October 2018 and 2nd January 2019, or while stocks last

We know that Christmas is also a time for a little indulgence, so don’t worry- we’ve got you covered. All the classics are available in our range, our traditional Christmas pudding with Custard, Christmas Cake and Trifle all wrapped up and ready to be delivered. Not only that, but we have all your year-round favourites too, including Chocolate Profiteroles, Victoria Sponge & Cream, and Black Forest Gateau.

OUR NEW CHRISTMAS MENU HAS ARRIVED

7 main meals: Honey Roast Turkey Breast • Chicken in Creamy Mushroom Sauce • Roast Pork with Cranberry Stuffing • Gammon in Cranberry & Orange Sauce • Pork & Leek Sausages in Rich Onion Gravy • Braised Beef in Rich Sauce • Lamb with Redcurrant & Red Wine Sauce 4 desserts: Luxury Christmas Pudding • Christmas Trifle • Mincemeat & Apple Crumble • Brandy in Clotted Cream Ice Cream • FREE* Box of 6 mince pies

At Wiltshire Farm Foods we love helping you make Christmas extra special.

Call your local team today or go online to order your Christmas Selection Pack and have Christmas delivered to your door. Place your order today, and we’ll do the rest.

01362 699049 wiltshirefarmfoods.com Why not try our

Christmas Selection Pack?

*With every Selection Pack order while stocks last. Christmas Selection Pack available to order from October 15th 2018 up to and including 2nd January 2019, or while stocks last.

7 meals & 4 desserts and 6 FREE* mince pies for £38.99

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Priory Insurance A look at Home Insurance

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our most valuable asset is likely to be your home. Have you ever considered what would happen in the event of a serious fire, flood or theft ?

With access to over 200 Insurance Schemes, our fully trained staff will search our panel of carefully selected Insurers to ascertain the correct levels of cover and protection required for your individual circumstances.

We can provide cover for just Buildings or Buildings and Contents combined. In addition to standard cover, we can arrange to include Accidental Damage, together with Personal Possessions cover for items away from the home.

If your property is of non standard construction, or you work from home, we can cater for these difficult and sometimes expensive policies, with our expert knowledge and understanding of your individual circumstances.. With over 35 years experience in providing Home Insurance at all levels, we would welcome your enquiry and would be pleased to provide quotationsor advice.

For more information or quotation, please contact Miss Lucy Moy on T: 01953 602866 E: lucy@prioryinsurance.co.uk

South Norfolk Mobility Keeping you mobile and able to get out when walkng long distances is not possible

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ith the arrival of Spring, we hope for some finer weather! County shows and village fairs will be upon us. If your mobility is holding you back from being able to enjoy these events with your family and friends, then please come and see us. It can be a hard decision to make, that you may need some help with your mobility, but we strive to make you feel at ease. We would be delighted to demonstrate to you our range of aids, such as 3 and 4 wheeled walkers.

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Installation, Servicing & Repairs for Gas Appliances and LPG Specialist Powermax trained Tel: 0800 781 4014 Mob: 07940 876 081 2 Chapel Close, Pulham Market, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 4SS “New and replacement boilers installed�. tony.twservices@btinternet.com

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Traditional Bakers of Hand Made Dog Treats 01485 609091 poochs@gmx.com

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for Permanent & Temporary Recruitment Quality People continue to provide a recruitment service for the towns of Attleborough, Dereham, Diss, Thetford, Watton & Wymondham plus the surrounding areas throughout Breckland & South Norfolk.

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