FREE-please take one Written and produced by St Mark’s & The Valley Schools
larKhall news
the
issue 28
School Reports
Bookish Behaviour at St Mark’s St Saviour’s Big Build & Swainswick Community Cafe
Competition! Win tickets to see
Little Sure Shot at The Egg
Larkhall Festival 2015 & Valley Added Roving Reporters
in this iSSue q St Mark’s School News s Valley Schools’ News y Valley Added u Business News c The Larkhall Festival p Competition & Review The Larkhall News is a not-for-profit enterprise published by St Mark’s School, Bath. Our next issue will be out in the Summer of 2015. Editorial: Contact us on 01225 478416 or at St Mark’s School on 01225 312661. Advertising: Contact Paula Hawkins, St Mark’s School, Bay Tree Road, Larkhall, Bath, BA1 6ND Tel: 01225 312661 or email, hawkinsp@st-marks.org.uk The Larkhall News is available online at: www.st-marks.org.uk Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the authors. The publisher does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or errors in content. Whilst every reasonable care is taken, the publisher shall not be held liable for any loss occasioned by the failure of an advertisement to appear, or any damage or inconvenience caused by errors, omissions or misprints.
Welcome
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Aristotle I do love the Spring. There is such an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that we have done the hard bit and the best is now to come. Whilst the season will no doubt bring a plethora of inclement surprises, the schools across Larkhall continue to engage, inspire and excite the children with an array of activities, events and general jollification - all, of course, in the name of ‘education’.
One of the bestest (yup it’s in the dictionary of my 7 year old therefore I am permitted to use it) things about school is, without doubt, making friends and having fun. When we look back on our own school days of yonder, we don’t remember in detail the amazing mathematics classes, the history lesson on the Tudors, or the explosive science experiments. We possibly don’t even remember jumping the high jump (actually I do, but only because it hurt!); we remember the school trip to France or the abseiling in Cheddar Gorge, or the time you laughed so much you cried. ‘Education’ is most definitely about academic achievement, arguably the core purpose of all schools, but it is also about so, so much more. As a parent, I aspire for my children, I want them to achieve and succeed, but I also want them to enjoy school, to have fun there and to make lasting friendships that will enrich their lives and make them better, kinder, nicer people. The brilliant thing about working in a school is seeing children achieve exactly this every single day in so many different forms and ways. You will read of just some of the things that the children in our community have been doing lately in this issue but I can assure you, as editor, there is a whole host more that I just didn’t have room for! My colleagues at St Mark’s School, and beyond to the Valley Schools, never cease to amaze me with their unstinting enthusiasm and passion for what they do, whether it’s teaching or supporting children. They do it with a smile and they do it because they care. So, to all of the amazing governors, headteachers, teachers, support staff and helpers out there in our community - take a very big pat on the back please. You deserve it!
Paula Tel: 01225 312661 or email hawkinsp@st-marks.org.uk
St Mark’s school by Barnaby Ash, Headteacher Towards the end of last term, we welcomed leaders from B&NES and the Bath and Wells Diocese for a strategic development meeting to build on recent successes at St Mark’s School and align our plans for future prosperity and growth. The event was attended by our Chair of Governors, Mr Roger Coombe; Dine Romero, Cabinet Member for Early Years Children and Youth and Suzanne McDonald, School Organisation Team Leader from the Bath and Wells Diocese. The purpose of the meeting was to shape the future of St Mark’s School and to share our visions for a fantastic school at the heart of the local community that families aspire to become a part of. St Mark’s is a GOOD school. This was confirmed by Ofsted. St Mark’s is also an OUTSTANDING school and this was confirmed by our SIAS Inspection. These judgements are also accompanied by significant improvements in academic results for students over the past three years. Yet, despite this progressive picture, the school is still undersubscribed, filling around half of its spaces. I have big ambitions to change this trend and hope that you will support and work with me as we develop St Mark’s into the school of choice for local families.
Our School Values By Freddie-Eloise Jones
St Mark’s School is a Church of England school. As a school community, we have six Christian values that we follow as closely as possible. We - Rosie and myself - interviewed our Chaplain, Jerry Parr, about the school values. How did we get our school values? We got our six values through research and talking to everyone in the school about what they felt was important in a school. We also used a website to help us: www.christianvalues4schools.org. Through this process, staff and students looked through the choices and chose the six that we have today. What are the school values currently? Our school values are Community, Compassion, Justice, Hope, Trust and Reverence.
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Families in Bath have access to a range of very high quality schools with pupil attainment consistently above national and regional averages. St Mark's School is a secondary school with big ambitions and an exciting future ahead. I am very impressed by the vision of the school's leadership team to continue to improve even further, providing families with an excellent option in the north and east of Bath.
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Cllr Dine Romero I believe that schools should B&NES Cabinet Member for combine excellence in academic Early Years Children and Youth achievement with an enriching and fun-filled educational experience. Hopefully, you will already see a flavour of this in this edition of The Larkhall News and I look forward to providing you with much more evidence over the coming months and years. As I write, we are already busy planning a calendar packed full of events and activities that not only enrich our students’ learning but also allow us to engage with our wider community of schools, businesses and community organisations. Coming up over the next few months we have local artist workshops, STEM engineering days, a careers fair, taster days for Years 4 and 5 from our partner schools, a visit to Paris, new building works, seven students travelling to Mexico to help the charity Re-Build Mexico and The Larkhall Festival, to name but a few! All of this and of course the day-job of ensuring that our students achieve their very best at their GCSEs this summer so that they may continue their journey to The New Sixth or beyond with the skills, experiences and qualifications that they need to succeed.
Where do you see our values in action throughout the school? The school values permeate throughout the curriculum, collective and tutor worship, our school website and are visible in almost every room. In R.E., we have been studying the values in order to understand them better. We also have tutor times and assemblies so that we can use the values throughout school more. Why are you reviewing the current values? By reviewing them, we are hoping to be able to gain further understanding of their impact on everyday life here at St Mark’s and throughout our community too. After reviewing them, we will be able to focus our attention on certain values and how they can help us on a day-to-day basis. Why do we need them? In my experience, most values, mission statements and creeds can get forgotten if they don’t form part of our everyday life at school. They’re an important part of who we are and what we want for each other. This is why we are reviewing them, to help us remember them better and help us to bring them into our daily lives. Our school values need to be something that everyone can relate to and be a part of, regardless of their religious beliefs.
St Saviour’s Infants & Nursery
Bookish Behaviour
The Green Team At St Saviour’s Nursery and Infant school, we are really excited to be taking part in the BEST (B&NES Energy Saving Teams) competition, which challenges schools to run a high-profile energy-saving campaign, focusing on inspiring pupils and teachers to work together to change their everyday habits.
St Mark's School Literacy Week St Mark's school was buzzing with bookish behaviour recently as the students enjoyed four days of literacyfocused activities culminating in a dress-up Thursday of sartorial wackiness and extravagance. Harry Wainwright from The Oldfield Park Bookshop kicked off the festivities on the Monday with an engaging assembly, featuring eight of his favourite works of teenage fiction. Throughout the week the school library hosted events, including a flash fiction writing competition. The final assembly featured a fascinating talk from local author Marie-Louise Jensen, who shared her latest work 'Runaway': a tale of murder, intrigue, a lost heir, love and above all of horses set in the West Country in 1725 Georgian England. Marie-Louise arrived dressed as a stable boy only to find the staff and students of St Mark's in a similar state of disguise as the focus of the day was dressing up as a fictional character. Notable outfits included a maths teacher dressed as an Oompa Loompa and the Headteacher, Barnaby Ash, presenting the assembly as James Bond. Thanks to the Bath Chronicle for the fabulous front cover shot!
The recently elected pupil Green Team will launch the campaign after half term and will compete against other schools in B&NES to win a visit to either @Bristol, Folly Farm or a package of fantastic sustainable educational toys and resources. The children are very excited and motivated by the idea of winning a prize and have already made plans for a party to celebrate if we win! Spike said, “We have learnt that it is important to save energy because we are running out of coal in the ground and if you save energy you won’t do any polluting.” Anna said, “If we don’t save energy, all of the lights will go out and then it will be very dark.” Pupils and teachers are going to be working together with Tim Whitemore, one of our caretakers, to save electricity by switching off lights, computer monitors and Interactive Whiteboards, when not in use. Today, the Green Team interviewed Tim about his job and asked him to join the Green Team. The Green Team members will also become energy detectives and report their findings back to Ed, the Headteacher, who awards green stars to the classes who follow the school’s eco-code. B&NES will use automatic meter readings to work how much electricity our school normally uses during the day, overnight and over the weekend. We aim to reduce our energy usage by 5%. We look forward to sharing the results of our campaign soon. The BEST campaign is part of our ongoing eco-school work and we hope the work of the Green Team will earn our school the coveted Eco-Schools’ Green Flag Award.
Stagecoach celebrations
Students at Stagecoach Bath have plenty to sing and dance about this year. Twenty students, aged between 7 and 18 will be making their way across the channel this summer to perform at Disneyland® Paris. The lucky group were chosen to be in the pre-parade this July. As well as securing their place in the parade they were also chosen to perform on the ‘Videopolis’ stage in the park. Eighteen of the children have also been given the opportunity to perform in the West End in November. These talented youngsters will be performing an 8-minute routine at Her Majesty’s Theatre, along with fifteen other Stagecoach schools.
St Saviour’s Juniors
Robin Hood & The Sherwood Hoodies By Leon Bird This February, Year 6 at St Saviour’s Junior School took part in a musical school production full of spills, thrills and special skills. It was a great success and everyone loved it.
Our New School Building By Emma Mousley St Saviour’s Junior School is having a new building because we have an extra class of children to accommodate. When it is finished, Years 3 and 4 will move in. The Hub classrooms (Year 3 at the moment), canteen and kitchen will all get knocked down and there will be a new kitchen built that will serve into the Hall.
It was called ‘Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies’. Robin (me, Leon) and the Merry Men (Sam, Luke, Salem, Rufus, Ben and Frankie), the entertainers, get a letter from Maid Marion (Sophie) and the people of Sherwood, who have mistaken them for soldiers. The villagers need soldiers to scare away King John (Ethan), the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben) and his guards who are demanding too many taxes. So, when Robin and the Merry Men meet Maid Marion and all the villagers, only for them to find out they are theatrical performers, they are shocked! However, when the Merry Men find out they have what it takes to be soldiers, they are renamed ‘the Sherwood Hoodies’ and use their skills to defeat King John and the Sheriff and everyone lives happily ever after.
The deadline for completion of the classrooms is this September. Mr O’Shea, the Headteacher, says, “I just hope they are finished on time!” The kitchen is due to be ready just before Christmas. This building will make a huge difference to the school as there will be five brand new classrooms, loads more play space for the students and will join the school together. It’s affecting the Years 3 and 4 mostly because they have less playground space at the moment but they can watch the build grow day by day. Everyone at school is coping very well and the staff get on with the builders because they are very friendly. Mr O’Shea says he only gets disturbed by the noise from time to time but it doesn’t really bother him too much, even though having the building works taking place gives him more work to do. The finished building will be part wooden and part stone. John is the Site Manager for the builders, H Mealing & Sons. He has made this type of building before and seems to enjoy working in the school. He and his team are always willing to explain to the children what’s happening. Everyone is pleased with the design and really looking forward to being able to move into the newest addition to St Saviour’s Junior School.
Ethan said, “I really enjoyed the play. My favourite scene was scene three, when I first come in.” “This really encourages me to do a lot more acting,” said Ben. “I loved scene one the most!” said Mia (Nursie). “I’d say it was the best play I’ve ever been involved in!” There were lots of other people helping out in the chorus, as stage hands, controlling the lighting and painting the backdrop, so pretty much the whole school deserves a ‘Thank You’! But probably the biggest ‘Thank You’ of all goes to Mr O’Shea for being a great director!
(Opposite St Saviour’s Church)
Swainswick Primary
Café Swainswick - Small Community Big difference By Edmund, Elaeth, Freya, Jamie, Stephanie and Toby (Year 6) In April, Café Swainswick will celebrate its 4th birthday. We wanted to write this article to celebrate the vision and hard work of the three Swainswick School parents: Lisa Davies, Sian Perry and Hannah Newton, who set up Café Swainswick when they arrived at Swainswick School as new parents in September 2011. Lisa, Sian and Hannah have made the decision to hand over the leadership of the café to a new team of parents from April to ensure Café Swainswick continues to thrive. We wanted everyone to know what a positive difference these three parents have made to the community in Swainswick. When Sian, Lisa and Hannah started as new parents at Swainswick, they were standing at the school gates with their pre-school children, and thought it would be really good if they had somewhere to sit and chat, and for their children to play together and get to know each other before they came to school. Sian, suggested a café, and the idea grew from there. The café is located in St Mary’s Church in Swainswick. It is run by a group of lovely mums: Hannah, Lisa and Sian. It happens every Wednesday from 9.00-11.00am in term-time and is for mums and dads and other members of the Swainswick community to meet up for tea, cake and a chat. The café has also encouraged parents to be more creative by running some craft sales. There is also a fair-trade sale once a month run by members of the church. We interviewed one of our parents, Claire, a regular customer. She said that the café shows the school’s good reputation and shows the best of Swainswick. She felt it was good that Mrs Cripps can come down with visitors to meet the parents and sometimes the governors of Swainswick School. She also said it’s good for pre-school children to play together so that when they come to Swainswick School they will know each other. In 2013, the café celebrated its 2nd birthday. The church garden was decorated with bunting and tables of homemade cakes. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 sang ‘I like the flowers’ - it sounded wonderful. Then Years 3 and 4 played the djembe drums with great confidence and sense of
music. Finally, Years 5 and 6 came out and sang ‘Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest’. The atmosphere in the garden was magical. The café is a huge part of the Swainswick community and has helped the school massively. All the money raised has funded everything that’s needed and lots of fun events. Every year the whole school goes to the theatre to see a play together, and this has been funded by the profits from the café. We remember trips to see Heidi, The Moomins, The Snow Spider, A Christmas Carol and Swallows and Amazons. These were all amazing plays and have given us amazing memories. A new team of parents has stepped forward to take over the running of the café from April 2015. We spoke to Peter Baker, who is one of the new volunteers, about his reasons for taking on the new role. “I really enjoy meeting people. I find the church a wonderful place to be and the café is just a fantastic addition to it. It is brilliant at making people happy and I love to talk to people. It is just a good idea for me to take over at this time,” he explained. We also asked him what he thought was involved in running the café. “To run the café, as far as I know, the main things are to make sure there’s a good supply of coffee, tea, sugar and lots and lots of toast because the café seems to run on toast! There are normally cakes, too. I just need to be there and to do the washing up and make sure that everything is put away so that the church can be used as a church again.” We feel very proud of all that Lisa, Sian, and Hannah have provided for the school community over the last four years and Sian’s hope is that, in the future, new parents will be able to improve their ideas and make them better and hopefully they will still be able to pay for all of the children to go on lovely theatre trips. When Lisa was asked why she enjoys running the café, she replied, “It’s really nice to be there for people. I wanted to show my children how anybody can have an idea and anybody can actually make their idea work.”
Roving Reporters On Saturday 7th February, three workshops took place at St Mark’s School in Bath. One was ‘Roving Reporters’ another was ‘Up and Away’ and the third was ‘What’s’ the Big Idea?’. The Roving Reporters went to the other two groups to see what they were doing, and took photos and notes. I was in the Roving Reporters workshop, as I like using cameras and working with other people. I enjoyed going around the school asking questions and finding out what was going on. I enjoyed working with Vicky and Fiona. It was my first experience being at Valley Added and it has been GREAT! I’m looking forward to doing it again. By Flora
Valley Saturday 7th February was a significant day for the Valley Added Community Learning Project, based in North East Bath, thanks to the enthusiasm and support from over sixty families as well as ten local schools and one of the project’s Business Partners, Tony Hickman from Parklife. Three workshops took place over the course of the day’s event at St Mark’s School involving children from the ages of 4 to 11, plus a number of adult family members, who joined in the fun of the workshop entitled ‘Up and Away?’ making and flying Chinese New Year themed kites out of natural materials. Young budding journalists taking part in the ‘Roving Reporters’ workshop turned the tables on the Bath Chronicle photographer with an impromptu interview for their own articles, as seen on this page!
The Big Idea
The third workshop was the first of its kind for the project, entitled ‘What’s the Big Idea?’ In this workshop, students were divided into small groups to work together with scrap materials to create a ‘product’ that they then pitched to a ‘dragon’ from the local business community (Tony Hickman) to see if he would invest. The workshop was designed to be fun and inspirational, while at the same time, encouraging enterprising and creative thinking, team work and confidence to put learning into a real-life context. Having a real-life ‘dragon’ as part of the workshop was immensely popular with the children and brought a humorous element to their learning.
The Big Idea This was an incredible experience that gave us the opportunity to explore our imagination and creativity. We had to come up with a business product and design it ourselves. The teachers put random objects and materials onto the table that we could choose from to use in our designs. We decided on a product, made the product, then created the business side of things. Our product was called Keepo. It was a belt, that contained keys. If you opened the covering it would show all of your keys, set out in an organised order, so that it will be easier to get the right key at the right time! We all split into groups. I was in a group of three, and we came first with our design. We had to perform it in front of a very clever businessman. It was also a very good opportunity to make lovely friends. I very much recommend this for any person! By Evie
The event received excellent reviews and is part of a wider range of exciting extra-curricular and curricular opportunities regularly offered to the schools through the Valley Added Project. The project itself brings together children, young people and adults from all areas of the community to learn from each other and support the local schools and businesses through mutual benefits. It draws on talents, gifts and resources across the community to inspire learners in ways they never thought possible, through 3 interconnecting strands: Business Partnerships, Enterprise and Learning Projects.
added One of the ways in which local businesses interact with the schools is supporting pupil-led enterprises through the Valley Added Business Partnership Scheme, such as a new initiative at St Stephen’s Primary School. Andy Bowman, Headteacher, explained. “Through the Valley Added Project, St Stephen’s Primary School has launched a new enterprise project in partnership with Tony Hickman and the Alice Park Café. Our Year 6 children are currently working in small groups to develop a product or service which they hope to be able to sell to visitors to Alice Park.” “The project is rooted in a real-life context: only five products will be taken forward for a trial sale period at Alice Park Café with the most successful product going into production for the summer.” “Tony helped launch the project with an invaluable question and answer session for our young entrepreneurs, and will continue to guide and challenge them as the project develops.” Tony Hickman said of his involvement, “I think this fantastic initiative shows progress towards the integration of the education and business sectors and I am very pleased to be involved with furthering this concept within our community through the Valley Added Project.” Merryl Elias, Project Manager for Valley Added, commented, “I am very excited about the opportunities the children are being offered through this project. The contextual learning process which will result from the enterprise at St Stephen’s is a shining example of how the partnership between the local businesses and schools can inspire young people, raise the profile of the businesses and help ensure a future motivated and skilled workforce in the community”.
Up and Away! Six year old Lily is making a kite with her mum. “It’s very hard to stick all the things together,” explains Lily. The kite is red and yellow based on the Chinese New Year lucky colours. They used two bamboo sticks in a cross shape and then six hazel sticks around the perimeter of the kite. I spoke to Meryl, who was the organiser of the workshop, and she told me lots of information that was helpful for me to use. “I think it is very important for young children to develop their outdoor skills that they might use in future,” said Meryl. “The children also need to communicate well to each other whether it is to explain their ideas to their parents or to their friends.” After talking to Meryl, I questioned the students about how they enjoyed the ‘Up and Away’ workshop. I managed to catch Cormac, Zac, and Amelia and they all said that it was great fun. “I loved flying the kite,” said Cormac. “I loved making it,” replied Zac. I got a slight glimpse of Amelia’s pet hamster kite as she was waving it around the hall. I definitely sensed that the students enjoyed this sort of workshop and loved playing with their kites. The workshops that I have interviewed at St Mark’s School seemed a happy place to be. From Dragons’ Den to making a kite, they all seemed great fun to do. By Selma
If you run a business, have an interest in supporting the local schools, and would like to find out more about how the Valley Added Business Partnership Scheme can benefit you, please contact Merryl Elias, Valley Added Project Manager, on 07914 920248 or email merryl_elias@bathnes.gov.uk.
Up and Away! Roving Reporters I managed to meet up with Arthur who told me all about being a photographer with The Bath Chronicle. He told me that it was exciting being a photographer because you never knew where you were going to go next. He said that he took the pictures of the events and took the photos back and someone else wrote the stories of the events for the newspaper. My job, as a Roving Reporter, was to take pictures of all the workshops and write up what they were about. By Marianne
Business breakfast
Is your brand working as hard as you are?
Local businesses, entrepreneurs and community organisations are invited to a free business breakfast at St Mark’s School on Friday 24th April from 8-9.30am. Guest speaker at the event will be Andy Fuller of DesignBull, graphic designer and marketing specialist. DesignBull primarily specialise in creating brand logo identities, websites and advertising, helping businesses with their design and marketing needs and are constantly looking to suggest new routes to help build brands – online and offline. The event is open to anyone in the local community, from charitable organisations to entrepreneurs, or those just thinking of starting out on their own. “To build a business or organisation you have to work hard and project an image that creates interest to potential clients and customers,” said Andy. “Unless you have created that first positive impression, you stand nowhere in your business
Business News This issue, we welcome a new advertiser to The Larkhall News, Natajaq, a Bath-based family business of designers and makers of table lamps, standard lamps and furniture. All of their products are handmade using traditional methods of craftsmanship. Their background is cabinet making and they draw inspiration from many periods; the post-modern movement and neo classical design. For example, their current ranges use plywood, laminate and oak. ‘We aspire to create beautiful, contemporary pieces of practical furniture to compliment both traditional and contemporary interiors and to last a lifetime’ says Natalie, part of the daughter-in-law/mother-in-law team. Natajaq also have a wide choice of lampshades to choose from to partner their lamp bases and the range includes vintage inspired linen lampshades made from British linen and bright, funky, retro style cotton lampshades. All the lampshades are handmade. An environmentally conscientious business, supporting, promoting and working with other local designer makers and independent retailers whenever possible, all wood used is FSC certified timber and timber products and all packaging is recycled. Visit their website www.natajaq.co.uk or they can be found in April and May at the Frome Independent Market - a fantastic local shopping experience that ‘celebrates independent producers and makers’.
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For more information on how to have your business featured here, contact Paula Hawkins, Editor, on 01225 312661 for advertising options.
market. Your brand should answer a few simple questions: Why should people do business with you? Where is your brand positioned in the competitive landscape? What message differentiates you? Is what you do clear to your target market?” “In other words, building a successful brand begins with a clear message. The concept must be quick to grasp and easy to understand.” “Whatever your product or service is, it has to convey a point-of-difference that’s clearly explained and easily grasped. People need to understand the benefits of choosing you over the competition.” “I will talk about what makes a great brand triumphs and disasters – branding do’s and don’ts and show some examples of a logo identity and brand guidelines.” If you would like to book a place, please contact Paula Hawkins on 01225 312661 or email hawkinsp@st-marks.org.uk. Places are free, but limited so early booking is advised.
Larkhall Festival 2015 The annual Larkhall Festival takes place over the Bank Holiday weekend from the evening of Friday 1st May to Monday 4th May. As usual, it will be packed with loads of events and activities to celebrate the wonderful community of Larkhall. The festival will be opened by the fantastic Choirs by Fire in New Oriel Hall on the Friday night providing singing of the highest quality. Later on in the weekend, local church choirs will come together for a United Songs of Praise in Alice Park. There will also be an opportunity to take part in some communal singing in a Cockney sing-a-long and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sound Of Music. Throughout the weekend, the village below Solsbury Hill will come alive with the sound of music as local bands and singers perform rock, jazz and acoustic in venues across the village. In true variety show fashion, New Oriel Hall will host a cabaret night whilst the Liberal Club basement will be home to stand-up comedy and poetry, movies, a tea party, showgirls and a casino! For one afternoon only the Larkhall car park will be turned into the Larkhall Village Green with a whole load of traditional entertainment for all the family. A big aspect of the festival has always been the showcasing of the fantastic artists living in our community. Sixteen studios will be open on the Larkhall Art Trail. The New Oriel Hall will host an art exhibition and there will be an opportunity to see the talent of our younger generation through an exhibition of their work at St Mark’s School. But it’s not all about viewing the art of others. Children (and some adults) will be able to create their own through workshops at St Saviour’s Church, St Mark’s School and New Oriel Hall. You can display your artistic talents on a wider canvass by Painting the Park and, for creative engineers, young and old, there is the chance to build something amazing at our Great Egg Race Imagineering event. To tantalise your taste buds we will be serving up the Larkhall Food Festival, including a Pop-Up Restaurant and a chance for local people to demonstrate their culinary skills in the Big Village Bake Off. Alternatively you can take a picnic to Alice Park – let’s hope the sun is shining as it was last year. The healthy spirit of local competition will be exhibited in the 3rd annual St Saviour’s Dads Vs Larkhall Youth Managers Football Match at Larkhall Athletic and the ever popular Larkhall Festival Boules Tournament for the ‘Rose and Crown Trophy’ in Alice Park. As is traditional, the Festival ends with a bang on Bank Holiday Monday with the Party in The Park. You can intersperse your time listening to the music in Alice Park with meandering around the Larkhall Garden Trail to see the secret corners and open spaces of Larkhall, dotted with some fascinating creations and the fruit of some very hard work. The full programme and all the latest news is available on our website www.larkhall-festival.org.uk or you can follow us at www.facebook.com/LarkhallFestival or on Twitter @LarkhallFest Everything in the festival is organised and supported by volunteers from the local community. If you would like to find out how you can help please email us at festival@larkhall-festival.org.uk
Open Studios
www.larkhallopenstudios.com
www.bathopenstudios.co.uk
The Art Trail has established itself as a must-see event over the Larkhall Festival weekend. This year they have built on becoming a more integral part of the overall Bath Open Studios group; four art trails which take place in each corner of the city over the month of May. Preceding the first trail in Larkhall there is a wonderful exhibition at RUH showcasing the wealth of talent throughout the city and raising funds for the hospital. Gill Silversides
The Larkhall Open Studios takes place at various venues in and around Larkhall. Full details can be found on the Larkhall Open Studios and Bath Open Studios websites. Look out for the brochure being delivered throughout the area in April. Local artist, Vicky Sander, will be serving up teas and coffees during the Larkhall Festival weekend, raising funds for Afrikaya Nursery school, located in a deprived area of The Gambia. Vicky volunteers at St Saviour’s Infants and previously at St Mark’s School, supporting children with their learning. As an artist, she makes automata and textiles and forms part of the Larkhall Open Studios group of artists. “In 2007, two of the trustees of the Afrikaya project met with a wonderful Gambian teacher who inspired them to raise funds to build the Nursery school, explained Vicky. “Two classrooms, toilets, solar panels and water pump are already installed. Two excellent teachers have been appointed but much more is needed.” “The underpinning philosophy of the school is to encourage learning through play,” said Vicky. “I have been invited to visit the Afrikaya school in November to work with teachers to explore the environment to generate art activities including painting, collage and sculpture. I will also do story telling and book making using life-size dolls to inspire stories. I will make the dolls to take with me.” “I have done a very similar project in a charity school in India, which was immensely rewarding for everyone including me! Two of the trusties will be at my studio on Sunday of the Festival weekend, so anyone interested in finding out more about the charity is very welcome to come along and meet with them.” For more information or to support the charity, please contact Vicky on 01225 469533.
Wilful
waste
Councillor Bryan Chalker reports on the waste of food in this country and offers tips on how to prevent it.
Food waste is a subject I’ve written about in a previous issue of The Larkhall News but it’s a problem that simply will not go away. Twenty five per cent of people in the United Kingdom throw away perfectly edible food because of ignorance and confusion over expiry dates. ‘Sell By’, or ‘Use By’ dates, first introduced in 1980, have largely been done away with but food waste in Britain still amounts to a staggering £12 billion annually and this equates to between 4 to 7 million tonnes! The old World War Two slogan, ‘Waste Not Want Not’, used by the Ministry of Food, was aimed at educating the public into better practice in the kitchen and encouraging the growing of produce in gardens and allotments. The slogan was actually first recorded in 1771 and evolved from the earlier (1576) ‘Wilful waste brings woeful want’. As a small child I, like countless others of my generation, were strongly encouraged to ‘clean our plate – or else!’ Copious amounts of bread and butter accompanied most meals and anything left over from the evening meal went straight into the stock-pot, or was put into the pig bin for weekly collection. We are fortunate in Larkhall that there is a hub of good shops stocking meat, vegetables, bread and delicasies and a growing awareness of the importance of ‘growing your own’ in gardens and allotments. Even as I write there is a project to transform land adjacent to Fairfield Park Road into allotment plots, whilst other established sites are thriving and hugely popular with residents.
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The age-old slogan ‘wilful waste brings woeful want’ still applies today.
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In the old days of small shops, such as those still remaining in Larkhall, customers could purchase exactly the amount of sausages, bacon, potatoes, etc., that they required and it’s worth remembering the timehonoured Chocktaw Indian (Oklahoma) and other native American tribes’ attitudes towards the environment – ‘take only what you need’! It is also worth noting that for every 1 tonne of food waste discarded needlessly is responsible for 4.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions. We can begin our fresh look at food waste in the kitchen, where so much goodness is overlooked by trimming greens and discarding stems, peeling potatoes, instead of simply scrubbing them clean before cooking and rejecting mushrooms which have become slightly browned and sticky; they may look less appetising but are perfectly safe to eat and generally possess a stronger flavour. Thanks to the likes of chef Jamie Oliver, shoppers are now being actively encouraged to purchase misshapen and sometimes ‘ugly’ vegetables and fruit such as carrots, parsnips, runner-beans, potatoes and tomatoes and turn their backs on the pristine looking and usually insipid varieties displayed in supermarkets. Compare the flavour of parsnips fresh from the plot and sold in Larkhall’s greengrocer’s shop with uniform and scrubbed clean produce displayed on supermarket shelves and you will quickly see what I mean.
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With a burgeoning world population and upsurge of foodbanks, it is truly outrageous that we continue to throw away such vast amounts of perfectly edible and wholly nutritious food on a daily basis. Look to your own gardens and allotments for inspiration and urge your children to ‘eat their greens’ and reject junk food in favour of some old tried-and-trusted World War Two recipes such as Bone Soup, Army Broth, Bread Soup, Herb Soup, Pea Pod Soup, Polish Barley Soup, Bubble & Squeak and Scottish Nettle Pie. Yes, even the humble stinging nettle in your garden or allotment plot can be eaten, along with lavender leaves, violet leaves and flowers, young fresh leaves of the common daisy, clover and nasturtiums. Most herbs are easy to grow and take up little space on a balcony or small garden but where allotment plots or community gardens are concerned (such as the Larkhall Community Garden in Alice Park), I would strongly recommend the growing of wild garlic, which has a short season between the middle-to-end of February, through to May. Wild garlic leaves in a salad are wonderful but the entire plant is edible and of great culinary and medicinal benefit. It is worth remembering that garlic, which takes its name from gar (spear) and leac (plant), is both nutritive and stimulating. One way to reduce the odour of garlic on your breath is to chew a clump of fresh parsley. Forget those troublesome and wholly misleading ‘sell-by’ dates and use your common sense. If meat products have turned green and produce a foul stench, then don’t eat them. A few traces of mould on cheese can be scraped off and the cheese itself will be perfectly edible. Similarly, a few small spots of mould on a loaf of bread won’t harm you but if in doubt, cut off the offending growth and use the remainder to create bread and butter puddings. It may seem old hat in this high-tech age of microwaves and fast-foods, but the age-old slogan of ‘wilful waste brings woeful want’ still applies. Where waste is concerned, our beloved supermarkets could begin by cutting back on excessive and needless packaging. When was the last time you tried to successfully uncap a carton of milk at the first attempt?
New Oriel Hall www.neworielhall.org.uk
The Larkhall
Village Kitchen
The column that puts creativity back into cooking with the majority of ingredients sourced from Larkhall shops, gardens or allotments.
PASTA MIX-UP A cheap, cheerful and highly nutritious way to use up food scraps, with or without meat. Ingredients: Pasta shapes or long spaghetti Any left-over meat (ham, chicken, beef, pork or lamb) Clove of garlic (optional) 1 medium onion, chopped 1 carrot, chopped Small red or green sweet pepper (capsicum) 1 small tin of sweet corn Few teaspoons of fresh or mixed herbs (basil, thyme, sage, etc) 2oz freshly grated Cheddar or parmesan cheese 1 or 2 teaspoons of pesto (optional) Vegetable oil for frying Salt and pepper to taste Method: Cook the pasta or spaghetti in boiling water with ½ teaspoon of salt and dash of oil to prevent sticking. Allow 10-15-minutes. While the pasta is cooking, pour some vegetable oil into a large frying pan and gently heat. Add chopped onion and garlic, with salt and pepper to taste, for 3-4 minutes, then add all other meat and vegetables. Mix well and cook for 6-7 minutes, adding herbs, but do not allow the vegetables to become too soft. If using pre-cooked vegetables, reduce cooking time to between 3 -5 minutes – just enough to heat through. When pasta is cooked, drain through a colander, then return to the saucepan you cooked it in, adding the meat/veg mixture and stir thoroughly. Add the pesto if desired. Serve on warmed plates or bowls and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Spring is a happy time at New Oriel Hall. People young and old, attending regular classes and events, enjoy sitting on the garden bench, sunning themselves or reading a book, chosen from the wide selection in our thriving Community Library, run entirely by volunteers. It has added a new dimension to life at the hall. Local people have been extremely generous, donating a wide range of books. About half of the books borrowed are children’s. Ones for pre-schoolers are always in great demand and we would love some more for this age group, so if you have children who have outgrown their picture books, we would be grateful for any donations. New volunteers are also most welcome. Classes come and go but there’s always a terrific range, depending on what’s in vogue. Certain groups and classes, such as yoga and Pilates, NCT, choir, life drawing and meditation, are what we consider our staples. They have been running as long as the hall. Others are new, sometimes the result of changes in society, for example Mindfulness classes. In a busy world full of distractions, such as mobile phones, Mindfulness teaches you to focus on the present and become aware of the beauty in ordinary things. The benefits are so numerous we should all be going to these classes! Amongst the positives Mindfulness helps expand awareness, reduces anxiety, stress, pain, depression and high blood pressure. It develops your confidence and happiness, improves your relationships with others and helps you live life to the full. Negative thought patterns are diminished. A recent poll showed that almost 75% of doctors think all patients would benefit from learning Mindfulness. If you would like to give it a go there are regular Mindfulness courses running at New Oriel Hall for adults and a new class for children starting soon on Thursdays at 5.15 p.m. By popular demand a new evening Belly Dancing class has started to compliment the well-attended daytime class and is suitable for women of all ages, from teenagers to octogenarians. The emphasis is definitely on having fun! Also new to the hall, are the Saturday morning pregnancy yoga classes and drop-in Friday night Hypno-Relaxation classes, the perfect way to de-stress after a week at work. You can check out everything on offer at the hall on our website: www.neworiehall.org.uk. The hall is available at weekends for children’s parties, as well as for weddings, wakes and family get-togethers. The upstairs meeting rooms are ideal for training events. To view the hall, email us at info@neworielhall.org.uk, or phone us on 01225 466606.
Larkhall Athletic F.C.
Larkhall Athletic appoint James Gray as Youth Development Officer Larkhall Athletic are pleased to announce another exciting initiative to support their aim of helping youngsters in the local community to develop their football skills. Larkhall Athletic have appointed James Gray as the Club's first Youth Development Officer. James' role will be to have oversight of Youth development and coaching, providing support to the many volunteer coaches who already look after the 250+ boys and girls who play under the Larkhall badge.
In addition James will raise the profile of Larkhall Athletic by offering coaching to the schools in Bath and in particular St Mark's School in Larkhall. The Club is focused on developing 'The Larkhall Way', an evolving method of coaching which establishes a philosophy of play
Park Life!
Hello there! I am Nattie, the new Marketing Apprentice here at Parklife, based in Alice Park. I started at the beginning of February and during my first few weeks here I have seen a bit of what Parklife does for the community and what ‘Community Spirit’ really means. The customers have all been really nice to the new face around Alice Park and some have already got to know me as the 'Techie Guy' as I am often asked to help customers with their mobile phones! I have recently produced a whole new look to our menu and designed some new promotions. Those who joined us for Valentine’s Weekend will have noticed the '50 Shades of Coffee' promotion. If you missed it, make sure you become a Loyalty Card Holder and you will get that vital information before anyone else – and save yourself money! Looking ahead to forthcoming events, we have our Easter Egg Hunt over the Easter break and the biggest event of the year in Larkhall – the Larkhall Festival! This takes place over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend and once again we are playing a huge part. On Saturday we have the Paint the Park, which is wonderful opportunity to colour in all the pathways around the Park. We are going to offer a 'Meal For Two' prize for the best drawing this year – so get practising! Sunday is Picnic In The Park, featuring local DJs and acoustic musicians – including me! On Monday, it's a big double event with May The 4th Be With You, our Star Wars Fancy Dress Competition with 'Meal for Two' prizes, and Party In The Park, with music until 8pm. Finally, we are looking for old motorcycles and scooters to take part in our first ever Marque In The Park 2 on Sunday 28th June. The event will feature scooters, bikes, fancy dress and music from the 60s and 70s – so if you have a classic bike, get in touch with me – nattie@alicepark.co.uk. or call me at 01225 465613. And that's it for this time - see you in the park!
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and behaviour which reflects the values of the Club. Using established and innovative coaching methods the Club hope to very quickly establish a coaching regime which will ultimately support the Senior teams' aspiration for a higher standard of football and progress through the League pyramid system. James has been involved with Larkhall Athletic for 10 years having co-captained the successful Western League championship winning team and managed the U18 Youth team for 6 seasons. James is an established FA Licensed Level 2 and youth module 2 coach, and he also holds an honours degree in Sports Conditioning and Coaching. Each week James already provides enjoyable development coaching to 100+ youngsters, many of whom are likely to be one day pulling on the Larkhall Athletic shirt. It is this foundation which the Club wishes to build upon and thereby establish Larkhall Athletic as the 'first choice' club in Bath for youngsters.
Take a sho t
at this issue’s marvellous
Competition!
Enter our competition for a chance to win a family ticket to meet Annie Oakley, the Little Sure Shot of the Wild West, at the egg this Easter. Little Sure Shot explores the extraordinary hardships that befell Annie at such a young age and the great sense of human endeavour associated with her childhood. This new play will be told with wit, magic, deathdefying shoot-outs, live Country and Western, blues and ballads, with theatrical flair in a Wild West escapade for all the family. If you would like the chance to win a family ticket for 4 (2 adults & 2 children or 1 adult & 3 children) to watch Little Sure Shot at The Egg theatre on Saturday 4th April at 11.30am, just enter our gun-slinging, foot-tappingly brilliant COMPETITION! All you have to do is answer this question:
Who’s famous ‘Wild West Show’ did Annie Oakley star in?
Ye e-haw!
Email your answer and name to: The Editor at hawkinsp@st-marks.org.uk by midnight on Thursday 26th March. The winning entrant will be chosen randomly and notified on Friday 27th March. Entrants must be aged 4 - 16 and have the permission of their parent or carer and must be available to attend The Egg on Saturday 4th April at 11.30am.
Student Review WHIPLASH by Edward Baldock
Welcome, ladies and mentlegen to my review for the film Whiplash, that’s being hailed one of the best films in the past five years, if not… ever. So after seeing the film, can I clarify these claims? Did JK Simmons shout loud enough, and did Miles Teller bleed enough? The answer is yes. Whiplash is a story about Andrew (Teller), a student practising drumming at the prestigious music college, Shaffer Conservatory. His teacher is Terence Fletcher (Simmons), one who doesn’t stoop to levels of ‘conventional teaching methods’. Let’s jump right in at the deep end. JK Simmons as Terence Fletcher is simply one of my favourite on-screen performances of all time. At first glance, he’s a psychopath who shouts at people. Fair enough. But when you get into the theatre and you’re watching him go full-whammy with his performance, you will stop believing that you’re sitting watching JK Simmons act, you’ll feel as though your dreams are being brought to the brink of annihilation. Every last detail of this character emanates the word ‘sinister’. His voice, expression and even hand gestures reflect a man determined to see his students become the very, very best. What makes it even better is the fact that his character develops even further in later parts of the film; his motivations are revealed and Simmon’s character becomes a strangely human antagonist. It’s both an uplifting and utterly soul-shattering performance, and I am not doing it justice no matter how long I drag out this paragraph. If you don’t see this film, I am disappointed in you.
Miles Teller is also a great actor in this film. JK Simmon’s explosion festival wouldn’t be nearly as effective, if he didn’t have a big whiny cushion to bounce it off, and Miles Teller is exceptional at being that guy. Throughout the film, Teller’s self-confidence and esteem are gradually worn away and Teller shows this extraordinarily well. At the start, he’s humble, honest, and likeable, with the mind-set and ambition to achieve greatness in the world of jazz music while still having fun. By the end, he is violent, spouting profanity and just about as sour a character as Simmons. The transformation is practically Shakespearean in scope, and it is an absolute joy to behold. One thing I simply have to bring attention to is the brilliance of Damien Chazelle and his directing. It follows exactly where you want to be, capturing the entirety of the scene in one instance, and focusing on the individual beads of blood and sweat on Teller’s forehead in the next. The cinematography in this film, while usually on a very small scale, is quick, snappy, and always on-point. An interesting thing to note is that this film’s budget was exactly $3,300,000, and was shot in just 19 days. For a film with performances this deep and worked out, and directing this complex and well-done, it’s staggering to consider that some far worse films take up tens of millions, even hundreds of millions to make over the course of sometimes several years, and Whiplash managed to become better than the majority of them in less than three weeks! I can’t praise this film enough. It’s one that you simply have to see for the good of your sanity. Whiplash scores a 10/10.
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