Blues explosion at Belvoir Players!

Blues guitar legend Ronnie Greer is a milestone in the Irish blues scene, his distinctive guitar style, merging Chicago blues with elements of bebop jazz, has been critically acclaimed as world class. Ronnie brought his current 5 piece line up to the concert in Belvoir Players: singer/guitarist Anthony Toner, keyboard wizard John McCullough, Alan Hunter on bass and Colm Fitzpatrick on drums.

 

 A blues guitar workshop preceded the concert, with blues guitar virtuoso Ronnie playing the sizzling slide guitar and Anthony showing how to perform the blues guitar…

With a repertoire featuring everything from classic gutbucket Jimmie Reed right up to Robben Ford and Steely Dan, the Ronnie Greer Blues Band is at the peak of its powers.

The concert was absolutely brilliant, with electrifying blues and roots music filling in Belvoir Players, but unfortunately there was a small audience – Culture Night was on in Belfast and apparently it stole the scene to our blues night!

 

Anthony Toner & Ronnie Greer

International Peace Day Festival

A jump to the continent and beyond – the first International Peace Day held in Castlereagh on 21st September proved to be a great success! This year the global relations arts organization, Beyond Skin, have partnered with Forestside shopping Centre, Belfast Metropolitan College and Volunteer Now to organize a series of activities during Peace Week with a festival on Peace Day 21st September at Forestside Shopping Centre.

It was pouring down, but the big marquee in the upper car park of Forestside resisted the heavy rain and the strong wind…until a ray of sunshine brightened the day!

 

The marquee held an international market with food stalls and more – from Indian curry to Nepalese vegetables, from Italian tarts to French crepes….the Chinese and African stalls displayed their own arts and crafts; Volunteer Now, Beyond Skin and Castlereagh Borough Council did their bit with their representative stalls, and community artists filled in the free spaces: children and young people enjoyed painting a wall using the medium of graffiti art, some of them experimented Polish arts and craft and others played some African music…

 

The inflatable stage hosted various international bands; the inflatable cinema was a great experience for younger and older kids, who also enjoyed the Old Skool Sports Day and all the other activities planned for the day!

In the meantime, other activities took place throughout the day in the Shopping Mall and Outlets, such as the samba band - parade with the Mayor of Castlereagh, activities stalls and arts and craft workshops.

It was a great day and we hope to be involved in another International Peace Day next year!

Noel McMaster in Concert

After the summer break, First Friday concerts are back! The last performance before the August break saw Anthony Toner playing James Taylor for the anniversary of the album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon; we’ve started our autumn series with a concert by Noel McMaster, one of Northern Ireland’s best known folk musicians. Founding member of the famous Bakerloo Junction folk group in 1974, he’s been on the Northern Irish folk music scene for almost 40 years!

The duo performed a mix of folk classics such as Molly Malone and of course music from their own repertoire as My Lagan Softly Flowing… a good crowd sang along a few songs, among the audience there was a group from Mount Oriel Day Centre, who enjoyed the concert a lot!

We hope to have good audience participation to our autumn events like we did last year! Check out the blog for info and details about Arts events in the borough!

Well well well…Anthony Toner in concert!

 A very good crowd gathered in the Civic centre to listen to one of the best musicians around: Anthony Toner charmed the audience performing James Taylor’s album Mud Slide Slim. He started the show with a short selection of his own songs, followed by the 13-song collection which makes up Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon – the album’s celebrating its 40 years this year!

 

Anthony performed also his song ‘Well Well Well’, which has been selected as the featured background music in the UTV weather bulletin, sponsored by The Progressive Building Society.

 

He interacted with the audience in between songs, telling them that lately he’s been working on a series of instrumentals for an art exhibition coming up later this year. This work has been challenging but very interesting and stimulating for him, who usually works with lyrics and structures…

Anthony’s reviews are amazing, he’s been described by Trevor Hodgett in the Rock’n’Reel Magazine as ‘melodically satisfying and lyrically literate, original and perceptive…rewards concentrated listening’; and Wildy Wildy’s World wrote ‘The Duke of Oklahoma & Other Stories is an incredibly nuanced and mature work, where the story-telling and music are of equal importance and impact. Make sure you take some time and get to know Anthony Toner. I have a feeling that Belfast isn’t big enough to hold him for much longer.’

We’ve been very proud to have Anthony as our guest on the First Friday concert in July, and we hope to have him in front of our audience again!!

A Literary Feast in Castlereagh: 2nd Sam Hanna Bell Festival

A festive celebration to commemorate the life and work of novelist, broadcaster and short stories writer Sam Hanna Bell took place in Castlereagh Civic Offices from 15th to 20th August. The red thread of the festival consisted of a celebration of Joey Tomelty’s work, a great Northern Irish character actor and playwright, who worked in film, television, radio and on stage.

A Poetry Night with Moyra Donaldson and Maureen Boyle was held on 15th August, with the two local poets performing excerpts of poems and explaining their work, their source of inspiration and their motivation to the audience. Maureen’s pieces had an autobiographical feel, while Moyra’s pieces were chosen to highlight different inspirations, such as dreams and 18th century curiosities. The atmosphere was very relaxed and enjoyable.

A Writers’ Surgery followed on Tuesday 16th with writer Anne Harris as ‘surgeon’ ready to operate in Forestside! That was a great opportunity for writers to have their work viewed and to receive some hot tips about how to progress in writing, offering insights on a one-to-one basis. Anne cajoled and teased out some nice ideas with writing enthusiasts.

A Fiction Night took place on Wednesday 17th August, with guests David Lewis, Sheena Wilkinson and Bernie McGill, all awardees of the Arts Council NI ACES Programme. Each of these brilliant writers read a chapter or a short story from their books or recent published collections, followed by Q&A at the end. They also explained how they became writers, what led them to follow the creative path and let the literature fill up their lives. Bernie read an excerpts from her book The Butterfly Cabinet, followed by David who read a couple of his short stories, and Sheena reading her latest book Taking Flight – which had a great success at the Bistro Children’s Book the Year Award in Dublin, winning the Bistro Honour Award for Writing and the Children’s Choice Award.

 

On Friday and Saturday Festival Lectures about Joe Tomelty and Sam Hanna Bell concluded the Festival. Roma Tomelty discussed her fathers’ achievements and legacy. The McCooeys, one of the most famous families in Belfast history, made an appearance too!

Saturday opened with a rehearsed reading of Tomelty’s The Elopment performed by Richard Millis, Roma Tomelty, Alex McClay, Hannah Devlin and Conor Maguire. It is a powerful piece of writing, with love, death, insanity and much more. Hannah’s ‘Molly’ was engaging and sympathetic; Richard Mills gave a sterling performance as a slippery, sleazy ‘no floostering’ Kilty, Roma’s cold-hearted Rebecca was unrelenting, while Alex delivered a haunting Uncle Matthew. Q&A with Roma Tomelty and a lecture by Sean McMahon, writer of Joe’s biography, followed. The Festival was brought to an end with a lovely reading from Joe’s only novel.

Let’s hope the Festival continues and grows in terms of participation next year!



Drumming Workshop with Stevie Shanks

Castlereagh Arts was proud to offer his residents a great opportunity to improve their musical dexterity and have a bit of fun on a drumming taster session with Stevie Shanks!

Stevie Shanks is the drummer for Flash Harry, the UK and Europe’s best known Queen tribute band who has been playing for more than 20 years to audiences from Belfast to Atlantic City and Dublin to Dubai.

He came to Castlereagh to give our drum aficionados some hot tips and a valuable insight into drumming. He explained the aspiring drummers the basics in playing the drum, and then everyone gave it a try…

Mabel was very enthusiastic and didn’t want to leave the seat to the next participant, Sean, James and Betty were brilliant, and even our very own Arts Assistant Priscilla gave it a go! The participants didn’t want to leave the Civic centre…they all agreed that one-hour taster session was too short and they suggested to have another drumming session which would last at least two hours! We’ll see what we can do, and we’ll keep you posted…

                               

A School that Rocks!!

Another year, another great Rock & Pop School! Every year Castlereagh Borough Council in partnership with Castlereagh Community Safety Partnership and SEELB offers young people the opportunity to be involved in music classes with professional musicians and tutors. Now on its 9th edition, the Rock & Pop School proves to be an enriching experience and a great opportunity for young aspiring musicians!

The first week was dedicated to the Advanced group, a group of young experienced musicians who formed 4 bands and wrote and recorded 2 songs each! The second week was Beginners’ week, for the less experienced musicians…they formed 3 bands and recorded one song each…this year we had also one group from Dreamscheme taking part in the second week, they were great! The tutors from Making Music Workshop, among whom we had John Wilson, Linley Hamilton and Simon McBride, did a great job helping out the bands in writing the songs and stimulating them in practicing continuously in order to improve and perform better.

After two weeks of hard work, the big day arrived: the bands had to perform on Friday 5th August at Belvoir Players Studio. There was some nervousness, stage fright and excitement in the air! The Mayor of Castlereagh thanked everyone for their efforts and for having put so much in the Rock & Pop weeks; Linley Hamilton was the official compere of the afternoon, introducing the bands and telling the audience some funny jokes about the Rock & Pop weeks. Here’s the line-up of the concert:

- Acoustic Haze with Clear your Mind and Robot

- Greedy Eye with But it’s You

- Swallion Battalion with Life isn’t Easy

 

- Elemno P with Good Day

- No Vacancy with Don’t and My Downfall,

- Switch it Off with Tonight and Cos you Said,

- The Royal Scam with Fire and Hypnotized

 

 

 

In addition, one of the talented young musicians, Chris Rooney, surprised us all with a cover song by Rory Gallagher, one of his favorite musicians.

The concert was a great success, all the young Rock & Poppers performed brilliantly like professional musicians! The audience was really impressed and couldn’t stop clapping! Everyone left Belvoir Players super satisfied and with a smile on their face, still humming some tunes they listened to in the concert…

Ulster Scots Festival in the Borough

What’s Ulster Scots?

 

Castlereagh Community Culture Forum is proud to celebrate their very first Ulster Scots Festival. The festival will run from 5th to 9th July and will include various arts and music events, lectures and opportunities for people to learn, participate, and debate on what Ulster Scots Culture is all about.

Opening Night: Debate, Story-telling and Music

Question Time: What’s Ulster Scots?

A select panel discuss and help to clarify the meaning of Ulster-Scots

language and culture, followed by Storytelling

with Liz Weir and Music by Skullduggery

 

Castlereagh Borough Council Civic and Function Suite

Tuesday 05/07/11 6.30 – 10.00 pm

 

Cookery Demonstration

Insightful and fun way of learning about local cookery!

Downshire Hall, Weds 06/07/11 2.00 - 4.00 pm

Mural Project

An opportunity for younger people to work with local artist Andrew Cooke

to create Ulster Scots images, and turn them into a mural.

 

Downshire Hall, Weds 06/07/11 4.00 pm

Nursery Rhymes and Street Games

with Michael Copeland MLA

Michael discusses the history and origins of street games, nursery rhymes,

the language used and their significance in contemporary culture.

 

Braniel Church, Weds 06/07/11 6.30 - 7.30 pm

Film Screening: ‘The December Bride’

by Sam Hanna Bell

A presentation of the film The December Bride in association with the Classic Film Club.  A powerful and challenging film set in the beautiful environs of Strangford Lough.

 

Braniel Community Centre, Weds 06/07/11 8.00 pm

Tartan Display and Discussion

with Dr Clifford Smyth

Carryduff, Lough Moss Centre, Thursday 07/07/11 5.30- 6.30 pm

 

Music of Ulster & Scotland

A lecture featuring live musical performance from local Fife, Drum and Flute bands,

exploring the history and roots of Ulster and Scottish marching music.

Clonduff Community Centre, Thursday 07/07/11 7.30-9.30 pm

Rhythmic Roots feat. Anthony Toner,

Liam Logan and Wilson Burgess

A fun and innovative approach to story telling and poetry.

Anthony Toner, Liam Logan, and Wilson Burgess will be fusing music with the spoken word.

 

Enler Centre Ballybeen, Friday 08/07/11 1.30 - 3.00 pm

 

The Secret Listeners of Gilnahirk

by George Busby

Local historian and WW2 enthusiast George Busby delivers an insightful lecture

 on the secret listening post in Gilnahirk, which played a vital role for the allied forces during the war.

 

Friday 8th July 3.30 - 4.30pm

Highland and Irish Dance Workshop

with Bright Lights

Tullycarnet Community Centre, Friday 08/07/11 5.00-7.00pm

Mary Ryan & Mark Braidner in Concert

Gospel Blues singer Mary Ryan and Roots blues singer and guitarist Mark Braidner perform Delta Blues and Gospel ballads as well as some traditional Irish and Scottish songs which travelled to the States and changed from Sean Nós to Ragtime; Music-Hall to Vaudeville and Bible Songs to Gospel Blues Ballads.

Tullycarnet Community Centre, Friday 8/07/11 7.30

Family Fun Day

(funded by PeaceIII &The Ulster Scots Agency)

Bouncy Castles, Arts & Crafts, Music and much, much, more. A real day of fun for all the family. Watch out for Willie Drennan and his merry band of musicians. A civic fire will be lit at 8.30pm and music from a variety of bands will be played throughout the day.

Cregagh Estate, Saturday 09/07/11 4.00 – 10.00 pm

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE!!

PLEASE COME ALONG AND SUPPORT THESE LOCAL EVENTS!

First (well, actually second…) Friday June: Linley Hamilton Quartet in concert

Renowned jazz musician Linley Hamilton and his quartet delighted our audience on a landmark First Friday performance. The concert has been the highlight of the Castlereagh Arts Summer programme thus far, as the quartet has just released their new album and they were on tour to promote it.

Described as ‘a trumpeter whose playing combines formidable technical expertise with verve and passion’, Linley Hamilton entertained the audience with his brisk Dublin-based Quartet with Johnny Taylor at the piano, Dan Bodwell at the bass and Dominic Mullan on drums. The set was drawn from hard hitting contemporary tunes such as Woody Shaw’s ‘Rosewood’, to adaptations of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ and Abbey Lincoln’s ‘Throw It Away’. The new album is called ‘Taylor Made’ as it was highly influenced by the pianist Johnny Taylor.

There were more than 25 people attending the gig and several council staff were drawn in the function suite by the quality of the music.

This first ‘First Friday Concert’ of our summer season was a great success and we want to thank the great musicians that made it happen! Our next performance, in July we have the pleasure of hosting another fantastic musician, Anthony Toner, who is going to perform songs from the album ‘Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon’ by James Taylor, celebrating the album’s 40th anniversary…a different Taylor but still great music!

Don’t miss it out!

Dundonald Community Concert Band

Castlereagh Borough-based Dundonald Community Concert Band (DCCB) had a beautiful sunny day for playing at the Dundonald Primary School Summer Fair on Saturday 4th June 2011 - now an annual gig in the events calendar! DCCB donated their time to provide background music while everyone browsed around the car boot sale, took part in the activities from archery to climbing walls, or were just tempted by all the tasty treats! DCCB will be playing at Killinchy Primary School Summer Fair this Friday evening (10th June) from 7pm to 9pm so come along and join in the fun!
Visit http://www.dccb.co.uk/ for more details of the band or if you are interested in joining - we're always on the lookout for enthusiastic new recruits!

 See DCCB play at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHu20FZ9xw&feature=related

Beauty and Art in the Lock Keepers' Inn

Colours and Brushwork fill in the Lock Keepers’ Inn…

Following the launch of his new exhibition in Dundonald Library last month, the artist Paul Gray gave two workshops in order to teach his skills and his colourful art. On Saturday 7th and 21st May the artist tutored two visual art workshops in the lovely and inspirational location of the Lock Keepers’ Inn.

Paul Gray is a self-taught local artist, who explores the medium of acrylics through the use of colours and his imagination. His artistic reference points are Impressionism, Fauvism and Expressionism, even though the most important thing for him as an artist is the opportunity to experiment with colors.

 

The workshops were open to beginners and people who wanted to experiment and try to paint with acrylics. In all, 7 wannabe artists took part and they left happy with their own versions of the Lockkeepers Cottage, and ‘Samson & Goliath’ the famous Harland and Wolff cranes. Paul put his own impressionistic slant on both iconic landscapes and helped the pupils to structure their paintings. He encouraged them to experiment with colours and textures, imparting confidence and bravery in the strokes.

 

In all a pleasant and relaxing few May afternoons were enjoyed by all, and we hope that this will serve to encourage artists to utilize the idyllic settings of ‘The Lockkeepers Inn’ and the surrounding area in the future.

Dundonald Community Band Play Stormont

Castlereagh Borough-based Dundonald Community Concert Band (DCCB) was delighted to be involved in yesterday's Stormont Family Fun day in aid of Children in Need. The weather just about held out as the brass, woodwind and percussion band played a broad range of favourites including Disney's 'The Lion King', Chicago's 'All That Jazz' and the toe-tapping 'Tijuana Brass'. The music was well-received by all! DCCB look forward to their next gig at Dundonald Primary School this Saturday 4th June 2011 - playing from 12noon to 2pm. Come along and join us! Visit http://www.dccb.co.uk for more pictures of yesterday's event and details of our upcoming gigs!

International Arts and Craft Exhibit in Castlereagh!

On Monday 23rd May an international arts and crafts exhibition landed in Castlereagh!

The exhibition represented the last part of a two-year project called ‘Dance of the creative hands’ which started in 2010 and included groups travelling from and to Austria, Greece, Northern Ireland, and Turkey.

The project involved a group from each country which developed and showed to the others a particular craft. There were different crafts on display, such as objects made with felt, crochet, handmade and knitted scarves, decorated eggs, each one showing particular details of each country… I fell in love with some eggs and the miniatures inside them, which were so cute and very detailed!

The exhibition was introduced by Amanda Marshall, EU Programme Co-ordinator at Ballybeen Women’s Centre, followed by the Mayor of Castelreagh, Vivienne McCoy, who expressed her pleasure in taking part in the reception. She was then followed by the representatives of each group talking in their own language and a translator from their group translating into English.

The reception was a real success, as was the project itself: Anne Walker, from Ballybeen Women’s Centre, stated that she was really pleased about the international project, it developed not only mutual understanding and participation, but also friendship and interest in the others… the group hopes to further develop their skills and they are already thinking of the next possible project. We have very happy to have such a great group of women in our Borough, and to have had the privelege of hosting such a friendly cosmopolitan group in the Council.

Last but not the least…a little Easter treat!

Despite the lovely spring weather, we had a good crowd in Cregagh Community centre for our last film of the Golden Oldies Movie Nights series, Easter Parade.

Easter Parade is a 1948 American musical starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, featuring music by Irving Berlin, including some of Astaire and Garland’s best-known songs, such as Steppin’ Out with My Baby and We’re a Couple of Swells.

As usual, our mine of knowledge Michael Smythe, ‘Mr Classic Film Club’, introduced the film and surprised our spectators with his factual tit-bits, such as: ‘…the film won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, and it also received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. It also was the most financially successful picture for Garland and Astaire, as well as the highest-grossing musical of the year.’

Moreover, he explained that ‘…one musical number, a seductive performance of Mr. Monotony by Garland wearing the top half of a tuxedo and nylon tights, was cut from the film as it was considered too risqué for a film supposedly set in 1912!!!'

At the end of the movie, some tears marked the faces of our film lovers, knowing that that was the last film of the season… but with the popularity of these classics, I’m sure the Golden Oldies series will be back …

Brushwork fills Dundonald Library with colours!

The walls of Dundonald library filled with colours on 6th April: Paul Gray, a self-taught and local artist, launched the exhibition of his new work on the Backwall Gallery of the library.

A very appreciative audience took part in the launch of the exhibition, called A Colourful Imagination. Over 40 people showed up and enjoyed the new paintings of the artist, who mingled with the audience, explaining his works and the inspiration behind their creation.

‘A colourful imagination’ is an expression that can conjure up ideas of elaboration, interpretation, even distortion. Whilst almost all the paintings in this exhibition are from sketches made on location, they elaborate upon and interpret the landscape.

In addition to the wordplay on the word ‘colourful’, the word literally describes the paintings. I see colour as the crucial element in the work transforming the subject whether it is a painting of my native Belfast or one of London, New York, or wherever.

The paintings might be properly called ‘colourscapes’ rather than landscapes as colour is their defining characteristic. Some may recognise artistic reference points – Expressionism, Fauvism, Van Gogh and others. However, the important thing for me is the joy of experimenting with colour and hopefully imparting that joy to others.

Paul Gray

The exhibition will stay at Dundonald Library until 20th April, so don’t miss the opportunity to buy an Easter treat for yourself or your family!

Golden Oldies Movie Night, out and about…

On our second film night on tour, this time at the Moneyreagh Community Centre, Castlereagh Arts presented the excellent Mrs Miniver, a 1942 drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson in the leading role.

We were very pleased to have a full house again – more than 30 people showed up and filled the Community Centre! We are delighted with the success and the popularity of these film screenings, and we are sorry to announce that the next one in Cregagh Community Centre will be the last one…but you never know, there might be another Golden Oldies series coming up in the future…we’ll keep you posted!

The film was introduced by our film expert Michael Smythe, who gave our audience some interesting facts: Roosevelt ordered it rushed to the theatres for propaganda purposes; the film was named the top box office attraction of 1942 in Britain. Moreover, of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily, 555 named it the Best Film of 1942!

The film was based on the fictional English housewife, created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, Mrs Miniver. It won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director.

The success of our Golden Oldies Movie Nights depends not only on the great films we offer on the big screen, but also on the lovely atmosphere of the community centres, which offer an intimate and friendly context where people can socialize and relax…

The last film will be shown in Cregagh Community Centre; ‘Easter Parade’, an American musical starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, the perfect treat to get into the Easter celebrations mood! See you there on 19th April!