The Bedford Clanger July 2012

ISSUE 13: JULY 2012FREE

The Bedford Clanger Group Page email: [email protected] blog:thebedfordclanger.wordpress.com @bedfordclanger

For: music-lovers, culture-vultures, crafters, artists, makers, gardeners, traders, foodies, fashionistas

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

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This Summer expect something a littledifferent from your favourite wine bar.The Lane, which overlooks the Castle Bailey Gardens and The River Great Ouse, has invited musicians to join them for a series of alfresco acoustic sets that they are referring to as ‘The Terrace Sessions’. “Our customers are a delight to us, we couldn’t ask for a better crowd,” explains Jay Alom from The Lane. “We understand that people come here for the opportunity to relax and chat in an attractive and unhurried environment. The Terrace Sessions are designed to enhance that experience, and it is for that

reason that we’ve decided to go low key, laid back and unplugged.” Bedford favourite Rebecca De Winter begins the sessions on the 28th July, a night that also sees a ‘Drink and Draw’ event from The Circus of Illustration and is followed by Kastaphor on the 4th August, Lydia Maddix on the 11th August, Jess Morgan on the 18th August, The Hallelujah Trails on the 25th August and the princes of dirty-pop, Betaboy on the 1st September. For full information and clips from all the artists find The Lane on facebook or follow them on twitter @TheLaneBedford #Terracesessions “We are in the heart of the Cultural Quarter and believe that music and art have a place here” reflects Jay.

Cheers to that!

Letter from the Editor

Since starting the Bedford Clanger last year, I’ve come to realise the wealth of events that take place in our town every month. However, nothing in the past 12 months has come close to right now! From the Olympic torch relay to the River Festival, Bedfringe to the Olympic games, there’s something for everyone be they a culture vulture or a sport billy. As ever, there’s also great live music, fabulous club nights and many a public house at which to enjoy the Great Bed-ford Summer of 2012. July is also the launch of Indepen-dent Retailer Month, so why not pledge to buy at least one thing from one of our unique boutiques (or sweets shops, ironmongers, gift shops, galleries, coffee shops....) this month. Finally, please make sure you encour-age all your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and anyone else who knows you to get involved in our A Photo A Day project. This is a unique opportunity to collaborate together to collate a visual record of our town. Who knows what we’ll discover....Enjoy the festival funErica x

PS: If you’re still stuck for something to do, The Bedford Swan Hotel is showing Wimbledon matches on the big screen on their fab new terrace. Pimms o’clock anyone?

JULY 2012THE BEDFORD CLANGER

2 INSTALLING SUMMER 45% DONE. Installation failed. 404 error: Season not valid in UK

If you’ve bought a pair of jeans in Bedford within living memory, chances are you’ve frequented Funky Junction.

Owner Pankaj Shah is celebrating 30 years of trading on Bedford High Street, providing jeans and casualwear to over a generation of Bedfordians.We asked Pankaj about the changing face of fashion and the three words that sum up Bedford for him:

Bedford Clanger: Funky Junction is a Bedford institution. When did you first open your doors to the jeans-buying public of the town?Pankaj Shah: Back in 1982 and just as now we were in recession. I was fresh out out of university and jobs were scarce; an opportunity came along to buy the shop with my uncle who already had a string of three shops, so I grabbed my chance. I

suppose the recession inspired me to take the opportunity.

BC: Have the brands you stock changed much over the last 30 years?PS: In the 80s we stocked all the big brands then like Levi, Wrangler, Lee, Falmers, Easy, Pepe, Lois, Gallini, Ruby, Ben Sher-man and more. Lois jeans were massive then especially their Jumbo cords in all sorts of colours. We also introduced s-t-r-e-t-c-h jeans to Bedford.

BC: Jeans are perenially popular. Which of your orignal brands are you still stocking 30 years on?PS: Of those brands we still stock the clas-sic brands like Levi, Wrangler, Pepe and Ben Sherman.

BC: I know 40 year olds who bought their first pair of jeans at Funky Junction and are still shopping with you. Do you have something for everyone? PS: We are a specialist jeans shop so we stock jeans for all age groups . We cater from 10 yrs old to 70 year olds, and every thing in between! We have the younger fashion brands like Eto, Voi, New Era and

Gio Gio for the youngsters, and then Levi, Teddy Smith, Wrangler and Sonnetti for the older guys.

BC: What’s your best seller?PS: Best selling brands at the moment for us are Voi and Levi.

BC: And finally, good luck for the next 30 years! Please sum up Bedford in just three words:PS: EASY-GOING.....FRIENDLY....COSMOPOLITAN

FUNKY JUNCTION105, HIGH STreeT, BedFord TeL: 401999

UNIQUE BEDFORD

Bedford brewer, Wells and Young’s, has teamed up with eight Charles Wells pubs in the town to promote an eagleAle Trail. Wells Eagle is commonly known as the Beer of Bedford and Ale Trail offers consumers the chance to savour a pint of Eagle in eight different pubs over a number of weeks. “Wells Eagle is a popular drink in and around Bedford but we wanted drinkers enjoy a quality pint in a number of different pubs,” said Wells and Young’s Commercial Director David Revell. The pubs may be geographically close, but all have very different personali-ties. “All are established cask beer pubs,” explains David. “However, one is also a top end food-led pub, another caters for sports fans, a third is known for its charity fund-raising and another has a great reputation for entertainment, particularly comedy, that it hosts. They show the variety and quality of Bedford’s pubs.” The trail entails visiting and collecting a stamp at each of the specially selected pubs when a pint of Wells Eagle is purchased. Prizes include a beautifully presented com-

memorative glass and a t-shirt plus a chance to win a tour of the Wells and Young’s brewery. Wells Eagle is a 3.6% ABV cask beer withheaps of fresh green challenger hops above toasted toffee malt with a real quenching finish. It is the official beer of the Bedford Blues and other local events such as the Bedford River Festival and the Bedfringe Festival.

Pubs participating in the Eagle Ale Trail are:The Foresters Arms, Union Street, BedfordThe Bedford Arms, Bromham Road, BedfordThe Castle Inn, Newnham Street, BedfordThe Embankment Hotel, The Embankment, BedfordThe Park, Kimbolton Road, BedfordThe Devonshire Arms, Dudley Street, BedfordThe Gordon Arms, Castle Road, BedfordThe White Horse, Newnham Avenue

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a chance to visit the Eagle’s nest and get some great goodies on the way!

Commemorative glass T-shirt The Eagle’s Nest!

LIVE AT THE LANE THe TerrACe SeSSIoNS

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THE BEDFORD CLANGER

3Focus on the positive!

JULY 2012

The time has come!It’s time to grab your camera and show the rest of the town your unique view of Bedford. Whether you’re a professional photographer, amateur snapper or have never picked up a camera before in your life – this is for you! This July, the Bedford Clanger is asking its readers to show Bedford as it’s never been seen before. A Photo A Day is your opportunity to show what Bedford means to you - in 31 ways over 31 days!With the help of photographer Jez Brown, we’ve identified a word a day for the whole of July. On each day, we’d like you to take a photograph that relates to that particular word - and it’s totally up to you how you interpret it. Anything goes!

Here’s how to getinvolved:1.Get hold of a list of the words (handily there’s one just here…)2.Get hold of your camera/mobile phone3.Take a fabulous photograph relating to the relevant daily word4.We want as many people to get involved as possible, so whether you use Twitter, FB,

Flickr or Tumblr or Royal Mail, there’s a way to send us your photos:a. Post in on the ‘A Photo A Day Bedford’ Facebook pageb. Post it on Twitter to @bedfordclanger with the hashtag #aphotoadaybedfordc. Upload your picture to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aphotoadaybedford/d. Upload your picture to Tumlr: http://thebedfordclanger.tumblr.com/e. Send your photographs to A Photo A Day Bedford, The Bedford Clanger, 34 Claren-don Street, Bedford, MK41 7SJ.

In the September issue we will publish the 31 photos that we think sum up July 2012 in Bedford. This is open to anyone and ev-eryone and you can take part for the whole month, or just choose one particular day or word that you’d like to concentrate on. We look forward to seeing what Bedford means to you….

1. Water2. Style3. Park4. Independent5. Holiday6. Childhood7. Bridge

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A PHOTO A DAY

Earlier this year we interviewed Kade Burgess after he came 2nd in the New York Master Barber Competition. Well, Kade’s just got back from another Stateside jaunt and guess what? He’s only gone and won it! He came 1st in the New York IHS Master Barber competition in May and came 2nd in the IBS Major League Super Barber Battle 2 in Las Vegas on the 10th June. “I was up against 22 other barbers; it was tough.” said Kade. Sounds like an understatement to us! Massive congratulations to Kade. Here he is with his massive trophies!

TALeNT!MASTER BARBER

31 dAYS ANd 31 WAYS oF LookING AT oUr ToWN

St Paul’s Square celebrates the Summer Solstice in Style...

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8. Torch9. Street10. Music11. Transport12. (re)cycle13. Culture 14. Wood15. Together16. Funny17. Home18. Time & motion19. Animals20. Heritage21. River22. Festival23. Play24. Clanger25. Tea26. Texture27. Sport28. Night29. Reflection30. Food31. Made in Bedford

A Photo A Day is kindlly sponsored by White Hart Press.

At Bedford Network we share with you our best experiences of Bedford. As summer is here we thought we’d do a ‘High 5 to July!’, so here are our top 5 things to do in Bedford in July:

1.Book up your BedFringe tickets! The Bedford Fringe Festival takes place in dif-ferent venues across Bedford from 13-28 July covering theatre, dance, music and comedy (www.bedfringe.com). Top of our list are: Isy Suite & Friends at the Ent ShedGASP at the Place TheatreShowstopper! The Improvised Musical at the Corn ExchangeBang You’re Dead at Bedford Theatre and poetry from John Hegley at The Place Theatre

2.Have a BBQ! Hopefully it might stop raining for us to be able to dust off the BBQ

and get the sausages nicely burnt. We like to get stocked up with meat from Harris & Sons butchers on Castle Rd and also Burley butchers in Turvey who do some fab spare ribs! Bring on the meat sweats!

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High Five!

3.Visit Jaffa Orchard Café on Pembroke St. This is a community café which is run by and for the community. We love stopping here for lunch or a cup of tea and cake. They have tables and chairs outside, and the food and drink is so cheap it’s quite unbe-lievable! Top tip: check out their upstairs craft shop.

4.Have a picnic! We like to get stocked up on picnic goodies from Foods of Italy, The Cheese Kitchen or Luscious Juice Bar.

5.Grab a bit of Spanish sunshine at the bril-liant Andaluz on Castle Rd - fab during the day or evening for a glass of delicious wine and some yummy tapas.

We hope you have a fabulous July!

Stay tuned to Bedford Network in July for more news and our competition to win a delicious prize at Frescoes on Mill Street! We blog, tweet and Facebook…

www.bedfordnetwork.co.uk Twitter: @BedfordNetwork Facebook: www.facebook.com/Bedford-Network

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THE BEDFORD CLANGER

4 Welcome, Olympians... To Bedford! We hope you enjoy our town!

JULY 2012

8TH JULYIT’S FLAMING exCITING!As part of its 8,000 mile journey across Great Britain, the olympic Flame will travel the length of breadth of Great Britain and will pass some of Bedford’s most iconic landmarks as part of this journey.The Bedford leg of the relay starts on Goldington Road near Goldington Green. This will provide a brilliant opportunity to see the Flame and enjoy the open spaces of the Green itself. From there, the Flame travels down Barkers Lane and past the Bedford International Athletics Stadium, which will also be an official ‘Olympic Live Site’ during the Games. The Flame will then travel along the Embankment, again giving plenty of opportunities for local residents to line the route and see the Flame. It then crosses the Town Bridge and continues

along London Road and Harrowden Road. Crowds are encouraged to line the route and cheer on the Torch-bearers who will carry the Flame through Bedford Borough. The streets along the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, which can be viewed in full at www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelayor www.bedford.gov.uk/london2012, gives street-by-street details and proposed start times for when the Olympic Flame will travel through Bedford Borough. Residents living in and around the borough can find out when it will be travelling along their nearest highstreet, through their town square or past their local village shop. Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave-Hodgson, said: “The arrival of the Olympic Flame is always the kick start of Olympic celebrations in the host nation and we are looking forward towel coming the Flame to Bedford Borough on July 8th. I am sure many local residents will line the route to cheer on the Torch-bearers and take advan-tage ofthe biggest show on earth coming to Bedford Borough.

oLYMPICS

Until late August, over 200 olympic and Paralympic athletes will be training in Bedford prior to the start of their respective Games.

Whilst the priority of the athletes will be to prepare themselves as well as possible for their events, they will need some time to relax. ‘Host an Athlete’ seeks to offer cultural and social activities for the athletes should they wish to participate. The community of Bedford is invited to suggest activities that they may be able to offer. Details will then be posted at the

teams’ base at the University of Bedford-shire. Athletes can then choose what they would like to do; they will be assisted in contacting the ‘Host’ and the final arrangements made. The athletes will need to be col-lected from, and returned to, the Campus. The majority of the athletes will be competing in the Paralympic Games and therefore have a disability. Some will be wheelchair users and therefore adapted ve-hicles may be necessary. If there is a group of wheelchair users going to an activity together then other transport arrangements may be possible.

We would like as large a number and as wide a range of activities as possible to be

offered so that the athletes have a good choice. To find out more about partici-pating in ’Host an Athlete’ please contact:Katarina Darcy: [email protected] Tel: 07729446084

Or visit our Facebook page: “Bedford’s Entertain An Athlete”

Please note that we are not looking for people to provide accommodation for our visitors.

Bedford Borough will host 14 olympic and Paralympic teams and more than 250 sportspeople from around the world in the lead up to the olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.

And with the exception of Weymouth, which will host most nations for the various sailing competitions, Bedford Borough will

host more teams than any other town or borough in the country. Go Bedford! We will be host to: The Maldives Na-tional Olympic Committee; Central African Republic National Paralympic Committee; Senegal National Paralympic Committee; The Gambia National Paralympic Commit-tee; Morocco National Paralympic Com-mittee; Ivory Coast National Paralympic Committee; Tunisia National Paralympic Committee; Lesotho National Paralympic Committee; Democratic Republic of Congo National Paralympic Committee; Uganda National Paralympic Committee; GhanaNa-tional Paralympic Committee; Pakistan National Paralympic Committee; Angola National Paralympic Committee; Jamaica

National Paralympic Committee. (Let’s hope they’ve all brought their brollies - Ed).Councillor Doug McMurdo, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, said: “A lot of hard work has gone into making the arrangements for 15 teams and more than 250 athletes and officials to live in Bedford Borough ahead of the Olympic and Para-lympic Games this summer. However, when many of them visited Bedford Borough they were immediately struck by how welcoming the people in the borough were as well as the level offacilities available. I hope local residents will look forward to welcoming these teams from around the world.”

ON YOUR MARKS, BEDFORD!

Bedford Borough Council is delighted to confirm a free festival of sport at the Bedford International Athletic stadium during this year’s olympics.

This will include a big screen showing all the action live, including the men’s 100 metre final, and opportunities to have a go on the top class facilities on offer at the stadium,especially for young people. The Athletic Stadium has been selected as an Official Olympic ‘Live Site’ during the London 2012 games this summer. Bedford now joins a select group of other towns and cities across the UK which will

be an official part of London 2012. The big screen erected at the stadium will offer Bedford Borough residents the opportunity to experience a slice of the London 2012 Olympic Games completely free, even if they were not fortunate enoughto land some of the sought after tickets to ex-perience the Games in person.

OLYMPIC LIVE SITE - Free BIG SCreeN ACTIoN

Businesses in St Mary’s are gearing up to welcome the olympic Torch as it passes right outside their front doors.Often overlooked on the south side of the Town Bridge, the organisations are going to make the most of the national spotlight on Sunday July 8th. “This is a great flag-waving event for Bedford as a whole but a big boost to those business in St Mary’s Street,” said Love Bedford and BIDBoard member Joanne Spencer of the Kitchen Outlet store, “We have a new St Mary’s website www.stmarysbedford.co.uk, we have a new look post office and some of the best parking in town! We’d urge people to follow the Torch south to St Mary’s on Bedford’s Olympic Sunday.”

If you are heading over to St Mary’s, here’s a guide to where to park:

*Refurbished car park on corner of Duck-mill Lane

*Free parking for two hours at adjoining spaces

*£2 all day on Saturday and Sundays at Bedford College

If you want to grab a bite to eat while you’re there, choose from the Park Inn Hotel, Lee’s Kitchen, Riobellos, Fred’s Coffee Shop, Que Huong and the King’s Arms pub.

The King’s Arms landlord, Sean O’Donnell, is planning a family fun day to coincide with the Torch procession, so why not stroll over to St Mary’s and see for yourselves.

OLYMPIC TORCH SHINeS oN ST MArY’S

Bedford College has achieved an educational gold medal by winning the right to use the prestigious Olympic logo. The carefully protected marque can only be used by a select few other than the multi-national sponsors who have paid £40 Million to be associated with the brand. The “Get Set” 2012 Education Olympic mark is given to Colleges and Schools that have demonstrated and have shown a com-mitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values of Friendship, Courage, Respect, Excellence, Determination, Inspiration and Equality through their work within college

and the local com-munity. The Logo is awarded by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) of which Lord Seb Coe is Chair. Chief Executive Ian Pryce said : “We are a win-ning team here at Bedford College and this acknowl-edgement of the contribution made to the community by our staff and students is well deserved.”

THE OLYMPIC DREAM COMES TRUE FOR BEDFORD COLLEgE

HOST AN ATHLETE

Ian Pyrce: Get Set... Go!

Flaming Nora... It’s Ian again!

It’s festival time again as the ‘Great Summer in Bedford Borough’ continues when the River Festival rolls into town on the 21st and 22nd July.This year the festival, which attracts more than 300,000 over the weekend, promises even more fun free activities along the River Great Ouse in Bedford. Over the next month expect to see hun-dreds electricity generators, event control buildings, hundreds of square metres of

marquees, more than 150 market stalls, plenty of temporary toilets and three float-ing bridges all being set up as the events team at Bedford Borough Council gears up for the biggest River Festival ever. The event will kick-off at 11.30am on Saturday 21st July as the River Festival Parade travels down the High Street and back onto the Embankment for the first time since 2004 (Hurrah! – Ed). Colourful floats from groups around Bedford and across the UK will be making plenty of noise as they travel from De Parys Avenue, raising money for local charities. Once again you can expect the usual mix of face painters, balloon sellers, workshops, stalls, market traders selling a cornucopia of wares, funfair rides, music and entertain-ment, sporting opportunities and history. And that’s all on top of the activity taking place on the water! Water-based action takes place to the

beat of the Dragon Boats on Saturday while on Sunday it’s a battle to stay afloat as home-made rafts battle the Great Ouse (and each other) in a race to the finish line. Here are some other treats that the lovely River Fest people have got lined up for us: For the first time ever, you’ll be able to tune into the River Festival finale fireworks

music thanks to Bedford Com-munity radio station In2beats on 106.5FM. Coinciding with the London 2012 Olympics, it could only be the Ancient Greeks taking over the Heritage vil-lage around Castle mound. Find out what it was like to live around the dawn of the Olym-pics, see the Greek puppet theatre, an Ancient Greek horse riding display

while children can join in the drill session with the troops Try your hand at everything from martial arts to line dancing at the Sports Vil-lage. This year we are also joined by Arsenal Gunners on the road tour providing a penalty shoot-out and tips for would be stars while the Rugby Football Union will also be on hand to offer advice and the chance to have a go at the game. Back on the water for the first time since 2006 there will be a river swim as well as boat parades and festival favourites, the glow stick kayak paddle and illuminated boat pa-rade on Saturday evening.

This year’s festival will showcase more music than ever before operating over six stages and including Brigante and Albaney Down - winners of the Battle of the Bands contest that took place at Bedford Corn Ex-change and the Jubilee stage at Russell Park Festival Sponsors Fujifilm will also be introducing a new Fujifilm zone providing a photography arena, photo wall competition and creative printing advice. For those seeking a more relaxed atmosphere the Community and Chill Out Villages will be located on Mill Meadows featuring a circus skills arena, community marquee, traditional children’s rides and a variety of stalls, arts and crafts and enter-tainment Secure cycle parking, extra bus and train services and a late night park and ride service from Elstow are all being provided to make it easy for everyone to be part of the region’s biggest free event.

Town centre multi-storey car parks will also be open longer and cost just £1 all day on Sunday.

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

5“There is nothing--absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows,

JULY 2012

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2012 BEDFORD RIVER FESTIVALMore WAYS THAN eVer To JoIN THe FUN

FeSTIVAL

If you live in or near to Cardington, why not make your way to the Kings Arms to watch the historic olympic torch relay pass through the village?

As well as witnessing this once-in-a-life-time event, the pub will be open from 9am with bacon sandwiches at the ready! Throughout the day they will have live music, from ‘Out of the Hat’ (noon – 3pm)and then local swing and jive band, ‘The

Spider Club’ will entertain the crowds from 3pm – 5pm. Weather permitting, The Kings Arms’ Pub Olympics will be taking place in beer garden. To round off the eve-ning there will be a music quiz from 8 til late.

All of the money raised will be going towards Bedford Day Care Hospice.

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6 Stop faffing. Get on with it.

JULY 2012

The past 6 months has seen a significant development for art group INFINITe29. The group which primarily consists of mental health service users took steps to move beyond the art provision already on offer within mental health services to form its own Creativity for Wellbeing group back in 2010. After staging several of its own art exhibitions including one in a disused retail unit at the Castle Quay festival in 2011, the group later teamed up with Bedford Cre-ative Arts and its new project 123 CREATE back in January this year. 123 CREATE is a new creative space for the communities of Bedford at 123 Midland Road, where Bedford Creative Arts and their partners can provide a place for people of all ages to take part in creative projects and champion the diverse cultures of the area. Working with Bedford Creative Arts at 123 CREATE the group has held its own weekly creativity sessions every Wednes-day. From photography walks and lace inspired tea parties in chilly February to more recent sessions such as drawing, paint-ing, textiles and Pyrography (a technique creating designs through wood burning). The group consists of talented painters, pho-tographers, crafters and musicians, as well as people who just love being creative and are willing to have a go at whatever comes their way. The sessions allow members to take the reins, utilise their own skills and pass on knowledge to others. The group also recently staged some enjoyable afternoons screen printing and pottery making with Laura Pottinger from The Higgins Gallery & Museum and learned some fascinating history about the museum and the collec-tions held there in the process. Jacqueline Haddock is a founding member of INFINITE29 art group and is

Bedford Creative Art’s Creativity for Well-being Activist. Jacqueline who facilitates the weekly sessions says: “The Wednesday sessions are always relaxed and informal and provide a great way for people to come together to chat about creative ideas over a cup of tea whilst learning a brand new skill or developing an existing one. We want to empower our members by giving them opportunities to share their skills and talents with others whilst also providing access to engage with other artists and organisations in the wider community in a non threatening way. Having a creative outlet is essential to the wellbeing of lots of people encountering problems and difficulties in their lives and art is a powerful medium for challenging myths around mental health, helping to expand creative thinking and remove the stigma sometimes associated with mental illness. We work with people who are ready to make those vital steps to engage with other creative individuals on their way to recovery. INFINITE29 provides an environ-ment in which people don’t feel intimidated to come forward to share their ideas and get involved in art outside of the mental health arena. Working together with organisa-tions such as Bedford Creative Arts which is committed to delivering quality arts programmes to the people of Bedford is one way of bridging the gap for those who may suffer social anxiety or otherwise feel that

there is a barrier to them accessing art in a wider social setting because of misunder-standing and stigma. Because INFNIT29 is a group with a history, knowledge and un-derstanding of the needs of its members and of people suffering mental health difficulty, it works! “ Thirty one year old Ben Salmons who joined the group several months ago after suffering a long bout of depression says: ““Having struggled with mental health problems for quite some time and after los-ing my confidence, it has been fantastic to join INFINITE29, rediscover my enthusi-asm for creativity, and be surrounded by a group of caring people who support each other and have encouraged me to get back involved and engage with art again” Group member David Harpur Holloway who developed Schizophrenia as a conse-quence of brain damage during an accident says “Since becoming ill I have found it hard to find proper employment, but the group has opened up my horizons. I have learned more about my poetry, and dis-covered a talent for designing t-shirts, and photography. I now see the world through a different lens. Perhaps when we as people find a group or community to which we feel we belong, those ‘grey areas’ in life merge from one state into Technicolor. INFINITE 29 offers a unique opportunity for me to try and develop a better understanding of those

AN ExCITINg 6 MONTHS FOR ART gROUPINFINITe29

ArT

colours.” As a predominantly service user group, INFINITE29 maintains good relations with all local organisations, working in a re-sponsible way that benefits everyone. Many of INFINITE29’s members are currently service users or have used local branches of SEPT or Mind in the past and have found that Infinite29 has given them an additional outlet and an extra string to the support they already receive. Through the group’s vision and commitment and through being involved with Bedford Creative Arts, Infinite29 is bridging the gap between art-ists, service users and the community. With many exciting ideas to take forward the group continues to work to expand both its membership and its capacity for creativity. The group has more recently engaged with Kings Arms Project, a charity that works with the homeless and has opened up its doors to other organisations that have an understanding of the need for creativity and wellbeing. Bedford Creative Arts Creativity and Wellbeing strand has supported INFI-NITE29 to get involved in some of its excit-ing projects. Several INFINITE29 members worked closely with artist Arabel Rosillo de Blas on the making and constructing of the large lace installation now on show at 1, St Pauls Square in Bedford as part of Bedford Creative Arts spring commission Lace in Place, as well as taking part in several workshops with artist Kathy Hinde making musical scores from the patterns in Bedfordshire lace. More recently the group has been involved in several lyrical workshops with Bedford composer Johnny Parry in Bedford Creative Arts’ summer commis-sion Concerto Magnificent: An Anthology of all Things. The group have contributed to the writing of songs that will be pieced together and rehearsed and performed by a community choir at the Corn Exchange in September this year. If you would like to know more about the group or the exciting projects they are involved in then please contact Jac-queline Haddock who can be reached at [email protected] or at [email protected]

Phaff&potter is a new music fanzine for the discerning music fan, which will be covering all that’s happening under and over the radar in cutting edge music.

It will also include retrospec-tives of cult bands from days gone by, as well as single, album

and live reviews. As well as music, they’ll be other articles ranging from the latest regional ales, to the ‘EYE’ on London – a feature bringing tomorrows trends – today. Co-writers Rod Palmer and Tristan Percival try to explain further:Tristan: well, the ideas been been brewing for yonks – and the time was right to start now! (is it? -ed). Rod continues: Yeah, and there’s a twist, sort of – we’re not against modern technology but we liked the original way that old school fanzines were put together, so rather than comping it up on the pc in quark or whatever, we dusted off our ‘Daro Erika’ typewriter and set to it. Bit of sweat and pritt stick, and Bob’s yer uncle!Clanger: so where can we find the this special publication?T: well, we’re aiming to copy 100 to start with, then ping ‘em out to local pubs, music venues and shops – not disimilar to the venues that the lovely Clanger can be found in...! Plus in some other random cities... Clanger: So, where did the name come from? R: It’s what we do! So look out for Phaff&potter, which aims to hit the streets this summer...It’s A5 and it’s free!

MUSIC

OxJAM UPDATEMUSIC

Phot

o: S

arah

Luc

as

Word of the oxjam Bedford Takeover coming to town on Saturday 27th october is spreading.... We caught up with Oxjam Bedford Take-over Manager, Clare Sullivan, to find out what’s been going on at the Oxjam Bedford HQ.June has been a really exciting month for us here at Oxjam Bedford HQ with what feels like an iron in every musical fire. We’re finalising our Takeover venues – many of your readers will have seen that Esquires and The Bear are already on board and we look forward to announcing the final addi-tions in the coming weeks. We’ve also been working hard on putting together an exciting line-up of bands, artists and DJs for Bedford’s musical delectation. We have around half our performers con-firmed now and we’re confident that we’ve already got a very strong line-up, with something for everyone, from hard rock revellers, to dubstep divas and everyone in between. We still have limited spaces available at all of our venues, so if you’re in a band, are a solo performer or DJ and would like to be part of the Takeover, please get in touch at [email protected].

You’ll get a hint as to our line-up if you’re coming down to the River Festival on the weekend of 21st and 22nd July. We’ll be taking part in the parade and we’ve a very exciting addition to the Community Stage at 2pm on Sunday 22nd. We look forward to seeing you down the front, hope-fully soaking up some sunshine! In early July we’re turning our attention to how we’re going to cover the costs of the Takeover. As a reminder to Clanger readers, the Takeover is a charity event, raising money for Oxfam. As such we have no budget to stage the event and so we’re working hard to minimise what we spend. However, it’s inevitable that to put on a great event, we’re going to have some unavoidable costs. We’d love to hear from any local businesses who might be interested in sponsoring the Takeover through dona-tions or services in kind. In return we can promise some fantastic promotional opportunities, as well as the chance to be a part of an event that everyone in Bedford will be talking about. If you’re interested in finding out more about our sponsorship packages, drop us a note at

[email protected]. That’s it from Oxjam Bedford HQ for this month, though actually, on that subject..... At present there is no Oxjam Bedford HQ! The Oxjam Bedford Team are currently resorting to meetings in various Bedford drinking establishments or descending en masse to team member’s homes. And much as we’re a sociable crowd who enjoy a night down the pub, we’d really love a place to call home. So if any of your readers have some office space available which they’d like to donate for our use until November, we’d love to hear from them at [email protected] We look forward to having lots more exciting Oxjam news to report in the August edition of The Bedford Clanger! Until then, enjoy the sunshine (hopefully)!

Follow us on Twitter (@oxjambedford) or to Like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/oxjambedfordtakeover). We can keep you up-to-the-minute with all Oxjam Bed-ford news and announcements

RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS PICS AT roCk CITY ArTMusic lovers have been spoilt in the last month with not one but two great photography exhibitions at Bedford’s Rock City Art gallery.

No sooner had the Stone Roses moved out than the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Exhibition moved in. It opened on 22nd June, just days before the band headlined Knebworth, and if you haven’t already checked it out, what are you waiting for? Photographer Tony Woolliscroft has been working with the band since 1990 when he was asked to shoot them for RAW magazine. Tony worked closely with Chad Smith – the Chillies drummer – to curate the exhibition. Tony’s most memorable gig with the band was at London’s Astoria: “The night at the Astoria will always be etched on my mind as one of the best times I’ve ever seen

the band and everybody who was fortunate enough to be there agrees. I got to the venue early in the afternoon and said my hellos to everyone and I was shown the stage set before the show started. The equipment had been painted in UV paint and I was tipped off the band were also going to paint themselves in the UV paint too, so I quickly went and bought the fastest slide film I could, enabling me to shoot the show without flash.” Check out these, and many other iconic images, at Rock City Art, Castle Lane, Bedford until 19th July.

www.tonywoollister.co.ukwww.rockcityart.com

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

7It’s a Los Angeles music double!

JULY 2012

In association with

Bedford Borough Council’s Premier entertainment Venue

THe L I S T I N gGetting out and About in Bedford This July

Vintage Trouble are coming back to Bedford and we demand that you go and see them! The LA-based soul/blues/funksters inter-rupted their tour with Lenny Kravitz (well jel – Ed) to have a chat to us prior to their forthcoming gig at the Bedford Corn Ex-change. If you haven’t already checked out Vintage Trouble, then why not google their performance on Later…with Jools Holland, or even better, ring the Corn Exchange and book your tickets to see them live. Right now….

Bedford Clanger: Welcome back to Bed-ford! We’re really looking forward to seeing your show this month. What can newcomers expect from a VT gig?Rick Barrio Dill: Hopefully the newcomers show up with an open willingness to sweat, shake, sing and party like they haven’t done in a long time. From there, they should easily be able to also follow the lead of the Bedford TroubleMakers who have been to a VT show before who will surely help us set the tone and make it a night to truly remember for a long long time.

BC: I guess you don’t necessarily need to have the blues to sing the blues, but surely you’ve gotta have soul to perform the way you do. RBD: Soul is something that comes from within. It’s something everyone has to some extent, it just comes from the ability to be free with oneself and find the shortest

route to that pure, raw energy and passion. Fortunately for us, our collective chemistry helps fuel us in ways that some nights I don’t think we even knew we could dig that deep. It’s something magical and we are very fortunate to have found it in each other.

BC: How was the experience of performing on Jools Holland? RBD: Later with Jools was a true dream for us. Coming from the states, unfortunately, we don’t have any kind of a show like Jools that is strictly devoted to excellence in music. We certainly don’t have anything where it’s celebrated and respected as much either so for us, it was an honour at the highest level. To then not even be out of the BBC parking lot and know we were the 6th most trended topic worldwide on Twit-ter after our performance…our lives were changed at that very moment. We haven’t stopped since. We came over for a few weeks to do that show and I think you guys kept us for the better part of a year haha! We will gladly take it. It ushered in the realization of all our childhood dreams and we have the appreciation of Jools and the audience to thank. BC: Do you prefer recording or touring?RBD: We record very fast. The entire “Bomb Shelter Sessions” was done in 2.5 days, all live, in one room, where we were barely a band of just under three months at the time. Since then, we have almost recorded enough music for our next two records and again, we spent very little time in the studio, recording essentially live and in one room. We love trying to embrace the natural mistakes that playing “live” in the studio can bring where you try to not over think it and where you find beauty

in the imperfections...as long as the vibe is right. At the core though, we are a live band that realizes we thrive best when we collectively find those “live moments” together whether in the studio or on a stage. Capturing that magic in the studio can be tough and its certainly “the chase” to some extent but there is a whole new kind of high that comes from getting a room full of people to “feel” something together and to be affected by music in such a way that it can’t be found anywhere else except from being in a communal setting of a live show. Thankfully, we get to play and tour a lot and getting to a place where people are finding their inner sexiness (ooh er – Ed), dancing to the point of being drenched and finding that core of music that transcends every-thing else is simply something that cannot be beat. There is nothing like that circular connection in a proper live VT show setting to make us all find the way back to our centre again.

BC: What are your musical influences? Anything we’d be surprised by?!RBD: We love the point in music where the lines were blurred between rock & roll, rhythm and blues and early soul. When it wasn’t in a box per se. We also love going back and digging deeper and deeper from these time periods too to find hidden treasures and maybe things you had forgot-ten about. It’s always a place we find much inspiration. At the same time, we are also children of the 80s,90s and 2000s and can’t deny the influence that has had on us as well. If it’s good music and from the heart & soul…you can’t deny it.

BC: Your sound is so uplifting - I get goosebumps when I listen to you guys. It

must be physically impos-sible not to want to dance when watching you live! Do you always get the crowd going?RDB: That’s beautiful to hear. Thank you. It’s certainly something we try to do to ourselves first. If we are honest with how it makes us feel, then it just naturally comes out collectively. From there, hopefully the connection is made to the listener or the observer and we can get to that soulful place where again, it’s a circular connec-tion in the room and people lose their inhibitions and let the music and the vibe take us all to a higher plane. Someone once told us that if we had a superpower, it would be the power to cause dance. Haha! We are the lucky ones then aren’t we?

BC: What are your ambitions for the future?RDB: To continue to learn and grow from our audience and the experiences. We truly want to be able to affect people and col-lectively do things together that only grow and get better over time. Like any great relationship, if all sides get enriched from the experience, it benefits the whole way more than could ever be reached alone. We want to cause trouble, dance, sexiness and soulful feelings with you guys until we all need walkers and wheelchairs from it. :-)Amen to that! The Pad Presents: Vintage

Trouble at The Bedford Corn Exchange on Thursday 12th July from 7.30pm. Tickets are £12.50www.bedfordcornexchange.com tel: 01234 269519

WANT TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE VT PLAY THIS MONTH? Then simply email [email protected] by Tuesday 10th July with the answer to the following question: Who have Vintage Trouble just supported on their European Tour?

VINTAgE TROUBLE: BACk IN BedFordMUSIC

A PhotgrAPhic Exhibition from thE 22nd JunE- 19th July 2012

rock city Art gallery, 26 castle lane, bedford, beds, mK40 [email protected],rockcityart.com

PHoToGrAPHY

Here comes trouble

Photo:Tony Woolliscroft Hot stuff coming through

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

8

JULY 2012

Sunday 1st July •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Santa Pod Retro ShowA multi-marquee event for fans of retro vehicles! RWYB with show ‘n shine, car clubs and a 70s disco. Gates open 8am, tickets from £9.60.Santa Pod Raceway, Airfield Road, Poddington, Welling-borough, Tel: 01234 782828 www.santapod.com www.retroshow.co.uk•Bedford Guided Walk: ‘The Life and Times of John Bunyan’Follow in the footsteps of the author of the famous Pilgrim’s Progress, to various town sites connected with his life and works. This includes the Bunyan Meeting Free Church, one of the sites at which Bunyan preached. The walk starts at 11am. Adults £3, Children over 8 yrs £1.50. Meet outside the Tourist Information Centre, St Pauls Square, BedfordTel: 01234 718112 or 221755 www.visitbedford.co.uk [email protected]•Bedford Floral Art SocietyFeaturing a demonstration by Jan Law: ‘Designed to Please’. Doors open at 7pm for 7.30pm. £5 for visitors. The Addison Centre Kempston www.bedfordfloralartsociety.co.uk•Bedford School Summer Concert SeriesMake the most of the summer evenings with a season of concerts performed in Bedford School’s Great Hall or Recital Hall. Everyone welcome. Free entry.The concert by the Second Orchestra including junior prize winners and ensembles also takes place from 3pm.Tel: 01234 362200 www.bedfordschool.org.uk/summer-concerts-2012/•Summer Bandstand Concert SeriesThe Summer Bandstand Concert Series returns to Mill Meadows with a free performance every Sunday on the bandstand (except Sunday 22nd July), 3pm -5pm. See the Bedford events website for a full list of performing bands.The Bandstand, Mill Meadows, BedfordTel: 01234 718617 [email protected] www.bedfordevents.co.uk•Evening Dance in the Officers’ MessEnjoy an evening of wonderful dance music with Ball-room, Latin and Sequence dances. Relax in the elegant Stuart Lounge and take part in the raffle. Bring your own drinks, beverages, and snacks. 7pm-10pm. tickets £5 on the door. The Keep, Corner of Bedford Road and Walcourt Road, KempstonTel: 01234 300179: www.MelodyMagic.co.uk•Mat Roberts & GuestsLive music in Danny’s Bar from 5pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Vintage Stuff Live at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pmTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry. Free bingo game for Sunday quizzers!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk• Jon’s Music QuizUp to £300 prize money! The King’s Arms, St Mary’s Street. Tel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.ukMonday 2nd July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Alpine Garden Society Bedfordshire Group MeetingRay Drew will be talking about the Gothenburg Botani-cal Garden. A raffle and free refreshments will also be available, as well as a professional nurseryman. Visitors welcome. 7.30pm-9.30pm. £3 for visitors. Wilstead Village Hall, Cotton End RoadTel: Mrs Elsie Willett on 01767 [email protected] www.bedfordshirealpines.com•Students End of Year Exhibition 2012Join Bedford School in celebrating the achievements of A2 students and also view work from AS and GCSE students, Year 10 sketchbook work and work from Year 9. This is a traditional end of year show that offers a wonderful op-portunity to visit the department and view works produced in paint, printmaking and sculpture as well as experiencing the Art School environment. Free admission between 6pm to 9pm. The Art School, Bedford School Tel: Laura Stephenson on 01234 362247www.bedfordschool.org.uk

•The Golden Vanity / A Pair of TrainersTwo conflicts from an action-packed adventure on the high seas to a modern day Olympic dilemma, meet head-on in this unique musical double-bill.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 (£3 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •Jazz Club – Simon SpilletThe fiery Tenor man returns supported by a rhythm section lead by the guitarist that burns, Nick Page.8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk• General Knowledge QuizThe King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Open Mic NightHosted by local singer/songwriter Matt Roberts, 8.30pm til close. Just listen or join in!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukTuesday 3rd July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Tuesday Morning Walks at the RSPBWeekly walks around the reserve. Admire the wildlife and enjoy the site. Everyone welcome. 9.30am-11.30am, free for RSPB members, otherwise £3.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Kathy Brown’s Garden Open DayGroup visits, lectures, books and garden design practice. 1-5pm, £4.50 per person, children free.“A garden of exuberant imagination, atmospheric and brimful of ideas, with a strong emphasis on garden art.” The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington. 01234 822064 www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com•Bedford Floral Art SocietyFeaturing a demonstration by Susie Barwick: ‘Wild at Heart’. Doors open at 7pm for 7.30pm. £5 for visitors. The Addison Centre, Kempston www.bedfordfloralartso-ciety.co.uk•The Golden Vanity / A Pair of TrainersTwo conflicts from an action-packed adventure on the high seas to a modern day Olympic dilemma, meet head-on in this unique musical double-bill.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 (£3 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.comwww.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry.The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukWednesday 4th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••UK Roadster NationalsOpen to both convertible and open top cars, including Americans, Veteran and Classic, Custom and Hot Rods manufactured before 1980, replica vehicles manufactured in a pre-1980s style, plus a separate parking area for other vehicles of special interest. Everyone welcome. Other at-tractions include an autojumble, trade stands, food stalls, a bar, music and entry to the Glenn Miller and World War II Museums. 9am-5.30pm. Entry payable on the day.Twinwood Airfield, Twinwood Road, Clapham, Beds www.claphamclassicevents.co.uk•World of Bushcraft Tool Use & Maintenance Work-shopIn this two hour workshop, World of Bushcraft will discuss the legal framework which surrounds the use of bushcraft knives, axes and other tools and show how to develop safe practice while using the tools, with a wide variety of carving grips and techniques. All ages welcome. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult. 2pm, tickets £20. Tea and coffee will be available.World of Bushcraft, Priory Marina, Barkers Lane, BedfordTel: 07843 164114 www.woodland-ways.co.uk•Prebend Day Centre Fundraising QuizAt The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. 8pm start, £5pp including ploughman’s dinnerTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Jubilee ConcertBedford School Band and Dance Band Silver Jubilee Concert from 7.30pmTel: 01234 362200 www.bedfordschool.org.uk/summer-concerts-2012/•Stitch ‘n BitchBring any crafty project to The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd, [email protected] Tel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Tea DancePut on your dancing shoes and join us for a pleasant afternoon in the elegant surroundings of the Bedford Corn Exchange complex. Music for Ballroom, Latin American, Sequence Dances, Party Dances and Old Time.A warm welcome guaranteed! Price includes refreshments.Corn Exchange Main Auditorium & Harpur Suite, tickets: £3.50 (advance) £4.00 (otd)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.ukThursday 5th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bird Watching and Optics DemonstrationEnjoy the birds on view using the latest binoculars and telescopes. An expert will be on hand to demonstrate how to use them. Free to attend. 10am-4pm.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•World of Bushcraft Spoon Carving WorkshopJoin World of Bushcraft on this two hour session to learn how to free your very own spoon from an unlikely looking piece of sycamore wood! The team will cover safe tool use and guide you through the techniques most appropriate to spoon making. The process covered is the same whether you want to create a teaspoon or a serving ladle. All ages are welcome. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult. 6pm, tickets £20. Tea and coffee will be available.World of Bushcraft, Priory Marina, Barkers Lane, BedfordTel: 07843 164114 www.woodland-ways.co.uk

•Bedford Floral Art Society MeetingFeaturing a demonstration by Nick Grounds: ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’. Doors 7pm for 7.30pm. Visitors £5. The Addison Centre, Kempston,www.bedfordfloralartsociety.co.uk •Traditional Music SessionJoin in this monthly folk jam, 8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Esquire’s ShowcaseLive music in Danny’s Bar, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Come and Play Mr and Mrs!Fun and Fundraising for RSPCA at The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Couples required, See Nigel for details on how to enter. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukFriday 6th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford Floral Art Society MeetingA Christmas demonstration by Lorena Dyer: ‘A Christmas Wish’ Please see the website for costs. Doors 7pm for 7.30pm. The Addison Centre, Kempston www.bedfordfloralartsociety.co.uk• ‘A Date with Nature’ Dusk WatchExperience the sights and sounds of the reserve as dark-ness creeps over and secretive nocturnal creatures begin to emerge! 8pm-10pm. RSPB members £4, non members £6 – including the car park. Booking essential. Please note that this event will not run in bad weather.RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy Tel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Antique Furniture Collectors’ Items AuctionA specialist auction at the Bedford Auction Centre from 11am. Free to attend. Bedford Auction Centre www.peacockauction.co.uk•Bedford Art Society MeetingJane Rhodes, well-known for her expressive pastel paintings, will talk through her work from sketchbook to completion. 7.30pm start. £5 for visitors.Putnoe Heights Church, Bedford Tel: Jean Paterson 01234 307210 www.bedsartsociety.co.uk•Sculpture Exhibition at Eagle GalleryCome and view this free exhibition by Chris Rowsell, which is running for one week from the 7th July to the 14th July, 10am-5.30pm, Monday to Saturday.Eagle Gallery, Castle Road, BedfordTel: Sarah Buckingham on 07983 759294 www.eaglegal-leryartists.co.uk•Bedford Auction Centre Books, Maps and Ephemera AuctionThis specialist book auction provides a more specific marketplace for vendors and buyers, to include sports books, travel and topography, aviation and military, maps and prints, children’s books, modern first editions, histori-cal documents and more. The auction begins at 3pm. For viewing dates and times see the website.Tel: 01234 266366 www.peacockauction.co.uk•Bedford Floral Art Society MeetingFeaturing a demonstration by Sue Woodward: ‘Give Me Water’. Doors 7pm for 7.30pm. £5 for visitors. The Addison Centre, Kempston www.bedfordfloralart-society.co.uk•Guided Meditations with Elizabeth DrakeHealer, reiki master and intuitive tarot reader Elizabeth Drake provides relaxation sessions in which she teaches relaxation techniques. 6.30pm-8.30pm, £5 entry including refreshments.Froggy’s Gifts, 7 Lime St, Bedford Tel: 07583 275500 [email protected] www.froggysgifts.co.uk •First Orchestra Concert Bedford School at 7.30pmTel: 01234 362200 www.bedfordschool.org.uk/summer-concerts-2012/•Friday KaraokeOpen til 2am The Executive Club, Lurke Street tel: 401500•Bedfordshire Family History Society TalkCome along to find out more about ‘Sulgrave Manor and The Washington Family’ at 7.30pm in the Drama Hall at Mark Rutherford School. Specialist Bookstall and library also available www.bfhs.org.uk•The Vans + The Melophobics + Instant Social ConversionLive music on the main stage, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•The Denny McCafferey BandLive music in Holy Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Michael & Becky’s Pre Wedding PartyCelebrate with Nigel and Sue. Free BBQ and Karaoke from 7pm at The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Karaoke with Diamond Fire8pm, The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukSaturday 7th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Gourmet Food and Wine FairTo help raise funding for the community vineyard project, Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity is holding a Gourmet Food and Wine Fair at Bromham Mill from 10.30am to 4.30pm. Admission is £3 for adults, £2 conces-sions, children under 16 free•DJ Fat Lad @ The ExecDJ Fat Lad (aka Ian Congdon-Lee of In2Beats Radio & Grange Hill fame) spins the party tunes til 5am The Executive Club tel: 401500•Bedfordshire Country ShowThis show boasts a wealth of attractions and fantastic entertainment for all the family including: show jumping, animal shows, clay shooting, archery, falconry, a funfair, air rifles, a dog show, crafts and 300 stalls selling local products. The new food hall will also showcase the very best in local, regional and national produce, with food demonstrations and tastings on offer! Open 9.30am until 6pm 7th-8th July. Tickets adults £9, senior citizens £8,

In association with

Bedford Borough Council’s Premier entertainment Venue

THe L I S T I N gchildren (5-16 years) £4.50. The Mansion House, Shuttleworth Park, Old Warden, Bedfordshire. Tel: 07850 195622 www.bedfordshirecountyshow.co.uk•Basic Patchwork & QuiltingWorkshop at Singers, Lurke Street. 1pm-5pm, £30Tel: 01234 350186 [email protected]•Fundraising Auction for Goldington AcademyAt The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. 7pm start in the marquee. 50+ lots. Bidders welcome. See Nigel for details.Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Rue Royale + SupportLive music in Holy Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford. Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comSunday 8th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford Guided Walk: ‘Jewel in Bedford’s Crown’During the Victorian and Edwardian periods the banks of the River Great Ouse in Bedford were the place to spend one’s leisure time. This is an entertaining and informative circular walk along the riverbank, described as being one of the finest riverside settings in England.11am start, tickets adults £3, children over 8 £1.50Meet at Tourist Information Centre, St. Paul’s SquareTel: 01234 718112 or 221755 [email protected]/tourism•Bedford Guided Walk ‘I never knew that’Bedford has a story waiting to be told around every corner.. 11am start, tickets adults £3, children over 8 £1.50. Pre-book only at the Bedford Tourist Information CentreMeet at the Tourist Information Centre, St. Paul’s Square, BedfordTel: 01234 718112 or 221755 [email protected]/tourism•Olympic Torch RelayCome and witness Bedford’s moment to shine! We are proud that the Olympic flame is passing through the Borough. Torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame through the streets of Bedford and Cotton End. Full details and advice on how to watch the Relay can be found on the website. www.bedfordevents.co.uk•Bedford Sprint RegattaThe 149th annual Sprint Regatta offers side-by-side sprint racing over a course of 1200 metres, on the River Great Ouse from County Bridge to the Suspension Bridge throughout the day. Free to spectate.River Great Ouse, BedfordTel: 01234 353183 [email protected] www.bedfordrowing.co.uk•10th Anniversary CelebrationsIn conjunction with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, come and enjoy some 10th Anniversary celebrations at Thurleigh Airfield and see vintage, military and civilian vehicles, watch re-enactments and an aerial display, visit trade and food stands, enjoy music by the Mainline Big Band and see an Air Cadet Drill display and aviation art display by Keith Hill. The celebrations will also include a re-dedication of the 306th Memorial. 10am-5pm, tickets £5 advance or £7 on the gate. 306th Bomb Group Museum, Thurleigh AirfieldTel: Ralph Franklin 01234 708715 www.306bg.co.uk •Bedford Summer Concert SeriesThe Summer Bandstand Concert Series returns to Mill Meadows with a free performance every Sunday on the bandstand (except Sunday 22nd July), 3pm -5pm. See the Bedford events website for a full list of performing bands.The Bandstand, Mill Meadows, BedfordTel: 01234 718617 [email protected] www.bedfordevents.co.uk•Olympic Charity Fun DayCelebrating the Olympic Torch passing through Bedford, The King’s Arms are hosting a Charity Fun Day, raising money for Bedford Day Care Hospice.The King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•MotherlodeLive music in Danny’s Bar from 5pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Rob Muir Live at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pmTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Hooray for Earth + SupportLive music on the main stage, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Jon’s Music QuizUp to £300 prize money! The King’s Arms, St Mary’s Street Tel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Olympic Torch CelebrationThe White Horse is showing support for regular customer, Iva Barr who is carrying the Olympic torch through Bed-ford this morning. Join in with their £5 Olympic Breakfast from 10am to noon. The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry. Free bingo game for Sunday quizzers!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Evening Dance in the Officers’ MessSee July 1st for detailsThe Keep, Corner of Bedford Road and Walcourt Road, Kempston Tel: 01234 300179: www.MelodyMagic.co.ukMonday 9th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Open Mic NightHosted by local singer/songwriter Matt Roberts, 8.30pm til close. Just listen or join in!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Jazz Club – Dave Johnson A truly great piano player and vocalist, known affection-ately to his musician friends as the Georgie Fame of Ket-tering. 8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk• General Knowledge QuizThe King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.ukTuesday 10th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Tuesday Morning Walks at the RSPBWeekly walks around the reserve. Admire the wildlife and enjoy the site. Everyone welcome. 9.30am-11.30am, free for RSPB members, otherwise £3.

RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Kathy Brown’s Garden Open DayGroup visits, lectures, books and garden design practice. 1-5pm, £4.50 per person, children free.“A garden of exuberant imagination, atmospheric and brimful of ideas, with a strong emphasis on garden art.” The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington. 01234 822064 www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry.The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukWednesday 11th July •••••••••••••••••••••••St Mary’s Church – A Celebration of our CommunitiesBring your own picnic and enjoy circle dancing, drum-mers, parachute games, and the Education Trust Choir. 6pm-9pm. Outside St Mary’s Church, Goldington [email protected] www.bcof.org.uk/•World of Bushcraft Game Preparation WorkshopLearn how to prepare both a pigeon and a rabbit with World of Bushcraft. Watch the team cook the pigeon on site into a tasty stir fry and head off ready to cook the rab-bit joints for your own meal! Experienced staff prepare and use a variety of game on a weekly basis on their bushcraft courses and will be happy to relate recipes and tips for cooking game. All ages welcome. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult. 2pm start, tickets £20. Tea and coffee will be available.World of Bushcraft, Priory Marina, Barkers Lane, BedfordTel: 07843 164114 www.woodland-ways.co.uk•Beer Tasting ClubTasting a range of bottled ales and discussing their merits. Please register your interest with Bev.The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.ukThursday 12th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••Book ClubDiscussing Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte by at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd, [email protected] Tel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Tim OT + Liam BurkeLive music in Holy Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Juicebox ShowcaseLive music in Danny’s Bar, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comFriday 13th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Oh Whistle And I Will Come To You Me LadNunkie Theatre brings the more famous M.R. James ghost story to The Place Theatre. Its film adaptation was voted the most chilling stories on screen. Expect to be chilled to the bone in this candle lit performance. The Place Theatre, 8pm. Tickets £10 (£8 concessions) Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.comwww.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •The Complete World of Sports (abridged)Reduced Shakespeare Company’s ‘bad boys of abridge-ment’ are back in the UK following a sell-out UStour. In this exclusive tour ahead of the show’s West End premiere, the entire history of athletic competition is revis-ited in a marathon of madness that sees the world’s great sporting events shrunk down to theatrical size.Corn Exchange Main Auditorium, 8.00pm, tickets: £16.50Box office: 01234 269519www.bedfordcornexchange.co.uk•Guided Meditations with Elizabeth DrakeHealer, reiki master and intuitive tarot reader Elizabeth Drake provides relaxation sessions in which she teaches relaxation techniques. 6.30pm-8.30pm, £5 entry including refreshments.Froggy’s Gifts, 7 Lime St, Bedford Tel: 07583 275500 [email protected] www.froggysgifts.co.uk •Six PounderLive music in Danny’s Bar, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Circus of Illustration ExhibitionShowcasing work from illustrators in Bedfordshire. On throughout Bedfringe until 27th July.The Place Theatre (foyer & bar area), Bradgate Road. Bedford MK40 3DE.www.bedfordshireillustrators.tumblr.com•Live Music with Rik KingAt The White Horse from 8.30pm, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Friday KaraokeOpen til 2am The Executive Club, Lurke Street tel: 401500•Vinyl Revival NightDust off those LPs & singles and come to play them at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pm.Tel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Mutiny Club NightHoly Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comSaturday 14th July •••••••••••••••••••••••••••Inspirational Card CraftingAnita Brooks demonstrates the latest tips and techniques at the Art Centre, 10am-4pm. 10% off all materials on the day. The Art Centre, Howard Street (Underneath Lurke Street Car Park), BedfordTel: 01234 344784 www.artcentre.biz [email protected]•DJ Fat Lad @ The ExecDJ Fat Lad (aka Ian Congdon-Lee of In2Beats Radio & Grange Hill fame) spins the party tunes til 5am The Executive Club tel: 401500•Get to know your sewing machineWorkshop at Singers, Lurke Street. 9.30am-12.30pm, £22.50 Tel: 01234 350186 [email protected]•Get to know your overlockerWorkshop at Singers, Lurke Street. 1-4pm, £22.50Tel: 01234 350186 [email protected]•Fibre-East Craft CelebrationA celebration of British wool and natural fibres for hand spinners, weavers, knitters, crocheters, dyers and felters - in fact anyone working with natural fibres in their craft, hobby or business! 10am-5pm, tickets £6 (£5 advance), concessions for OAPs. Scald End Farm, Mill Road, Thurleigh, Bedfordwww.fibre-east.co.uk

Bedford Corn exchange Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.uk

Marcel LucontGallic SymbolBedford Clanger: Have you per-formed at Bedfringe before? If so, welcome back!Marcel Lucont: Yes, I have. It is a real honour for you to have me back.

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?ML:The usual exquisite mélange of wry observations of an increasingly unintelligent world, top class sex po-etry, bawdy chansons and invaluable love advice.

BC: How important is Bedfringe as a stepping stone up to the Edinburgh Festival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’ point of view?)ML:I feel it is important to take my genius to every corner of the world - the Scottish cannot have me all the time.

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum it up in 5 words?ML: It is what it is.

BC: We love Bedford, but what do you think about our town?ML: I have not passed an extended stay in your town, but if any girls wish to be my guide after the show, then I will at

least have some opinion on the beds of Bedford.

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would your recom-mend?ML: I am mildly offended by this question. Why go for the burger option when you have been offered prime filet mignon?

Marcel Lucont will be performing alongside Mark Little at The Ent Shed on Thursday 26th July at 8.30pm. Tickets: £8

Luke ToulsonLuke Who’sTalkingBedford Clanger: Have you per-formed at Bedfringe before? If so, welcome back!Luke Toulson: Yes. This is my 3rd time.

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?LT: In the autumn of 1989, just 4 days before my 13th birthday, Tri-Star Pictures released a movie which would change not just my life, but that of John Travolta’s. Now, some 23 years later, LUKE WHO’S TALK-ING tackles un-planned pregnancy, alcoholism and fights with girlfriends, in the same relentlessly up-beat manner.

BC: How important is Bedfringe as a stepping stone up to the Edinburgh Festival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’ point of view?)LT: Bedfringe is absolutely vital as a major platform to perform the show right at the end of the development process, just before going to Edinburgh, so it is very helpfully/cleverly placed in

the calender. And James Pharaoh who runs it, is massively supportive. But I am performing at Camp Besti-val in Dorset between Bedfringe and the Edinburgh Fringe, so geographically it is unhelpful.

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum it up in 5 words?LT: Alcohol-fueled Performance Arts Festival

BC: We love Bedford, but what do you think about our town?

LT: The little I’ve seen seems very attractive. Nicely English, but not too dickish (Good summary! Mind if we quote you on that? - Ed).

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would your recommend?LT: My show is in a double-bill with a very funny man called Geoff Nor-cott, and I’m really looking forward to seeing his show ‘Geoff Norcott avoids a Double Dip’.

Luke Who’s Talking/Geoff Norcott avoids a Double Dip: 7.30pm, Tues-day 24 July at The Place Theatre, Bradgate Road. Tickets: £8

The Bedford Clanger’s guide to what’s on at Bedfringe 2012

JULY 2012THE BEDFORD CLANGER

Alexis dubus Cars and GirlsBedford Clanger: Have you performed at Bedfringe before? If so, welcome back!Alexis Dubus: I have - I had a lot of fun performing my “R*ddy Brief History Of Swearing Show” there a few years ago.

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?AD: Well it’s certainly less sweary than the last one. It’s basically a selection of travel tales from my pre-stand-up days, mainly about stupid things I’ve ended up doing in places outside my comfort zone, and some of the wonderful and bizarre human beings I met on the way. I probably come out of it looking a bit of a tool, but isn’t that what people want from a stand-up?...

BC: How important is Bedfringe as a stepping stone up to the Edinburgh Festival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’ point of view?)AD: It’s a great help performing a show at Bedfringe first, before suddenly being thrown into a big noisy pit of 4,000 other performers up in Edinburgh. If it doesn’t all work there, I’ve got 2 weeks left to cut out the slightly-not-as-good bits. Bedford audience, please do let me know which those are by not laughing at them. Ta.

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum it up in 5 words?AD: Festival fun for frugal finances.

BC: We love Bedford, but what do you think about our town?AD: I’ve always found that Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council’s estimates, the town had a population of 80,000 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town of Kempston. The Bedford Urban Area which includes Kempston, Elstow and Biddenham forms the 71st largest Urban Area in the UK with a population of 101,928. The wider borough, including a rural area, had a population of 153,000. The name of the town is thought to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a market town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages [citation needed]

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would your recommend?AD: I always love a bit of Pappy’s action (who, conveniently, you can see before my show on 18th July...). Also, I think people should always go and support their

local cult genius, so try to catch Simon Munnery, especially if you’ve never done so before. Always a joy.Alexis Dubus: Cars & Girls9pm on 18th July at The Howard Room. Tickets: £5

Tim Fitzhigham

The GamblerBedford Clanger: Have you performed at Bedfringe before? If so, welcome back! Tim Fitzhigham: Thank you - it’s a really super festival and I’m happy to be doing it again and hosting the opening night’s fun as well as doing my solo show

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?TF: The top ten greatest gambles in history - I reconstructed them and these are the results. There’s a few trailers on youtube -

if you type in fitzhigham

BC: How important is Bedfringe as a stepping stone up to the Edinburgh Festival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’ point of view?) TF: I’m not using it as that - wouldn’t dare to short change the Bedford audience that way - I’ve used Edinburgh to polish my show for Bedford...I think the others have got it the wrong way around! (nicely put! – Ed)

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum it up in 5

words? TF: Shows, laughing, wonderful eccentric hinterland

BC: We love Bedford, but what do you think about our town? TF: I like it and just don’t understand why Ware (Hertfordshire) has the Great Bed when Bedford is great!

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would you recommend? TF: None on at the same time or near to me but many of the others...rule of fringe festivals (number 14) go and see three

shows and one of them will be absolutely brilliant!

Tim Fit-zhigham presents The Gambler8pm on Tues-day 17th July at The Place Theatre. Tickets: £9

JULY 2012THE BEDFORD CLANGER

BedFrINGe AT A GLANCe

Friday 13 July oh, Whistle and I Will Come To You The Place 8.00pmFriday 13 July Isy Suttie & Friends ent Shed 8.30pm Friday 13 July The World of Sports (Abridged) Corn exchange 8.00pm

Saturday 14 July kinetic Vibes The Place 12.00pm Saturday 14 July Contractions The Place 2.30pm Sat 14 & Sun 15 July Le Foulard The Place 4.30pm/6.00pm Saturday 14 July Crazy Little Thing Called Love The Place 7.00pm Saturday 14 July Pete Firman & Vikki Stone Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Saturday 14 July The Beast Within Bedford Theatre 9.30pm

Sunday 15 July Spitfire Solo The Place 2.30pm Sunday 15 July Bonnie & Clyde The Place 4.00pm Sunday 15 July Mad For Madeline The Place 7.30pm Monday 16 July Bedfringe 6ix… Live! Howard room 8.00pm Mon 16 & Tues 17 July The Gruffalo Corn exchange 1.30pm/10.30am

Tuesday 17 July The Gambler The Place 8.00pm Tuesday 17 July Matthew Crosby Howard room 8.00pm Wednesday 18 July Strangers on Another Train The Place 7.30pm Wednesday 18 July Pappy’s Howard room 7.30pm Wednesday 18 July Cars & Girls Howard room 9.00pm Weds 18 & Thurs 26 July kiss of The red Menace The Place 9.00pm/6.00pm

Thursday 19 July david Copperfield The Place 2.30pm/7.30pm Thursday 19 July Idiots of Ants: Model Citizens Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Thursday 19 July Joel dommett: ridiculousness Howard room 8.00pm

Friday 20 July dandy In The Underworld The Place 6.00pm Friday 20 July Toby Hadoke & Steve Shanyaski Howard room 7.30pm Friday 20 July Monkey Poet double Bill The Place 7.30pm

Saturday 21 July Gasp The Place 12.30pm Saturday 21 July The Golden Vanity/A Pair of Trainers The Place 2.30pm Saturday 21 July Fracture The Place 4.00pm Saturday 21 July The Iniquitous Class The Place 6.00pm Saturday 21 July No direction The Place 7.30pm Saturday 21 July Patrick Monahan: Shooting From The Lip ent Shed 8.00pm

Sunday 22 July Hereward of The Fens The Place 2.30pm Sunday 22 July Poetry & other Words The Place 4.30pm Sunday 22 July How (Not) To Make It In Britpop The Place 6.00pm Sunday 22 July Juliet Lawson The Place 8.00pm

Monday 23 July Female Gothic The Place 7.30pm Monday 23 July Marlon davis: enter the davism Howard room 8.00pm

Tuesday 24 July There Was An old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly The Place 2.30pm Tuesday 24 July Luke Toulson & Geoff Nortcott The Place 7.30pm Tues 24 – Thurs 26 July The Bane Trilogy Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Tuesday 24 July Showstopper! The Improvised Musical Corn exchange 8.00pm Tuesday 24 July The Last Flight ent Shed 8.00pm

Wednesday 25 July Whistle The Place 7.30pm Wednesday 25 July Bang You’re dead Bedford Theatre 9.00pm Weds 25 & Thurs 26th July The kevin Cruise Show South Bank 7.30pm

Thursday 26 July The Hunchback of Notre dame The Place 8.00pm Thursday 26 July Marcel Lucont & Mark Little ent Shed 8.30pm

Fri 27 & Sat 28 July Hospital Sofa The Place 2.30pm/4.30pm Fri 27 & Sat 28 July Une Soirée au Cabaret The Place 5.30pm/6.30pm Friday 27 July Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre The Place 7.00pm Friday 27 July Simon Munnery: Fylm Makker The Place 8.30pm Friday 27 July The ouse Valley Singles Club Howard room 8.00pm Friday 27 July kain South Bank 7.30pm

Saturday 28 July Fairytale Heart The Place 12.00pm Saturday 28 July The elves & The Shoemaker The Place 2.00pm Saturday 28 July John Hegley: Beyond our kennel The Place 8.00pm Saturday 28 July The rolling Stones Now ent Shed 9.00pm

KEYCabaretdanceComedyTheatre

FilmChildren’sMusicFree Fringe

Bedfringe Box office: 01234 269519www.bedfringe.com

JULY 2012THE BEDFORD CLANGER

Bedfringe character illustrations by Andrew Foster

Friday 13 July oh, Whistle and I Will Come To You The Place 8.00pmFriday 13 July Isy Suttie & Friends ent Shed 8.30pm Friday 13 July The World of Sports (Abridged) Corn exchange 8.00pm

Saturday 14 July kinetic Vibes The Place 12.00pm Saturday 14 July Contractions The Place 2.30pm Sat 14 & Sun 15 July Le Foulard The Place 4.30pm/6.00pm Saturday 14 July Crazy Little Thing Called Love The Place 7.00pm Saturday 14 July Pete Firman & Vikki Stone Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Saturday 14 July The Beast Within Bedford Theatre 9.30pm

Sunday 15 July Spitfire Solo The Place 2.30pm Sunday 15 July Bonnie & Clyde The Place 4.00pm Sunday 15 July Mad For Madeline The Place 7.30pm Monday 16 July Bedfringe 6ix… Live! Howard room 8.00pm Mon 16 & Tues 17 July The Gruffalo Corn exchange 1.30pm/10.30am

Tuesday 17 July The Gambler The Place 8.00pm Tuesday 17 July Matthew Crosby Howard room 8.00pm Wednesday 18 July Strangers on Another Train The Place 7.30pm Wednesday 18 July Pappy’s Howard room 7.30pm Wednesday 18 July Cars & Girls Howard room 9.00pm Weds 18 & Thurs 26 July kiss of The red Menace The Place 9.00pm/6.00pm

Thursday 19 July david Copperfield The Place 2.30pm/7.30pm Thursday 19 July Idiots of Ants: Model Citizens Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Thursday 19 July Joel dommett: ridiculousness Howard room 8.00pm

Friday 20 July dandy In The Underworld The Place 6.00pm Friday 20 July Toby Hadoke & Steve Shanyaski Howard room 7.30pm Friday 20 July Monkey Poet double Bill The Place 7.30pm

Saturday 21 July Gasp The Place 12.30pm Saturday 21 July The Golden Vanity/A Pair of Trainers The Place 2.30pm Saturday 21 July Fracture The Place 4.00pm Saturday 21 July The Iniquitous Class The Place 6.00pm Saturday 21 July No direction The Place 7.30pm Saturday 21 July Patrick Monahan: Shooting From The Lip ent Shed 8.00pm

Sunday 22 July Hereward of The Fens The Place 2.30pm Sunday 22 July Poetry & other Words The Place 4.30pm Sunday 22 July How (Not) To Make It In Britpop The Place 6.00pm Sunday 22 July Juliet Lawson The Place 8.00pm

Monday 23 July Female Gothic The Place 7.30pm Monday 23 July Marlon davis: enter the davism Howard room 8.00pm

Tuesday 24 July There Was An old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly The Place 2.30pm Tuesday 24 July Luke Toulson & Geoff Nortcott The Place 7.30pm Tues 24 – Thurs 26 July The Bane Trilogy Bedford Theatre 8.00pm Tuesday 24 July Showstopper! The Improvised Musical Corn exchange 8.00pm Tuesday 24 July The Last Flight ent Shed 8.00pm

Wednesday 25 July Whistle The Place 7.30pm Wednesday 25 July Bang You’re dead Bedford Theatre 9.00pm Weds 25 & Thurs 26th July The kevin Cruise Show South Bank 7.30pm

Thursday 26 July The Hunchback of Notre dame The Place 8.00pm Thursday 26 July Marcel Lucont & Mark Little ent Shed 8.30pm

Fri 27 & Sat 28 July Hospital Sofa The Place 2.30pm/4.30pm Fri 27 & Sat 28 July Une Soirée au Cabaret The Place 5.30pm/6.30pm Friday 27 July Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre The Place 7.00pm Friday 27 July Simon Munnery: Fylm Makker The Place 8.30pm Friday 27 July The ouse Valley Singles Club Howard room 8.00pm Friday 27 July kain South Bank 7.30pm

Saturday 28 July Fairytale Heart The Place 12.00pm Saturday 28 July The elves & The Shoemaker The Place 2.00pm Saturday 28 July John Hegley: Beyond our kennel The Place 8.00pm Saturday 28 July The rolling Stones Now ent Shed 9.00pm

KEYCabaretdanceComedyTheatre

FilmChildren’sMusicFree Fringe

EAGLE ARE PROUD SPONSORS

OF BEDFRINGE

Commemorative glass T-shirt The Eagle’s Nest!

JULY 2012THE BEDFORD CLANGER

Hayley o’keefeSo, I’m going to do stand-up.Which all made perfect sense at the time. As a local newspaper reporter it seemed like a brilliant way to learn a new skill and get a great feature, but now the very thought of it fills me with dread.This stand-up malarkey is hard. It’s not just telling a funny story and I’ve discov-ered that my funny stories are a little bit rambling. I’m used to people laughing at me in the office, but was it because of my acerbic wit? I’m not so sure.

I’ve had help though, in the shape of the absolutely marvellous Eamonn Fleming who has given me some great advice. I had thought a Dave Gorman-style Power Point presenta-tion was the way forward, but Eamonn, who is a seasoned stand-up, warned that if something can go wrong it will.So I’ve decided to stick to what I know, and that is you dear readers, the good folks of Bedford.

As part of my job I get to meet you in a unique way on a daily basis and you do some

really funny things. I’ve met you at your most proud, most vulnerable and most angry. I’ve also cleaned up poop in the cat hotel and been shown, very sternly, how to make a string of sausages in the name of a good feature.

And if I can figure out how to make it sound as funny as it is in my head, I think it will be fine.

I will be appearing in the Howard Room as part of Bedfringe on July 16. Come on down to see if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. There will be some actual comedians there too…

You can also follow my comedy journey on twitter, I’m @misshokTC

ToP PICkSSo, you’ve read our interviews, looked through the listings and you still can’t decide what to see?We asked Bedfringe Ceo James Pharaoh for his Top 5 shows to see at Bedfringe 2012.

The Bane TrilogyYou could argue that this is three shows but I am hoping to get away with calling it one (after all, you can buy a single ticket for all three!). This Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show visits Bedford after Bane 3 sell-ing out at last year’s Bedfringe. It’s out-standing with six awards currently under its belt. Bane is heavily inspired by film and graphic novels. The performance uses mime, gesture and live sound effects to

conjure the setting, with multiple character switching to create a filmic tapestry on stage that is funny, engaging and at times moving. Joe Bone (Bane) has mastered the art of the one-man-show. This show comes with my highest recommendation.The gamblerTim FitzHigham has performed all his multi-award winning shows here in Bed-ford so I thought we should invite him to bring this new instalment to the Bedfringe stage. The format for Tim’s shows are similar to those of Dave Gorman’s… go out and do something risky or left field and then come back and tell the story with plenty of comedy. The difference between the two is that Tim does it 1,000 times better (sorry Dave). He has rowed a paper boat 160miles down the Thames to Tower Bridge and a roll top Thomas Crapper bath from Calais to Westminster… this time he has made the 10 greatest bets in History… did he win? Richard Hammond hopes not.Idiots Of AntsYou can’t have a fringe festival without this Edinburgh sell-out sketch group (we do have Pappys also… go see them as

well!). These guys won the 2012 Chortle Ward for best sketch group in the UK so we really are being treated here. Not much to say but these guys are bloomin hilarious. You will leave the theatre aching from laughter. The Hunchback Of Notre DamePip Utton is back in Bedford this year with his take on Victor Hugo’s classic telling of ‘Beauty & the Beast’. Pip is the don of this kind of theatre. The piece is emo-tional, beautifully crafted and absolutely compelling. Une Soirée Au CabaretAll the way from Philadelphia USA! If you are into your dance & physical theatre (or like a bit of leg!), don’t miss this show. Step back in time to 1900’s France with this collaboration in dance and digital projection. Two shows only then they fly back stateside!

Bedfringe character illustrations by Andrew Foster

Lee MartinSteve Shanyaski’s Life-Survival Bible Bedford Clanger: Have you performed at Bedfringe before? If so, welcome back! Lee Martin: No, sadly, but this year I said to myself, “THIS MUST CHANGE”!

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?LM: An exclusive chance to see the preview of my show for this year’s Edin-burgh Fringe.

BC: How important is Bed-fringe as a stepping stone up to the Edinburgh Festival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’ point of view?) LM: It’s absolutely essential to try ideas and bed mate-rial in, and this is a unique opportunity to do that - and to see the unique delights of Bedford from around 6pm until midnight, when I will probably drive home thorough-ly exhilarated.

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum it up in 5 words? LM: Mental institution with no walls

BC: We love Bedford, but

what do you think about our town? LM: I love it too, what’s not to love about Doncaster? (dear agent, please change town name for each different town’s press release)

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would you recommend? LM: I suggest going on www.bedfringe.co.uk and looking at the constantly updated site for all the info, but if not that - the show which is just before mine.

Lee Martin -Steve Shanyaski’s Life-Survival Bible (double bill with Toby Hadoke ‘My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver) 7.30pm on Friday 20th July at The Howard Room. Tickets: £8

Tim Barron The ouse Valley Singles ClubBedford Clanger: How many times have you performed at Bedfringe?TB: This will be my third (so consider me a veteran). Last year with theOuse Valley and back in 2007 with Up the Gary.

BC: What can Bedfordians expect from your show at the 2012 festival?TB: We’ve got some cracking new songs including Len’s Lament which is anOAP’s take on single life and we will be playing some of our oldfavourites. Got to keep the fans happy.

BC: How important is Bedfringe as a step-ping stone up to the EdinburghFestival (both geographically and from a ‘trying out new material’point of view?)TB: We won’t be going to the Edinburgh festival this year as we’re bookedup to play at Morgan and Karl’s wedding. But I should imagine a lot ofthe comedy acts try out all their old guff to see if it still works.

BC: For those who don’t know what a Fringe festival is, can you sum itup in 5 words?TB: Alcohol, women, sold-out, reviews and disappointment.

BC: What are your favourite things about Bedfringe?TB: A short walk home.

BC: Apart from your show, what other Bedfringe shows would your recommend?TB: My buddies at Blackout Theatre are doing a couple of things, couldn’ttell you anything about them though. And also look out for Kerry Jo Hodgkin, she’s got a cracking pair (of shows).

The Ouse Valley Singles Club8pm on Friday 27th July at TheHoward Room. Tickets £6.50

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

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•Benefit Dance for the Addison CentreEnjoy an evening of dance with Ballroom, Latin and Se-quence dances, along with a raffle. Tickets £5 on the door, bring your own snacks. A licensed bar and tea and coffee will be available. Reservations recommended for larger groups. Doors 7.15pm for 8pm start. The Addison Centre, Bedford Rd, KempstonTel: 01234 300179 www.MelodyMagic.co.uk•DragstalgiaA weekend event dedicated to race cars, bikes and hot rods from a bygone era, keeping nostalgia drag racing alive and kicking! With jet cars, RWYB, live evening entertainment, a swap meet, show ‘n shine and cars for sale. Gates open at 8am. Tickets from £11.20, advancing to £30, 14&15 July.Santa Pod Raceway, Airfield Road, Poddington, Welling-boroughTel: 01234 782828 www.santapod.com•Woburn Sands Folk FestivalLive music throughout the day with sets from some pre-mier local bands plus lots of children’s activities including a bouncy castle, face painting and story telling. Hot and cold food and a beer tent on site. Just hop on the Marston Vale Line (Bedford - Bletchley) to reach the Festival and stroll to the site, or pick up the free shuttle bus from Woburn Sands Station. 10.30am-8.30pm, free entry. Edgewick Farm, Woburn [email protected] www.woburnsandsfolkfestival.co.uk•DJ Fat Lad @ The ExecDJ Fat Lad (aka Ian Congdon-Lee of In2Beats Radio & Grange Hill fame) spins the party tunes til 5am The Executive Club tel: 401500•Junior Taster SessionAn opportunity for under 18s to experience archery, air rifles and clay pigeon shooting, this is a two hour event, under the supervision of fully qualified instructors. Join a session with up to six other young people, or make a book-ing for six at a time to suit you. 10am-12noon, tickets £28.Sporting Targets, Riseley, BedsTel: 01234 708893 www.sportingtargets.co.uk•Help4Heroes Day opening by Iva Barr and the Olympic TorchFrom Noon-Midnight, supported by The Sun with special guest page-3 girl, LaceyThe White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•MMG - Hijack Takeover - 3 stage eventFrom 6.30pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Pete Firman & Vikki StoneFor those who enjoyed the BBC1 series, The Magicians early this year, Pete Firman is dropping in to perform his brand new Edinburgh magic/comedy show alongside the very funny Vikki Stone.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 8pm. Tickets £12 (£10 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk Sunday 15th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford Summer Concert SeriesThe Summer Bandstand Concert Series returns to Mill Meadows with a free performance every Sunday on the bandstand (except Sunday 22nd July), 3pm -5pm. See the Bedford events website for a full list of performing bands.The Bandstand, Mill Meadows, BedfordTel: 01234 718617 [email protected] www.bedfordevents.co.uk•Crafts, Cake & a CuppaA wide variety of high quality local handmade art and craft items, with over twenty different crafters attending. 10am-4pm, free admission.Woburn Village Hall, Woburnwww.ccc-craftfairs.co.uk•Fibre-East Craft CelebrationA celebration of British wool and natural fibres for hand spinners, weavers, knitters, crocheters, dyers and felters - in fact anyone working with natural fibres in their craft, hobby or business! 10am-4.30pm, tickets £6 (£5 advance), concessions for OAPs. Scald End Farm, Mill Road, Thurleigh, Bedfordwww.fibre-east.co.uk•Filthy Visuals Live at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pmTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry. Free bingo game for Sunday quizzers!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Lost 4 WordsLive music in Danny’s Bar from 5pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Jon’s Music QuizUp to £300 prize money! The King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Evening Dance in the Officers’ MessEnjoy an evening of wonderful dance music with Ball-room, Latin and Sequence dances. Relax in the elegant Stuart Lounge and take part in the raffle. Bring your own drinks, beverages, and snacks. 7pm-10pm. tickets £5 on the door. The Keep, Corner of Bedford Road and Walcourt Road, KempstonTel: 01234 300179: www.MelodyMagic.co.ukMonday 16th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Eagle Gallery Art Exhibition See new work from over 45 Bedfordshire-based artists. Running until the 11th August 2012, from Monday - Satur-day from 10am to 5.30pm. Fee admission.Eagle Gallery, Castle Road, BedfordTel: Sarah Buckingham 07983 759294 www.eaglegal-leryartists.co.uk•Bedford National Trust Association - A History of the Art of DiningThis meeting is organised by the Bedford National Trust Association, featuring a talk by Michael Sutherland. £2 for members, £3 for non members. Doors 2pm for 2.30pm start. Addison Centre, Kempston, Bedford.Tel: Garry Telling 01480 860439•General Knowledge QuizThe King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk

•Jazz Club – Mark CrookThe clarinet and tenor sax will be played in his own sweet way. Mark on this visit will be supported by The Bedford Arms Rhythm Kings. 8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Open Mic NightHosted by local singer/songwriter Matt Roberts, 8.30pm til close. Just listen or join in!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•The GruffaloJoin Mouse on an adventurous journey through the deep, dark wood in Tall Stories’ magical, musical adaptation of the award winning picture book by Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.Songs, laughs and scary fun for children aged 3+ and their grown-upsCorn Exchange Main Auditorium, 1.30pm, tickets: £10.00 (school discounts available)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.ukTuesday 17th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Tuesday Morning Walks at the RSPBWeekly walks around the reserve. Admire the wildlife and enjoy the site. Everyone welcome. 9.30am-11.30am, free for RSPB members, otherwise £3.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Kathy Brown’s Garden Open DayGroup visits, lectures, books and garden design practice. 1-5pm, £4.50 per person, children free.“A garden of exuberant imagination, atmospheric and brimful of ideas, with a strong emphasis on garden art.” The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington. 01234 822064 www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com•Landscapes of the New Forest Art ExhibitionAn exhibition of landscapes of the New Forest through the seasons and a variety of other work by Mary Booth. All profits from this exhibition will be donated to Sue Ryder Care - St John’s Hospice, in memory of Alison Gibb. Free admission. Potton Community Centre, Brook End, Potton, BedsTel: Mary Booth 01767 654920www.painting-for-your-pleasure.com•Date with Nature Dusk WatchExperience the sights and sounds of the reserve as dark-ness creeps over and secretive nocturnal creatures begin to emerge! 8pm-10pm. RSPB members £4, non members £6 including car parking. Booking essential. Please note that this event will not run in bad weather.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•The GruffaloSee 16th July for details.Corn Exchange Main Auditorium, 10.30am & 1.30pm, tickets: £10.00 (school discounts available)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.uk•Sunday Scholars ExhibitionExploring the history of Sunday schools and highlights their role in teaching people to read, and educating the community. There are lots of family friendly activities, in-cluding the chance to draw your own animal to join Noah’s Ark. Free entry, running until 15th September at the John Bunyan Museum, Mill Street.Tel: 01234 270303 [email protected] www.bunyanmeeting.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry.The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukWednesday 18th July ••••••••••••••••••••••World of Bushcraft Basic Net Making WorkshopCraft your own wooden netting needle and gauge card for the method of net making, looking at how to start a net and the common knots used during the process. Everything you need to produce your own nets, bags, hammocks and more! From 2pm. All ages welcome. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets £20, tea and coffee will be available at the end of the workshop.World of Bushcraft, Priory Marina, Barkers Lane, BedfordTel: 07843 164114 www.woodland-ways.co.uk•St John’s Hospice Fundraising QuizAt The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. 8pm start, £5pp including ploughman’s dinnerTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Stitch ‘n BitchBring any crafty project to The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd, [email protected] Tel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Tea DancePut on your dancing shoes and join us for a pleasant afternoon in the elegant surroundings of the Bedford Corn Exchange complex. Music for Ballroom, Latin American, Sequence Dances, Party Dances and Old Time.A warm welcome guaranteed! Price includes refreshments.Corn Exchange Main Auditorium & Harpur Suite, tickets: £3.50 (advance) £4.00 (otd) Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.ukThursday 19th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••Idiot of AntsMulti-award winning Idiots Of Ants will be performing their hit show, Model Citizens, answering all the big ques-tions: What’s small, pink and should never be juggled? If an air guitar falls over in a forest, does it make a sound?Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 8pm. Tickets £12 (£10 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •Turin Brakes + SupportLive music on the main stage, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Will Scott + Jan Bell + Danni NichollsLive music in Holy Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comFriday 20th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bug Jam 26The biggest and best VW festival returns with VW drag racing and RWYB plus a huge music line up in four arenas; funfair, show ‘n shine, sideshows, huge trade vil-lage and more. Gates 9am 20th, show runs until 22nd July. Tickets from £12, advancing to £80.

Santa Pod Raceway, Airfield Road, Poddington, Welling-boroughTel: 01234 782828 www.santapod.com www.bugjam.com•Friday KaraokeOpen til 2am The Executive Club, Lurke Street tel: 401500•Guided Meditations with Elizabeth DrakeHealer, reiki master and intuitive tarot reader Elizabeth Drake provides relaxation sessions in which she teaches relaxation techniques. 6.30pm-8.30pm, £5 entry including refreshments.Froggy’s Gifts, 7 Lime St, Bedford Tel: 07583 275500 [email protected] www.froggysgifts.co.uk •Fundraising EventEsquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Karaoke with Diamond Fire8pm, The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukSaturday 21st July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford River FestivalDragon boats, raft Races, food & drink, music stages, car-nival parade, sports village, heritage village, arts & craft, extreme sports, fireworks, funfair, rides and much more!The Embankment/Russell ParkTel: 01234 221955 www.bedfordevents.co.uk [email protected]•Bedford Guided Walk ‘I never knew that’Bedford has a story waiting to be told around every corner.. Starts at 11am, adults £3, children over 8 £1.50. Pre-book only at the Bedford Tourist Information Centre.Meet at the Tourist Information Centre, St. Paul’s Square, BedfordTel: 01234 718112 or [email protected] www.bedford.gov.uk/tourism•Bedford National Trust Association: ‘Detecting Forged Antiquities’A talk on ‘Detecting Forged Antiquities’ by Andrew Oddy. Coffee will be served before the meeting and the shop will be open. Visitors are very welcome to join. £3 for non members.Please arrive at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.The Addison Centre, Kempston, BedfordTel: (01480) 860439•DJ Fat Lad @ The ExecDJ Fat Lad (aka Ian Congdon-Lee of In2Beats Radio & Grange Hill fame) spins the party tunes til 5am The Executive Club tel: 401500•Late Flowering Clematis DayVisit the Manor House Garden in Stevington to see over 100 late flowering clematis climb over the walls and pergolas, through shrubs and herbaceous plants, making this one of the most glorious garden displays of the season. The Winnie the Pooh theme continues for children. Open 12noon-5pm. Entry £4.50, children free. The Manor House Garden, Church Rd, Stevington, Bedford, MK43 7QBTel: 01234 [email protected] www.kathybrownsgarden.com•My Preserver + The Franklyns + SupportLive music on the main stage, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comSunday 22nd July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford River FestivalDragon boats, raft Races, food & drink, music stages, car-nival parade, sports village, heritage village, arts & craft, extreme sports, fireworks, funfair, rides and much more!The Embankment/Russell ParkTel: 01234 221955 www.bedfordevents.co.uk [email protected]•OmnivibesLive music in Danny’s Bar from 5pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Kerry Jo Hodgkin with Carlos Live at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pmTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry. Free bingo game for Sunday quizzers!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk• Jon’s Music QuizUp to £300 prize money! The King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Evening Dance in the Officers’ MessEnjoy an evening of wonderful dance music with Ball-room, Latin and Sequence dances. Relax in the elegant Stuart Lounge and take part in the raffle. Bring your own drinks, beverages, and snacks. 7pm-10pm. tickets £5 on the door. The Keep, Corner of Bedford Road and Walcourt Road, KempstonTel: 01234 300179: www.MelodyMagic.co.ukMonday 23rd July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••West End Wendies Summer Theatre WorkshopsTake part in a summer theatre workshop programme led by current professional West End performers. Running weekly, 9am- 4pm. Cost upon application.South Bank Arts Centre, Bedford www.westendwendies.com•General Knowledge QuizThe King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Jazz Club – Gilad AtzmonThe one and only this time is teamed up with The Nick Page Trio, which will feature Tom Moore (Flo’s big brother) on double bass. 8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Open Mic NightHosted by local singer/songwriter Matt Roberts, 8.30pm til close. Just listen or join in!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukTuesday 24th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Tuesday Morning Walks at the RSPBWeekly walks around the reserve. Admire the wildlife and enjoy the site. Everyone welcome. 9.30am-11.30am, free for RSPB members, otherwise £3.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge

•Valuation Day: Antiques and Collectors’ ItemsThe Bedford Auction Centre’s team of valuers will be happy to advise on all antique/collectable items (no ap-pointment necessary). Bring along items for complimenta-ry valuation advice (with no obligation). For larger items, home visits can be arranged - just call to make an appoint-ment. Entries are currently being invited for specialist sales of antiques, jewellery, 20th century design, rock and pop and memories of childhood. From 10am until 4pm.Bedford Auction Centre, Tel: 01234 266 366 www.peacockauction.co.uk•Kathy Brown’s Garden Open DayGroup visits, lectures, books and garden design practice. 1-5pm, £4.50 per person, children free.“A garden of exuberant imagination, atmospheric and brimful of ideas, with a strong emphasis on garden art.” The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington. 01234 822064 www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com•Bedfringe presents: Showstopper! The Improvised MusicalA brand new musical is created from scratch at each performance of this award-winning production, which has played sell-out seasons in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh festival. Audience suggestions help to create a show on the spot, as the all-singing, all-dancing cast im-provise with unpredictable and frequently hilarious results. Corn Exchange Main Auditorium, 8pm, tickets: £12.00www.showstopperthemusical.com Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfordcornexchange.co.uk•The Bane Trilogy: Bane IThe utterly amazing 6 times award winning Bane is com-ing to Bedford with his multiple character-switching show. This is a unique opportunity to catch the entire trilogy or just catch up on the ones you have missed. The word is that a 4th part has been commissioned with developments for it to be adapted for BBC Radio4.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 8pm. Single tickets £10 (£8 concessions), Trilogy Tickets £25 (£19 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry.The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukWednesday 25th July ••••••••••••••••••••••World of Bushcraft Bowl Burning WorkshopAt this workshop you will be expertly guided through the cutting and splitting process before being shown how to introduce a glowing coal to burn out the shape. This really is a fantastic insight into how utensils and vessels may well have been crafted thousands of years ago before the advent of modern cutting tools. 2pm start, tickets £20 , all ages welcome. Under 18s must be supervised by an adult.Tea and coffee will be available.World of Bushcraft, Priory Marina, Barkers Lane, BedsTel: 07843 164114 www.woodland-ways.co.uk•Bedford Organ & Keyboard Club Social EveningThe Bedford Organ and Keyboard Club are holding a social evening with music and dancing by well-known popular organist James Goff. 8pm-10.30pm, tickets cost members £2.50 and non-members £5. Pay at door.The Addison Centre, Kempston, BedfordTel: Brian Noble 01234 344423 [email protected]•Minibeast SafariDiscover some of the fascinating minibeasts that live on the reserve! 2pm - 4pm, adults go free, children £4, RSPB Wildlife Explorers £3, booking essential. Parking charges apply. Children must be accompanied by an adult.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Clog Dancing and Morris DancingFrom 7pm in marquee at The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, Bedford. Tel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Beer Tasting ClubTasting a range of bottled ales and discussing their merits. Please register your interest with Bev.The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•The Bane Trilogy: Bane IIThe utterly amazing 6 times award winning Bane is com-ing to Bedford with his multiple character-switching show. This is a unique opportunity to catch the entire trilogy or just catch up on the ones you have missed. The word is that a 4th part has been commissioned with developments for it to be adapted for BBC Radio4.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 8pm. Single tickets £10 (£8 concessions), Trilogy Tickets £25 (£19 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk Thursday 26th July •••••••••••••••••••••••••Pond Dipping and DesignA chance to find out who lives in the pond! Sessions 10am, 11.30am and 1.30pm. £3.50 per child. Booking essential. All children to be accompanied by an adult.The Forest Centre, Millennium Country ParkTel: 01234 767037 www.marstonvale.org/events•Minibeast safariDiscover some of the fascinating minibeasts that live on the reserve! 2pm - 4pm, adults go free, children £4, RSPB Wildlife Explorers £3, booking essential. Parking charges apply. Children must be accompanied by an adult.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•The Bane Trilogy: Bane IIIThe utterly amazing 6 times award winning Bane is com-ing to Bedford with his multiple character-switching show. This is a unique opportunity to catch the entire trilogy or just catch up on the ones you have missed. The word is that a 4th part has been commissioned with developments for it to be adapted for BBC Radio4.Bedford Theatre, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, 8pm. Single tickets £10 (£8 concessions), Trilogy Tickets £25 (£19 concessions)Box office: 01234 269519 www.bedfringe.com www.bedfordtheatre.co.uk •The Darling MundaringLive music in Holy Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•The Last Chance Ragtime BandLive music at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk

Friday 27th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Ceroc Modern Jive NightNo class, just pure freestyle! Come and join in the fun alone or with a partner, enjoy a great party atmosphere and a top DJ. Dancing until 12.15am.www.uk-smoooth.co.uk www.ceroccentral.com www.bedfordcornexchange.co.ukCorn Exchange Main Auditorium, 7.30pm, tickets: £9.00 (on the door)•Guided Meditations with Elizabeth DrakeHealer, reiki master and intuitive tarot reader Elizabeth Drake provides relaxation sessions in which she teaches relaxation techniques. 6.30pm-8.30pm, £5 entry including refreshments.Froggy’s Gifts, 7 Lime St, Bedford Tel: 07583 275500 [email protected] www.froggysgifts.co.uk •Vintage StuffLive music in Danny’s Bar, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Friday KaraokeOpen til 2am The Executive Club, Lurke Street tel: 401500Saturday 28th July •••••••••••••••••••••••••••Karakoke with Crazy Horse8pm, The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk•Drink and DrawThe Circus of Illustration invites you to join them to ‘Drink and Draw’ at The Lane, Castle Lane, Bedford. Come, grab a glass of your favourite tipple and meet likeminded doodlers. We’ll be the ones with pencils and picnic blankets.The Lane, Castle Lane, Bedfordwww.bedfordshireillustrators.tumblr.com•Rebecca De Winter The Terrace Sessions presents alfresco, acoustic music. Summer, unplugged. 7.30pm-10.30pmThe Lane, Castle Lane, Bedford•DJ Fat Lad @ The ExecDJ Fat Lad (aka Ian Congdon-Lee of In2Beats Radio & Grange Hill fame) spins the party tunes til 5am The Executive Club tel: 401500•Fall Short for Glory – EP LaunchLive music on the main stage, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, Bedford Tel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Overdrive Club NightHoly Moly’s, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.comSunday 29th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Bedford Summer Concert SeriesThe Summer Bandstand Concert Series returns to Mill Meadows with a free performance every Sunday on the bandstand (except Sunday 22nd July), 3pm -5pm. See the Bedford events website for a full list of performing bands.The Bandstand, Mill Meadows, BedfordTel: 01234 718617 [email protected]•NSRA Hot Rod SupernationalsThe NSRA is the club of choice for UK hot rod enthusiasts and this Supernationals event is now the largest in Europe, showcasing some of the most unique hot rod cars in the country along with great family entertainment including a funfair, special guests, stalls and a bar. 10am-5pm, tickets £8, children (5-16 years) £4, family (2 adults and 2 children) £20. The Mansion House, Shuttleworth Park, Old Warden, BedsTel: 01767 626262 www.themansionhouse.org•Bedford Guided Walk: ‘Who lived in a house like this?’Ever walked past an interesting house in the town centre and wondered about its past? Hear more about some of the oldest houses and the fascinating characters who designed and lived in them. Tickets £3, children over 8yrs £1.50 (pre-booking only). Starts at 11am.Meet outside Tourist Information Centre, St Pauls Square, BedfordTel: 01234 718112 or 221755 www.bedford.gov.uk/tourism•Open Afternoon and Local Buildings & Archaeology DisplaySee unique stone buildings and the remains of a Tudor manorial complex in a peaceful setting close to Bedford River Valley Park, incorporating riverside and woodland walks. ‘Local Buildings and Archaeology’, a display by the Willington Local History Group, will feature archive photos and plans of buildings of interest in the village, past and present. Teas and toilet facilities available in St. Lawrence Church nearby. 1pm-5pm, free to attend but a minimum donation of £1 towards the upkeep of the build-ings is appreciated.National Trust Dovecote Stables, Church End, WillingtonTel: 01234 838409 www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-willingtondovecote •The King BeesLive music in Danny’s Bar from 5pm, Esquire’s, Bromham Road, BedfordTel: 01234 340120 www.bedfordesquires.com•Danni Nicholls Live at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham Rd from 8pmTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry. Free bingo game for Sunday quizzers!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk• Jon’s Music QuizUp to £300 prize money! The King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Evening Dance in the Officers’ MessEnjoy an evening of wonderful dance music with Ball-room, Latin and Sequence dances. Relax in the elegant Stuart Lounge and take part in the raffle. Bring your own drinks, beverages, and snacks. 7pm-10pm. tickets £5 on the door. The Keep, Corner of Bedford Road and Walcourt Road, KempstonTel: 01234 300179: www.MelodyMagic.co.ukMonday 30th July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Kinetic Vibes Summer School of DanceWith Kiersten Theakstone at Goldington Green Lower School until 3rd [email protected]

JULY 2012

The Listing Continues on Page 14

CoMedY CoMING SooN: Al Murray- The Pub Landlord Wednesday 28th November

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JULY 2012

Mat roberts is a very busy man.

Besides being a singer/songwriter he also runs his own recording studio and releases an album of his own original compositions every month (yes - every single month!). He is currently working with Clanger faves the Ouse Valley Singles Club to record their new album, but we caught up with him to talk about the thing that he’s most well known for: The Mat Roberts’ Jam Nights. It can’t have escaped your notice that if there’s a pub in Bedford that hosts live bands, they’ll almost certainly have a Mat Roberts’ Jam Night once a week. So, what can I expect if I come along? “The ethos of the Jam Nights is that anyone’s welcome. Who’s to say who can and can’t sing? Is Mark E Smith a ‘singer’? It’s an expression! Amateur, professional, singer, musician, even spoken word,” expained Mat. “It’s all about ivolving everybody and it’s about making everybody

happy: muscians, punters and landlords. “ So how did Mat get into jam sessions? “The first jam night I went to was in Cam-den in 1997 and then I hosted my own night in Balham,” said Mat. “When I move to Bedford in 2003 someone suggested I ran a night here. Jam sessions have now become a way to help other musicians get out and get noticed on the local scene.” As we mentioned, it would probably be quicker to list the pubs that Mat doesn’t host jam nights at. However, that seemed a bit of stupid idea, so here’s where you can get invovled, or just turn up and enjoy the talent on offer:

Monday - The White Horse, Newnham Avenue. Acoustic jam night, with the last Monday of the month being ‘Mat Roberts’ Big Band’

Wednesday - Danny’s Bar at Esquires.Plugged in jam night

Every other Wednesday - Songwriters’ night at The Foresters.Show-casing original work by the likes of Michael Gren and Joff Lincoln.

Thursday - The FlowerpotThe ultimate ‘pub rock’ jam night

One Thursday a month - The Star, Clapham

Sunday night - The Kempston Conserva-tive Club, Bedford RoadAnything goes!

“There is such an appetite for great live music in Bedford,” said Mat. “We welcome everyone to our nights. How can anyone say they’re bored in Bedford?”

THE JAM MAN- MAT roBerTSMUSIC

• General Knowledge QuizThe King’s Arms, St Mary’s StreetTel: 01234 354494 www.thekingsarmsbedford.co.uk•Jazz Club – John CritchinsonAs Ronnie Scott’s pianist for almost 2 decades, John is rightly highly acclaimed Worldwide for his playing of jazz music which he has now accomplished for over 50 years. 8.30pm at The Bedford Arms, 2 Bromham RdTel: 01234 214656 www.thebedfordarmsbedford.co.uk•Big Band Xtra Jam NiteHosted by local singer/songwriter Matt Roberts, 7.30pm til late. Just listen or join in!The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.ukTuesday 31st July ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Tuesday Morning Walks at the RSPBWeekly walks around the reserve. Admire the wildlife and enjoy the site. Everyone welcome. 9.30am-11.30am, free for RSPB members, otherwise £3.RSPB, The Lodge, SandyTel: 01767 680541 www.rspb.org.uk/thelodge•Kathy Brown’s Garden Open DayGroup visits, lectures, books and garden design practice. 1-5pm, £4.50 per person, children free.“A garden of exuberant imagination, atmospheric and brimful of ideas, with a strong emphasis on garden art.” The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington. 01234 822064 www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com•White Horse Quiz NightTeams of up to 6, 8.30pm, £1pp entry.The White Horse, Newnham Avenue, BedfordTel: 01234 409306 www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk

Happy birthday to The Pad!

LOVE ART? LOVE BOOKS? YoU’LL LoVe THe BCA ArT Book CLUBArT

Bedford Creative Arts’ support for local artists and creatives continues with the launch of its new Art Book Club.

BCA is inviting local people to join them on the first Wednesday of every other month, where they hope a lively group of creative people and critical thinkers will be able to discuss art and explore new ideas. The first book club will be held on Wednesday 1st August, 6-8pm at Bedford

Creative Arts’ community project space 123CREATE on the Midland Road in Bed-ford. In advance of each session, the group will select and read a new book or essay about contemporary arts practice or theory. To sign up as a book club member and find out the details of the text that will be

discussed on 1st August get in touch with the Bedford Creative Arts team now on [email protected] or 01234 818670. The BCA, which is responsible for commissioning the Lace in Place art instal-lation at St Paul’s Square and the upcom-

ing Bedford choir project with composer Johnny Parry, is based at artists’ studios at 104 Midland Road.

Bedford Creative Arts has commenced work on its summer commission: Concerto Magnificent: An Anthology of All Things.They have commissioned Bedford-based composer Johnny Parry to write a new suite of songs, an ambitious ‘anthology of all things’ to be written and performed with the towns-people’s collaboration. Johnny Parry is a composer who creates operatic con-temporary music for orchestra and voice. Johnny has played with Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh, revered composer Michael Nyman, Turner Prize winner Martin Creed, Brit Award winner Beth Orton, and BBC Jazz Award winner Seb Rochford.

Want to get involved? Can you sing? Do you want to be part of something amazing? Then the Bedford Creative Arts summer commission needs you! Join Bedford’s newest community choir, and get to learn and perform a new cycle of songs written about Bedford, by Bedford.

Email [email protected] or call 01234 818670 to register your interest.Choir members must be available to attend rehearsals every Tuesday evening from 10th July, a dress rehearsal on Saturday 22nd September, and the premier perfor-mance on 27th September.For more information please contact Bedford Creative Arts:Jennie Stoddart [email protected] 01234 818670 www.bedfordcreativearts.org.uk

BCA & JOHNNY PARRY: SINGING BedFord’S PrAISeSMUSIC

THE PAD 10th anniversary weekend 12 - 14th July MUSIC

Can it really be a whole decade since The Pad took up residence on Lurke Street?

Well, yes it can. And to celebrate their 10th birthday, Kevin Bailey and Gareth Barber have planned a whole array of events to ensure it’s a weekend to remember. To kick things off, what better than The Pad presents... Vintage Trouble at the Corn Exchange on Thursday 12th July? Check out our interview with VT’s bassist Rick Barrio Dill to get a flavour of what you can expect from these Californian blues/soul/funksters and to find out why Kev & Gareth knew they’d make the perfect opener to their weekender. The Pad will be hosting a free after-show party, playing everything from funk and soul to rock & roll. And everyone’s invited.

On Friday it’s The Pad’s iconic Silent Disco. Two DJs, a set of headphones and you choose what you dance (and sing) to. It’s a direct competition between the DJs to keep their punters tuned into their tracks and pretty much anything goes. “I’ll play anything,” said Kev. “From Fleetwood Mac to The Muppets - whatever gets people dancing. We have a tag team of DJs to keep the tunes going, as DJing for six hours is exhausting!” Saturday night is The Pad’s 10 year retrospective, featuring The Peoples’ Pad Playlist. Register on The Pad’s facebook page and select the three tracks that sum up the last decade on the dancefloor. Is it Outkast or JayZ, The Strokes or The Killers, dubstep or drum&bass? Whatever your taste, they’ll compile a 200 track playlist to keep everyone party-ing like it’s 2002...

Mat roberts

kevin Bailey

Johnny Parry

The Listing Continued from Page 13

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

15Have you ever danced around a maypole?

JULY 2012

Fabric Sales in Bedford. Designer printed fabric from America and Japan. For quilting, dressmaking and general crafty stuff.

Join my mailing list for dates and exclusive [email protected]

DRURY LANE & SOME gREAT BEDFORDIANS

By Laura PottingerThe Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford

I know why it is raining. It is because at The Higgins, we chose this year to try and capture on film some of the huge range of annual events and traditions in our Borough and a lot of them happen outside!Our aim is to gather an archive of High Definition (HD) footage that can be used in a variety of ways now and in the future, to bring museum displays to life. Having engaged local filmmakers Film Infinity, we started in April with an event in St Paul’s Church celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Aragon Lace Makers. Indoors, so a good start. We captured some great close-up footage of Bedfordshire lace being made that will help illustrate new dis-plays of our wonderful collections of lace and bobbins. I was surprised to learn just what a sociable craft it is. Up to a hundred makers will sit down together with their lace pillows and make lace in November this year when Aragon stage the largest of their annual ‘lace days’. We were up with the lark on 1st May and filming with umbrellas by 6.30am while the Bedford, Offley and Letchworth Morris

Men danced and sang at Ickwell Green. Light drizzle became heavy rain and by Bank Holiday Monday, the maypole was standing in water and the Ickwell May Day Festival was cancelled for the first time in 400 years. The Bedford Amateur Regatta was scheduled for the following weekend and the sun shone, but high water made it unsafe to go ahead. Next year marks the event’s 150th anniversary so we must hope for better weather then. May closed with the annual Children’s Day at the Polish British Integration Centre and we were able to capture children danc-ing in traditional costume. June would nor-mally see first generation Italians processing through the streets carrying wooden saints but with so many roads closed for Jubilee events they have postponed until later in

the year. Early July marks the annual tradition in Pavenham of gathering rushes from the river to be worked into mats and baskets but the level of the water may delay proceed-ings this year! We plan to film celebrations for Eid in August, capture the Bedfordshire Steam and Country Fair in September, record how local people mark the Hindu festival of Navratri in October, film Guru Nanak’s birthday in November and advent and Christmas in December and round off the year with the Viking Kayak club’s annual ‘Boxing Day Roll’. Brrrr. If you think we are missing any traditions or events, do give us a call on 01234 718618.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM

By Lydia Saul

The history of London’s famous Theatre royal owes a great deal to some Great Bedfordians. Who knew?The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane that stands today is the most recent of four theatres to have stood on the site. The first of these dated back to 1663 and was ‘London’s oldest theatre’. The first theatre burnt down in 1672, a second theatre was demolished in 1791, the third theatre, owned by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, burnt down in 1809. Sheridan was financially ruined by the loss and turned to his friend Samuel Whitbread (1764 – 1815), the brewer and Whig M.P for Bedford, for help in rebuilding the theatre. At a chance meeting Whitbread said that he ‘would not object to be one of a commit-tee for rebuilding Drury Lane’. Drury Lane represented a very risky business prospect – it had burnt to the ground leaving debts of almost half a million pounds. However, Whitbread was a patron of the arts and felt that the metropolis deserved more then one large theatre. The Duke of Bedford who owned the land was owed £5,000 in rent, which he agreed to waive. The Duke joined with Samuel Whitbread, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Byron, Lord Holland, several Whig M.P’s, many bankers, city merchants and others, to form a joint-stock company, the first of its kind in London Theatres. The group was chaired by Mr Whitbread who made it a personal mission to raise the necessary funds for the rebuilding of the theatre. He wrote to his friends inviting them to take £100 shares in the theatre, writing ‘Pray support me. For I have it much at heart’. Benjamin Dean Wyatt was chosen as the architect. The first stone was laid in October 1811 and the building opened on

10th October 1812. Whitbread went on to manage the theatre, although not always successfully. Without the success of the actor Edmund Kean, who filled the theatre whenever he was billed, the theatre would rarely have been full. In 1814 Whitbread wrote ‘it is to him (Kean) that after 135 nights of continued loss and disappointment, the subscribers are indebted for the suc-cess of the season’. Samuel Whitbread stepped down as chair of the Drury Lane Committee soon afterwards. A bust of Whitbread by Joseph Nollekens, who was one of the finest sculptors in England at the time, remains in the Drury Lane Theatre to this day. Following Whit-bread’s resignation the committee decid-ed to sublet the lease to the theatre. In the following years the theatre changed hands several times and continued to gather debt at a rapid pace. It was in 1830 that The Theatre Royal once again became the interest of a Great Bedfordian. Captain Frederick Polhill (1798 – 1848) was a Conservative M.P for Bedford. He formed a curious partnership with Alexander Lee, ‘a broken down singer and keeper of a music shop’ and signed a

lease for The Theatre Royal for 3 years. His partnership with Lee soon broke down, so Polhill hired the theatre manager Alfred Bunn. In spite of difficulties and huge losses Polhill decided to renew the lease for 6 more years. It was said that Polhill had

more money then sense. By 1834, just 1 year into the new lease, Polhill decided to retire from the theatre having lost £50,000 of his own fortune. However, one permanent and positive consequence of Polhills tenure remains.

In 1831 a colonnade designed by Samuel Beazley and commissioned by Polhill was erected along the side of the theatre facing Russell Street. This additional architecture to the building can still be admired today.

Images B

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THE BEDFORD CLANGER

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

16 Why are you stalling? Contact the market team.

JULY 2012

Come & enjoy our luncthtime special:

2 Black Rock steaks for just £12.

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••Follow the cafeangelos duck on facebook••

That is the message BedfordBID will be promoting during the month of July. Inde-pendent Retailer Month is a global “Shop Local” campaign that runs from 1-31July. The campaign highlights the important role smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole. Independent businesses in Bedford are a key part of what makes us so different from surrounding towns; in fact there are 270 independent businesses in our town. So for the month of July, BedfordBID is planning

to support the national Inde-pendents month campaign and let’s hope that businesses will embrace this opportunity to celebrate what makes this town so special. So how can you get involved? Shoppers are encouraged to buy at least one item from an independent retailer during July and to embrace and celebrate the diversity

on (and off) the high street. This is a great opportunity to support the independent boutiques, promote the entrepreneurial independent businesses in the town and get involved with a national campaign. Buy local, Bedford!

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENT RETAILER MONTH ANd SHoP LoCAL For THe WHoLe oF JULY!

LOVE YOUR MARKET Week 2Nd - 7TH JULYdid you know that Henry II granted Bedford its Charter in 1166, making it the second oldest charter in the Country? And our town’s market culture is still thriving today.

In Bedford, Love Your Market Week will run from 2nd to 7th July with the Charter Market running every day. Visiting markets includings talls from the Continental Market and Handmade in Beds will be in the town centre from Wednesday 4th to Saturday 7th, with the usual Gourmet Food Market on Thursday 5th and the Home & Garden Market on Friday 6th. Don’t want to use a plastic carrier bag for all your market purchases? Fear not, the Bluecaps will be handing out reusable

market bags provided by Bedford Borough Council on the Wednesday through to Saturday. Many hugely successful businesses began on a market stall, including Clanger fave Wayne Hemingway’s Red or Dead brand. If you’re interested in becoming a market trader, why not phone Paul or Wayne in our Markets Team on 01234 718676 for a chat and more information.

reTAIL

Licensed cafe/deli & gift shopNow open evenings (Thurs - Sat)

0791 3342654www.andaluzshop.co.uk120a castle road bedford

The WhiTe horsenewnham Ave, bedford

music event in aid of help 4 heroessat 14th July noon to midnight

Auction, tombola, cake stall, bbQ, bouncy castle and much more

www.whitehorsebedford.co.uk 01234 409306

Portuguese restaurant4 Newnham Street, Bedford MK40 3JR Tel: 01234 364400

www.baiadecascais.co.uk

Local businesses onBedford High Street and the neighbouring streets are taking part in a Summer of 2012 Window dressing Competition.

With the upcoming Olympic Torch pro-cession, BedFringe and the River Festival, the Summer of 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting and busy time for Bedford town centre and businesses are looking for ways to show how great we are and how they can stand out from the crowd. The competition will be judged by us - members of the public - and aims to promote the High Street and neighbouring

streets as THE ‘go to’ destination this sum-mer. The competition launch will take place on 4th July, which is national Independents’ Day – a national event to support indepen-dent retailers and to encourage shoppers to embrace the unique and quirky shops that make our town different. The public (that’s us!) will have until 22 July to choose their favourite window displays. Votes can be cast either online at: www.bedford.gov.uk/bestdressed,or by picking up entry forms in-store at participat-ing retailers Please return your completed forms to ballot boxes set up in Bedford Library, the Town Hall and Borough Hall from 4 July. Everyone who votes will also be entered into a prize draw, with two Love Bedford £25 vouchers are up for grabs.

There are 5 judging categories: - Best Dressed Independent Retailer- Best Dressed Health/Beauty- Best Dressed Chain Store- Best Dressed Café/Restaurant- Best Dressed Charity Shop The competition follows on from a Window Display Workshop offered to High Street businesses by Bedford High Street’s Townscape Heritage Initiative and run by window display experts ‘Made You Look’. The Bedford High Street THI seeks to revitalise the High Street with a combination of works to historic properties and complementary learning, education and training initiatives and is funded by the Bedford Borough Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and Bedford BID.

LOOKINg OUR BEST? Vote for Bedford’s Best dressed Window

BURNABY ARMSAs fans of local boozers (see this month’s Hometown Tourist if you need further proof), The Clanger is always thrilled to hear about a new pub opening. So it was with joy in our hearts that we greeted the news that Black Tom’s Burnaby Arms on Stanley Street is getting a refurb and will re-open in mid-July. The pub will be a friendly community local offering four real ales – three regulars and one guest plus a good selection of wines (red, white, rose and Prosecco). Lagers (not largers, as some local hostelries might have it) will be Estrella and Fosters.

Opening times are Mon - Thurs 5.00pm – 11.00pm; Friday 4pm – 11.00pm; Saturday 12.00pm – 11.00pm and Sunday 12pm – 10.30pm. Cheers! We’re certain they’ll do their namesake, Fred proud.

PUBS

robinsonandhall.co.uk

CONTACT US FOR A FREE MARKET APPRAISAL

Kellie Marsh 01234 362937

[email protected]

Hayley Broom 01234 362930

[email protected]

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THE BEDFORD CLANGER

17Puppy Power!

JULY 2012

“Imagine a place where people always feel safe and wanted, where people smile and laugh, share thoughts, welcome each other with open hearts.’This remarkable place is the Bedford Daycare Hospice in Linden Road, whose aim is to support people with life-limiting illnesses and the quote above is from one of its dedicated volunteers. Another long term volunteer told me that she has seen the im-measurable benefits of this interaction - how important it is that patients have a friendly,

safe environment, where they can talk, cry or laugh in an atmosphere of mutual understanding. I spoke to an inspirational woman, Liz, who has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. For her, the Hospice has been a godsend: the weekly counselling she receives has helped her deal with both the practical and psy-chological difficulties she has had to face. In addition, the friendships she has forged have been of immense impor-tance: being able to talk about her ill-ness with other patients, knowing that they can understand what she is going through,

has helped her develop a more positive attitude. Also, hearing the stories of others has made her realize she is not alone. As

a former member of the RAF, she has had a varied, active career,

travelling the world and she is now directing this energy into a 26 mile trek she is planning to do in August in aid of the Hospice and, hopefully, by a trek along the Great Wall of China in April 2013! Liz attends

the Hospice weekly on their pop-in Tuesdays, which have

become the focus of her week, her ‘lifeline’, and she credits the

people she has met there with enabling her to meet the challenges ahead.

Pop-in Tuesdays are one of the valuable services offered by the Hospice. Specialist nurses are available to give advice and prac-tical help to both new and regular patients - for example, regarding pain relief - and they can also liaise with the Macmillan nurses who are based in the same building. Patients can stay for an hour or for the whole day (lunch is provided at a small cost), receive counselling, experience one of the complementary therapies offered and chat to other patients. In order to provide these vital free services, the Hospice depends totally on financial contributions from the commu-nity. A great deal of effort goes into raising money, through numerous events, such as coffee mornings, sausage and mash suppers, and fashion shows, as well as sponsored

events - the Hospice fundraising manager, Barbara Astle, recently did a 125ft jump at the Bodyflight tower. This year The Bedford Daycare Hospice is one of the Mayor’s charities. If you think you or a loved one may benefit from the services offered by the Hospice, do contact them on 01234 352015 or just pop in – you will receive a very warm welcome. Equally, if you can offer any help with fundraising they would love to hear from you.A list of forthcoming events can be found on their website: www.bedforddaycare-hospice.co.uk

BEDFORD DAYCARE HOSPICE

HOUNDS FOR HEROES CHArITY BIke rIdeon Saturday 11 August Paul Nelson and gerald Tir from Bedfordshire will undertake the mammoth challenge of a tandem cycle ride from Lands end to John o’Groats – all in aid of Hounds for Heroes. Gerry launched their fundraising drive at the world’s most famous dog show, Crufts, on March 10, joined by Hounds for Heroes’ Founder and Vice-Chairman Allen Parton, and his faithful partner EJ. What makes this challenge even more demanding is that Gerry has a rare form of macular degeneration, which has resulted in him rapidly losing his sight. With Paul as front man on the tandem, it’s a personal adventure for both men. They hope to raise funds to enable Hounds for Heroes to buy and train a puppy, which will be trained to assist an injured or disabled member of the UK armed forces or emergency services. Gerry said, “I spent more than 37 years working as a French Polisher in some of the most prestigious and exclusive buildings working on intricate and detailed projects -

losing my sight has meant I am unable to continue doing this. Many day-to-day tasks are now impossible and I can empathise with those who are unable to carry out tasks that most people take for granted.” He continued, “Our aim is to raise as much as possible for Hounds for Heroes because we know that these amazing dogs can help people gain the independence they’ve lost, offering a new sense of freedom and helping in regaining one’s independence.” Allen Parton, Hounds for Heroes Founder and Vice-Chairman said, “I hope we can show everyone that not one of us injured or disabled in service of Queen and Country believes that we are owed a debt of gratitude for the sacrifices made. We have though been incredibly humbled by the

level of support we are receiving. Paul and Gerry’s heroic effort on behalf of Hounds for Heroes matters so much; we are a new and small charity with a huge task ahead of us, so every penny received has such a huge impact on our ability to train and provide Hounds for Heroes dogs.The re-enforcement of the public’s message ‘That folk really do care’ has been received loud and clear to all who proudly serve.

For more information or to find out how you can sponsor or make a donation please visit www.tandemlejog.co.uk or call Hounds for Heroes on 01730 823118

CHArITY

CoMMUNITY

CASTLE HILL gARAgE CeLeBrATING THeIr FIrST 80 YeArS!established by Albert Filby in 1932, Castle Hill Garage on Castle Lane is celebrating it’s 80th anniversary this year. Originally offering ‘complete overhauls and repairs to cars of every description, wireless sets supplied and repaired, bicycles fixed...’, the garage has expanded over the years and looks set to embark on another successful 80 years in business! Now run by Albert’s son, Alan, the garage is thriving in the cultural quarter of town, adjacent to the Higgins Museum and specialises in modern and vintage vehicles. Alan began working at the garage in 1956 - the same year that the business be-gan selling fuel and expanded by knocking down the cottages that stood next door. By

doubling the size of the workshop they were able to increase the number of cars they could work on from two to six. “Selling petrol made a big difference at the time,” said Alan. “Although as time went on we got pushed out of the market.” In 1959, Alan took over with two of his nine brothers (he also had five sisters) when his father sadly died. “Technology has accelerated at such a terrific rate since the mid 80s,” said Alan. “Older vintage cars are easier to work on as most cars were built with the expectation that the owner would do his own repairs at the side of the road with a tool kit. In those days, most drivers had a little bit of know-how!” Nowadays of course, most cars’ components are linked by computer, so as Alan explains, it’s not as simple to work out the problem. “It’s not intuitive anymore. There are some obvious problems that you can immediately identify, but mostly you

have to hook the car up to a computer.” While Alan clearly has a love for the cars of the past, he is passionate about all things automotive and it’s infectious. And Rob Battle and Jake Palmer who work alongside Alan clearly share the passion too. So, after 56 years in the business, does Alan feel like stepping down? “I’m still here because I still love it; it’s in the blood. Every day is different, every day has its own challenges and every car’s different. I was awake at 4am this morning puzzling over a problem with a customer’s car. I couldn’t wait to get here to start working on it!” From that, I think we can infer that Alan has no intention of retiring and Castle Hill Garage is here to stay - at least for another 80 years.

BUSINeSS

Hounds of Love

A preview of Bedford College’s end of term art exhibition on gave a fashionable audience of art lovers the chance to see award-winning designs by the top talent of tomorrow.The exhibition, Qualifying 2012, showcas-ing the talents of more than 140 students from Bedford College’s nationally ap-plauded Creative Arts and Media courses, will runs from 20 June to 6 July at the South Bank Arts Centre. Bedford College students have invalu-able links with local industry, connections with top London design agencies and regu-larly win awards in national competitions, such as the prestigious YCN award an-nounced this week. Paul Garrett and George Henderson, first year HND Graphics students, won the YCN (Young Creatives Net-work) award, in response to a brief from Sports Interactive, known for their Sega game “Football Manager”. Their award winning campaign uses smartphones to locate 20 hidden platinum balls located in cities. The winner scores the opportunity to live the ultimate manager experi-ence for a day. Sue Blackman, Director for Arts and Sixth Form at Bedford College, presented Olympic style Gold medals to 15 students and said: “In the spirit of the Olympic theme of the exhibi-tion, I would like to honour students who have worked extremely hard and excelled in their subject specialisms and on their course, includ-ing Art & Design, Graphic Design, Photography, 3D Design, Animation, Fine Art, Fashion & Textiles. “This exhibition cel-ebrates the achievements of our talented students and their hard work and success during their course. The di-verse range of art and design skills and highly creative ideas is inspira-tional. Year on year we keep going from

strength to strength, pushing the boundaries of creativity to produce highly skilled and exciting work that is recognised nationally. “The work on display is the result of the commitment, dedication and industrious and special working relationship between stu-dents and staff. It is our aim to enable every student to reach their creative potential in a stimulating, creative and hardworking environment.”

End of Year Art & Design Show20 June – 6 July 2012Mon-Thur 10am-7pm, Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 23 June 10am-3pmFree entryClosed Sat 30 June and Sundays

To learn more about Bedford College and its contribution to the arts go to www.bedford.ac.uk

SoUTH BANk ArTS exHIBITIoN AT BEDFORD COLLEgE

ArT

Students: Making an exhibition of themselves

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

With so many tasty ideas, it’s not chard to eat well.18

JULY 2012

YUMMY RECIPE our most popular soup this year (we make adifferent homemade soup each week from September to May) was Chorizo and Sweet Potato and here is how we did it:Finely chop two large white onions and two cloves of garlic and sweat in butter for five minutes. Add a teaspoon of paprika to the pan and a large pinch of salt. Peel two sweet potatoes and chop into 2cm square

pieces and add to the pan with a finely chopped red chilli - you can leave the seeds in or remove depending on your heat preferences! Continue to sweat for about 10 minutes and add 10cm of chorizo ring cut into 1cm pieces. Add 2 litres of vegetable stock and simmer until the sweet potato is soft. Blend until smooth and serve. Deli-cious, warming and healthy!

LINgERS LAUNCHESCOMPETITIONTo FINd NeW SAUSAGe FLAVoUr.one of Bedford’s oldest butchers is launching a competition to find a new fla-vour of sausage.Sausage specialists Lingers, whose shop is found at 1 St Cuthbert’s Street, is the home of the original ‘Bedford Banger’, and the ‘Lingers Special’ (the recipe of which dates back to the 1930s). Handmade on site, the Lingers team routinely offer eight or more types of sausage at any one time, and include recipes as diverse as Welsh Dragons, Italian Hot, Wild Boar and Real Ale. As owner Jim Hone ex-plains, they are not afraid to mix their traditional sausages with new taste sensations, ‘We are very proud of our sausages and enjoy creating new tastes for our custom-ers to try. This competition gives members of the public an opportunity to come up with something new. They don’t need to be experts as we’ll develop their idea into a workable recipe, they just need to come up with an idea that sounds fresh and tasty.’ The person who submits the winning idea will not only be given a batch of their very own sausages to share with family and

SAUSAGeS!

Wurst caption yet.

RIVERFORDVEg HEROGet back to basics, says riverford, and eat the great British veg that thrives in this country.

July veg hero: CHARD

Appeal: A useful substitute for spinach, chard is cheaper, keeps longer and suffers fewer pests and diseases. It’s a great value vegetable as the stalk is good to eat as well as the leaf – so you really get two veg for the price of one!Varieties: Swiss chard – deep green leaves and white stalks; ruby chard – deep green leaves and red stalks.Cooking: Like spinach, the leaves wilt down very quickly and are good stirred into

curries and sauces. The stalks are re-ally popular in Mediterranean cooking – just chop and put them on to cook a couple of minutes be-fore the leaves. For a simple side dish, stir fry cooked chard in olive oil and garlic

and then stir in some toasted pine nuts. Or you can find our swiss chard and anchovy gratin recipe at: www.riverford.co.uk – it goes particularly well with lamb.Give chard a try this month and help sup-port homegrown, seasonal produce.

friends and get to name their creation, they will also be invited into Lingers for a hands-on workshop to make the first batch of the new sausage. Lingers will then stock the sausage alongside their existing ones. Aspiring sausage-makers simply need to send in their idea outlining the flavours and their reasons for choosing them, along with their contact details to Jim Hone at 1 St Cuthberts Street, or by email to [email protected] before the 30th of July.

By Stephen Bywater

If the Starship enterprise had an Indian restaurant it would look something like the BengalBrasserie......which doesn’t mean you have to be a trekkie to appreciate the modern décor, clean linen and the nod to the iconic flock

wallpaper. The set is cleverly lit: soft light, the glint of symbolic silverware. Shish, the restaurateur, is perfectly cast. There is a sincere warmth to his welcome, a wish to give you as much or as little of the convivial host as you desire. His brother, the attentive waiter, is also more than equal to his role. Yet one thing an episode of Star Trek won’t give you is the smell of spices, the mouth-watering mix of the exotic and the unexplored. Our papadoms came not only with the condiments you’d expect, but also with a ruby-pink coconut mix blended with fourteen different herbs and spices. For the main course Matilda and Eva went for one of The Usual Suspects – as knowingly listed in the menu. Chicken korma is the stepping-stone for many children and mine devoured

theirs with a Vulcan-like efficiency. Critics of few words, they mumbled ‘perfect,’ as they wiped their dishes clean with what was left of the peshwari naan. I put myself if Shish’s hands and he rec-ommended the karai lamb and mushroom rice. I also ordered a side dish of Bombay potatoes. I’d never tried karai lamb, so had nothing to compare it to, but if the Klingons had a national dish then this would be it: tender pieces of lamb drowning in a glazed sauce of onions and peppers. Bombay potatoes I know, and the Bengal Brasserie’s were the best I’ve ever had. The girls had just enough room for ice cream – one pista-chio and one mango kulfi: cool and creamy, and sensibly priced as a necessity rather than as an extravagance.

The brothers - and there are six - are of Bangladeshi decent and are understandably proud; proud of being Bedfordians, proud of their restaurant. Whether they are fans of StarTrek is something I don’t know, but I would urge you to visit the Bengal Brasserie, to discover new dishes, to bring back the evening’s takeaway, to boldly go (split infinitive) where they serve the very best Indian and Bangladeshi dishes known to man or Vulcan.Bengal Brasserie9, The Broadway, Bedford, MK40 2TJwww.bengalbrasserie-bedford.co.uk01234 340888/341444Twitter: @brasserie-bengal

BENgAL BRASSERIE

CUrrY THAT’S oUT oF THIS WorLd

Food

Photo:Graham

Watson

Live Long & Prosper

RECIPE SPONSERED BY:

CoFFee & CAke

HIgH STREET COFFEE BEAN DELIgHTS.Cafe Crema on Bedford high street may well fall into that category of places you walk past all the time without paying it much attention. Well, next time you wander past it, nestled near to Tesco Express and opposite Debenhams, you should wander in. It’s a little haven of inde-pendent loveliness on the High Street. One of the older independent coffee shops in Bedford – they’ve been going for 11 years – it is also one of the friendliest. So, to the crucial bit: the cake. Faced with a cabinet full of carrot cake, cheesecake, incredible-looking flapjack – with pumpkin seeds on, no less - I was having a moment of total cake-indecision, when the lady behind me recommended the florentine biscuits. Fouad, the friendly barista, told me that the carrot cake is their best-seller, so that would need to be sampled too. It’s a tough life... The florentine biscuit was just tremendous, the right combination of slightly bitter dark chocolate and sticky almonds, seeds and cherries. The perfect size for a mid-morning (or afternoon, for that matter,) treat: deli-cious, but not too heavy. The carrot cake was, quite frankly, a work of genius. Light, with perfectly creamy topping and filling, and decadently moist. And the coffee. Well, Cafe Crèma certainly can’t be accused of not taking coffee seriously. This is proper, substantial stuff. I had a flat white, which managed to be notably strong whilst also

being easy and pleasant to drink. The kind of coffee that puts a spring in your step but is oh-so-easy to drink. The cappuccino had just the right froth-coffee ratio. These guys know their beans. So much so, that they have a sort of coffee-bean pick and mix cabinet, so you can purchase your own favourite bean. This kind of sums up what I loved about Cafe Crema.. The thought that has gone into everything is obvious, and not just the coffee and cake. The sandwiches and salads looked amazing, fresh salads – caesar, niciose – made from scratch! Soups, panini, cheese scones, chai lattes. And it is spacious and open: you can sit at the window and look out onto the High Street, or you can relax in the back section, away from it all. It’s an easy place to come with children – there is enough space for buggies and boisterous toddlers. This is a coffee shop as easy and convenient as Costa, or Starbucks, but a million times better. And it is on Bedford High Street! Truly, we are lucky people.

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

19I need a hero!

JULY 2012

on Sunday 8 July, after the Olympic Torch Relay has passed through Bedford, a Plaque will be unveiled at 30 Rutland Road, Bedford, (Mk40 1SL)...

...On the wall of the house which stands on the site of the house where Harold Abrahams, the 1924 Olympic Champion and hero of the Oscar winning film “Chariots of Fire” was born. The unveiling will take place the day after the 88th anniversary of his Olympic victory. The unveiling ceremony at 1pm will be conducted by Tom McNab, the world famous athletics coach, author of a number of athletics themed books and plays, and the technical director and script advisor for “Chariots of Fire”, in addition to training the actors to be athletes. The Plaque will be unveiled by Allan Wells, successor to Harold Abrahams, as the 100 metres Champion at the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980, the year in which he was also ranked number one in the world at that distance. Also present will be Abrahams step-daughter and great nephew, athletics historian and writer, Mel Watman, and Mark Ryan, the author of “Running with Fire” a biography of Abrahams’ life, including his early years living and running in Rutland Road.

The ceremony will include live music from ‘Chariots of Fire’ together with the St Pauls Church Choir singing ‘Jerusalem’. Refreshments will be available from Rutland Road Church which, together with the Rutland Road Residents Association, will be providing an event for local resi-dents, which will include a showing of the film “Chariots of Fire.” Mayor of Bedford, Dave Hodgson said: “Harold Abrahams is a true Olympic icon and a great Bedfordian (You said it! – Ed). It is wonderful to see his achievements being recognised at his birthplace here in Bedford. The plaque will serve as a reminder of this famous aspect of Bedford’s

proud Olympic heritage, and its unveiling on the day that the Torch comes to Bedford Borough sets up Sunday 8th July as a truly memorable occasion in this great summer.” The Unveiling Ceremony will be fol-lowed at 2pm by a buffet which will take place at the Harpur Suite in the town centre.

Tickets for the buffet are available at the very reasonable price of £10 per head are available from ‘The Box Office, Harpur Suite, Harpur Street, Bedford, MK40 1LE, telephone 01234 269519 emails: [email protected]

HAROLD ABRAHAMS HerITAGe PLAqUe UNVeILed

HISTorY

CLANGer rUN!Starting and finishing at

box End Park, Kempston, bedford mK43 8rWsUNDAY 16th sePTeMBer 2012

roAD ViCTiMs TrUsT- ChAriTY VehiCLe rALLYAll types of cars & motorbikes are welcome NeW and oLDfor further information or an application form please contact:

louise Stafford (trust Administrator)Tel: 01234 843345 email:[email protected]

www.roadvictimstrust.org.uk reg Charity No. 1142336

01234 400000 www.pwhmllp.com

We are proud to support our local community by sponsoring

Bedfringe 2012!

(ps: Look out for us at the Bedford River Festival too!)

THE KIOSK AT THE PARK SPONSORS NEW CLANgER COLUMN - LOCAL HEROES

The Kiosk at Russell Park has recently been given a new lease of life by local resi-dents Nansi Rose and Emma Garrett. These two entrepreneurs have helped transform the iconic building which sits in the corner of the park into an al fresco Coffee Shop, something Russell Park has been crying out for for years. The Kiosk serves delicious coffees, teas and home-made cakes. The hay bale seating is quirky and attractive and kids love the books and colouring, not to mention the ever popular ice-cream cup cakes! In addition, the Council’s Pitch & Putt, Table Tennis and Tennis facilities are still managed at The Kiosk, which is now open 7 days a week, all year round. Nansi and Emma are thrilled to be providing a service that is proving to be ex-tremely popular. Said Emma, “We already have ‘regulars’ who we see every day - our aim is to quench the thirst, feed the appetite

and warm the hearts of the Russell Park Community.” From next month The Kiosk At The Park will be sponsoring a monthly Local Heroes column in The Clanger where unsung Bed-ford heroes will get their moment of glory. Emma and Nansi would like to ask you to nominate someone who you feel deserves a

bit of a mention, someone who is part of the Bedford Community but who might not necessarily be in the limelight. We will inter-view them for The Clanger, and they will be invited to The Kiosk where they will be treated to a Coffee and a Cake and presented with a Local Hero Certificate, in appreciation of their contri-bution to the community.

For further information please contact Emma or

Nansi via email: [email protected], on facebook: www.facebook.com/RussellParkKiosk or give us a call: 07970 284823.

Your opportunity to nominate a Local Hero!

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of M

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Ryan

Gemma Kirkham PhotographyNatural. Fun. Full of Life!

Local photographer specialising in natural family photography and events.

Packages start as low as £50 including all photos from your session!

Call: 07771664532 Email: [email protected]

Visit: www.gemmakirkhamphotography.co.ukJoin: facebook/gemmakirkhamphotography.co.uk

Harold Abrahams in action

Get your ice-cream cup cakes here!

GeT INVoLVed…

do you love The Clanger and love your town and want to get more involved? Well, firstly, join in with A Photo A Day. Secondly, email us at [email protected] or send a tweet to @bedfordc-langer to let us know how you could help. We absolutely love meeting people who can

write, take photos, draw or help us spread the love. Can you distribute The Clanger in your hood? If so, let us know. Every-one’s welcome. It’s all about Bedford. It’s

all about you. It’s all about us… We. Are. Bedford.

We Need YoU!

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

WeekLY hAThA YoGA CLAsses..Sessions cover, limbering, physical postures, some breathing and

relaxation with a gradual focus on meditation...

friendly, welcoming group meets on:•Wednesdays (intermediates) 6.15-7.45pm•Fridays (beginners/those with some experience)6.15-7.30pmTerm-time onlyFirst Trial class free..contact racheall:07190835994 for more detailsE-mail: [email protected]: www.om-hayoga.co.uk

THE BEDFORD CLANGER

20

JULY 2012

Celebrating 30 years in Bedford as an independent family owned business.Sewing machines may of changed but our good old-fashioned service values haven’t

We now have a brand new selection of hundreds of fabrics for curtains and blinds from Simpson, Fibre Naturelle, York, Jones Interior and many more with

33% OFF SELECTED LINESWe now offer a NEW curtain and blind making service too so call in for a quote.

BEDFORD in Lurke Street 01234 350186 SingersBedford.com

BEDFORDMORE THAN JUST SEWING!

THANk YoUSThe Bedford Clanger is a labour of love for a lot of people. No one’s making a fortune, we just want to encourage people to embrace and love our town. As ever, this issue would not have been possible without the immense talents of the following people:Designer Extraordinaire: Marisa Straccia (@madamebogg)Advertising Director: Gemma Rodgers (@clangerads)

Listings Supremo: Bev Burridge (@... well, we just love her)Front cover & Great Bedfordians: Scarlett Tierney (www.scarlettrebecca.co.uk)Snappy snappers: Graham Watson (www.grahamwatson.com), Shaun Armstrong (www.mubsta.com), Donnie Canning (www.donniephotography.co.uk), Sarah Lucas (www.sarahlucasphotography.co.uk), Scott Brimley from Bedford College.

Coffee & cake correspondent: Alice Smith (www.sarahandalice.co.uk)Foodie: Stephen BywaterAdditional editorial: Tom Wild, Paula Walker, Lloyd Lugsden, Jacqueline Haddock, Laura Pottinger, Hayley O’Keeffe and Kayte JudgeAnd a massive thank you to all our sponsors and advertisers. Without you, none of this would be possible. You rock!

Hopefully we’ll see you at the River Festival!

by Tom B Wild

So, richard, you’re currently shooting a film in Bedford, ‘Wayland’s Song’. Can you tell us a little bit about it?The film is a feature film. It’s a thriller. It’s a story of a man who returns from serving in Afghanistan where he’s been injured. He’s looking for his daughter who’s disap-peared, and he goes on a kind of odyssey to find her, or to find what’s happened to her. Throughout the process of that journey he uncovers a kind of murky underworld where really bad things are happening and he finds out that his daughter is part of that, and it becomes a kind of mystery story in some ways. What happened to her? Who’s responsible for her disappearance?

And how have you ended up setting it in Bedford?I live in Bedfordshire. Most of my movies to date I’ve shot in Edinburgh, that’s my hometown, but I’ve been living in the area for about 23 years now. Both my kids went to school in Bedford and I’ve got a tre-mendous soft spot for the place. My wife is from Italian heritage and obviously there’s a huge Italian community in Bedford. I really

like the mix of people, it’s a beauti-ful small town with lots to offer visually, and it’s very easy to move around in.

The most important thing, beyond all of that, is that people are really excited and willing to make things happen and that’s been the thing that’s been the most rewarding.

When you shoot in a big, big city, its really hard getting permission to do stuff and to move the crew around. Here you have to go through the same processes but people are generally very co-operative and genuinely excited about something new happening. Ian Price, the principal of Bedford College, took a very enterprising view of the whole project as it would be a great interface for many of the different departments where college students get a sense of what its really like to work on a real project, rather than being taught theory and practical skills, which are very important of course, but also give them an opportunity to feel the heat, the pressure and the responsibility of a real life situation. So we’ve managed to bring in various departments, from film and media, art, drama, hair and make-up. Everyone in some shape or form has had the opportunity to get involved, and some of the students have just dived in because they absolutely see that it’s a great opportunity.How are you finding the town?

I really love filming around here. This is the second film I’ve shot in Bedford and I really feel I’m onto something in this area. I’m discovering studios and other people in the area I can connect with.

I’ve watched Bedford evolve over the last 20 years and I really feel at the moment it’s the most exciting it’s ever been.

What things would you recommend about Bedford to people who don’t live here?The River in Bedford is spectacular, so that’s my first port of call always. My son rows, so I’m on that river a lot and I love it. I like hanging out in the Piazza in St Paul’s square, and the guy who runs it, Libby, is amazing. It’s like all my contacts come from that place. It’s my nerve centre. That’s where I hang out, that’s where I get things done. It’s my office in Bedford. I love the Castle Quay area, I love the Rock City Art Gallery. Round the corner, the 2Oth Century Design shop is pretty awesome. I love the Lebanese restaurant on the high street (Reem,)

For me one of the secrets of Bedford is constantly discovering new little things.

I’ve just disovered La Rondine, the bakery, just of Tavistock street. It’s like being in a Martin Scorcese movie!

Most importantly, there’s a young popu-lation here who are feeling that they don’t have to run off to London, because, first of all, London’s too expensive to live in, and secondly, there’s good things happening here now. I’m interested in the people who are trying to make things happen, like the guys who own Esquires. Keeping that afloat and alive in difficult times is something we should all be incredibly respectful and

glad of. I’ve only got positive thoughts about the place. The experience I’m having making the film, working with local kids, young adults, working with the people in the col-lege who have been absolutely amazing. They see that I’m trying to do something positive, even though the story’s quite dark, I’m trying to do things with the town and make it cinematic.

Interview with

RICHARD JOBSON

FILM

ILLUSTrATIoNBy Marisa Straccia

The Circus of Illustration organised a different sort of social gathering last month.

It was a night of wine, beer, drawing games and meeting other like-minded doodlers. They were expecting a group of eleven to attend, but to their delight, a rabble of over thirty thirsty illustrators attended the evening. Some had travelled into Bedford especially from the furthest flung parts of our shire. Not all were professional il-lustrators, as these Circus events are open to everyone. There were artists, designers, students, textile designers, animators, teach-ers, modellers and drawing enthusiasts. The considerable carnival comman-deered the back half of Embankment pub,

much to the shock of the staff at the bar. Fortunately they were very accommodating! Armed with pencils, pens, sketchbooks, ipads and glass, the drawing jamboree got underway. The life of an il-lustrator can be quite isolated. Most of us work alone, so it was lovely to get together, meet new people, swap sketchbooks, share ideas and draw in a relaxed fun envi-ronment. We started an impromptu drawing game, created by the Surrealists, called ‘Consequencs’ or ‘Exqui-

site Corpse’ where players draw in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the image and then pass it to the next player for

DRINK & DRAW Vino how to doodle

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It was surreal

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Richard Jobson

a further contribution. It was an imaginative way to break the ice and have a giggle, as the results were really funny. If you would like to attend the next Drink and Draw evening, it will be on Saturday 28th July at The Lane, Castle Road, Bedford where we will be lounging on blankets in the Castle Bailey Gardens scribbling away with one of The Lane’s

famous cocktails! Rebecca De Winter will be playing an acoustic set from 7.30pm, for The Lane’s ‘Terrace Sessions’, a perfect soundtrack to an evening of doodling. So bring your pencils, but remember kids: Drink responsibly, draw recklessly.

The Circus of Illustration are exhibiting at the Place Theatre, Bradgate Road, Bedford, MK40 3DE during Bedfringe. Friday 13th – Saturday 28th July.

twitter @wearethecircusbedfordshireillustrators.tumblr.com