Industry News
Restaurant manager reaches final
William Salve, restaurant manager at the Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club in Morpeth, has been chosen as a finalist in the Outstanding Customer Service category at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2012.
Following his success in the North East regional awards in October last year when William won gold in the same category, he has been selected as a finalist for the national awards next week on 22 May in Leicester.
The 30-year-old, who has worked at the Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club for two and a half years, will compete against four businesses for the coveted title.
William said: “It is a great honour to be nominated for such a prestigious award and I have to thank the team at Macdonald Linden Hall for their continued support as we strive to always provide the high levels of customer service we offer every day.
“My team work extremely hard to deliver a memorable experience for guests, so it’s a fantastic achievement to be recognised at a national level.”
Nestled in 450 acres of private grounds, Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club is the perfect country house retreat. Dating back to 1812 and with extensive conference facilities and an 18-hole golf course and impressive leisure facilities and the hotel offers discerning guests a luxurious leisure destination. The hotel’s award-winning elegant Dobson Restaurant has two prestigious AA Rosettes, serving only the finest and freshest produce and organic food and drink.
Now in its 23rd year, the awards showcase a wide range of high-quality experiences for visitors, and are open to the thousands of tourism businesses across England.
Commenting on the finalists, James Berresford, VisitEngland’s chief executive, said: “I would like to congratulate all those nominated as VisitEngland Awards for Excellence finalists this year. This is no small achievement in a year when we have received a record number of submissions.
“The quality of submissions this year has been outstanding and the Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club can justifiably take credit and pride in earning a place in the top five in their category in England. I wish everyone all the best for the final in May."
Tyne to celebrate anniversary in film
Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema is delighted to reveal a mammoth programme of some of the best films of the last 75 years as suggested by audience members and visitors to its website.
To celebrate the culmination of the Cinema’s 75th anniversary, the winning films will be screened at an epic 75-hour screening extravaganza over 26-27 May at Tyneside Cinema, with tickets for each film just 75p!
The weekend programme includes 30 unmissable masterpieces from the last 75 years, including Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, sensationally dark satire, A Clockwork Orange, and the seminal Italian spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West, plus a host of cult classics such as The Wicker Man, Reservoir Dogs and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Audiences can enjoy a selection of stunning foreign-language films from all over the world, including Pedro Almodóvar's gorgeous Spanish thriller Volver, Japanese horror film Audition and the electrifying finale to Krzysztof Kieślowski’s magnificent trilogy, Three Colours Red.
Alongside black-and-white classics Strangers on a Train, The Third Man and Charlie Chaplin’s timeless comedy The Great Dictator, the cinema is also screening more recent film triumphs Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Fargo.
The programme for the weekend includes some less-well-known masterpieces too, like the groundbreaking anime film Akira and Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, offering something to suit every taste.
Jonny Tull, cinema programme manager at Tyneside Cinema, said: “When we asked cinema-goers to tell us their favourite films of the last 75 years, they certainly didn’t disappoint. It was a real pleasure to read all of the nominations and we are delighted to announce a truly spectacular programme for the film weekend, directly nominated by our audience. A huge thank you to everyone who shared their nominations with us, and we hope you enjoy seeing your favourite films up on the big screen in May!”
Tyneside Cinema will show 25 hours of the best films nominated by the public in each of the Tyneside’s three screens, starting at 10pm on 26 May and continuing through the night until 11pm on 27 May.
Tickets for all films are just 75p and will be available in person from Tyneside Cinema’s Box Office, by telephone on 0845 217 9909 or online on the Tyneside Cinema website.
Tyneside Cinema was opened 75 years ago in 1937 by local entrepreneur Dixon Scott, great uncle of film directors Sir Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Alien) and Tony Scott (Days of Thunder, True Romance). Celebrations started in May 2011, with a special weekend showing some of the best and most influential films of the last eight decades. Following the success of last year’s event, in 2012 the cinema invited audiences to nominate their favourite films for a second fantastic 75-hour screening extravaganza.
For more information about all the films being shown at this special event, and to find out more about Tyneside Cinema’s 75th anniversary celebrations, please visit the Tyneside Cinema website.
England’s biggest fan is found!
VisitEngland, the national tourist board, launched a nationwide campaign in March to find England’s biggest fan for an all-expenses paid 70-day trip around the country. After an extensive search, VisitEngland can reveal that England’s biggest fan is Rachel Kershaw from Lancashire!
Rachel, 30, wowed the judges with her passion for England and her zest for life. Holidaying at home from an early age visiting the beautiful Yorkshire and Lancashire countryside, Rachel grew up loving her mother country and nurturing a life-long ambition to drive an ‘old school’ camper van on a mega road trip around the country.
She said: “This is the challenge and opportunity I’ve been waiting for! I can’t think of anything better than travelling around England in a vintage camper van and discovering new places. I’m very excited about the trip and am looking forward to setting off next week from somewhere I have always dreamt of visiting, Cornwall.”
She will explore those places that are illuminated by the torch, blogging and writing about them on her travels. Driving the length and breadth of the country in a classic camper van, provided by O’Connors Campers, and staying in The Camping and Caravanning Club’s sites, Rachel will be getting to the heart and soul of the country. By creating updates for Facebook and Twitter, blog posts, photographs and video footage of her amazing trip, she will help inspire the rest of the country to take a holiday at home this year.
VisitEngland’s chairman and ‘Fan in a Van’ judge, Lady Cobham said: “We chose Rachel Kershaw to be our Fan in a Van because her enthusiasm and passion for her home country is truly infectious! During this amazing 10-week trip discovering every corner of England, she will, I’m sure, inspire the Great British public to take a holiday at home this year and enjoy what we have on offer during this very special year.”
Martin Dorey, author of The Camper Van Coast Book, and Fan in a Van judge, said: “What a great trip the Fan in the Van will have! I wish I could go along too. We've got so many wonderful natural, beautiful and interesting places in England that it could take a lifetime to visit them all. The Fan in the Van will see more of them than most and I can't wait to read all about it!"
England’s Super-Fan Rachel will begin her trip on 19 May from Land’s End where she will be waved off from the stunning alfresco theatre, the Minack, overlooking Porthcurno Bay close to Land’s End. Follow Rachel on this trip of a lifetime on Twitter @faninavan and read all about her adventures on the Visit England Blog.
Latin festival programme launched
¡VAMOS! Festival has launched its latest programme as it returns for its seventh edition featuring six weeks of celebration of Latin, Spanish and Lusophone cultures, between 1 June and 15 July.
The festival includes events across North East England, including Newcastle, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, North Tyneside and extends for the very first time to County Durham.
Highlight of ¡VAMOS! Festival 2012 include:
o Major outdoor carnival commission Keep Your Hat On with musician Arto Lindsay on the River Wear in Durham in collaboration with Brass: Durham International Festival.
o Commissions with Latin American artists: Peruvian Ximena Garrido-Lecca at mima, Middlesbrough and Venezuelan artist Jaime Gili responding to Tynemouth Station, North Tyneside as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
o UK premiere and only UK showing of Complicidades: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at The Bowes Museum County Durham.
o UK premiere of Peruvian docu-photography exhibition by collective Supayfotos.
o UK premiere of Heleno, a big budget film about the 1940s Brazilian football star.
o European premiere of El Inca, la Boba y el Hijo de Ladron, a road movie showing an innovative take on contemporary Peru.
o Return of the Tyne Carnival where members of the public can join in with music, dance and procession along Northumberland Street, Newcastle, on 30 June.
o Official launch on 1 June at Newcastle University with Cuban violinist Omar Puente, Colombian group Los Independientes del Vallenato, DJs, dance classes and a retrospective exhibition of photography from ¡VAMOS! Festival 2006-11.
Seb Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, said: “¡VAMOS! Festival is encouraging people of the North East to fulfill their potential. I am proud that with the help of partners such as ¡VAMOS! Festival we are delivering our vision to use the power of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to boost participation in celebrating and understanding Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures.’’
For further information pick up a festival programme or see the ¡VAMOS! Festival website or read the ¡VAMOS! Festival online programme. To get updates throughout the festival sign up for the ¡VAMOS! newsletter, join the ¡VAMOS! Facebook group or follow @VAMOS_FESTIVAL on twitter.
Connecting Light celebration at Hadrian’s Wall
Connecting Light (31 August to 1 September), a major new art installation along the line of Hadrian's Wall, has been announced as part of the programme for the London 2012 Festival.
The festival is a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration which brings together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, opening on Midsummer's Day 21 June and running until 9 September. It gives people across the UK the opportunity to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Connecting Light is being designed by New York based digital arts collective YesYesNo with American artist, Zachary Lieberman. YesYesNo specialises in the creation of engaging, magical installations that combine creativity, artistic vision and cutting-edge technology.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) commission is being produced in partnership with Hadrian's Wall Heritage and local partners.
Zachary Lieberman, said:"Our concept is to create a digital platform by which messages can be communicated the entire length of the Wall.
"The goal is to understand the Wall in a modern context and imagine the Wall not as a barrier but as a bridge, as a means of connecting rather than dividing.
"The installation serves as a low-res fibre optic line connecting both coasts of England and allowing messages to spread in either direction.
"People will be able to interact at sites along the Wall and as well as all over the world through the Internet."
Linda Tuttiett, chief executive of Hadrian's Wall Heritage, said: "Connecting Light will turn what was the Roman Empire's northern frontier into a contemporary communication system.
"We want to inspire a worldwide conversation of people’s thoughts on all aspects of borders and frontiers in their lives today, and we will be able to communicate the importance of the World Heritage Site and showcase our inspirational northern landscapes and fantastic heritage to new audiences around the world."
Using a series of tethered weather balloons, approximately 6ft in diameter and lit by internal LED lights, the installation will become a line of pulsating colours as messages are sent along the Wall. The installation will be visible in the evening and accessible to visitors at several locations. It is being designed to be viewed remotely all over the world using digital media. Messages sent across the Wall can be made visible through smartphones, iPads and tablets and detailed information will be available at a number of visitor sites.
Development work is now underway in collaboration with Newcastle University’s Culture Lab. Zachary Lieberman has been made a visiting professor at the university.
Full details of times and visiting locations for Connecting Light will be available in early summer. The installation will be live from 31 August to 1 September.
See the Hadrian's Wall website for more details over the coming weeks. For more information on the London 2012 Festival programme which spans music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, film and fashion, visit the London 2012 website.
Frock & Roll for NE1’s Newcastle Fashion Week
A star-studded music and fashion event combining four live acts with four top brands in a catwalk spectacular will be the only fashion event of its kind outside of London.
Frock & Roll on Friday 1 June at 8.30pm at Northumbria Students' Union, is an event not to be missed, with top artists lined up. Don’t miss the amazing live music and catwalk showcase including French Connection with Frankie and the Heartstrings DJ set, Warehouse with Lulu James, Urban Outfitters with Mercury Prize nominees The Invisible and Reiss with Karima Francis. The event is presented by MTV’s Adam Childs.
Tickets from only £5.00 are available from the Welcome Desk, or by calling 0191 227 4757.
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