Join the festive season!

Article as it appears on Portsmouth View, 9 December 2016.

It is December and places are getting festive. A Christmas tree is up in my office, ready for us to take our decorations out of the box and put them on display.

Putting up Christmas decorations, can be a lovely family occasion. It is my favourite time of the year even though I only have a very small artificial tree at home.

I buy decorations from places I visit on holiday so that my tree is like a memory tree. It is a good way to remember happy times.

Holiday season is also party season. I am looking forward to see friends and family over the festive period.

Urbond, a Portsmouth community organisation which aims to promote togetherness is holding a Community Christmas Celebration on Saturday 10th December at the Charles Dickens Centre from 8pm.

The Santa Claus show at the New Theatre Royal promises some dancing penguins, and that is enough for me to want to head there and bring the family for a festive season. The show is on until 31st December.

King’s Theatre has always put on a very good traditional panto and this year it is Jack and the Beanstalk. You have until January 1st to catch the show.

Team Locals featured Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls as one of their top music events this season. The ‘Get Better Tour’ will take in 20 cities and on 14th December they will be in Portsmouth Guildhall.

In the spirit of giving, Turner has partnered with Plus 1 so that £1 from every ticket sale goes to War Child, a charity supporting children and families affected by conflict and striving for a world where no child’s life is torn apart by war. You can enjoy a concert and know that you have contributed to a worthy cause.

On 17th and 18th December head down to Guildhall Square for Portsmouth's newest Christmas event. There will be live music, family entertainment, street performers, an arts and crafts tent, film screenings and snow cannons, as well as market stalls selling everything from food and drink to Christmas gifts, vintage clothing and jewellery. That is like our very own Christmas Market!

The most coveted ticket in town right now is the Guildhall’s New Year’s Eve Party on Saturday 31st December. With the masquerade theme, it is a really fancy way to usher in 2017.

Have a happy and safe holiday season!

Comments

‘Southsea dinosaur’ returns

Luna Park 2021, an eagerly anticipated new public artwork for Portsmouth designed by internationally renowned artists Ivan Morison and Heather Peak of Studio Morison will be launched on 2 October 2021 on a celebratory day in Southsea Common. The 1.4 metres bronze sculpture is a tribute to the original 53-foot high 2010 artwork Luna Park, which tragically burned down on Southsea Common. The artists will unveil a new sculpture that responds to ten years of public demand to ‘bring back the Southsea Dinosaur’. The new public artwork will be located within a direct sightline to the position of the original Luna Park sculpture. It will sit on top of a fossil Portland stone plinth with a QR code which when scanned with a smartphone will connect to an Augmented Reality experience. People will be transported to a digital rendering of the original artwork, seemingly standing life-size in front of them on Southsea Common. Viewers will also be able to use their mobile devices to visit a...

Delicious thinly sliced pork in Korean marinade

Sometimes you found a recipe and wrote it down on a piece of paper to try it out. Having done that, you forget where the recipe came from. Likewise this Korean recipe for pork, which turned out to be so delicious we have cooked it for everyone. The marinade is simple to make and yet really packed with flavours. For the Korean marinade you need 3 garlic cloves 1/2 brown onion 1/2 a pear or apple Blitz these ingredients together and then add 5 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Kikkoman) 3 tablespoons caster sugar 2 tablespoons sesame oil 3 tablespoons mirin black pepper For dinner for 2 people, 200g pork tenderloin is enough. Slice this thinly, and bash it to an even thinner piece with a meat mallet. Marinade in the sauce and leave it in the fridge for an hour. Then heat a frying pan on medium heat with a teaspoon of vegetable oil and fry the thin pork pieces until browned. You want some of the edges of the meat to be dark brown and caramelised, if you can. Don't cook too many pieces or ...

The irresistible attraction of Sherlock Holmes

The silhouette of Sherlock Holmes, with his deerstalker hat, pipe and magnifying glass, is instantly recognisable. The stories have been translated into many languages, and new stories are always being written. All over the world actors have made their name by playing the famous – and infinitely malleable – detective, and groups meet to discuss and dress as characters from the stories. But what is behind this extraordinary attraction to the character of Holmes? Go along to the Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, to listen to Michael Gunton, Senior Archivist at Portsmouth City Library, who will explore some of the reasons for our enduring fascination with Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps due to the hugely popular television series starting Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Holmes is often mistaken for a historical figure, rather than a fictional creation. An extensive collection of items relating to Conan Doyle is housed in the Library’s second floor history suite, and M...

SouthseaScene

Search This Blog