February 20th is 'Love Your Pet Day' and it’s a great day to show your love for our little furry friends. Whether you’re a cat lover, a dog lover or you’ve got a family of chimpanzees sharing your home with you, today’s the day to spoil them even more than you normally do and show them how much they mean to your family.
For this weeks chat in the 'Brolly Cafe' page, please send in your stories about your favourite pet, now or in the past.
This weeks Culture Vulture suggestions:
Memoir from Mugsboroughon
18th February from 6.30 to 7.45pm
Philip Grant is best know in Brent for his articles and talks about local history of the Wembley area. This time his presentation is about a favourite book. Although written more than a century ago. “The ragged trousered philanthropists has themes that still resonate today, and it’s author’s own description A story full of human interest and based on the happenings of everyday life: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/memoir-from-mugsborough-a-personal-look-at-the-work-of-robert-tressell-tickets-138610936041?utm_source=eventbrite&utm Japan Foundation
Touring film programme free events from 19 February to the 10 March. Carving out a sense of existence and belonging in Japanese Cinema:https://www.jpf-film.org.uk/
The programme for the event: https://www.jpf-film.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/JFTFP21-Screening-Schedule.pdf
Kimono - Kyoto to catwalk
The complexities of kimono-creation and wear within Japanese society, providing a parallel fashion narrative to our usual French one. It also works because the items in those simple glass cases are fascinating and beautiful. From the flamboyant ruby reds and blazing motifs of a newly minted merchant class to the pared-back (but expensive) minimalism of the elite, the garments on display have intricately woven embroidery patterns. There 5 parts to this and follow on after each other:
Victoria museum lunchtime concert.
As the Chinese New Year celebrations come towards a close, we present another chance to experience highlights of Xiaoxiao Hou’s wonderfully expressive guzheng recital, first performed in the Leggate Theatre in March 2020. This is a fantastic concert to watch , 24th February at 1.15pm:
Cirque De Soleil The Best of Dancing
Amazing to watch, a compilation of dance, with glitz, flick, frame, hip twists, lunge and steps:
Outing the past
Mark LGBT and history month 2021 with the Bishopsgate institute. Join us online to hear from speakers on a range of LGBTQ+ subjects, including the contested history of the Gay Liberation Front, and an oral testimony about being transgender. Speakers include Lisa Power, Katie Robinson, and Dr Ju Gosling FRSA. Free event book a place: https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/activity/outing-the-past
Non-binary and trans people have always been here!
And not least in every recorded society from the ancient world onwards. Why is it then that they’re often absent from the tales and lists of historical figures we hear about? The answer lies, in part, with how history is recorded and who records it:
A special online conversation
Thursday 25 February from 6 - 7:30pm for a special online conversation between BBC newsreader, Jane Hill, Professor Rainbow Murray, Professor of Politics, and Tiana Dinard-Samuel, Queen Mary Students' Union's Vice President Communities. This is being held in celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month. Free to book:
Connected Histories Org
Connected Histories brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single search that allows searching of names, places and dates. Here is a short video guide to introduce you to the key features.
A look at Britain’s extreme weather
Nowadays, a single snowflake is enough to send the country into a panic, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Britain faced freezing weather that brought with it extreme snowfall to all corners of the land.
The Book of Ramallah
25th February from 6.00 to 7.30pm
Ramallah is the cultural, commercial and governmental hub of the West Bank and the stories explore its defiance in resistance against the occupying forces. Characters fall in love, have affairs, poke fun at the heavy military presence, but also see their aspirations cut short, their lives eaten into, their morale beaten down by the daily humiliations of the conflict. Through humour, and precious moments of intimacy, however, we glimpse life inside this city of refuge; an image of hope abiding even under the eye of a merciless occupation.Free to book via eventbrite:
Medieval London
This takes a couple of minutes to start due to a technical hitch but is well worth the wait.
The recording on You Tube of the online/virtual tour of Medieval London: Monks, Mysteries, Muck & Mayhem. To see at you leisure
On the tour we’ll see the ‘sights’, eat & shop medieval style and meander down the narrow lanes (avoiding the chamberpots being emptied from above….witness the construction of William the Conqueror’s terrifying Tower… meet the Lord Mayor Dick Whittington at his newly built Guildhall… all the while meandering through a maze of lanes and cramped courts packed with 100,000 people living cheek to cheek. We’ll ‘brush’ with the Black Death, learn a ‘craft’ with a young apprentice and meditate with monks at Westminster Abbey:
Thanks all for listening and see you all next week.
Corinne