FAB FOUR FIREPOWER: Beatles Musical Tribute Band at Firepower’s Museum Cafe

Firepower, The Royal Artillery Museum is preparing for a Fab Four Finale to its first season of Firepower Nights in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. A Beatles musical tribute band will perform in Firepower’s Museum Café on the evening of Saturday 6 March, 2010. Firepower Nights sees entertainment and dining combine in the historic but relaxed setting of the Royal Arsenal museum and the £6.50 tickets can be prebooked on 020 8312 7123 020 8312 7123

“The first season of Firepower Nights has proved very popular", says Frank Crosby, Firepower spokesperson “We will be announcing the next programme very soon and it’s sure to feature live entertainment and fun quizzes. The Museum is pleased to be leading this vital social aspect of the regeneration of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and the events we have staged have been unanimously popular with everyone who came”.

More than 40 years since the Beatles released Sgt Pepper, experience a musical tribute night to the Fab Four. Bar snacks and evening menu will be available. Tickets costs just £6.50.

Firepower is located in the historic Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London, between the A206 and the Thames.

In Love with Van Gogh!

I must have been a teenager when I happened upon a book in my father's library entitled Lust for Life which was a journey of sorts into the life of Vincent Van Gogh. As with most experiences at that age it felt intense, exhilarating, rebellious and dare I say even one of the most romantic books I had read at the time. To think that someone would cut their ear off as a gift to a loved one well that just sealed the deal for me. I was inlove with Van Gogh.

We are in the present, and alas the teenager no more, I was still excited to know that not only would Van Gogh's work of art but also his letters were to be centre stage at the Royal Academy of Arts here in London. I excitedly counted the days to when I could go and see the paintings maybe even smell them and be close to my teenage crush of long ago. As one would, I wondered if my love for Van Gogh had been a passing thing of youth or was it more? Had the tears I had shed on reading about his final days been the incomprehension and sensitivity of youth? Had I over dramatized?

The day came and off I went to Royal Academy of Arts and from the first moment I was there it felt like a date with destiny. I was always meant to see this and to feel this way. Each painting seemed to be addressing me, beckoning to me, knowing I had loved it with such intensity, with such innocence and with such youthful vigour. And what better love than youthful love? Van Gogh himself seemed to greet me and me alone as if the man himself knew that I was there to see him and him alone. It was a meeting of old souls who'd met long ago yet still the flame burned on. "Hello dear one, it has been a long time coming but finally we meet face to face."

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters runs at the Royal Academy of Arts until 18 April, 2010

Exhibition at Viewfinder Gallery: Make Your Mark

Exhibition dates: 14 to 31 January 2010Photographers: Naomi Stannard, Anna Hindocha & Ioana Marinescu,Curator: Louise Forrester.

'Make Your Mark' brings together the striking work of three photographers – each series explores how the placing of a mark in an environment recreates the space. Marks are documented at three very different scales: in cupboards, in rooms and across cities.

Naomi Stannard's series 'The House I Once Called Home' documents her childhood home, and the ways in which personal belongings transform a built space into a home. By photographing each meticulously labeled cupboard, the artist creates her own archive, and in effect, a portrait of her family through their own marking.

Anna Hindocha's work investigates the personal and political use of urban space in London. The artist photographs modifications made to rooms by their inhabitants, from eccentric workshops to murals in squatted social centres. Her series 'The People's City' examines manipulated spaces that appear static, but through their physical modifications speak of history and activity.

Architectural photographer Ioana Marinescu's documentation of gas pipes in Romania reveals how the insertion of a line changes the perception of a space completely. The pipes can be seen as inadvertent municipal branding, as the yellow line of pipes traverses the city.

Curator Louise Forrester comments: "I'm delighted to exhibit these three intriguing projects, which are each so visually distinct but all speak of the marks we make on our environments. I hope that these images will encourage visitors to become aware of their own mark making, and to think about reading the marks that surround us all."

Whether subtle manipulation or willful transformation, Make Your Mark imaginatively considers the many ways in which our personal histories are written in the spaces that surround us. This unique exhibition is a timely reminder of our relationships to our environments,and should not be missed.

This exhibition follows the 2008 exhibition 'Marking/Erasing' at the Viewfinder, in which mark making was employed as part of the image making process.

Make Your Mark is supported by Ambigraph

Upcoming Workshop: Make Your Mark
31 January, free
2-5pm

Join two of the exhibiting photographers (Anna Hindocha and Naomi Stannard) for a creative workshop, accompanying the exhibition 'Make Your Mark'.

Recycle your Christmas cards with the Woodland Trust at Greenwich Shopping Park

Give a present back to the environment this Christmas by recycling your cards with the Woodland Trust.

By recycling your cards in special bins in WHSmith at Greenwich Shopping Park, off Bugsby’s Way in Charlton, this January, you will be helping the charity reach its target – to plant 12,000 native trees or an area of woodland half the size of London Zoo!

Since the Woodland Trust started its Christmas Card Recycling Scheme, a total of 659m cards have been recycled - 59m last year alone, which funded the planting of 14,000 trees.

In the 12 years of the project, 13,080 tonnes of cards have been collected, allowing the Trust to plant 155,000 trees

The big difference this year is that if people visit our web site and pledge to recycle, they can choose the planting region for the trees they are helping to fund.

To pledge, simply click onto www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/cards.

Paul Hetherington, from the Woodland Trust said: “Each year we value the wonderful support from everyone who recycles their Christmas cards with the Trust, which makes a huge difference to our work! This is why we want to say a big thank you this year by giving people the opportunity to choose where their trees are planted.”

Money to enable the Trust to plant trees is generated from donations from the participating retailers.