Are you interested in live performance? Fancy dressing up in period Edwardian attire and heckling the upper classes? Red Ladder Theatre Company is on the look-out for performers to take part in pre-show street theatre in and around the entrance to the City Varieties Music Hall during the run of its show Big Society! A Music Hall Comedy from 18 January – 4 February, which featured on the cover of our December magazines.

Auditions will be held in Red Ladder’s home in the Yorkshire Dance Building on Thursday 5 January from 6pm – 8pm. Red Ladder is looking for auditionees who are 18+ years old, no previous acting experience is necessary but performers must be confident enough to interact with audience members. Selected performers will be on rota throughout the run of the show, performing for half an hour from 7.30pm – 8pm, for 4 – 5 shows, spread out across the run of the show.

Starring comedian Phill Jupitus Big Society! will open the Spring Summer season at the newly-refurbished City Varieties Music Hall. The show is centred around the cast of an Edwardian Music Hall variety show, who are threatened with closure at the hands of the corrupt newspaper ‘The Double Standard’ and features live music from Chumbawamba.

To book a place at the audition please contact Duncan Marwick duncan.marwick@leedscitycollege.ac.uk or call Red Ladder on 0113 245 5311.

Photo: Castmember Kyla Goodey by photographer Tim Smith.

For more details about the company please visit www.redladder.co.uk

Mr Pickwick

Hope Pastures was set up in 1974 to rescue abused horses and donkeys. Along with providing a lovely environment where young people can learn about caring for horses in a natural setting, the sanctuary also runs an adoption scheme.

In the run up to winter, when food and bedding bills are the highest, Hope Pastures needs to increase the number of adoptions to raise much needed funds. The horses and donkeys can be adopted from just £12.50 a year and for this donation supporters will help to feed and look after these animals, safe in the knowledge that none of this money is spent on admin, 100% goes towards the animals’ care.

For each adoption the recipient will receive an adoption certificate, a photograph of their chosen horse or donkey, a history of the animal and the chance to visit 365 days a year. This could be the ideal Christmas or birthday present for animal lovers.

Hope Pastures also runs ‘Pony Days’, where children can spend a day at the sanctuary caring for the ponies during school holidays – gift vouchers are now available.

Adoptions can be completed online at www.hopepastures.org, by dropping in to the sanctuary on Weetwood Lane, or by calling 0113 261 4344.

One of the best places to look is The Vale Stables on Grove Lane in Headingley (07894 733618).

In addition to great trees you’ll find holly and mistletoe, beautiful wreaths made with natural foliage and berries, lovely potted seasonal plants like azaleas and cyclamen, and logs to throw on your fire to roast those chestnuts!

What’s more, a donation from every tree sold goes to Shire Oak School!

Headingley Christmas Art and Craft Fair is tomorrow, Saturday 10^th December, 10am – 4pm at HEART, Bennett Road, Headingley.

It promises to be bigger and better than ever, there will be something for everyone – in addition to 30 art and craft stalls selling quality handmade goods spreading through two or three rooms, there will be music, mince pies and mulled wine in the café, children’s art and craft activities, face painting, and lots more!

With the growth of independent breweries in the local area, and the fantastic reputation that many of them already have, is it any wonder that Ruth Edwards (previously landlady at The Chemic Tavern), and her partner Kevin Cooke, who runs 309 Studios on Meanwood Road, decided to stage the Headingley Ale Festival?

The festival is being held at St Michael’s Parish Hall, St Michael’s Road, in Headingley on 9th, 10th and 11th December and will serve only Yorkshire brews.

“There are loads of amazing new local breweries emerging and the micro brewery industry is bigger than ever at the moment”, said Ruth. “We have opted to select our range from Yorkshire breweries only. Even within the boundaries of the county, there is so much variety and so many wonderful flavours that narrowing the selection down to 45 ales is not easy!”

Yorkshire also boasts a fantastic selection of real cider producers, and there will be a number of ciders to tempt people too. Local selected breweries include: Ridgeside Brewery – Meanwood; Kirkstall Brewery; Burley Street Brewhouse; Leeds Brewery Wharfebank Brewery – Otley. Other Yorkshire favourites are Ilkley, Saltaire, Elland and Copperdragon, and newer include Revolutions, Magic Rock Brewery, Brass Castle and Geeves. The list continues to grow!

To keep up with developments, visit their website at www.headingleyalefestival.co.uk and be sure to drop into the festival to enjoy this celebration of Yorkshire beer.

Headingley Farmers’ Market at The Rose Garden, North Lane, Headingley, 9am – 12.30pm on Saturday 10^th December, is the last before Christmas and possibly the biggest yet! At least 23 stalls are expected, including olives, fish, cheeses, pies, preserves, eggs, meats, vegetables and much more!

The West Yorkshire Brass band will be playing from 10.30am and St Michael’s Church Choir will be singing carols during the morning.

The newly formed Headingley Country Market group will be there with a stall bursting with delicious, homemade cakes, bakes, preserves and treats. Other stalls include Cutting Cakes with their delicious Christmas chocolates and gluten free cakes; Horsforth Blossom Honey, who will also have beeswax candles; Birchfields Farm ice creams and other dairy products; Mays Asian Foods with their delicious samosas, pakoras and curries; Autumn Mushrooms, Thistlemist Soups and Parsnipship (organic and vegan produce).

Headingley Development Trust’s seasonal cards, featuring a print by local artist Jonathan Hooper, will be on sale, as well as the book ‘Our School – Stories and Memories of Bennett Road School Headingley 1882 -2006’.

The Market Group would like to wish everyone a Very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year.

St Gemma’s last Vintage Fair of the year is this weekend (10^th & 11^th December), 10am – 4pm at St. Gemma’s Hospice Conference Centre in Moortown.

There will be a huge range of goods on sale – from clothes to books, furniture to records, jewellery to artwork, all dating from 1920s – 1980s. “What sets us apart from other vintage fairs in the area is that we sell all the vintage and collectable items that have been donated to our 20 charity shops around Leeds – all at really affordable prices”, said event organiser Hayley Avron. “The event is hugely popular, amongst traders, the general public and die-hard vintage fanatics.”

St Gemma’s Hospice provides specialist medical and nursing care for people with life threatening illnesses, and support for their families. Care is provided free of charge, so St Gemma’s relies on donations and local fundraising initiatives to fund their vital service.

Entry is by donation with all proceeds going to the hospice.

As audience members, we don’t often think about what goes into creating the scenes onstage in the theatre and you might be surprised by the level of detail in the sets. As Annie and her band of orphans take to the stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, you will even spot vintage copies of the New York Times, Washington Post and Variety as props, designed and printed especially for the production.

Local printers, Döts Printhaus, were commissioned by The Playhouse to recreated screen printed, period-style copies of the newspapers.

The Döts workshop is a mere skip and a hop from the theatre “We were quite chuffed that they found us in the first place, as we are a relatively new business”, said Jonny Akers, co-founder of Döts. “So, we knew we had to do a great job. We were really pleased with the finished product and can’t wait to see them on stage as part of the performance.”

Set up by Jonny and co-founder Joe Duffield, Döts is a frenzied hub of creativity producing a huge variety of screen printed items, from t-shirts to posters and even upholstery fabric.

The Playhouse project is typical of the jobs they get asked to undertake and the enthusiastic team is always up for a challenge.

For more information about Döts visit their website www.dotsprint.co.uk

Read our review of Annie here.

The St. Gemma’s Hospice Christmas Market takes place at the Hospice Conference centre, 329 Harrogate Road, Moortown, on Friday 2^nd December (3– 8pm) and Saturday 3^rd December (10am – 3pm).

There will be a huge array of stalls and, of course, Santa will be in his Grotto giving out presents. You’ll also find festive food in the bistro, hot dogs on the BBQ, and mulled wine to keep you warm. You will also be able to pick up your real Nordman non-drop Christmas Tree. Their Christmas trees are high quality and very competitively priced (£28 – £30).

A brass band will open the event on Friday and get everyone in the festive mood. Peppa Pig will make an appearance at 4pm and there will be a kids’ tombola alongside the usual stalls and games. On Saturday, entertainment will be provided by a local Rock Choir, as seen on TV!

Entry is by donation and all proceeds go directly to helping fund patient care at St. Gemma’s.

Wheelchair users can gain access 15 minutes before the advertised opening times.

St Gemma’s Hospice provides specialist medical and nursing care for local people with life threatening illnesses and support for their families. The services are provided free of charge, so the hospice relies on donations and local fundraising initiatives in the community.

Christmas time can be a wonderful time of year, but it can also be stressful and difficult for some of us. Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust and Elliot the Elf are here to help!

Starting at The Light, in the city centre on Friday 25^th November, Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust is offering an information and Christmas gift wrapping service at three shopping centres – the others being St John’s Centre and Junction 32.

The Trust will also be introducing Elliot the Elf. Elliot knows better than most how difficult Christmas can be, working extra hard in Santa’s grotto, he realises how important it is to look after his mental ‘elf’ over the Christmas period! Luckily Elliot remembers Santa’s top tips for an ‘elfy Christmas’.

Come along to any of the Christmas gift wrapping sessions to receive a copy of Elliot’s story and Santa’s top tips. Whilst there, take the pressure off and have some of your presents wrapped too. The gift wrapping service will help us to raise funds to purchase Christmas presents for those in hospital over the festivities.

Visit Junction 32 on Friday 2nd December, and The St John’s Centre on Thursday 8th and Friday 16th December.

All sessions run from 11am to 4.30pm.