A specially curated guide to help you enjoy the next 48 hours (or more) in Bath
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JUST ANNOUNCED | WELCOME BACK
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Theatre Royal Bath announce Lights Up season |
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Today, Theatre Royal Bath has announced a packed programme of drama, comedies, thrillers, musicals and a Christmas pantomime programmed for the year ahead as it prepares to re-open in May in line with the government’s roadmap.
Drama highlights in the season include a visit by one of the world's greatest actors, Ralph Fiennes, in the world premiere stage adaptation of T.S.Eliot's masterpiece, Four Quartets; Michael Frayn's multi award-winning Copenhagen, starring Philip Arditti, Haydn Gwynne and Malcolm Sinclair; David Mamet's riveting Oleanna, starring Jonathan Slinger and Rosie Sheehy which returns to the Ustinov Studio prior to a West End run; A Splinter of Ice, a new play by Ben Brown, about the friendship between Graham Greene and Kim Philby starring Oliver Ford Davies and Stephen Boxer, and Ronald Harwood's evocative portrait of backstage life, The Dresser, starring Julian Clary and Matthew Kelly.
Thrillers range from Susan Hill's hugely acclaimed ghost story, The Woman in Black to a new adaptation of Peter James' Looking Good Dead starring Adam Woodyatt and Dan Brown's exhilarating blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code.
A wealth of comedy includes three equally hilarious productions from the UK's favourite farceurs, Mischief - The Play That Goes Wrong, Groan Ups and Magic Goes Wrong; Noël Coward's classic gem Private Lives, starring Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodge; a new stage version of the much-loved sitcom The Good Life; Told by an Idiot's acclaimed story of the most famous comedy double act that nearly was, Charlie and Stan; London Classic Theatre brings Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular, a comic tour-de-force which fuses a potent mix of farce and black comedy, and locally-based, award-winning New Old Friends perform their latest comedy thriller, Crimes, Camera, Action.
The pizzazz of the West End comes to Bath in the form of hit musicals Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s phenomenal smash hit musical about Henry VIII’s wives, SIX, returns to the Theatre Royal after enjoying huge success on its first visit in Spring 2020. Traditional family pantomime returns for Christmas when Bath favourite Jon Monie stars in the best loved pantomime of them all, Cinderella.
The Ustinov Studio is presenting a vibrant Visiting Company Season of comedy, music and drama; The Egg theatre's much feted Egg Assembly presents an exciting range of summer schools, and students from Bath Theatre Academy showcase their work both on stage and online.
General booking for all shows at the Theatre Royal Bath opens on 19 April via the Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at theatreroyal.org.uk
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HUGE ACHIEVEMENT | WEST COUNTRY START-UP
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Specialist masks made by Bristol-based start-up company, Muzl, will be making their debut appearance at the Skateboarding National Championships held at Graystone Action Sports Academy in Manchester this Sunday (11 April). The face masks, which are waterproof, sweat wicking, breathable and reflective, will be worn by Great Britain's skateboard team, who are competing to make the Tokyo 2021 Olympic team. This is a huge achievement for the start-up as American multinational corporation Nike is supplying the Olympic kits for both France and the USA.
Muzl was originally developed by athletes after realising how many people needed to take their mask on and off regularly at work or at play. They needed a two-in-one mask that was always close to hand and enabled flexibility around sports, working and eating out.
Outside of sport, the face masks are designed to be put around your wrist as a wallet (pictured left) and, according to Muzl, are ideal for electric scooter users and for nights out when lockdown ends. Muzl provides a free pollution filter and uses compostable sugar cane packaging.
10 per cent of sales will be going to the mental health charity, MIND. On 19 April, Muzl's director, Tony Higson, will be speaking live at midday on BBC Radio Bristol about mental health.
The one-day competition will be the only British Olympic qualification event leading up to the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Watch the championships this Sunday on iPlayer and look out for Muzl's masks!
Shop online at: muzl.co.uk
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INDIE SHOP SHOUT OUT | FINE PATISSERIE
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After a successful couple of years trading at Bath Farmers’ Market, Sugarcane Studio opened their first shop on Grove Street last year – just round the corner from the picturesque Pulteney Bridge.
Sugarcane Studio brings a taste of fine patisserie with a subtle Asian twist – a fabulously fresh and exciting combination.
Why not grab a coffee and a delicious sweet treat at Sugarcane Studio this weekend. We can't wait to get back out there and support our local indies!
thebathmagazine.co.uk; sugarcanestudio.co.uk
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OBJECTS OF DESIRE | TAKE TWO GMTs
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Rolex GMT Master II and Tudor Black Bay GMT |
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Greenwich Mean Time sets the standard for all time zones around the world. The GMT bezel was developed in the 1950s due to the rise in commercial air travel. It was a clever way to help transatlantic pilots keep track of local and Greenwich Mean Time.
A GMT watch allows you to quickly see the time in multiple time zones. The additional GMT hand rotates over a period of 24 hours and points to whichever hour is set by rotating the 24-hour bezel one click anti-clockwise for every hour of the destination time zone.
The Rolex Reminiscent of the iconic ‘Root Beer GMT’ the GMT Master II Everose Rolesor has done nothing but impress since its Baselworld release in 2018. Housing a new technically advanced 3285 calibre, with 70-hour power reserve, this model is eye-catching and stylish with its two-colour brown and black Cerachrom insert in ceramic, moulded numerals and graduations as well as all the qualities one would expect of this marque. £11,850
The Tudor In recent years, Tudor has seen a meteoric rise courtesy of its über cool Black Bay GMT. Demonstrating its iconic roots with the 1969 inspired ‘Snowflake’ hands, this popular watch has the practical advantage of displaying worldwide time zones by way of the in-house manufactured movement and the blue and red ‘Pepsi’ bezel makes the perfect companion for the modern discerning traveller. £3,040
Click here to enter the watch gallery at Mallory Jewellers.
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OUR APRIL ISSUE | GREAT READING STARTS HERE
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New issue – OUT NOW! |
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As always, there are many great reads by our team of wonderful writers and contributors as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses. We hope you'll enjoy the read!
15,000 copies are delivered door to door, and you can pick up a copy at many places around town and from our stands around the city.
Alternatively, click here to read the digital version
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IN SEARCH OF | BATH'S LOCKDOWN IMAGES
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Photographs in lockdown
The Bath Preservation Trust (BPT) has launched a project where people are being asked to submit photos that document their experiences of how the three periods of lockdown affected the streets and landscape in and around Bath.
BPT is inviting local residents to submit their images of the city, taken during one of the most extraordinary times in the city’s 2,000-year history.
“Whether they are of empty pavements, pictures of rainbows in front windows, signs reminding people to wash their hands or maintain social distancing, car-free roads or socially distanced gatherings in public spaces, we’d love to receive photos that reflect the way in which our World Heritage City’s appearance changed during the past year,” says Bath Preservation Trust’s Chief Executive Caroline Kay. “These images will form an important historical record of lockdown life in the city, creating an accessible archive that will help to show future generations what the city was like in this historic time.”
From smart phone snaps to shots taken with a professional camera, individual images or an entire collection, if you would like to contribute to the project – with or without copyright – please send your photographs to jrobinson@bptrust.org.uk
Selected images will be shared across BPT’s social media platforms with a credit, and may also form part of future exhibitions. Images will be stored in the BPT archive, which is accessible to the public by appointment.
bath-preservation-trust.org.uk
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FROM THE MAGAZINE | BORED OF THE BARD?
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The problem with Shakespeare
Gerie Herbert wonders why a writer who died four centuries ago still holds such a big place in the nation’s heart and considers why many people don’t connect with his work and yet find this hard to admit to. Look for the magic and the poetry, she advises.
Enjoy a five minute read here
Pictured left: Simon Gregor as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre Royal Bath 2016. Photograph by Nobby Clark
Pictured right: David Haig as King Lear and Edward Postlethwaite as Edgar in King Lear, Theatre Royal Bath 2013. Photograph by Nobby Clark
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BEAUTY MUST-HAVES | LATEST LAUNCH
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Add more shine!
In a single gesture, the richness of the lipstick and the shine of the lip shine are finally reconciled. Intensity, long-lasting hold and plumping effect combined in an exclusive patented formula developed by Chanel Research: this is the feat of Rouge Coco Bloom.
chanel.com
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Shake it up, baby!
Shake Up Cosmetics are on a mission to break down the barriers and stigma around men’s cosmetics, by offering easy-to-use products with unique formulas, specifically designed for men.
The Discovery Bundle
Choose any shade of Let’s Face It BB Tinted Moisturiser, and Eye Eye Captain Under Eye Concealer and Moisturiser, plus Lip Life To the Full Volumising and Moisturising Lip Gel. Vegan and cruelty free, bespoke formulation.
All three products, £50; shakeupcosmetics.com
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Applications open for new Musical Director
The Handful, one of Bath’s most respected chamber choirs, is seeking to appoint a new Musical Director to commence in September 2021.
The choir has an enviable reputation as a high quality, versatile choir of 20–25 auditioned singers. Founded in 2002 by a small group of experienced musicians, the choir has grown in size and stature first under the direction of award-winning conductor, Christopher Finch (2005 -2018) and further still under the direction of Tomos Watkins (since 2018).
Performances range from a cappella concerts to larger-scale works with chamber orchestra, and repertoire from the 16th to the 21st Century: sacred and secular, serious and light. The choir collaborates with some of the region’s best instrumentalists and singers, and has also toured abroad, recently to Ireland and Italy. Rehearsals take place on Tuesday evenings in Bath, and the choir normally performs three or four concerts each season.
The closing date for applications is 30 April. Auditions will be held in Bath on the evenings of 29 June and 6 July.
For further information including a full job description and details on how to apply please visit thehandful.org
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WEEKEND WINE | PLANET-FRIENDLY WINES
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Celebrate Earth Day on 22 April |
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Thursday 22 April is Earth Day. Here are six wines that are not only delicious but are produced as sustainable, organic and kind to their environment.
Côtes de Provence 'Esprit Gassier' – Château Gassier, France Officially certified organic in 2016, to "preserves the natural balance and ensure the wines are a truer expression of the terroir". This wine also won a Gold Medal at Global Rosé Masters 2018. It has great complexity of floral aromas, white peach and exotic fruits. It is round, full and elegant, with lovely juicy pear on the mid-palate and a vivacious finish. £14.50
Cuma Organic Malbec – El Esteco, Argentina Made with organically grown grapes, this savoury red wine is a thrilling mix of dark, brooding fruit and fragrant, punchy spice. Cuma is a project born in 2005 with the objective to develop agriculture and winemaking in harmony with the environment and the culture. Meaning 'pure and clean' in the language of the Aymará, Cuma expresses a commitment to continue with the legacy of the indigenous peoples and to preserve the environment for future generations. £8.95
12e Mezzo Bianco Puglia IGP – Vigne e Vini, Italy This is an organic white wine, with a straw yellow colour and green hints. On the nose, its elegant aromatic bouquet is reminiscent of floral mimosa notes, with fruity and citrus aromas. On the palate, its slightly acid balance makes it fresh and long. It perfectly matches with raw fish, shellfish and season salads. £12.50
Tresor Brut Reserva Cava – Pere Ventura, Spain Pere will only use organic treatments in the vineyard and everything is geared towards preserving the local ecosystem, and is a member of Wineries for Climate Protection. A vivacious, fresh wine with a fine bead and golden sparkle that brings you the true taste of Barcelona. £13.25
Kottabos Grenache-Syrah – Boschkloof Wines, South Africa Reenen Borman utilises a sustainable approach in both farming and winemaking, all grapes are handpicked to secure the quality of fruit and a hands-off approach towards the winemaking to showcase the sense of place in the wines. Beautifully perfumed red fruit aromas. Fresh but with a firm tannin structure. Elegantly poised. £17.75
Sauvignon Blanc – Seresin Estate, New Zealand Michael Seresin set out to create wines in the most natural way possible – organic and biodynamic certifications are matched by full biodiversity in the vineyard, animal husbandry farming, alongside cultural/social diversity of staff in the winery. This Sauvignon Blanc is highly textured and, above all, delicious and poised. Showing a positive effect from extended ageing on lees and barrel ageing, wild yeast and a splash of Sémillon. £17.25
In support of Earth Day The Great Wine Co are donating 5% of all sales of Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable and Kind wines to UK conservation charities: Rewinding Britain and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Click here to see The Great Wine Co’s range of Planet Friendly wines
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HEALTH AND FITNESS | EXCITING NEWS
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Peloton showroom set to open in Bath next week |
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Peloton, the global interactive fitness platform that revolutionised the fitness industry, will be opening its latest showroom in Bath on 12 April. Located in SouthGate Bath on St Lawrence Street, the new showroom will be the company's 20th retail opening in the UK.
Peloton's latest showroom will provide consumers with the chance to experience Peloton's suite of connected fitness products including the Peloton Bike, Peloton Bike+ and Peloton Tread.
Set within a premium environment over two floors, the 565sqm space will incorporate five private trial rooms, as well as a main area all set up for personalised demonstrations.
To complement the experience, customers will be able to shop the latest Peloton apparel. In addition, the Bath showroom team will be available for virtual appointments, where customers can ask any questions they may have about Peloton's products. Both in-person and virtual appointments will be bookable online.
onepeloton.co.uk
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PICNICS AND PARTIES | IT'S A KOPITA
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Recipe by Melissa Blease |
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Spanakopita |
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This traditional Greek pie is the ultimate spring/summertime flexible friend, perfect for picnics, parties or a light lunch. Vegetarian-friendly and adaptable to all occasions, the exceedingly moreish combination of crisp flaky filo, succulent spinach and melted cheese is downright irresistible.
Spanakopita is a doddle to put together, but a handful of rules must be adhered to. Be fast when working with the filo pastry, as it tends to dry out quickly if left out of the packet for too long. Melted butter can be substituted with olive oil, but don't skimp on laminating the layers. Don't add salt to the filling as the feta is salty enough, and don't forget to pre-heat the baking tray on which you'll cook the pie as nobody likes a soggy bottom. And finally... when out of the oven, resist the temptation to eat your Spanakopita hot as it's prone to meltdown, so allow the filling to settle for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
I've made a big Spanakopita here, but you can easily adapt the same recipe into a tray bake for picnics or dinky triangular patties, perfect as part of a mezze feast (just reduce the baking time accordingly). If you're serving it a main course, team it with a well-dressed seasonal salad, a selection of Greek dips (taramasalata, tzatziki, skordalia etc) and warm pitta bread. Yiamas!
Ingredients (makes one large pie, serves 4–6)
1 x 270g pack filo pastry 400g spinach, steamed until wilted 5 large free range eggs 350g feta cheese, crumbled 50g Cheddar cheese, grated Around 175g sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped Handful of chopped black olives; handful of lightly toasted pine nuts (optional) Melted butter, for laminating the pastry Lemon juice, nutmeg, dried oregano and black pepper, for seasoning
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark and place a baking tray on the middle shelf to heat up.
2. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk briefly with a fork. Add both cheeses, the sundried tomatoes, the spinach, a splash of lemon juice and generous sprinkles of dried oregano, nutmeg and black pepper. If using olives and pine nuts, add them to the mix too. Stir well until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
3. Brush a large cake/pie tin (preferably springform) with a generous amount of melted butter. Unroll the filo and – working quickly – line the tin with 3-4 layers of pastry, brushing each layer with melted butter as you go, leaving a slight overhang around the top of the tin.
4. Spoon the cheese/spinach mixture into the pastry case and top with another 3-4 layers of filo, again brushing each layer with melted butter, folding the pastry overhang in on the second layer to make a neatly encased 'parcel'.
5. Brush the top of the pie with a final slick of melted butter, place onto the preheated baking sheet in the oven and bake for around 20 minutes until crisp and golden on top.
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THEATRE NEWS | ANNA'S FINAL BOW
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Theatre Royal Bath’s long-serving marketing manager retires
The Theatre Royal Bath’s Anna O’Callaghan is set to retire on 16 April after more than 38 years at Bath’s historic theatre.
Director Danny Moar said, “Anna has made a remarkable contribution to the growth and development of the Theatre Royal as it established itself firstly as an independent charitable trust in the 1980s and then grew over the years into one of the country’s leading theatres. The consistently high ticket sales over the years are a testament both to Anna’s profound marketing acumen and her knowledge and understanding of our audience.”
Anna O’Callaghan said, “It has been a huge privilege to work at this beautiful historic building in glorious Bath, doing my perfect job for so many years. There is no feeling so exhilarating as looking out at a packed auditorium as the lights dim and the audience goes quiet with anticipation; to be surrounded by a house so rapt you can’t even hear a pin drop or engulfed in an explosion of rapturous applause and to know that your efforts may have played some part in encouraging those people to make the decision to be there. “I have been able to see a huge range of shows, more than 1500, often starring the UK's finest actors and I have been fortunate to work alongside some wonderful colleagues.”
Anna O’Callaghan joined the marketing department in 1982 as a secretary at an extraordinary time for the Theatre Royal which was soon to re-open after a major refurbishment. The official re-opening was on 30 November, marked by a grand re-opening Performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, attended by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
At the start of the next decade, in the early 1990s, Anna became head of the marketing department. In 2005, Anna wrote a book to mark the Theatre Royal’s bicentenary, Past Present Future: A Recent History of the Theatre Royal Bath, covering an eventful 26-year period in the theatre’s recent history from 1979 to 2005.
theatreroyal.org.uk
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ON THE BOX | SUPERHERO COMEDY
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Two childhood best friends reunite as an unlikely crime-fighting superhero duo when one invents a formula that gives ordinary people superpowers.
Starring Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman and Bobby Cannavale, this is the fifth collaboration between McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, who wrote, directed and starred in Thunder Force.
Watch it on Netflix today!
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TAKE FOUR RECIPES | ...AND A FOOD PROCESSOR
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As indulgently luxurious as classic combos such as chicken liver or Ardennes may be, pâté doesn't need to be rich, meaty or complicated. Most people don't realise it, but everybody has a pâté in their fridge and/or store cupboard – as long as you've got a food processor raring to go, you're just moments away from either an elegant starter or a speedy on-toast quick fix. Or, add a simple salad, a pile of roasted vegetables and a wedge of fresh baguette to any of the recipes below, and that's a spring supper, sorted!
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Mackerel and Horseradish Pâté
Roughly shred approx. 160-200g ready-to-eat smoked mackerel fillets into the bowl of a food processor. Add approx. 30g melted butter, the juice and zest of half a lemon and three roughly chopped spring onions, and blend until smooth. Divide the mixture between 4 lightly greased ramekins and sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley. Melt approx. 20g butter with 1 generous tsp hot horseradish sauce and carefully pour or spoon over the top of the pâté. Finish with a flourish of freshly ground black pepper and refrigerate until the horseradish butter has set.
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Mushroom & Tarragon Pâté
Vegetarian
Gently sauté 2 finely chopped shallots and 1 finely chopped leek in around 50g butter until soft and translucent (about 5–6 minutes). Increase the heat slightly and add 200g finely chopped chestnut mushrooms and cook for around 10 minutes until the mushrooms are tender and their juices have evaporated, adding 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) for the last couple of minutes. Add 2 tsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard and 2 tbsp crème fraîche, stir well and cook for a further couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in 2–3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon before dividing between 4 ramekins. Allow to cool; serve chilled or at room temperature. No fresh tarragon to hand? Add 1–2 tsp dried tarragon to the mushrooms.
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Vegan
Tip approx. 10–12 plump sun-dried tomatoes (from a jar) into the bowl of a processor with 2 tbsp oil (from the sun-dried tomato jar), the juice of 1 lemon and 2–3 tbsp cold water. Blend until smooth. Add 1 x 400g tin butterbeans, cannellini or white kidney beans (drained) and the leaves from 5–6 sprigs of fresh thyme, season to taste and blitz again until creamy. Serve chilled.
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Sun-dried Tomato and White Bean Pâté
Vegan
Tip 1 x 400g tin kidney beans (drained) into the bowl of a food processor with around 70g chopped walnuts, 1 clove garlic (peeled), 1 tbsp fresh lime juice, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, ½ tsp ground cumin and a handful of fresh coriander (inc. stalks). Season well and blitz thoroughly until smooth. Serve chilled. Also makes a wonderful topping for jacket potatoes.
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REOPENING NEWS | MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
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Following a year-long closure due to the pandemic, the Fashion Museum Bath is provisionally due to reopen on 18 May 2021 with a stunning new exhibition called Shoephoria!.
Showcasing 200 pairs of boots and shoes, Shoephoria! will showcase the evolution of shoe style over the last 300 years, and will run into 2022.
The exhibition will include shoes worn by iconic figures from British cultural life, including Nicola Adams in Strictly Come Dancing 2020, actors Noel Coward and Margaret Lockwood, music hall star Fred Kitchen, and ballerinas Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova. Shoephoria! aims to demonstrate the creativity and style of shoemakers and wearers throughout history.
A History of Fashion in 100 Objects will also be on show at the Fashion Museum when it reopens.
The Victoria Art Gallery in Bath is also set to reopen on 18 May, with a major new exhibition by celebrated British painter Kurt Jackson, whose passion for nature and commitment to the environment are central to his work. This new exhibition, Biodiversity, will display works seen for the first time, highlighting important issues around biodiversity.
The reopening of the Fashion Museum and the Victoria Art Gallery will be subject to Government guidance, and appropriate Covid-19 safety measures will be put in place, for example pre-booking for all tickets and a one-way system to enable physical distancing. Please check the Fashion Museum website for the latest information.
fashionmuseum.co.uk; victoriagal.org.uk
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THE KIOSK | MAGAZINE MOMENTS
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Curated by Daniel McCabe – Magalleria
The Modernist is a booklet-type journal published by the non-profit Modernist Society in Manchester, a group highlighting under-appreciated aspects of 20th-century architecture and design. They argue that for decades we’ve been ignoring or putting in the dustbin things that are both highly innovative and culturally significant. So for issue #38 they go into the modernist kitchen to examine a wide range of subjects including American streamlining, Cornishware, the Stelton EM Press, beer mats and the work of Charlotte Perriand. It’s all fascinating, and of course it’s wrapped in avocado covers.
£7; magalleria.co.uk
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ON THE BOOKSHELF | ON BELONGING
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Review by Saskia Hayward, Topping & Co. |
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The Yak Dilemma |
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"Four walls don’t make a home or a house – it takes some doing"
The Yak Dilemma, the first full-length collection from Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal, is a journey in poem form that traverses continents, mapping out a search for belonging as heartfelt as it is witty.
It is a transportive sliver of a book, revealing the depths contained in the empty-space of life as only the best poets can. She charts the expanses held in the in-between moments, where “all the hands I’ve ever held rest with me on the sheets in a hotel.” We glimpse fixed points of a life in motion that journeys from Palampur to Edinburgh to Cairo, an uprooted existence that questions the very notions of place and home that underwrite our lives.
It’s the latest book to emerge from the brilliant indie publisher Makina Books. Their previous publication Strangers: Essays on the Human and the Nonhuman by Rebecca Tamás is a collection of essays that sets out to trouble the boundaries that separate the human and the nonhuman, woven together with posthumanist philosophy and literary insight – another bookseller favourite.
Makina Books, £10, publishes 15 April; toppingbooks.co.uk
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Review by Saskia Hayward, Topping & Co. |
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Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition |
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Minor Feelings is a collection of essays by poet Cathy Park Hong that detail her interrogation of Asian American identity.
Through the lens of her lived experience – growing up the daughter of Korean immigrants in Los Angeles – Cathy traces the fault lines that surround Asian American identity in the US. She captures with poetic precision the feelings of melancholy and discomfort that arise in the gap between your perceived identity and the space you feel you inhabit – as well as the possibilities of solidarity that can emerge.
Many of the myths surrounding racial identity are steeped in violent racism – the fetishisation of Asian women, for example – but others are more subtly insidious, such as the notion of Asian Americans as ‘model immigrants.’ The ‘minor feelings’ of her title refer to the minute gaslighting, the microaggressions that are woven into the very fabric of Asian-American experience, in her words, “the racialised range of emotions that are negative, dysphoric, and therefore untelegenic.”
Profile, £9.99; toppingbooks.co.uk
Books are available for collection or post via the Topping & Co. website, or at the door.
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RICHARD WYATT TALKS... | SYDNEY GARDENS
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Makeover for Sydney Gardens |
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It’s all systems go in Bath’s historic Sydney Gardens at present where this former Georgian pleasure ground is receiving a makeover funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and B&NES Council.
The old bowling greens and pavilion are making way for the construction of a new play area for children. With so much earth being moved in a levelling process, an ‘archaeology watch’ is being maintained on site in case anything of interest is revealed.
However, it Is thought the original level of the park is lower than anywhere where digging is taking place and that, when Brunel supervised the cutting out of a channel for his Bristol to London railway line, a lot of earth would have been moved and spread into the park.
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So far finds have tended to be more Roman than Georgian, with shards of coarse kitchen ware pottery dating from around 150–200 AD and imported from the Rhineland. The park did have an earlier history as a Roman burial ground. A tombstone was unearthed during its construction and throughout the 19th and into the early 20th century other indications of Roman activity were uncovered, including several stone coffins containing human remains, a coin, and decorated Roman pottery.
The current watch on digging activities has also unearthed material discovered that dates to when the gardens were first laid out in the 18th century, but these will be assessed later in the project.
Find out more about what’s happening at the Holburne Museum at the end of Great Pulteney Street via bathnes.gov.uk
bathnewseum.com
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HOMES & GARDENS | AWARD-WINNING SPECIALISTS
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lux:ply is one of Bath’s newest homeware businesses and is fast becoming a destination for design-led furniture in the city. Using reclaimed waste from larger partner manufacturers lux:ply produces beautiful plywood furniture with massively reduced ecological impact. The collection includes ready-made homeware, limited edition pieces, and a customisable furniture system including a popular range of trestle tables and benches, wall-shelves, bookcases and noticeboards. A fully bespoke design and build service is also available for larger freestanding and fitted projects. Head to the lux:ply website today to shop the collection online or get in touch to visit the city centre Studio-Showroom and discuss your custom or bespoke requirements.
Online shop: luxply.co.uk Studio and showroom by appointment only, contact: bath@luxply.co.uk.
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PROPERTY OF THE WEEK | A HISTORIC GEM
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Garden Maisonette, The Circus, Bath |
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Number 27 The Circus was refurbished as a whole property some 30 years ago and three elegant apartments were created.
The Garden Maisonette occupies over half of the Grade I listed building and is a unique and special property laid out over three floors, the ground floor, a garden level and lower ground floor.
On the ground floor are two beautiful and spacious reception rooms both boasting a wealth of period features and a rare ‘dumb waiter’ lift down to the kitchen below.
The reception rooms are complimented by three very large bedrooms, one on the garden level and a further two on the lower ground floor, each with its own bathroom or shower room.
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The wonderful kitchen/breakfast room has the original range and dresser within it together with an Aga. In addition, below the study, is a conservatory which leads out to what without doubt is one of the most stunning south-facing gardens in the city centre featuring a beautiful magnolia tree.
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