Cider & Perry Festival at New Continental

The festival is expected to be one of the largest in the North West. Image credit to neon bubble.

The New Continental in Preston, Lancashire is to play host to its first ever cider and perry festival. Over sixty different ciders will be on offer from all over the UK and continental Europe. It will run from Thursday 9th July to Saturday 11th July 2009.

The format will be similar to the Continental’s beer festival held back in May, the cider being dispensed from the pub’s arts space and a marquee erected outside with live music.

Confirmed acts include Manchester indie hopefuls Marble Krusher and Shrieking Violets, Lancaster nu-folk band Ottersgear and Preston’s very own With Knife, The Fifty50s, Baboon and Mrs & Mrs, who have just signed a record deal and are playing festivals including Solfest and Brampton Live.

Green Drinks July networking

This is a guest post from Martin Brown. He is a blogger on the built environment at isite and can be found on twitter @fairsnape. If you’d like to write a guest post for Preston Blog check out how you can get involved.

Green Drinks Lancashire, for people who work in the sustainability, construction, design or any environmental field, has been meeting every two months for the last six months as an informal network and discussion group on all things green.

We are delighted that the New Continental in Preston will host our next meeting on the 7th July

“We have a lively mixture of people from academia, government and business. Come along and you’ll be made welcome. Just say, “are you green?” and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It’s a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making GreenDrinks an organic, self-organising network.”

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity.

For more info twitter @fairsnape

The #hashtag for this event is #GDLancsJuly

Green Drinks Lancs is supported by CWM, fairsnape and Constructing the Future

Summer menu launched at New Continental

Anyone who likes a nice meal out at a good pub will appreciate the food at the New Continental, Preston.

Good news for food lovers, they’ve launched their summer menu. Here’s the detail:

With the Continental classics meeting the seasonal glory that is summer, by the way of local producers – and turning out menu winners such as baked natural smoked haddock topped with mature cheese rarebit over Bury black pudding & dressed leaves; roasted rack of Pendle lamb on a minted mash with green beans and red wine sauce; followed by desserts such as raspberry brulee with yummy Continental-made raspberry meringue ice cream.

We may be visiting shortly for a meal, it’s got our mouths watering!

be2camp: London, Sydney, Birmingham, Arizona and Preston…

This is a guest post from Martin Brown. He is a blogger on the built environment at isite and can be found on twitter @fairsnape. If you’d like to write a guest post for Preston Blog check out how you can get involved.

Possible the first global architecture, construction and facilities management meeting.  June 16th 2009

One year ago an idea to create a network that would explore the use of web technology and social media within the world of the built environment sustainability was born.

Since then be2camp (that’s be, from built environment, 2 from web 2 and camp from the barcamp approach to events) has held physical events, created an online forum for discussion with over 150 members and generated numerous spin off discussions, groups and events around the world

To mark the anniversary, a series of ,tweetups, are being held around the world as an opportunity for people connected with design, construction, facilities management, PR. Web and IT and more to meet chat and network.

We are delighted that the New Continental in Preston will host such an event.

So if you are in any way connected with the world of the built environment or social media, come along on the 16th June between 6 and 8pm.

More details on the be2camp network at http://www.be2camp.com or send a tweet message @fairsnape (that’s me, Martin Brown) or @be2camp

Look forward to seeing you there.

Word Soup #3 @ New Continental

Word Soup, Preston’s live literature night is back later this month on Tuesday 23rd June 2009 at the New Continental. But, the novels have been put down and poetry is back. Here’s some details:

Up until now our focus has been on prose but for Word Soup #3 we’re focusing exclusively on poetry. We’ve three great performance poets booked to perform and – in a change to our usual format, have open mike spots available to book on the night.

Each open mike slot will be for three minutes, and unlike our first two nights, there is no theme – the night is completely open to new and emerging talent.

Sarah Miller is a playwright and performing poet. She recently performed for Apples & Snakes at PUSH in Contact, Manchester and at the Spoken Word Open Mic in the Brewery, Kendal. Sarah is influenced by youth culture, overhearing conversations and Barrow-in-Furness where she lives. Her plays Asboy, Ice Baby and Surfacing were recently toured by the Ashton Group Young Apprentice Actors.

Gary Bridgens is new to the spoken word scene but has been performing as a clown and street performer for 20 yrs. He took part in Superheroes of Slam which was his first slam last year and got through to the semi final. Since then he has impressed audiences with his witty banter and fast patter uke numbers. He has been support act to internationally renowned Polar Bear and he’s been a guest performer and compere for Apples & Snakes in Cumbria.

Ann the Poet has been performing poetry in pubs, theatres and at festivals for fifteen years. She was the Poet Laureate for South Cumbria in 2006. She’s a regular compère at the Brewery spoken word nights and at Solfest. She published her collection Synesthestic last year. She features on the poetry/sonic art net albums The Resting Bench by Ann Wilson and Clutter and The Resting Bench Remix Projects 1, 2 and 3 which can be downloaded free at www.earthmp.com.

Word Soup is a Preston Writing Network event.

Review: Word Soup @ New Continental

This is a guest post by Mel Webster. She is studying at the University of Central Lancashire and blogs at What do you do in Preston? If you’d like to write a guest post for Preston Blog see how you can get involved.

Dave Hartley, who is attempting to write a short story every week of the year, reads at Wordsoup

The second Word Soup event was held at the New Continental on Tuesday 19th May 2009 and for those of you unfortunate enough to have been elsewhere, here’s a roundup of the night…

Dave Hartley who is currently attempting the mammoth feat of writing a short story a week for a year, read a new story especially for us on the theme of the night which was skin.

Special mention has to go to Preston Writing Network contributor and my personal highlight of the night, Richard Hirst, who read a post modern letter to an imaginary giant millipede. I could write that it was very funny (which obviously I just have) but it’s a bit of a beige thing to write and doesn’t do justice to Mr Hirst or his giant millipede.

After a break and music from Mr and Mrs (more of them later) Manchester writer, Annie Clarkson, read some powerful poetry from her collection, Winter Hands.

Andrew Hurley won the “most tenuous link to the theme” prize for the night with a passing reference to dinosaurs in his reading from his collection, The Unusual Death of Julie Christie. The passage described the dynamic between a couple at the start of their relationship and his new girlfriend’s growing bond with his son. Andrew is a confident public reader and I think he made a great impression at the event.

And finally was Emma Lannie who came all the way from Derby and read Proxy.

Then just before the drinking, socialising and general after show scandal which I can not possibly tell you about here there was more music from the rather talented and rather more intense, Mr and Mrs. Think Bright Eyes but with a small plastic keyboard that you play like a recorder.

The next event is on the 23rd of June and is going to be a poetry slam.

View Wordsoup photos.

The first Preston Bloggers Meetup – May 13th

The official Preston Bloggers Meetup logo

After posting the other week about organising a bloggers meetup, we got a good response so we’re going ahead. Here’s the details:

The Preston Bloggers Meetup will be bringing together all the blogging talent in Preston, along with those interested in starting a blog, to find out more about blogging. You do not need to have your own blog to come along.

There will be a guest presentation from pro-blogger, Andy Dickinson, on how to start up and run a successful blog and the opportunity to ask his advice. Find out how it’s easy to setup and get going and add your voice to the blogsphere.

Preston has an ever-growing blog scene and this is the chance for those who blog to come together and meet other bloggers and also pass on tips to those who want to blog.

A few of the more experienced bloggers in the Preston community will be on hand to answer any queries people might have on how they can improve their blog, technical problems or just any issues they might be having. A kind of ‘bloggers surgery’ if you will.

The event will be held in the Snug at the New Continental in Broadgate on Wednesday 13th May 2009. We can only take 40 people, so make sure you register to reserve your place. It’s a 7.30 PM start, we don’t know what time we’ll finish.

If you can’t make it along, you can follow on twitter using the #prestonbloggers tag.

The event is being organised by Preston Blog and Preston Writing Network.

We hope you’ll join us to chill out with a beverage, possibly a laptop and learn/talk about social media.

The logo above is by the lovely Kerry Sholicar, she’s an ace graphic designer we know. She also did the Preston Tweetup logo. And we liked that, a lot.

Review: Word Soup @ New Continental

This is a guest post by Mel Webster. She is studying at the University of Central Lancashire and blogs at What do you do in Preston? If you’d like to write a guest post for Preston Blog see how you can get involved.

Steven Hall (left) and Chris Killen (right) discuss books before taking to the stage for their readings

The Word Soup reading event at the New Continental was the first of its kind in Preston, according to organiser, Jenn Ashworth of Preston Writing Network. With writers ranging from international bestsellers to exciting new unpublished talents, it was a diverse and edgy night out for everyone who came.

The event held in the venue’s event space on Tuesday night got a great reaction from the audience who were treated to readings on the theme of risk.

Organiser and published writer, Jenn Ashworth read from her novel “A Kind of Intimacy” which has been getting rave reviews from the press. Her comic timing brought her dark novel about love and obesity to life.

Speaking afterwards she said: “Despite a few technical hitches and last minute panics, I think it went really well!”

Cult best-seller, Steven Hall (The Raw Shark Texts) impressed with his confident reading of a passage about conceptual information streams from his award winning novel whilst Manchester writer and award winning blogger, Chris Killen (The Bird Room) gave an effective nervous energy to his reading about a paranoid boyfriend hiding his girlfriend’s ex’s bushes.

Watch interviews with Chris Killen and Steven Hall from after the event

Cat Dunlop and Catherine Cable. new writers from the Continental Collective creative writing group, read their own original work and Sally Cook read a hilarious story about stealing apple juice.

Live music in between the readings came from singer/songwriter Ottersgear, who claimed to have named himself after a bridge he used to sometimes sleep under.

Check out the live tweets from the evening at #wordsoup.

See more images from the night.

The next event is on the 19th May and the theme is going to be skin.

Preston Bloggers Meetup anyone?

Anyone will be welcome, from experts to novices

Currently working with Preston Writing Network to organise Preston’s first ‘Bloggers Meet-up’. The aim is to have an event that anyone who blogs in Preston (and the surrounding area) can come to, meet other bloggers, or if you’re interested in setting up a blog you can come and find out more about it from established bloggers. You don’t have to blog about Preston to come along.

As you can see from the list on the right hand side of this blog Preston has a reasonably good blogging scene, there’s plenty of blogs out there and with tools such as Blogspot, Tumblr and WordPress it’s never been easier to set up your own blog.

The format for the evening would be chilled out, networking, with a short presentation by a pro-blogger about a particular topic – we’d probably kick off with something like ‘How to start up a successful blog’ and then a Q&A session. We might also have a ‘surgery session’ where more experienced bloggers have a laptop on hand to talk through issues that people might be having. Mid-May is looking likely for something to happen.

We’re looking at the New Continental pub’s Snug area as a venue, it comfortably takes 30+ people, has wireless access that managed to handle Preston Tweetup.

If you’re interested, or have any ideas about the event then drop a comment below or email prestonblogs@googlemail.com. We would of course have a Twitter hashtag, probably #prestonbloggers for anyone who couldn’t make it but wanted to know what was going on.

Preston to have its own ‘mini-fringe’ festival in July

Becky Edgington and Sam Buist, the organisers of Preston Tringe

“We just want Preston Tringe to be accessible to anyone and everyone”, says Sam Buist enthusiastically, “and allow people to experience a range of theatre, music, literature and other contemporary stuff for a week.”

In the week leading up to the world famous Edinburgh Festival, a small-scale version will be taking place in Preston, Lancashire.

Organised by the team behind Screaming Theatre it’s a chance for Preston to enjoy a diverse range of comedy, music and drama in rather unexpected places.

The venues will include the Adelphi, Ship Inn, The Angel, New Continental and the Avenham Park Pavillion.

Buist said: “We wanted to take this event to the people and make it in places you wouldn’t expect to see drama or these type of events.

“I’d like to think we can detach the stigma that’s sometimes attached to drama and live performance, that’s it’s for those with money and needs to be in a big swanky theatre.”

The Preston Tringe is planned to run from 27th – 31st July and anyone can submit an application to put on a show.

“We’re not being picky,” says Buist, “we want everyone to be involved and have a chance to perform. It doesn’t matter if you’re a semi-professional or complete amateur, there is a place for you at the Tringe.”

The idea for organising the event came when Sam Buist and co-organiser Becky Edington, were at the Edinburgh Festival after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire in 2004.

He said: “Originally we wanted to set up a theatre group, and we did that with Screaming Theatre, but then it evolved further and we thought wouldn’t it be fantastic if Preston had some sort of fringe festival.

“We wanted something that was a bit offbeat and edgy but not too abstract. It’s important that the events are relevant to people and accessible.”

Having the event the week before the Edinburgh Festival means the team are hopeful they can attract some of the acts due to appear at the Edinburgh Festival to put on preview shows for Preston Tringe.

“I think we might be able to pull in some of the shows due to appear at Edinburgh,” says Sam, “but it’s not just about getting touring or big acts in – we want it to be put on local people for local people.”

The Preston Tringe will also be looking to connect with younger people, particularly the 20-40 community in Preston.
He said: “Youth theatre is very well catered for and the big theatres tend to have a strong client base in the over-40s – and generally pretty affluent. I think there’s a real gap for good quality and affordable theatre for 20-somethings.”

The deadline for applications to be submitted for Preston Tringe is May 6th.

The Screaming Theatre Company will next be performing at the Adelphi on April 24th-26th with their show, Bollocks. It tells the story of a solider sent to fight in Northern Ireland, who is shot in the bollocks. It then follows his relationships with people and his struggle finding employment after being discharged from service.

You can connect with Screaming Theatre on Facebook or connect with Preston Tringe on Facebook