Do I Love You - play by John Godber

We went to see 'Do I Love You?' at the Theatre last Friday.  It's by John Godber and is a wonderful play, a rollercoaster of emotions,  interspersed with Northern Soul music and a slick, excellently choreographed group of three terrific actors, who bring their characters' various stories and their love of Northern Soul to life.

Chris and I are fans of John Godber's work and Chris has directed and starred in 'Bouncers', about a group of bouncers at a nightclub, and about group of boys and girls going out to the nightclub, by turns funny, sad, and definitely thought-provoking, all set to music of the time, which is probably John Godber's best known work.

 

Photo above and info below from the website here.

"Why not join twenty somethings Sally, Nat and Kyle in this hilarious comedy as they develop a love for, and the people involved with, Northern Soul. What started as a College project has grown into a passion, but the dance steps are exhausting. Far beyond their home city of Hull our trio find excitement, purpose and the tribe they’ve been looking for. Now they can’t get enough; from Brid Spa to Stoke, from Chesterfield to the Tower Ballroom our young soulies are determined to keep the faith! 

This is Northern Soul for a new generation, but with rising costs, unemployment, and small town blues, has anything really changed? Is this England 1975 or 2025? The pubs are closing, hospitality has gone, and strikes are everywhere; but when you’re out on the floor …

So spread the talc and grab your loafers, our trio are heading for a weekender! 

From the writer of the legendary Bouncers ...

It’ll never be over for us!" 

A link to the website is here and is you scroll down, there are the tour dates and a link to the programme. If is coming to a theatre near you, I thoroughly recommend it.  

Here's a link to Do I love you by Frank Wilson - enjoy!

Cards so far this year

Here's a round up of the cards I have made so far this year.  I like to post them on my blog as it gives me a reminder of what I have sent to whom and how my cards are developing.  Above is one for a January birthday and I have been enjoying playing with these stamps from Alison Bomber for PaperArtsy. Her Youtube channel (Words and Pictures) is really inspiring and I spend a lot of time watching her projects.  

This was for my brother-in-law.  Cards for men are always a bit trickier - florals, butterflies etc. may not be so appropriate!

This one was for a colleague who had been involved in an accident.

Sympathy cards are ones we don't enjoy making so much, but they are important. This one used the same stamps as the first card, but the mood is so different.

I always enjoy making thank you cards.

This was for a colleague's birthday. She enjoys entomology so the card needed to reflect that.

I also made her a little tag book with watercolour pages inside.  I thought she might enjoy using this on field trips.

A March birthday, celebrating the crocuses.  Another stamp set by Alison Bomber.

Finally, for now, a card for my sister-in-law which again celebrates seasonal flowers. She has a lovely display of 'tete a tete' daffodils in her garden so I think this will be perfect for her.

Hello Hellebores 2025!

The hellebores are putting on a lovely show at the moment and it is always a joy to see them. Most of them are in pots in shady areas and seem quite happy.  (I may have added three more to the collection this year, so let me show them to you first.) Above is a single white hellebore in the Credale series.

My most recent purchase was this beauty - double pink picotee in the Credale series.

Here is Ice and Roses in flower now and yes, as promised, it does have a red flower.

These are the hellebores I have had for a while.  This is Harvington Pink...

...and here is Winter Princess Victoria.

Hello Ruby has proved to be a great addition to the collection and is a reliable flowerer.

Helebore ericsmithii Winter Sunshine is still flowering and does provide sunshine on a dull winter day.

Hello White Pearl is also a reliable flowerer and has put on a wonderful show this year. I was pleased to see the little ladybird busily hoovering up some pesky aphids.

Harvington Pink spotted, I think.

Finally, Harvington Pink Picotee.  These last two are in the shady border, but don't seem to do quite as well as the ones in pots.  However, they are spreading around and I now have two speckled ones.  There is also a white one which is growing in amongst Hydrangea Annabelle, but isn't quite in flower yet. 

They are a good source of pollen and nectar for early bees, so are a great addition to the garden.

Inchie Challenge 2025

I enjoyed taking part in the Inchie Challenge again this year.  Run by Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio, it is a prompt a day for twelve days, working on small pieces of paper/card, in my case, 2 inches x 2 inches watercolour card.  I made them into an accordion book, but took some photos of some of the individual pieces.

'Lift' had to be a piece that could be lifted and the front of the lifted piece can be seen on the left of the photo above.

'Rebel' was lots of patterns all together.

'Shrouded' has a piece of decorated tracing paper over the top.

'Stamen' was a fun shape to make - I think I had a plantain flower in my head when I thought of this one.

Here are 'Under', 'Galactic' and 'Braided'.

This is the piece which is underneath all the other pieces for 'Under' - I really enjoyed creating that one.

'Braided' includes a plait of embroidery thread - that was Chris' idea.

'Dots'. 'Doorway' and 'Contrast'.

I made the door so that it could be opened and added a trailing vine behind.

'Contrast' is just that.

'Three' is on the left, with three flowers and 'Chequered' was another fun pattern.

The challenge is a good one to join in with, as it doesn't last too long and is easily manageable, working on such small pieces each day.  I have ended up with a really sweet little accordion journal.

Snowdrops and other delights - part two

While I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the snowdrops on our visit, Doddington Hall gardens have some lovely vistas, like this, looking up to the house.

I am always intrigued by views through gates and doorways - what is around that corner?  You can just make out a rhododendron in flower.

Imposing gateways leading to more formal areas near the house.

A view looking the other way, down to the eyecatcher in the distance.

This little corner caught my eye with the mossy tree and the snowdrops and cyclamen leaves nestled beneath.

I managed to capture a slice of spring here with early daffodils, snowdrops, cyclamen coum, and pulmonaria.  There will also be a primrose or primula soon.

In the kitchen garden, we were impressed by these sculptural bug hotels which we are going to copy, possibly in a slightly smaller form, up at our allotment.

This water bowl would be another nice idea up there too.   We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, which ended, as all garden visits should, with tea and cake!

Snowdrops and other delights - part one

I love to see snowdrops, as they are the heralds of Spring and a sign that winter is nearly over (and one of my favourite flowers).  I visited the little churchyard in the city last week and enjoyed a few minutes of peace, listening to the birds singing and enjoying just wandering amongst the trees. 

The aconites were also in flower.

It was another dull and grey day, but still lovely.  You can read about previous visits here and here.

Last Sunday, Chris and I collected our friend Alison and we headed out to Doddington Hall to get another snowdrop fix.  We have visited for their snowdrops before, here. We also visited last year for the sculpture event here, here and the gardens here.  We were lucky with the weather as we actually had some sunshine.

There were other plants such as cyclamen coum...

..vividly coloured witch hazel in shades of orange...

...and yellow...

...and beautiful drifts of snowdrops.

There were views like this to enjoy.

We could see the witch hazels shining out across the lawns.  More to come in the next post.