Herald - Issue 406

13th May 2021 • The HERALD • Page 33 v READ THE HERALD ONLINE: www.herald-publishing.co.uk v e Woodside Singers have been out of action for over a year and are keen to have a conductor in place ready to lead them back to rehearsals as soon as restrictions allow. Further information can be found at: www. woodsidesingers.co.uk or call Mike on: 023 8081 2292 for an informal chat. Wanted... Music Conductor! Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said: “Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work. We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.” Please get in contact by emailing Creative Producer Sharon Lawless: sharon@forestforgetheatre.co.uk Hampshire’s Forest Forge Theatre, based in Ringwood, has announced it has been awarded a £55,000 grant from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. Forest Forge eatre is a leading centre for self- producing professional live theatre in the region providing vital theatre services to venues, schools and the community for 40 years. As with every theatre in the country, the pandemic has resulted in Forest Forge being unable to generate income from productions, participation groups, workshops and venue hires for over a year. Forest Forge eatre CEO and Creative Producer, Sharon Lawless, said: “We are all over the moon to have received this vital funding thanks to Arts Council England. We have worked tirelessly during the lockdown to keep Forest Forge active, supporting our local community through very successful online theatre courses and workshops which will, of course, continue. This amazing award will ensure we can re-open and kick off at the very top of our game with outdoor work in the New Forest at the end of July. We can’t wait to be back doing what we love, inspiring and engaging with our communities through the power of live theatre”. e funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute. Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced. Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.” FORGING AHEAD - LOCAL THEATRE COMPANY RECEIVES £55,000 Treading the boards once again thanks to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund e rst Hampshire locations to feature walks include Winchester, Romsey, Alresford, Whitchurch, Chawton, Southampton, Stockbridge, Portsmouth, Lymington, Lyndhurst and the New Forest. Further Secret Stories tours are planned across the rest of Great Britain throughout 2021. Nick Giles, Managing Director for OS Leisure, said: “We know it can be difficult to find something for everyone to enjoy together outdoors which is why OS has created Secret Stories, to make a walk more fun and interesting for the whole family. Simply download the Secret Stories app, make your way to the location of your choice, and pick a ‘tour leader’ for the group. Then set off on a guided tour and learn about unique stories together, everything from mysterious deaths to scandalous romances, rogue kings and much more.” Nick added: “We’re hoping that as we all emerge from lockdown, particularly with the restrictions we still have in place here in Hampshire, Secret Stories will be the perfect way to get outside and have some fun while improving your local knowledge.” Secret Stories is user-friendly for all ages with simple maps to follow and allows for complete exibility as it does not require you to book onto a guided tour. e app allows users to save tours and enjoy them as many times as they like. Users can also add their own secret stories by using the app’s Community Stories option. To download the app visit your app store and search for Ordnance Suvey Secret Stories. New Ordnance Survey app with Multimedia Walks in Hampshire ‘Then and Now’ of the Royal Dragoon Guards, Exhibition at Lepe Country Park On 5th and 6th June 2021 , an exciting, socially- distanced and COVID-19 regulations compliant exhibition is taking place in Lepe Country Park . It will portray the role of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards as they were in 1944, and as they are now. e exhibition is a joint venture between the Royal Dragoon Guards, the D-Day Heritage Group and Lepe Country Park. e open-air exhibition will consist of a D-Day Valentine Duplex Drive tank and artifacts, with military personnel of the Royal Dragoon Guards. A static display by the D-Day Lepe Heritage Group, in the Lepe Country Park classroom showing the build-up to the embarkation from Lepe Beach and Stanswood Bay, comprising of models, photographs, literature, maps etc. illustrating the important role played by this very small area in the build-up to, and subsequent embarkation, departure and landings in Normandy. An annual event is held by Cecil Newton, a 97-year- old gentleman, and a former 4th/7th Royal Dragoon soldier, to honour his fallen comrades. Cecil le from this beach in June 1944. Both the indoor and outdoor exhibitions will be subject to current Government guidelines, masks should be worn indoors, and social distancing rules will apply. Want to know where to find a buried king in a car park? Who had custard and fish bits for their tea? Ordnance Survey has launched the Secret Stories app to banish those lockdown blues and turn family walks into mini adventures. e Secret Stories app is free to download and brings Hampshire’s towns and cities to life, with each self-guided tour revealing a diverse and interesting mixture of folklore, celebrity, history and myth as you follow the route around. Each Secret Stories tour varies, but can contain a mixture of audio clips, images, challenges, puzzles, teasers and directions to help you immerse yourself in each location as you move from story to story. On Winchester’s Saxon Bones and Su ragettes Tour, families will learn about Queen Emma, King Canute’s wife, whose remains were discovered in the ancient city. Regarded as one of the most powerful queens in English history, her importance was such that she was the rst queen whose portrait was painted by artists. THE BOOKS ARE BACK! Have you read all the books at home during lockdown? If so you are in luck as the Romsey & Waterside Lions Club Bookstall is fully stocked and back in operation for you to enjoy again. The next stall is being held in the Cornmarket on Saturday 5th June from 9am-3pm. You will nd a large selection of used, but good quality, books and every penny raised will go to worthy causes. For more information about the Lions Club visit: www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/romseyuk