To celebrate National Storytelling Week (28^th January – 4^th February), Titanic Belfast is looking for a Primary 1 or 2 class who love stories just as much as it does to be in with a chance to win a story time to remember.

 

National Storytelling Week is running this week and to mark the occasion, Titanic Belfast is giving away the opportunity for a class to be one of the first to hear and experience its newest workshop, ‘My Friend Bear’. The workshop is based on and inspired by a true Titanic tale about a young boy and his toy polar bear on board RMS Titanic.

Siobhan McCartney, Titanic Belfast’s Learning and Outreach Manager, “Stories play a fundamental role in our lives – communicating life experiences, encouraging creative imagination and inspiring us in many different ways. Everyone has a favourite story or character whether this is from folk tales, fairy lore or tales of derring-do. At Titanic Belfast, we are no different and to celebrate National Storytelling Week, we want to find the Primary School class who loves stories the most, so we can share one of our favourite Titanic tales with them on board SS Nomadic. We recognise the power of storytelling, it is at the heart of what we do every day as the World’s Leading Tourist Attraction, so this experience promises to be a story time that the class will always remember.”

The winning class will be one of the first in Northern Ireland to hear and experience  the truly Titanic tale, about a boy travelling on-board RMS Titanic with his beloved polar bear toy, brought to life through Titanic Belfast’s new ‘My Friend Bear’ workshop.

The new workshop for KS1 is part of Titanic Belfast’s learning programme, which is recognised as a leading learning resource and has welcomed over 100,000 participants since its opening in 2012. The wide range of learning programmes, which cover a variety of subjects and skills, ranging from maritime communication, marine science & exploration to 5 star customer service, is supported by the Survitec Group, a leading manufacturer of marine, defense and aerospace survival technology, since 2014.

To win the special ‘My Friend Bear’ workshop for a primary school class, the class or pupil (aged 4 – 6) must send Titanic Belfast an image that shows why and how much they enjoy story time. This could be a photograph of a class in their story corner or the library or a word bank expressing how much they love stories. The prize also includes £250 towards transport for the class.

To enter, please download the form from www.titanicbelfast.com and return it by email to competitions@titanicbelfast.com or by post to Titanic Tale Competition, Titanic Belfast, 1 Olympic Way, Queen’s Road, Belfast, BT39EP before 22^nd February.

Over five days at the beginning of March, more than one hundred local and international artists will perform in thirty concerts at 13^th United Airlines Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival in the Clayton Hotel Belfast.

Panarts have just launched their exciting music programme with special guest speaker, Roisin McDonough, CEO of the Arts Council NI.

Making a welcome return to BelNash is one of Ireland’s finest writers, Paul Brady who will be joined on stage by Declan O’Rourke and Nashville’s Grammy nominated Darrell Scott. A second unique show, ‘Paul Brady in Conversation’ is being recorded by BBC Radio Ulster’s Ralph McLean while Downtown Radio’s popular presenter Big T, Trevor Campbell will host Texas songbird Kimmie Rhodes at a special opening night concert on Wednesday 1^st March. Award winning artist Paul Brady, Patron of Panarts said;

“Often overshadowed by the spotlight on the performer and singer, the annual Belfast-Nashville Festival provides an opportunity to bring song writing talent to the fore and to encourage talented new writers to join the ranks”

Local artists gracing the stage include Kaz Hawkins, Peter McVeigh, Ursula Burns and young rising star Ryan McMullan, fresh from working with Ed Sheeran and Foy Vance. Panarts Director Colin Magee said;

“When we started out twelve years ago to put songwriters centre stage and to showcase creative and musically gifted local artists, we could only dream of having such a fantastic festival line-up”

In a special ‘In the Round Concert’ Kimmie Rhodes shares a stage with Belfast’s Gareth Dunlop and Brian Houston. Nashville’s Mac McAnally will play the hit songs he wrote for Kenny Chesney, Alabama and Shenandoah, supported by the Forestside and Panarts Under Nineteen Writers. Triona Carville will launch her new single ‘Warrior’ on 3^rd March, following on from her recent success in becoming Panarts Young Songwriter of the Year. The finalists from this annual award will also perform on stage with eight talented students from Belmont University Nashville.

Running alongside the concerts is the popular music industry conference, Panarts Song Writing Convention, now in its thirteenth year. Artists will share their song writing skills while PRS for Music and IMRO will answer questions about royalties, copyright and income streams for artists.

 

Tickets are on sale at www.belfastnashville.com Telephone 028 9024 6609 or box office, Visit Belfast Welcome Centre, Donegall Sq North. The annual BelNash Festival & Conference is funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts & Business NI, Downtown Radio, United Airlines, Clayton Hotel Belfast, Forestside, Avalon Guitars, Dawsons Music and PRS for Music Foundation.

Prepare yourselves for a superb evening of acoustic guitar sounds at Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstewart.

Internationally acclaimed guitarist and ground breaking innovator Preston Reed will grace the stage as part of his Irish tour on Thursday 16th February at 8pm.

After a whirlwind year, with performances in China, USA, Canada and Europe, Preston will entertain the crowds here with his timeless, imagery evoking compositions. His music can range from classical to jazz and rock creating a visual experience for everyone in attendance.

Recognised internationally as one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Preston’s music has been described as “spectacular- a terrific performer” according to The Irish Independent, while Total Guitar defined him as “the world’s most gifted guitarist.”

He has revolutionised the way the acoustic guitar is played and inspired generations of musicians from all over the world.

Tickets for the event cost £13 and are available from Flowerfield Arts Centre Box Office on 028 7083 1400 or online at www.flowerfield.org and Eventbrite. 

Northern Ireland’s only remaining Victorian era prison, Crumlin Road Gaol has been graded and awarded a five-star visitor attraction rating, indicating that the attraction is operating to an ‘outstanding’ level.

The five-star accreditation was awarded under the Tourism NI Quality Grading Scheme which is designed to provide visitors with information on the quality of the experience they can expect at Northern Ireland’s tourist attractions, whilst assisting operators to maintain and continue to improve the quality of their offering.

To achieve a star rating, Crumlin Road Gaol was subject to an unannounced mystery assessment from a Quality Advisor who underwent the customer journey. The assessor concluded his experience with very positive feedback stating that “It is an excellent, thought provoking and stimulating attraction that educates and informs visitors about this historic building that played such a role in the history of Belfast.”

Commenting on Crumlin Road Gaol’s five star grading John McGrillen, Tourism NI Chief Executive commented; “Crumlin Road Gaol is an outstanding attraction and the visitor offering and experience is unique in Northern Ireland. The tours are educating, thought provoking and well balanced and the introduction of a fully licensed restaurant helped Crumlin Road Gaol achieve five-star status.

Joining an elite club of only five other five star graded attractions, this accolade provides an additional marketing tool to help drive visitor numbers to the Gaol and to Northern Ireland.”

Since opening in 2012 the popular Belfast visitor attraction has welcomed over 600,000 International and national visitors.

Director of Crumlin Road Gaol Phelim Devlin said “We are overjoyed to have received the five-star rating for Crumlin Road Gaol Visitor Attraction and Conference Centre.

We are one of five visitor attractions to receive this prestigious award which shows us that we are up there with the best visitor attraction in Northern Ireland.

This year we have worked hard to improve the visitors experience and with the addition of a new restaurant, Cuffs Bar & Grill, we can now offer visitors the full package.

We have a great team of staff and tour guides at Crumlin Road Gaol which particularly enhance the visitors experience, we are delighted their efforts have been recognised and rewarded with this this ‘outstanding’ grading.”

Director of Strategic Planning Division at Department for Infrastructure, Carol Ramsey, added: “I am delighted that Belfast Tours has received this accolade for Crumlin Road Gaol and Conference Centre. The Five-Star award is an instantly recognisable symbol of excellence and quality. Today’s success has been the result of the vision, hard work and determination of Belfast Tours and their team and I wish them continued success for the future”