Looking for a great local family day out in June? Then why not check out the Funtopia Family Fun Day, in aid of Foyle Hospice, on Saturday, June 4th from 1 p.m. This exciting event will be held at the new Funtopia Fun Centre, situated at the Three Rivers Centre, just behind the Eclipse Cinema Complex, Lifford, and will be packed with all the fun that Funtopia can provide from Games & Entertainment, face painting, Balloon moddelling and much more!

All in aid of the hardworking charity, Foyle Hospice, the Funtopia staff and management are planning a spectacular family event with “It’s a Knock Out”, games and inflatable fun throughout the afternoon. Children will be able to enjoy all the facilities of the fun centre, which is currently offering a packed programme of events for young people including a after schools club, drama classes, fashion and design classes, junior youth club and youth discos.

“Since we opened our after-school club and various evening clubs for children and young people in the Strabane and Lifford areas, we have been overwhelmed by the local support” commented Rose McCrossan from Funtopia.  “We therefore felt a great way to thank everyone would be to offer a truly magical fun day all in aid of Foyle Hospice, which will bring everyone together for such a hardworking charity, whilst letting everyone in the local area enjoy our wonderful facilities and services offered by the fun centre. For example little ones the fun day will be offering a magical fun day and balloon modelling, while older children can enjoy the pool and games room, karaoke and disco room and much more!”

The Funtopia Family Fun Day in aid of Foyle Hospice kicks off at 1 p.m and will run until 3 p.m, with all proceeds raised on the day from the fantastic Funtopia Face painting team and bouncy castle going towards Foyle Hospice. The Funtopia Fun centre has excellent parking facilities and is only a 1 min walk from the Eclipse Cinema, offering family’s the ideal opportunity to catch a matinee film after the fun day! For further information about the fun day, which is also open to community groups wishing to bring groups on a special day out, simply call Rose on the Funtopia hotline on 07821046036.

There’s something for everybody at this year’s Sea Bangor Festival; whether you’re into cooking, gardening, literature or live music, we’ve got it covered with a myriad of big names coming along to join in the fun on Saturday & Sunday, June 18^th & 19^th.

For the food lover, Matt Tebbutt, the Celebrity Chef will be wowing the crowds with his live cookery demonstrations in the Food Tent. Matt is a chef based in Wales and is a well-known food TV presenter. Matt’s first national TV appearance was competing on the Great British Menu on BBC2. He can currently be seen on Good Food’s daily show Market Kitchen, co-presenting with Amanda Lamb, Tom Parker-Bowles and Matthew Fort.  He is also a guest presenter for Saturday Kitchen on BBC1. Matt has more recently appeared on Flora’s Family Food Fight – a Channel 5 series in which he helps families prepare and cook healthy meals. He was also selected as one of the elite band of chefs to take part in BBC 1’s prime time smash, Great British Waste Menu, where his food attracted high praise.

On Saturday, 18^th June, Matt will be performing three live culinary master classes in the afternoon, promising to showcase his skills and offer tips and advice to spectators.  These events will be interspersed with demonstrations from a selection of Local Chefs.

Then on the Sunday, he will be a guest judge on Sea Bangor’s very own Masterchef competition where three catering pupils from three local SERC colleges will be pitching their talents against each other during three rounds. Based on the Professional Masterchef model, contestants will have to make the same seafood dish for round one, a dish for under £10 for round two and finish off with a signature dish. The competitors will all be competing for the highly-sought-after top prize of a half day’s work experience with Matt Tebbutt. The competition will be fierce and entertainment value high! Sunday afternoon will also see some well-known local business characters along with The Mayor battle it out in an Omelette Challenge.

Over in the Music & Yarns Tent on the Sunday, award-winning journalist and author of “Titanic Port,” Alf McCreary will be giving a talk on the history of Belfast Harbour, from a muddy inlet in the 17^th century to today’s modern, world-class seaport – guaranteed to be a highlight for all you history and literature lovers.

Following Alf’s talk on the Sunday afternoon, BBC Radio Ulster’s Cherrie McIlwaine will be introducing a special gardening segment, featuring some local experts with talks, demonstrations and a Q & A session afterwards. Afternoons in the Music & Yarns Tent will feature a line-up of top class live music acts, including local artists like Gareth Dunlop and Matt McGinn.

Gastronomic and Culinary treats galore are in store for visitors to the event with local restaurants and food producers selling their wares on-site each day from 10 – 6pm.

So whatever floats your boat, come along to Sea Bangor for a great family day out!

A full programme of events which will include children’s activities, local art-workshops & displays, talks, street theatre, live music and lots more will be issued soon.

Irish Traditional music royalty, including Clannad’s Moya Brennan and Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh from Altan, visited Derry last week to lend their support to the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry” campaign, prior to their sell out show at Derry’s award winning Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.

Moya Brennan, formerly with the Donegal based band Clannad, Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh, one of Ireland’s leading fiddle players and the lead vocalist for the Irish super group Altan, and Triona Ní Dhomhnail and Maighréad Ní Dhomhnail, both of whom performed with the highly respected Skara Brae, took part in a photo shoot to celebrate and promote Derry’s bid for the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2013.

Speaking at before the gig Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh commented “This is great news for Derry and I wish the bid well, if we can do anything to assist the bid we will all be delighted to help.”

The Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign is going from strength to strength at the present time, with the passing of each month heralding more support from around the island of Ireland for this major event to be held in Derry. If successful the event would bring in over £30 million to the local economy and attract over 250,000 visitors over a 7 day period.

The awarding body for Fleadh Cheoil, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, recently held their Annual Congress meeting in Tullamore, where the Derry bid was discussed and received recognition within the prestigious Congress Annual Report. The report highlighted the strength of its current campaign and the strong political support coming from the First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. Both politicians have sentComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann a joint letter urging Comhaltas to award Derry the host status for 2013 highlighting that by “this would be major recognition of the changes that have come about in recent years and would encourage many thousands of additional visitors to experience the magic of the city.”

Eibhlin Ní Dhochartaigh from Comhaltas Doire, who is spearheading the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign commented “We are delighted with how the campaign is currently progressing and after our recent meetings at the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Congress I know we will have the support when it comes to the final vote next year.” For more information on the campaign visit www.2013fleadh.ie or www.facebook.com/bringthefleadhtoderry

If you’re married or organising a wedding you’ve probably been to a wedding fair to help with the planning process.

“We want to encourage people to be a little more daring on their wedding day!” says Saima Akram, Co-Founder of Quirky Weddings.

“Many people feel there’s a check list of things they ‘have’ to have but it’s just not true. We feel it’s time for NI people to feel brave enough to inject their own personality into the day and many brides don’t fit the whole ‘blushing bride’ image projected by a lot of the wedding industry”

“We like to get out and about to find NI’s most unusual wedding suppliers to write about in our blog and advertise on our listing site. We also want to change how people plan their weddings too.”

Quirky Weddings next event, the ‘Pop-Crawl’ on from 1pm til 5pm on Sunday May 15, is like a pub crawl and wedding fair rolled into one (alcohol optional of course!).

“We found a number of city centre venues that can cater for weddings and asked them to have an ‘open day’ so couples can call in and see what’s on offer. Participating venues include La Boca Argentinean Restaurant, Love and Death Inc, Made in Belfast, Harlem, The Penthouse at the Europa, The Barge and Printers Wine Bar. Most venues will host other wedding suppliers like photographers, entertainers, florists or outside caterers.” adds Saima. “Many companies involved are offering discounts on the day too.”

“The response to this idea has been amazing. New exhibitors are coming on board everyday. Couples should keep checking our website for more information. On the day, the first port of call is La Boca Argentinean Restaurant in Fountain Street, after that couples can choose which venues to visit at their leisure.”

30 SECONDS TO MARS headline the opening night Belsonic 2011 on Tuesday 15th August.  The L.A. Based arena-rock three piece, fronted by brothers Jared & Shannon Leto, make their Belfast debut ay Belsonic! Their third studio LP, “This Is War” was released to massive mainstream success in 2009, and was backed by a global arena tour, including a sold-out headline show at Dublin’s O2 Arena.

The brainchild of ex-Oasis members Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer & Andy Bell, BEADY EYE exploded onto the UK scene in November 2010 with debut release “Bring The Light”. Their debut LP “Different Gear, Still Speeding” was released on 28th February 2011, to coincide with a short run of UK live dates, all of which sold out in a matter of minutes. They headline Belsonic 2011 on Saturday August 20th.

Liam Gallagher commented: ‘The people in Northern Ireland are always so up for it – they just get it. It’s like they know something nobody else does. But we’ve never played a festival in Belfast, so I can’t wait for this Belsonic thing. It’s about time I played an outdoor gig in the city, long overdue.’

EXAMPLE is set to play main support for Dizzee Rascal on Wednesday August 16th at Belsonic 2011. He has made a huge impact with his sophomore LP “Won’t Go Quietly”, which spawned the singles “Watch The sun Come Up”, “Won’t Go Quietly” and “Kickstarts”, the latter peaking at number 3 in the UK singles chart. Example played to two consecutive sold-out crowds in Belfast’s Mandela Hall earlier this year, and his popularity continues to grow exponentially, with latest single “Unorthodox” charting at number 2 in the UK.

THE VACCINES, who join Beady Eye at Belsonic 2011 on Saturday August 20th, rocked the UK indie world with the release of their debut LP “What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?” in March of this year. The London based 4 piece recently played to a sold-out crowd at Queens University’s Students Union, and their popularity has continued to rise following the release of hit singles “Post Break-up Sex” and “If You Wanna”.

Tickets for 30 Seconds To Mars & Beady Eye go onsale this Friday, May 6th, at 9am from www.belsonic.com, Ticketmaster Outlets & The Stiff Kitten.

Tickets for Beady Eye are priced £32.50 including Booking Fees, tickets for 30 Seconds to Mars are priced £31.50 including Booking Fees.

Belsonic 2011 in association with Absolut:

Tuesday August 16th: 30 SECONDS TO MARS + Special Guests

Wednesday August 17th: DIZZEE RASCAL + EXAMPLE & Wretch 32

Friday August 19th: PRIMAL SCREAM : SCREAMADELICA & Special Guests

Saturday August 20th: BEADY EYE + The Vaccines & Special Guests

Wednesday August 24th: ELBOW & Special Guests

Thursday August 25th: PLAN B + Katy B & Special Guests

Saturday August 27th: THE SPECIALS & Special Guests

For more details check out www.belsonic.com