The perfect ingredients for the Pantomime 2017 season at the Burnavon, Cookstown have been brought together, as the cast has been chosen for Stewartstown Amateur Dramatic Society’s annual family pantomime, which this year will be ‘Willy Wonka: The Pantomime”.

There was great excitement at McNeece Hall in Stewartstown, as those who had auditioned, friends and family gathered to hear who had gained a coveted place in the cast. Pat Smith, Chairperson of the Society welcomed everyone, and spoke of the opportunities that arise from being involved in a cross community organisation that delivers such a tremendous event to the people of the Mid Ulster area. He went on to thank everyone who had attended the recent auditions and said that it had been a particularly hard choice this year as so many people had come forward.

Brian Morgan, Director, then broke the suspense by announcing the following successful actors and actresses for the cast: Willy Wonka: Michael Bradley from Magherafelt; Charlie Bucket: Jack Carberry from Brackaville; Augustus Gloopus : Oisin Quinn from Moneymore; Veruca Salty : Hannah Ferguson from Dungannon (who took the lead as Dorothy in last year’s ‘The Wizard of Oz); Violet Broomhandler : Emily Gribbin from Dungannon.  (who was Snow White in the 2014 panto), with another star turn from Grandma Josephine  (the panto dame), as always played by John Glendinning.

The parents of the children going into the chocolate factory include three newcomers Eileen Devlin, James Parks and Niall Herron alongside Andrea Morgan who joined the society in 2015.

Michael Bradley, who will play the principal male role as Willy Wonka, said ‘I’m delighted that I’ve got the part of Willy Wonka, one of the most recognisable characters in literature, film and on stage. We have great plans for this year’s show to make it bigger and better than last year, so it’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to getting started at rehearsals.’

Jack Carberry said ‘I’m apprehensive, excited and delighted all at the same time. Stewartstown Amateur Dramatic Society is a very special community organisation to be involved in and I feel it’s a fantastic experience for me and indeed all those involved.’

Rehearsals have now started in earnest with a full timetable in the run-up to January. Over the past 17 years, Stewartstown Amateur Dramatic Society have provided a cross-community project that each year has got bigger and better and this year’s show promises to have plenty of extra special effects to offer the audience. Friday shows are at 8pm, and Saturday shows are a matinee at 2.30pm, and an evening performance at 8pm.

There is a special preview night on Friday 6th January at 8pm, with tickets priced at £7. All other shows are priced £10 / £8 and a group booking offer – buy 8 tickets, get 2 free is also available.  To book your tickets, call into the Box Office at the Burnavon, telephone on 028 8676 9949, or book online at www.burnavon.com

Local business, CFC interiors is celebrating their fourth decade in business at the annual Furniture Show NI which takes place from 1^st – 23^rd October 2016.

The family-run company, which has stores in Cookstown, Campsie and Newtownabbey, is one of Northern Ireland’s longest established independent interiors businesses.

Founded in 1975 by Norman Wilson, and now employing 60 staff across the three stores, CFC Interiors has built a reputation for quality and excellence, showcasing some of the best in traditional and contemporary designer furniture.

The NI Furniture show is unique to Northern Ireland and offers customers extensive discounts on all new and exclusive stock across all departments.

Unlike other stores this is not a clearance sale; customers can look forward to this year or new season stock from over 50 brands including: Killymoon Bespoke Living, Parker Knoll, Tetrad, Stressless, Old Charm, Sealy, Alexander and James, Silentnight, Vi-Spring, Ulster Carpets, Cormar, Harlequin and Mulberry Home.

Top picks at The NI Furniture Show

1.    Silent Night limited edition Anniversary Collection – 5Ft Mirapocket Geltex from £999

2.    Killymoon Living – Imperial Suite Price from £2999 for a 3-1-1

3.    Carlton Solid Oak Tables from £399

4.    Ulster Carpets – All at never before prices – Huge discounts throughout entire range

5.    Killymoon Living – King-size Vivienne Bedframe from £675

6.    Kylie at Home Range – ALL ranges discounted

7.    Kmix Food Mixer Raspberry/Black RRP £399.99 FSNI £249.99

8.    Purple Bloom 12pc dinner set RRP £59.99, FSNI Price £29.99 Plus 4 free mugs

Furniture Show NI will run from Saturday 1^st October until 23^rd October 2016 with amazing reductions and offers on all stock across in the three stores. Last year customers saved more than £750,000 and the owners are promising even more savings.

Join the team at CFC interiors in store and hear from experts, including interior designers and national brand managers throughout the show. For further information visit www.furnitureshowni.com

Founder of Equal Fashion Magazine takes new styles to the catwalk

A SERIES of creative fashion shows are set to take Northern Ireland by storm as Belfast’s inaugural Alternative Fashion Week launches.

As the brainchild of Belfast photographer Shelley Rodgers the four main shows will cover everything from fairytale, gore and body art to older, mobility impaired and LGBT models.

“Belfast Alternative Fashion Week is an exciting collection of unique and visually spectacular creative catwalk shows.  It’s a first for Northern Ireland and we’re bringing together some of the country’s leading creative industries whilst inviting the best from across Europe to contribute to each show. We’re telling people to expect the unexpected” said Shelley.

For Shelley launching Belfast Alternative Fashion Week in November is a dream come true, as a creative photographer she has a passion to bring alternative looks and styles to the fore.

She said: “In Northern Ireland I feel there’s a misconception that in order to exist in the fashion industry you have to conform to a particular look, be a certain size or fall within a designated age range.

“Almost by accident we seem to conform to one small idea of what the fashion and beauty industry wants or entails and that’s just not true.

“You only have to walk down the street to see the creativity of our fashion industry and see how style and trend is translated by everyone you meet.”

While the show is rooted firmly in Belfast it will have an international flavour with fashion designers, models and photographers as well as makeup artists and musicians from London, Amsterdam, America and throughout Europe.

Events will be staged in the Elmwood Hall, the Europa Hotel, Titanic Suite all culminating in a grand finale in the Whitla Hall with music and an exhibition of the best of the events.

The four main shows are:

Fairytale & Gore Show

Tuesday November 15, 2016

Elmwood Hall, Queen’s University

Experience everything from special effects, horror and gore to fairy fantasy and twilight dreams.

Tickets £30, www.tinyurl.com/BAFWshow1

Body Art ‘n’ Ink Show

Wednesday November 16, 2016

Europa Hotel, Belfast

For some the body is a canvas to explore our creative sides. See the masters at work on this catwalk.

Tickets £30, www.tinyurl.com/BAFWshow2

Titanic Queer Show

Thursday November 17, 2016

The Titanic Suite, Titanic Belfast

Flamboyant and fabulous, this vibrant, colourful show will leave you definitely wanting more.

Tickets £30, www.tinyurl.com/BAFWshow3

The Grand Finale Audio Visual Show

Sunday December 4, 2016

Whitla Hall, Queen’s University, Belfast

A culmination of all shows with an added spectacular audio and visual experience.

Tickets £35, www.tinyurl.com/BAFWshow4

For more information log onto www.equalfashionmagazine.com.

#BAFW16 – @BAFW16 – www.facebook.com/belfastalternativefashionweek

Tina Calder, Excalibur Press.

Northern Ireland boasts a unique collection of irresistible places to stay including quirky B&Bs, luxurious spa hotels and hidden gem properties for an ideal short break and Discover NI has selected the best offers of the week for you to choose from.

• Graft & Craft Holiday, An Creagan, Co Tyrone, from £125. An Creagán is nestled in the ancient landscape of the Sperrin foothills and designed to reflect the archaeological sites to be found in the region. Wake up in a beautiful location, spend your days helping out with conservation activities to keep our places special, then learn local crafts such as Dry Stone Walling and Basket Making on this unique working holiday. Subject to availability.  Valid 21 – 23 October only. To book call (028) 80 761112.

• Scrumptious Armagh Break, Armagh City Hotel, from £120pps. Found in the heart of the city, the three-star Armagh City Hotel is an ideal base to stay and discover the sights of Ireland’s Orchard County.  Enjoy a relaxing break for 2 nights in the historical city of Armagh in an executive room with balcony where you will be greeted with a bottle of Prosecco to enjoy with our delightful Afternoon Tea. An extensive breakfast will be available to you each morning, plus a scrumptious dinner on one evening. Subject to availability. To book call (028) 37 51 8888.

• Luxury Golf & Spa Break, Roe Park Resort, Derry~Londonderry, from £245. Stay and Play in the picturesque Roe Valley for two nights in an upgraded Luxury Suite at the Roe Park Resort with a bottle of sparkling wine and chocolates awaiting you on arrival. Play unlimited rounds of golf on the resort’s 18-hole golf course while your other half relishes the delight of a back massage and facial followed by a romantic evening meal on one evening boasting Northern Ireland quality produce. Valid until 30 November.  To book call (028) 777 22222.

For further information log on to www.discovernorthernireland.com/offers.

*All offers are subject to availability.

Hotel group goes all out to enchant guests this Halloween

Hastings Hotels are gearing up for a spook-tacular Halloween, with frighteningly good selection of dining options and fun events for all the family.

Ghostly Afternoon Tea

Three hotels in the Hastings group will be holding special Halloween themed afternoon teas throughout the period. Belfast’s Stormont Hotel will be inviting everyone to get into the ghostly spirit from October 28 – November 6 with a selection of impeccable delights and spooky snacks for £18 per adult and £9 per child. Meanwhile, the Everglades Hotel in Derry~Londonderry is also hosting an afternoon tea with a similarly spooky feel, from October 28 – November 1 for £17 per adult and £9 per little pumpkin.  Ballygally Castle’s afternoon tea is served from October 26 to November 6, and features Halloween-themed delights at £18 per adult and £9 per child.

Devilishly Good Grand Buffet

Those looking for a devilishly good Grand Buffet are in luck over Halloween weekend, as the Everglades Hotel’s spooky spectacular Sunday buffet is October 30, with no tricks, only treats for £21 per adult and £11 per child.

An exquisite five course lunch will be on offer at one of Northern Ireland’s most haunted hotels, Ballygally Castle on Sunday 30th October, adults £27 and little monsters £15.  The hotel’s service and food are impeccable so the only fright you can expect at the Ballygally Castle is a visit from Lady Isabella who haunts the hotel.

Children will have a scream of a time at the Halloween Sunday buffet in Stormont on October 30, with activities including an interactive decorating station, reptile displays and creepy crawlies. The exquisite food will feature five courses prepared by Stormont Hotel’s top chefs. Prizes will be awarded on the day for ‘best costume’.   This eerie extravaganza is £30 per adult and £15 per child, with family packages (2 adults and 2 children) available for £75 including a jug of Vampire Punch.

Spooky Stayover

There will also be music and entertainment during the Halloween period at the Stormont Hotel as Made in Liverpool, top Beatles tribute act and resident band at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, play a special show on October 29.  Dance the night away to classic Beatles hits, and overnight packages are available from £105 per room B&B, so your night doesn’t come to a premature end.

Stay at the haunted Ballygally Castle from just £55 per person sharing for overnight B&B, if you’re brave enough!?  Lady Isabella Shaw is the Ballygally Castle’s resident ghost with numerous sightings having been reported over the years.  Visitors can take a trip to the Ghost Room to see if they can spot Lady Isabella, the hotel’s friendly ghost who has been around for 400 years.

Joanne Harvey, Group Marketing Manager at Hastings Hotels, said: “Halloween is a fun time for all the family, and with fantastic events happening throughout Northern Ireland, we have made sure that the Stormont, Ballygally Castle and Everglades Hotels are the place to be this holiday. With special themed teas, dinner and entertainment for everyone to enjoy, we’ve created a unique Halloween experience for all our visitors.”

For further information or to book a spellbinding Halloween experience, call 028 9047 1066 or for further information go to www.hastingshotels.com.

Antrim Castle Gardens will host aroundNorth by Robert Jarvis on Thursday 13 October from 6.30pm.

This unique sound installation using eight large speakers and  the medium of sound, interprets the movement of the stars as they traverse the sky in real time.

Stars passing virtual lines in the sky trigger musical notes whose qualities are informed by their brightness, size, temperature and distance from Earth, creating a mesmerising sound map of the universe as viewed from our turning planet.

This multi-speaker sound composition, launched by Armagh Observatory and award-winning sound artist and musician Robert Jarvis, gives listeners an inspiring acoustic experience of the movement of the stars across the night sky, demonstrating the continuous motion of stars in the near Universe.

This is an innovative outdoor educational facility available to all. A free workshop will also take place at 10.30am and a Science and Astronomy talk from 2-3pm, where Robert Jarvis will explain the process he used to create the work and track the movements of the stars.

For further information please contact Clotworthy House on 028 9448 1338

Free Willow Weaving Saturdays continue on the 22^nd October 2016 from 2.00pm – 3.30pm.

Join us at the Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh to learn how to use this natural product to create some stunning pieces of work. It is amazing what can be achieved with nimble fingers and willow. In the past we have made fencing,

baskets, and even our beautiful pig ‘Sow-Anne’. Now it’s your turn to get involved.

Help us to make a Celtic Bull for the 2017 Wickerman Celebration. We are going to make this part by part, legs, horns, ears etc….

Suitable for 6 years + everyone is welcome to participate! Call in and join in all the fun.

For information please contact: Navan Centre, 81 Killylea Road, Armagh.  BT60 4LD.  Tel 028 3752 9644 or www.navan.com

The exclusive, chic and effortlessly stylish Bishop’s Gate Hotel will be hosting an afternoon of high fashion with a high tea aimed at fashion lovers on Sunday 20^th November.

Organised as part of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s ‘Fashion Fest’ which will take place from the 18^th until 20^th November, the event will feature a round table fashion show showcasing cutting edge retail collections served up with crisp bubbly and melt in the mouth patisseries.

Louise Breslin, Programme Manager at Derry City and Strabane District Council said the show is a perfect opportunity to get up close and personal to the new season collections of some of the top retailers in the North West, she said, ‘We will be serving up the hottest trends from some of North Wests top independent boutiques in the city’s newest boutique hotel.

‘This is an afternoon of fun indulgence for fashion lovers. Retailers will give the audience an exclusive up close glimpse of their latest collections while they enjoy the mouth-watering delicacies being served in the grand surroundings of the Bishops Gate Hotel. The show will provide inspiration to those keen to keep ahead of the latest fashion trends with displays of vibrant colours, edgy designs and unique items guaranteed to be exhibited.’

Tickets are on sale now, early booking is advised to avoid disappointment. The High Fashion Afternoon Tea event will take place on Sunday 20^th November at the Bishops Gate Hotel from 1:00pm until 3:00pm. Tickets are priced at £30.00 with an early bird rate of £27.50. Email fashionfest@derrystrabane.com for further details.

KILLYHEVLIN Lakeside Hotel and Chalets are providing two scarily good offers for the Halloween period.

The 4-star Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel is offering a midweek break on the week of Halloween comprising of two nights  luxurious accommodation with full cooked breakfast, plus one night’s dinner in  Kove restaurant, all from just £129* per person sharing. This offer is available between October 30 and November 3.

Meanwhile, those wishing to get away with the family over the half-term period can also stay in one of the chalets on the shore of beautiful Lough Erne. These self-catering chalets sleep up to four persons and are available for a three night stay from £395.

Whilst enjoying a spooktacular Halloween break in Fermanagh, here are a few things that you could get up to:

Forest Spooky Trail, Corralea Activity Centre, Enniskillen, October 30.

Come fancy dressed and follow the Halloween spooky trail through the dark forest in search of some tricks or treats. An ideal family activity for Halloween, warm clothing and comfortable footwear is recommended. Ages 6 and over only.

Banshees, Bonfires and Boxty, Orchard Acre Farm, Irvinestown, October 31.

Take a ghostly walk after darkness falls, through the orchards and gardens in a round trip back to the barn. On the way, adorn the fruit trees for Halloween and collect fresh potatoes for boxty making. On return to the barn there will be a cookery demo on how to make this regional speciality.

Halloween Howler, Share Discovery Village, Lisnaskea, October 31.

Share Discovery Village hosts this spookily spectacular Family Friendly Halloween which promises to be frighteningly fun and packed with hair-raising activities. Become your favourite Halloween character with face painting, take part in the fancy dress parade, and enjoy the Halloween games, bouncy castle, treasure hunt, fireworks and more.

To find out more information go to www.killyhevlin.com

*Terms and conditions apply. Subject to availability. 

Culture vultures and food fanatics are being well catered for as Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council announce details of a very special Craft & Food Fest which is taking place in Solitude Park, Banbridge on Saturday 22 October from 10.30am – 4pm as part of Autumn Arts 2016.

The Craft & Food Fest is the ideal opportunity to start the Christmas shopping, pick the perfect present or just treat yourself to something a little special from a host of jewellery, felt, furniture, ceramics, glassware plus much, much more all produced by some of the finest local, national and international artists and craftspeople.

The Craft Fair is a firm favourite as part of the annual Banbridge arts celebration however this year the highly popular event takes on a tasty twist with the addition of a feast of fabulous food events to celebrate the Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016.

Celebrated Chef, author and Ireland’s Good Food Ambassador Jenny Bristow will be dishing up delicious delights in the Craft and Food Fest marquee with a series of cookery demonstrations throughout the day.

A fine selection of Food Heartland producers will be showcasing their artisan food and drink products giving you the opportunity to sample some of the freshest and finest autumnal cuisine direct from the Borough’s bountiful basket.

Younger folk can enjoy the craft and food fiesta with the fabulous Toads & Prints family workshop where you can create your very own quirky Toadstool Hut plus produce plenty of mess and have plenty of fun printing with potatoes, apples and other seasonal fruits and vegetables.

If adventure in the great outdoors is more to your taste a sensational Scavenger Trail across Solitude Park is the cherry on the cake, offering plenty of prizes for kids.

Youth Arts organisation Wheelworks will be tuning up the Art Cart to play host to the fun and funky Fruit & Veg Orchestra. Make music be one of your ‘five a day’ and see if you can get a melody out of some of your favourite vegetables!

Admission is £2 for adults and £1 for children, so whether you are looking for a colourful collection of the finest crafts or a banquet of beautiful local food and drink, the Autumn Arts Craft & Food Fest is the perfect menu for a great day out.