Events at a glance...
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Friday 5th March, 10.30 am
Festival Opening and launch of Ballooning
Belles Exhibition
Friday 5th March
Women's World Day of Prayer
Friday 5th – Friday 19th March
An Exhibition of work by Women Artists at the Great Atlantic Gallery
Sunday 7th March
Literary Lunch with Deborah Kay Davies
Monday 8th March
Exhibition Preview Evening:
A Celebration of Craft
Tuesday 9th -Saturday 20th March
Exhibition: A Celebration of Craft at the Bridge Gallery
Tuesday 9th March
NCT Coffee Morning with a talk on quilting.
Thursday 11th March
Kirsty Williams AM: Making Policy as well as the Tea – Why Women in Politics Matter
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Friday 12th March
Jung Chang: From Wild Swans to Mao
Sunday 14th March
Baroness Park of Monmouth: Difficult Places
Tuesday 16th March
NCT Coffee Morning With a talk from the Health Visitor
Tuesday 16th March
Film: Zanzibar Soccer Queens
Wednesday 17th March
Opening: Craft for the Community Exhibition by Dee Hardwicke, professional ceramicist
Wednesday 17th March
Film: Cho Oyu: 1959 Women’s Expedition
Friday 19th March
Jill Evans MEP: Gaza - The Human Cost
Friday 19th March
Music at the Queen’s Head: Azhaar Saffar and her bossa nova trio. |
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Friday 5th March
10.30am
Join us on 5th March for a cup of coffee to launch this year’s Festival.
Venue: the Nelson Museum
The Exhibition will run for several weeks – the Museum opens Monday -Friday 11-1, 2-5; Sat: 2-5.
Charles Rolls and ballooniing companions 1907 |
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Festival Opening and launch of Ballooning Belles Exhibition.
We open the Festival with coffee at Monmouth’s Museum, which will be launching its Ballooning Belles display celebrating women aeronauts associated with Monmouth man, Charles Stewart Rolls, pioneer of many kinds of transport and creator with Henry Royce of the global Rolls Royce brand. Ballooning Belles is part of the Nelson Museum’s Rolls Commemorative Exhibition, just one of a series of events taking place in and around Monmouth as part of 2010’s Festival of the Air.
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Friday 5th March
11.30am |
Women's World Day of Prayer
A service will be held at Monmouth Methodist Church, St. James’ Street. The service this year has been compiled by the women of Cameroon |
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Friday 5th – Friday 19th March
The Great Atlantic Gallery,
Church Street, Monmouth
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An Exhibition of work by Women Artists
The Great Atlantic Church Street Gallery showcases some of its women artists and sculptors, to celebrate Monmouth Women’s Festival. The Gallery specialises in paintings, sculpture, ceramics and hand-crafted jewellery by regional artists and in printed works.
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Sunday 7th March
1pm for 1.30pm
Caer Llan Conference Centre,
Lydart,
Monmouth,
NP25 4JS
Tickets: £15
Deborah Kay Davies
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Literary Lunch with Deborah Kay Davies
Back by popular demand, the Festival’s Literary Lunch will this year feature author and poet Deborah Kay Davies, winner of the 2009 Wales Book of the Year Award for her debut short story collection Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful. Chair of the Award judges, Mike Parker, called the stories, “An amazing piece of work, a timeless and universal reflection of the ever-perplexing world of human relationships”.
Also joining us for a delicious lunch will be Carole Herman, Head Teacher of Monmouth Comprehensive School and Ann Jones, Principal Librarian, Monmouthshire County Council, who will tell us about an exciting new initiative, Get Into Reading, which aims to connect people with literature through shared reading.
Book early to avoid disappointment – tickets limited to 50.
This event is sponsored by
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Monday 8th March
6.30pm to 9pm
Bridge Gallery, Monnow Bridge
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Friends of Monmouth Women’s Festival Event:
Exhibition Preview Evening: A Celebration of Craft
A special opportunity for Friends of MWF to relax, enjoy this inspiring craft exhibition and chat to some of the professional craft makers.
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Tuesday 9th March - Saturday 20th March
Open 10am - 5pm
Bridge Gallery,
Monnow Bridge
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Exhibition: A Celebration of Craft at the Bridge Gallery
This exhibition showcases the beautiful and high quality work of professional craftswomen from Wales and the Border counties. It celebrates how creating craftworks can be a profitable source of income and a successful career option for women, as well as contributing an essential element to the creative industries.
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Tuesday 9th March
10.30am - 12.30pm
Bridges Community Centre,
Wonastow Road |
NCT Coffee Morning with a talk on quilting.
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Thursday 11th March
7.30pm
Bridges Community Centre, Wonastow Road
Tickets £5
To include a glass of wine or a soft drink
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Kirsty Williams AM: Making Policy as well as the Tea – Why Women in Politics Matter
Kirsty Williams has been an Assembly Member since 1999, and knows all about why we need women in politics. She believes, “There are not enough women in public life at local, Assembly, Westminster and international levels. Women need far greater representation and more female role models to show them that they too can succeed in politics”.
Kirsty, Welsh Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, became leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh Assembly Government in 2008 – the first female leader of any of Wales’ four main political parties.
A National Childbirth Trust event.
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Friday 12th March
7.30pm
The Blake Theatre,
Almshouse Street
Tickets: £11
Jung Chang –photo credit Makoto Kuwata |
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Jung Chang: From Wild Swans to Mao
Best-selling novelist Jung Chang visits Monmouth to present a special lecture for the Festival, talking about her life and her writing. Her books Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China and Mao: The Unknown Story (with Jon Halliday), have been translated into more than 30 languages and sold some 15 million copies.
Jung Chang’s life during China’s Cultural Revolution moved from peasant to ‘barefoot’ doctor to steelworker and electrician before she became an English language student. She left China in 1978 to study for a PhD in Linguistics at the University of York – the first person from Communist China to receive a doctorate from a British University.
Sponsored by Harding Evans, a well established Newport regional law firm. The largest firm in Gwent and the 8th largest in Wales, it delivers a specialist range of legal services to commercial and private client's.
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Sunday 14th March
2.30pm
Monmouth Priory, Priory Street
Tickets: £ 8 to include afternoon tea
Due to ill health Baroness Park of Monmouth is unable to attend. Mady Gerrard will speak in her place |
Mady Gerrard - Challenge and survival
Mady Gerrard’s life has been one of challenges and survival. As a teenager she survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. As a young woman she fled from Hungary during the Russian invasion in 1956, to be eventually settled by the United Nations in Cardiff. There she met the challenge of supporting herself by developing the skills taught her by her aunt and mother; and she opened a boutique in Cardiff selling knitted clothing which she had designed herself. In 1960 she emigrated to North America, and became a successful designer, clothing some of the rich and famous in New York.
She returned to Wales 20 years ago, and has continued to meet the challenge of work, designing and making beautiful garments. There will be samples of her work on display at her talk.
She published her autobiography Full Circle in 2007
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Monday 15th March
7.30pm
The Savoy Theatre,
Church Street
Tickets: £10.
One child under 16 accompanied by an adult: free
16 – 19 years old: £2
Jo Salter |
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Jo Salter: Women can be Fighter Pilots too...
Imagine being in control of 25 million pounds of screaming metal flying just above the ground – decisions have to be immediate, reflexes lightning fast. For Jo Salter, Britain’s first female fighter pilot, this was an everyday event. When she flew the Tornado GR1, Jo was one of only five women fighter pilots in the world.
Come and hear about Jo’s experiences, and her commitment to encouraging more women into science and technology, as part of Monmouth’s Festival of Air, and of Monmouthshire’s celebration of the Centenary of Girl Guiding. It’s also National Science and Engineering Week, and Jo will spend the day in Monmouth, delivering a motivational schools workshop and judging a science competition organised by the Girl Guides.
Jo’s day is supported by funding from adventa, through Axis 4 from the European Union, through the Welsh Assembly Government. For more details of Festival of Air events, see: www.festivals.adventa.org.uk.
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Tuesday 16th March
10.30am -12.30pm
Bridges Community Centre,
Wonastow Road |
NCT Coffee Morning
With a talk from the Health Visitor on resuscitating babies and toddlers
| A National Childbirth Trust event. |
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Tuesday 16th March
8pm
The Savoy Theatre,
Church Street
Tickets: £5 from www.monmouthsavoy.co.uk
or the Savoy Box Office
Zanzibar Soccer Queens |
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Film: Zanzibar Soccer Queens
A provocative film about how passion for football is empowering women in Zanzibar, where soccer is transcending gender boundaries and challenging the traditional image of women in this predominantly Muslim society.
The documentary was made by award-winning film-maker Florence Ayisi of the University of Wales, Newport. She has created a fascinating portrait of Women Fighters, a football team determined to better their lives. The film shows personal stories of hopes, shattered dreams, self-determination and friendship – and gives a unique insight into the lives of women in modern Africa.
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Wednesday 17th March
11.30am
St. Mary’s Church,
Monmouth
Refreshments available
The exhibition runs until Sunday 21st March. |
Opening: Craft for the Community Exhibition by Dee Hardwicke, professional ceramicist
Centred around beautiful, high-quality quilts made for British servicemen and servicewomen injured while on active duty overseas, this exhibition celebrates the craftwork skills of women from Monmouth and surroundings. Other exhibits include hand knitted items made by the Monmouth Diocese Mothers Union for local special care baby units, and cuddly teddy bears destined to comfort young children in hospital. |
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Wednesday 17th March
8pm
The Savoy Theatre,
Church Street
Tickets: £5 from www.monmouthsavoy.co.uk
or the Savoy Box Office
Cho Oyo |
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Film: Cho Oyu: 1959 Women’s Expedition
The extraordinary story of the 1959 all-female assault on the 8,000m Himalayan peak, created from footage only released to the public in 2009 - the first time in 50 years. Cho Oyo was first climbed only a few years earlier, and this courageous expedition was the first ever all-female attempt on a mountain of this height. Climbers from France, Switzerland, Belgium and Britain were accompanied by three Nepali women – Tenzing Norgay’s daughters and his niece. Tragically, the expedition ended in disaster as two climbers and two Sherpas were killed.
An insight into another age, when the world seemed a larger and more challenging place, this remarkable film was Eileen Healey’s first attempt at expedition filming – which she achieved with the demands of climbing and shooting at the same time. She and the camera both suffered from the severe conditions notoriously experienced at high altitude. The film tells the tale of the attempt on Cho Oyo, but also details the realities of life for the Sherpa people before the high Himalayan valleys became a major trekking destination.
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Friday 19th March
11am
Monmouth Priory,
Priory Street
Entrance: £2 at the door
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Jill Evans MEP: Gaza - The Human Cost
At the invitation of a group of Welsh women Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans gives an update on the current situation in Gaza. Jill was part of a five strong delegation from the European Parliament sent to report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza after the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Palestine in 2008/9.
A light lunch (£3) will be provided by the Monmouth Branch of Christian Aid. |
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Friday 19th March
8.30pm
The Queen’s Head,
St. James Street
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Music at the Queen’s Head: Azhaar Saffar and her bossa nova trio.
Round off the Festival to the irresistible rhythms of violinist and vocalist Azhaar Saffar’s trio. With guitar, violin and percussion, they play mainly bossa nova, the most popular music form to come from Brazil. Songs are driven by the irresistible swing of the samba, with their roots in the music one hears every day played live in Brazil’s clubs, bars, parties and even on its beaches.
The trio’s musicians are associated with some of the leading Brazilian music groups such as Sirius B. Their repertoire draws on the wealth of music to come out of Brazil through composers such as Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Dorival Caymmi and many others.
Sponsored by MONTV, providing local TV for Monmouthshire and the Wye Valley. One of the UK’s first internet TV stations, the station also runs the MONTV Academy, offering candidates hands-on training in making films, documentaries and news items for broadcast.
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