By Kate Hodges
30th November 2018
EVENT, DO Feed The Tree
Tree Dressing Day is not only a chance to express your love for coppices, forests and spinneys, but an opportunity for communities to gather beneath their loved oaks, beeches and pines. It’s a chance to reflect on the social and cultural history of an area and the role trees have played in shaping this story. Try gathering a group and decorating a tree special to you, either in your garden, deep in a forest, or in a park. This could be in the style of a traditional ‘clootie’ tree or even a yarn bomb. Alternatively, join an organised event, such as the illuminated parade and spiral dance around the aspen trees at Weald and Downland Living Museum on Sunday. Find out more about Tree Week here
DO Day by Day
December starts this weekend, and with it, the countdown to Christmas. But rather than an advent calendar stuffed with plastic toys or sugary chocolate, why not try something different this year? We love Action for Happiness’ Kindness Calendar with its ideas for daily acts of generosity and The Mad House’s selection of ideas for giving advent acts. Or why not start a reverse advent calendar and put aside a donation to a food bank every day.
EVENT Chill Out
Manchester’s free Frost Fair is a two-day celebration of “winter, art and togetherness” held at the beautiful Whitworth Gallery. This year, it celebrates 250 years of the British circus, with fire and LED performers, circus skills workshops, floristry workshops, circus crafts, an outdoor cinema showing Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away and plenty of opoortunities to stock up on artisan-made Christmas gifts. The weekend climaxes with a dramatic fireworks display that will transform the front of the gallery into a fiery courtyard.
EVENT Cornwall Of Sound
Make the most of the £1 admission fee at Tate St Ives this Saturday, as the gallery holds its Winter Festival. Not only will you get be able to view the stunning artwork much more cheaply than usual, your visit will be soundtracked by choirs and bands playing carols – some of the songs local to the seaside town. Make Christmas decorations and frosty cards, and explore the Memory Bay sound archive. Then why not go for a blowy walk on one of the nearby beaches or have a wind-whipped stroll along the coastal path towards Zennor?
EVENT Winter Is Coming
Visiting the Southbank Centre during winter is a modern London tradition. Over the next few months, you can enjoy a Caribbean Christmas weekend party with poets and artists, dress up for a Snow Ball with live music, or head to a day-long drag king and queen show, browse the winter market, and enjoy festive shows; this weekend join Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler for a festive sing-along and live drawing (ticketed), or book now for the magical, atmospheric Circus 1903 show, with animal puppetry and vintage-styled daredevils, or a rollicking version of Rumpelstiltskin. Full line-up here
