Lord Mayor launches Children’s Safety Initiative

A ground-breaking children’s safety initiative was launched at the weekend.

The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Coun Abid Hussain, unveiled the scheme which involves three schools taking part in the Children’s Year of Safety, which has the support of a wide range of organisations and agencies.

The schools involved are Our Lady of Victories Catholic Primary, Merlin Top Primary Academy and Laycock Primary.  Each term during the academic year they will cover different topics around safeguarding and safety.

It is hoped that if the scheme is a success, it will be rolled out to other parts of Keighley and the wider Bradford district.

Coun Abid Hussain said:  “When we work together we can give our children every chance to thrive and fulfil their potential – which is what every one of them deserves,” he said.

“The Children’s Year of Safety is a new idea and I am delighted that we in Keighley are leading the way on such an important piece of work.

“There’s an old saying, ‘it takes a whole village to raise a child’. It may be an old saying, but it’s as true now as it ever was and it means we are all responsible for keeping our children safe.

“The Children’s Year of Safety will make it clear what that actually means for everyone.”

The gala – staged by the Braithwaite and Guard House Partnership, which brings together a host of organisations and agencies – has been hailed a success and was attended by hundreds of people.

There was a lot going on, on the day and attractions included a fancy dress contest, cave bus, bouncy castle, games, team sports, face painting, under-fives messy play, crafts, food and stalls.

The police and fire service were there, Keighley Healthy Living was represented and White Rose Energy distributed information.

Mae Wilkinson, five, and Tia-Rose Curry, six, help the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Cllr Abid Hussain, brush-up on road safety at Braithwaite and Guard House Gala

Heritage Day at Keighley Library

Visitors to Keighley can discover more about the town’s heritage at Keighley Library this coming weekend. The annual Heritage Day at Keighley Library will take place on Saturday, 9 September. There will be local, family, schools and military stands and this year the event will take on a musical theme reflecting Keighley’s musical heritage. People can meet local and family history groups including Keighley Local History Society, Keighley Family History Society, Men of Worth, Keighley Schools Heritage and Airedale and Haworth writers. At 11am there will be a special Rhymetime for children of all ages with guest presenters ‘Little Notes’.  The sing-along will feature woodwind instruments and fun and games. From 11am until 4pm there will be music from local musicians Foxes Faux, Dayner Sim and Niamh Mirfield and Keighley group The Presidents. There will be displays of Keighley’s musical heritage since the 1950s from the local studies library collections. At 1pm musician and historian Gary Cavanagh author of ‘Noise of the Valleys’ will give a talk with musical clips from the CD that accompanies the book. Coun Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said:  “People can drop in throughout the day and discover more about the heritage of the local area.” Admission to the event is free and everyone is welcome.

Free event – Cliffe Castle Garden Party

The will be free fun and frolics for all at Cliffe Castle park and Museum Garden Party on Sunday (July 30). The whole event will be buzzin’ with carnival rides, music, dancing and the Airedale Beekeepers observational bee hive. The event, organised by Bradford Council, the Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group and Bluefruit Promotions will include take-away high tea and garden advice. It starts at 12noon and lasts until 6pm. Parking will be limited and visitors are asked to use public transport or town centre car parks. The £4.5 million on-going restoration of Keighley’s Cliffe Castle park, has been supported thanks to National Lottery players. The restoration of the park’s Victorian features first began in June 2016 when Bradford Council successfully bid £3.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Parks for People programme. Coun Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “We hope lots of people will come and have a great time at the museum and park. “Visitors can get an exciting look at how the work is going so far with work on lots of Victorian features already completed. “Cliffe Castle has been one of the district’s favourite destinations since it became a public park and museum more than 50 years ago. The HLF project will ensure it continues to be a delight for the coming years.”

Pupils from 12 Bradford schools to take part in Schools’ Yorkshire Tour cycle relay

Around 72 children from 12 schools across the Bradford district are taking part in a cycling relay as part of national Bike Week. The Schools’ Yorkshire Tour relay sees pupils from primary schools in the district pass a baton over 35 miles of the 395km (245 miles) route. The event has been organised by the ten Yorkshire local authorities in partnership with Sustrans and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and supported by YPO. A baton is being passed by school children and young people from school to school and local authority to local authority along the route across Yorkshire. The event started in Sheffield on 12 June and has already passed through Barnsley, Wakefield, Doncaster, East Riding and York. It will pass through North Yorkshire, Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale before ultimately finishing in Leeds on Tuesday 27 June with a celebration event. The route will use cycle lanes and numerous off-road cycleways as much as possible. A number of famous landmarks will form the backdrop to the baton handovers, including in the Bradford district the original Woolpack Inn at Esholt made famous by the long running television programme Emmerdale, Salts Mill, Bingley’s Five Rise Locks and the iconic Haworth Main Street. Pupils from Bradford will take part in Stage 11 – Leeds to Bradford and Stage 12 – Bradford to Calderdale. Children from Baildon C of E Primary School will welcome the baton to the Bradford district at the famous Woolpack Inn in Esholt where they will receive it from pupils from Yeadon Primary School on Thursday 22 June at 2pm. The baton will be taken to Byron Primary School, Barkerend for pupils from the school to start Stage 12 on Friday 23. Stage 12 will start at 8.30am where pupils from Byron Primary School, will cycle down the Leeds Bradford Cycle Superhighway passing the baton to pupils from Rainbow Primary School, Bradford in City Park. The next stop will be the Canal Road Greenway where pupils from Sandal Primary School, Baildon will take the baton along the Greenway to Salts Mill before handing it to children from Wycliffe C of E Primary School, Shipley. The baton will then be taken along the Leeds Liverpool Canal and be passed to children from Riddlesden St Mary’s Primary School at Bingley’s Five Rise Locks. The pupils will then cycle along the canal to their school where they will be met by pupils from Eastwood Community School, Keighley, to hand the baton on. The baton will then go to Parkwood Primary School, Keighley, Worth Valley Primary School, Keighley and Oakworth Primary School before being taken to Haworth. In Haworth pupils from Haworth Primary School and Lees Primary School will take a tour of Haworth, including the children tackling the famous setts of Haworth Main Street. Coun Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “There is a real passion for cycling in Bradford district at the moment and I’m sure the children taking part in this event will have a great time, cycling with their friends and also meeting children from other schools.” Pupils from the schools taking part in the cycle relay have also been given the opportunity to take part in a Twitter slogan competition – the winners of which will be invited to attend a celebration event at Leeds Civic Hall on 27 June 2017. Thursday 22 at 2pm at The Woolpack Inn, Esholt, BD17 7QZ Pupils from Baildon C of E Primary School will receive the baton from pupils from Yeadon Primary School at the end of Stage 11. Friday 23 8.30am to 2pm 8.30am – Byron Primary School, Barkerend, Bradford, BD3 0AB Pupils from the school will start Stage 12 of the Schools’ Yorkshire Tour 9am – City Park, Bradford, BD1 1HY Pupils from Byron Primary School will hand the baton to pupils from Rainbow Primary School at the fountains in City Park. 9.30am – Gaisby Lane junction with Canal Road Greenway Pupils from Rainbow Primary School will hand the baton to pupils from Sandal Primary School 10am – Salts Mill on Leeds Liverpool Canal by Victoria Road bridge BD18 1AE Pupils from Sandal Primary School will hand the baton to pupils from Wycliffe C of E Primary School 10.30am Five Rise Locks in Bingley, Beck Lane Bingley BD16 4DS Pupils from Wycliffe C of E Primary School will hand the baton to pupils from Riddlesden St Mary’s School at the top of Five Rise Locks 11am Riddlesden St Mary’s Primary School, Riddlesden, BD20 5AB Pupils from Riddlesden St Mary’s Primary School will hand the baton to pupils from Eastwood Primary School. 12.15pm Parkwood Primary School, Keighley, BD21 4QH Pupils from Eastwood Primary school will hand the baton over to pupils at Parkwood Primary School 12.45pm Worth Valley Primary School, Keighley, BD22 7AX Pupils from Parkwood Primary School will hand over the baton to pupils at Worth Valley Primary School 1.30pm Oakworth Primary School, Oakworth, BD22 7HX Pupils from Worth Valley Primary School will hand over the baton to pupils at Oakworth Primary School 2pm Haworth Primary School, Haworth, BD22 8DW Pupils from Oakworth Primary School will hand over the baton at Haworth Primary School. Pupils from Lees Primary School, Cross Roads and Haworth Primary School will cycle round Haworth including tackling Haworth Main Street.

Flamboyant street theatre programme headed for Bradford Festival

Bradford Council is set to stage a host of colourful and creative street theatre acts at this year’s Bradford Festival.

In late July, City Park will burst into life with top quality acts from across the UK.

Innovating street theatre company, Highly Sprung will stage a piece offering a glimpse of a possible future  Urban Astronaut.

Problems surrounding air pollution have grown to a crisis point and the work askes audiences if there is ‘a way back?’ 

Combining stunning design and a unique travelling flying machine with simple storytelling and a moving dance performance, Urban Astronaut searches for a solution to the environmental disaster which Highly Sprung believes is in our near future.

Award-winning international performance company, Markmark Productions will stage HMS Punafore, a hilarious musical comedy where the crew makes disastrous attempts to perform Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic operetta.

Meet the Funnels by Artemis Productions is a comical interactive act featuring three chimneys which dance, toot their horns and play ‘follow the leader’.

When the time is right, the characters will surprise festival-goers by popping out like jack-in-the-boxes and invite people to join in with their games, fun and frivolity.

An amphibious pedalo has been cleverly adapted to take Reckless Invention characters, Mfanwy and Gfanwy, to places where normal pedalos cannot reach. 

Pedalo is a two person peddle-about with an oceanic theme where the comical characters will attempt to impress City Park visitors with their sporting prowess and dreadful stunts.

Comical seafaring clichés from Treasure Island to Moby Dick will be played played out in Lifeboat, by Derbyshire-based street arts organisation, Artizani.

Audiences will be asked to ‘batten down the hatches’ as the shipwrecked Captain and Boatswain’s mate relive their comical tales of life on the seven seas.

Giant child-friendly fowl, the Puddle Ducks by Cirq Delight, will investigate every situation in Bradford’s City Park by curiously pecking at people’s bags and coats whilst quacking their way out of tricky situations. 

Bradford’s master puppet makers, Cecil Green Arts, returns to City Park bringing some of their best larger than life paper mâché creations in the Big Welcome.

Internationally acclaimed theatre company Mind the Gap will perform the premier of Mirror Mirror, a thought-provoking collaborative piece developed with cutting-edge Liverpool theatre company The Kazimier.

Through ‘absurd performance’, technology and playful imitation, Mirror Mirror explores the experiences of people who are considered ‘different’ in today’s society and prompts the audience to ask themselves: who’s in front of the mirror?

Award-winning local interactive performance company, Same Difference, will stage, Sense-O-Matic which features a Victorian-inspired ‘fantastical object’ which ‘documents sights, sounds, smells and all other sensations’.

People will be encouraged to help Sense-O-Matic’s madcap lab-rats complete their ‘very important research’ and discover everyday details which are often overlooked.

Formerly known as the Bradford Playhouse, Fused Imagination will stage a light-hearted children’s show, Red Bill’s Air Race.

Budding ‘scientists, aviation experts and paper folding champions’ will work with larger-than-life engineers, ground crew and flight attendants to build, test-pilot and race paper planes around the festival.

Shipley-based arts company Q20 are set to show Elephant Gigante, an act which gives visitors the chance to experience ‘the majesty and serenity of the Serengeti’.

Moving through the crowds like cruise-liners through the mist, enormous, fully-animated puppets will ‘amaze and entrance’ visitors to the Bradford Festival.

The elephants will pause to meet people as they make their way to City Park’s ‘watering hole’ where they restore old friendships, tussle for dominance, groom each other and play.

Celebrated women’s street theatre company, Circo Rum Ba Ba, brings The Crow House, a silent movie-inspired show using acrobatics, silks trapeze artistry, hat juggling, musical saw and harp playing, puppetry, audience participation and slap-stick comedy.

One of Cardiff’s most exciting, original and eclectic companies and pioneers of all things retro, vintage and the wonderfully absurd, Kitsch & Sync Collective will stage, Bedraggled.

Three ‘bedraggled beauties’ are swept up on City Park’s ‘shores’, serenading shipwrecked sailors with their sublime, sultry sounds.

Audiences can expect ‘underwater warblings, mermaid mambo manoeuvres, fish maracas, octopus opera’ and much more!

Innovative British street theatre company, Acrojou will show, All at Sea, a theatrical installation set in a boat.

All at Sea combines melancholic humour, striking design  and visual poetry, in a moving and atmospheric ‘row-about installation’.

Bristol-based artistes, Cake Ladies, bring their flamboyant stilt-walking show by the same name.

With lashings of charisma and oozing with charm, the Cake Ladies are a saucy roaming tea party which dishes up sweet treats with a touch of glamour.

In 2016, the Bradford Festival attracted over 150,000 people into Bradford city centre.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “This year’s festival is packed with lots of colourful and entertaining things to see and do.

“The street theatre programme will be lots of fun with lots of opportunities to interact with the performers.

“Admission is free and everyone is welcome.”

For further information and updates, visit www.bradfordfestival.org.uk or follow Bradford Festival on Twitter: @BfdFestival and Facebook.

City Cycle Event to be held in Bradford City Centre

A fun filled cycling day to continue the cycling theme in the wake of the Tour de Yorkshire is taking place in Bradford and you don’t even need a bike to take part.

Bradford City Cycle is an event for all ages and abilities to cycle on traffic-free streets in the city centre.

The route takes in large parts of the centre including around Broadway, City Park and Darley Street.

The action takes place on Sunday, May 14, between 11am and 3pm.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, how old your bike is, or how fast you can ride – Bradford City Cycle is a fun filled day for all.

You can join the ride anywhere along the route which is 2.5 miles long, and there will be lots of family activities in City Park with entertainment for everyone to enjoy including; a climbing tower, bungee trampolines and music in the mirror pool area.

Watch displays by professional trial biker, Jack Carthy who is the reigning UCI Elite World Champion and UCI World Cup Champion and will be demonstrating his amazing skills throughout the day.

Don’t worry if you haven’t got a bike, Bradford Council’s Youth Service are kindly bringing some that will be available to use for free on the day, including some adapted bikes for people with disabilities. Please note: these will be offered on a first come, first served basis.

Link to event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/613652968831001/

Pupils shine in preparation for BBC Music Day

Pupils are getting together to write songs with the help of musician, Roger Davies as they prepare to perform at BBC Music Day in June.

The pupils in year 5 and 6 from Keelham Primary School, Dixons Music Primary School, Marshfield Primary School and Feversham Primary Academy will sing four songs together at the event in City Park.

Roger Davies – a guitarist, vocalist and harmonica player – is hosting singing and song writing workshops with the children ahead of BBC Music Day.

In preparation for the event, Mr. Davies will visit each school and host rehearsals to enable the pupils to practise for the event.

It has been confirmed that one of the songs will be written with the help of the youngsters and will be called ‘Bradford City Serenade’.

Other songs which will be performed are:  Bradford Born ’N’ Raised, as well as On Ilkla Moor Baht ’At and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day.

BBC Music Day takes place in City Park on Friday, 9 June.

Roger Davies working with pupils at Keelham Primary School

 

 

 

Easter Holidays Minecraft Meet

Are you looking for a fun activity to keep your primary age pupils entertained during the Easter holidays?

The Curriculum Innovation team are running 4 Minecraft meets on Thursday, 20 April  & Friday, 21 April at The Innovation Centre Bradford.

The sessions are aimed at 6 to 11 year olds and are £8 per child.

We will use Minecraft EDU on laptops to run two activities in each session. In activity one we will travel to the Star Wars Universe. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly a TIE Fighter or to visit the Ewoks on Endor?  Activity two will be a Minecraft Building Challenge where you will have the opportunity to work on your own or as a team under the expert guidance of one of our Minecraft enthusiasts.

As a momento of the day you will be given a free photo of you in a Minecraft world to take away with you. You do not need to bring any equipment along – all resources and laptops will be provided.  There is no need for parents/guardians to stay – all our staff are DBS registered and the sessions are led by experienced classroom practitioners, but if you feel more comfortable remaining on the premises we have a space where you can wait.

If your child is a Minecraft enthusiast then this will represent the ideal activity for the half term.

To book your place please click here.

Note – please use the ‘Select a different date’ option on the right hand menu to select the date and time you would like to attend.

Free arts and entertainment to be held in city centre

A series of free events is coming to Bradford city centre this spring, including parades, talent shows and live entertainment.

The Creative Streets programme features colourful costumed parades, a quirky talent quest, an innovative indoor ‘art and performance park’ and an entertaining and interactive treasure hunt.

Bradford city centre will come alive with Bhangra, Bollywood and African drumming dance acts, cycling activities and a range of creative costume-making workshops.

Bradford’s cutting edge arts company, The Brick Box, will stage a follow-up production of their highly successful, Wild Woods ‘indoor woodland’ and performance space.

The Wild Woods in Bloom will put the spring back into Darley St and celebrate the new season with colourful and interactive installations, live performances from a host of exciting local talent, amazing workshops, family fun and games, and delicious food.

Local master mask and puppet makers, Cecil Green Arts whose workshop was destroyed in the Drummond Mill fire, will run a flamboyant Puppet Parade featuring huge colourful papier mâché pieces created by local people at special workshops.

The vibrant Puppet Parade will celebrate everything about Bradford and be accompanied by local musicians from Punjabi Roots Academy and Moseke Music.

There will be opportunities for budding cyclists to take part in Spring Flower and Shamrock Cycle Parades, and special workshops will be held to help people make costumes and decorate their bikes.

There will be chances for people to try out a range of ingenious and innovative adaptive bikes designed to cater for all ages and abilities and compete in various Tour de Yorkshire inspired activities at Bradford Capital of Cycling.

Shipley-based arts company, Q20, is teaching local school children costume design and construction, and street theatre skills so they can perform at a colourful Pirate Parade, complete with a mobile galleon.

Hundreds of young recruits will join local artists, John and Charlotte Lambert and Scott Vipond-Clarke, to rampage through Bradford city centre’s streets showing off their newly acquired buccaneering skills at a Pirate Parade.

The Pirate Pirade finishes with a swashbuckling picnic at Oaster Square.

Q20 will also stage a quirky talent quest, Top of Town’s Got Talent on 1 April.

Local people are being encouraged to ‘make an April fool of themselves’ by showcasing their special talents which could include anything from acrobatics, poetry, plate spinning, clog dancing to ear wiggling.

The fun continues with the April Fools’ Wacky Cycle Challenges where families can try out a range of unusual bicycles including reverse bikes which go backwards when you pedal forwards, tiny ‘monkey bikes’, tall ‘over-sized’ and companion bikes.

People can also try hand-cranked and recumbent cycle challenges.

Families will enjoy an interactive and dramatized treasure hunt where they will meet some larger than life characters, performed by Bradford Adept artists, Shanaz Gulzar and Steve Manthorp.

Participants of the In for a Penny Treasure Hunt will solve a series of clues to win a specially minted ‘Yorkshire Penny’ which can be kept or exchanged for discounts in selected  Bradford stores.

Lovers of Bollywood and Bhangra will enjoy an explosive performance from Bradford’s South Asian arts school, Punjabi Roots Academy in Balle!! Balle!

Punjabi Roots Academy will stage, The B3ats, a pioneering fusion music event featuring eastern and western instruments and a professional DJ.

The Academy will also run drumming workshops along with African drummer, Moses Ekebuisi.

Creative Streets runs from 11 March to 30 April in the ‘top of town’ area of Bradford including Darley Street, North Parade, Kirkgate Market and Oastler Market.

All events and workshops are free of charge.

Coun Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “Creative Streets will be lots of fun and we’re inviting everyone to come into Bradford to enjoy the free workshops and entertainment.

“This project is part of our on-going support designed to attract more people into the ‘top of town’ area of Bradford city centre and support the businesses in that area.”

For further information visit: www.facebook.com/CreativeStreetsBd

 

 

Over 1000 young people to take part in the February Bradford Winter School Games 2017

Pupils playing basketball in The Bradford Winter School Gams

The Bradford Winter School Games finals day will involve approximately 1000 young athletes from across Bradford, competing to be crowned Bradford Schools Champions as well as securing team places for the West Yorkshire Finals.

Bradford School Games Organisers from across the district are delighted to be hosting the second Bradford Winter School Games finals on Friday 17^th February 2017 at Hanson Academy, Goals Soccer Centre and Pulse Health and Fitness.

This event forms part of the National School Games Programme – a unique opportunity to motivate and inspire millions of young people across the country to take part in more competitive school sport.

The Bradford Winter School Games sees the culmination of last terms district School Games events for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Special Schools in Athletics, Basketball, Boccia, Football, Netball, Quick Sticks Hockey and Table Tennis.

The local qualifying events held in the 5 school games areas across Bradford so far have already engaged hundreds of schools and over 5000 young people.

The Bradford Winter School Games will be supported by a number of partners including; Sports Hall Associates, Bradford Dragons Basketball Club, Rebels Netball Club, Bradford Hockey Club, The Bradford Bulls Foundation, Bradford City FC Community, Table Tennis England, Bradford City FC and Jamie’s Ministry of Food.

It will be a great spectacle highlighting the talent and dedication of young people from across Bradford.

Richard Woods, Principal, Hanson School, ‘We are proud to offer our fantastic facilities to host the Bradford Winter Games 2017. PE and the School Games is an integral part of our school so we are excited to welcome some of the most talented young athletes from across Bradford to compete in the finals.  We recognise the hard work put in by school staff, parents and athletes in reaching this stage so take pleasure in being able to offer our facilities and support to ensure the games are once again a huge success.’

Opening the Bradford Winter School Games is former England and Great Britain Rugby League Captain, and Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls Rugby League legend Jamie Peacock MBE.

Following on from this event, successful teams and individuals will then take place in the West Yorkshire Finals primarily at Leeds Beckett Campus on Saturday 25^th March 2017.

Follow us on Twitter @HansonSGO