Clancy, Author at Blackpool Social Club

13 Sep

Blackpool’s Great Wheel Discovery Day

Clancy0 CommentsHeritagebig wheel, collections, heritage, history, libraries, local history

Blackpool’s Local and Family History Centre is showcasing a pottery souvenir of the famous Great Wheel attraction as part of a Lancashire wide object trail. The History of Lancashire in 70 objects project will mark the 70th anniversary of the Lancashire Life magazine. It has been curated by the people of Lancashire with their chosen objects displayed in various public spaces across the county. The Great Wheel souvenir will be on display in the Local and Family History Centre, first floor of Blackpool Central Library until the 2 December 2017. The Great Wheel was a famous Blackpool attraction and Lancashire landmark…

12 Sep

Judo olympic legend visits Blackpool

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Sports & Wellbeingbook signing, Brian Jacks, judo, library, olympics

Judo legend Brian Jacks is currently touring the UK to promote his autobiography 'Mindset of a Champion' and will be visiting Blackpool Keidokwai Judo Club for a Judo masterclass, talk, Q&A and book signing on Thursday 14 September. Brian shot to fame when he won a sliver medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. He is also a nine-time world champion but many will remember him from the 1980's tv show The Superstars. Blackpool Keidokwai, who celebrated their 75th anniversary earlier this year, are thrilled to be hosting such a giant of judo. The Masterclass takes place at Blackpool Keidokwai…

13 Jul

Seaside special – postcards from the edge

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Wordbluemoose books, competition, creative writing, independent

There is an exciting opportunity for five new writers to be published in a short story collection alongside award winning writers Andrew Michael Hurley, Carys Bray, Paul Kingsnorth, Peter Kalu and Kirsty Logan. Bluemoose Books are looking for stories from new writers and new voices for an anthology of short fiction set on the North West Coast edited by the award winning writer Jenn Ashworth. 'From the bright lights of Blackpool to the eerie calm of Morecambe bay, from the port of Whitehaven down to the dunes of Formby, we want your stories. We're interested in the untold tales: the seasonal workers, the overlooked…

11 Jul

‘All Change’ with debut author Jill Reidy

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

altBlackpool’s Clancy Mason catches up with photographer and debut author Jill Reidy to find out more about her children's book All Change. CM: Congratulations on your first children’s book! Can you tell us what our readers might expect? JR: Thank you, it’s all very exciting. It's a story about a teacher who can't control her class and thinks up a weird and whacky plan to keep them quiet. Everything starts to go wrong and we say how the children come to the rescue - all in the course of a day. I wrote it to be a little bit nail…

27 Jun

Christina Bianco brings one thousand voices to Viva Blackpool

Clancy0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

YouTube sensation and ‘woman of a thousand voices’ Christina Bianco returns to Viva Blackpool for the final date of her UK tour. Christina began her career on Broadway and the West End with numerous credits and has now taken her own brand of vocal cabaret to stages including the London Hippodrome, Royal Albert Hall and Edinburgh Fringe. Now she is back at Viva Blackpool, after appearing at the venue in 2016, with her unique vocal impression show on Thursday July 20 before she heads back to the US. The two-hour show will see Christina joined on stage by her…

22 Mar

Interview: The Blue Room Community Pub

Clancy0 CommentsLocal Newscommunity venue, crowdfunding, pub, The Blue Room

altBlackpool’s Clancy Mason catches up with Graham Moore from The Blue Room Community Pub, one of the five individuals behind the efforts to raise funds to secure the future for this historic venue. CM: Can you tell me a little bit about yourselves? What brought the five of you together? GM: We’re all from Blackpool originally, and are long-standing friends that used to use the pub socially. We've played in bands that performed at the pub, and have promoted many gigs and events that took place there. I used to run an Open Mic night and a quiz night and…

24 Feb

Unique Chance For Women Perform In COAL

Clancy0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

The drama, the tragedy and the unbreakable spirit of a working class community fighting for its future comes to the stage as Gary Clarke Company embarks on a major 2016 national tour with COAL! This is a unique opportunity for four women to make their own contribution to the story as they join dancers and musicians for a remarkable live theatre tribute to the people living in the coalfields. COAL is a riveting dance theatre show that takes a nostalgic but honest look at the hard hitting realities of life at the coal face, the back breaking physical graft and…

08 Feb

Interview: Dotty Delightful, Before The Flood

Clancy0 CommentsFilm

altB's Clancy Mason catches up with Dotty Delightful who talks to us about the special screening of Before The Flood. CM: Tell us about the film you are screening? DD: Before the Flood is the film from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens and Academy Award-winning actor, environmental activist and U.N. Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio. Before the Flood presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change, as well as the actions we as individuals and as a society can take to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet. The film follows…

02 Feb

Interview: Catherine Mugonyi Director of the Winter Gardens Film Festival

Clancy1 CommentFilm, HeritageAunty Social, Black and White Film, Blackpool, Film, film festival, filmmaking, Winter Gardens Film Festival

altB's Clancy Mason caught up with Winter Gardens Film Festival Director, Catherine Mugonyi to find out more about what is happening this weekend: CMa: Tell us a little bit about your background? How did you get to the point where you are now directing a film festival? CMu: I've run a Blackpool-based neighbourhood cinema group called Pop-up Picturehouse for the last 5 years and it's been a fascinating journey. I found out that there are plenty of people living locally who enjoy independent and classic film yet struggle to find places to see it outside of their homes. The group…

19 Jan

Does Your Dog Have What It Takes To Be An Opera Star?

Clancy0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Has your dog got star quality? If your pet pooch is a Bulldog Brad Pitt or Scarlett Johansson-esque Scottish Terrier, then they could win an opportunity to star in the beautiful and romantic opera 'La Boheme', coming to the Grand Theatre, Blackpool on 13th February 2017. Award-winning opera director and producer Ellen Kent said: “People say never work with children or animals but I love to do both. The first time was 20 years ago when my pet cat Holly Go-Lightly was in one of my productions and was an instant hit. Since then we’ve had horses, dogs, goldfish and…