Sandra Mangan, Author at Blackpool Social Club

29 Apr

Another Christie mystery for the Grand

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

A Belgian detective famous for his little grey cells is visiting Blackpool next month, when Agatha Christie's Black Coffee stops off at the Grand Theatre for a week-long run. Hot on the heels of the hugely successful Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, Black Coffee is at The Grand from Monday, May 19 to Saturday, May 24. Taking the starring role of Hercule Poirot is a face familiar to TV audiences of all ages. Depending on your generation, Robert Powell is best known as Jesus of Nazareth, Richard Hannay, Jasper Carrott's sidekick in The Detectives, or Mark Williams in Holby City. He's…

29 Apr

Shedding light on Blackpool Illuminations

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsHeritage, Local News

They're as much Blackpool as the Tower, rock and the Golden Mile, and every winter the Illuminations bring huge numbers of visitors here from all over Britain and further afield. The displays are magical to everyone who sees them; they 'ooh and ahh', chat about their favourites, then set off home again, promising to return next year and do it all over again. But do these starry eyed tourists ever consider the work that goes on behind the scenes? And what about you? Yes you! You're local and think you know Blackpool... but can you find the mysterious place called -…

22 Apr

Make a date with World Book Night

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

April 23 is a great date in the literature calendar. Not only is it Shakespeare's Birthday, it is also World Book Night. I chatted to Clancy Mason, Reader Development Manager at Blackpool Libraries, about plans for the big day. What is World Book Night? World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading and books which takes place on 23 April. It sees passionate volunteers give hundreds of thousands of books away in their communities to share their love of reading with people who, for whatever reason, don’t read for pleasure or own books. It is run by The Reading Agency - a…

21 Apr

C’mon, feel the noise!

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

Feel like life is passing you by? No time to stop and smell the roses? Then it's time for a new approach! Aunty Social and DigiEnable have joined forces to offer Ears Wide Open - a sound project which will take two sets of residents from Preston and Blackpool on a journey to reconnect with the sounds of the place they call home. Bringing together volunteers from community radio stations and community arts organisations, the project's aim is to create an exciting and engaging soundscape using a mixture of traditional recording methods to capture the often ignored sounds, as well as digital techniques to bring…

16 Apr

Chance to see your name in lights

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsLocal News

Do you have a dazzling ambition to shine? Long to see your name in lights? Then the Friends of Blackpool Illuminations could provide your lightbulb moment. As part of a new fundraising scheme, the Friends have launched the “Buy a Bulb” campaign, which will allow people to buy the chance to be part of the famous display for just a quid. All people have to do is “Buy a Bulb” from the Friends of Blackpool Illuminations team for £1 and sign it with an indelible pen. The bulb will then be used within the display, giving the buyer their very…

11 Apr

Dawn goes solo in Grand style

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

She's probably best known as half of French and Saunders, now Dawn French is going it alone with her first solo stand up tour - and she's stopping off for four nights at the Grand Theatre in September. An award-winning actor and best-selling novelist, Dawn has written a new show, based on her life and career, entitled 30 Million Minutes. It promises "various delights and riches, with the odd irksome tribulation thrown in," as Dawn takes audiences through the various lessons life has taught her, and the things she knows for sure. With a sharp eye for comic detail and a wicked…

26 Feb

Donna’s winner is pretty as a picture

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsLocal News

A stunning photograph of St Anne's beach at sunset has come out tops in a LOVEmyBEACH competition, run by the Turning Tides partnership. The winning photographer is Donna Rigby, from Squire's Gate, Blackpool, and the silhouette in her dazzling image is her two-year-old son, Aidan. The picture, taken in January this year with nothing more complicated than a mobile phone, has won Donna a year’s membership from Wild Arena. She also received a litter picking kit, thanks to the Helping Hand Company, who spotted the competition on Twitter and offered the additional prize. Donna, 32, regularly goes on walks along St Annes…

25 Feb

Three go wild in Blackpool

Sandra Mangan2 CommentsMusic & Gigs, Theatre, Dance & Performance

The curtain rose to reveal three well turned-out ladies and a grand piano. Surely the cue for a night of cultured entertainment – the show is titled Charm Offensive, after all? Prepare to have those illusions shattered... Think a mashup of the WI and Catherine Tate's Nan and you'll have some idea of what to expect. It's 31 years since Dillie Keane formed Fascinating Aida and since then the trio (with a variety of personnel changes) has performed in five continents, had six West End runs, recorded eight albums, received three Olivier award nominations and published two books. Phew! The current…

24 Feb

Blowing their own trumpet

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

It's thirty years since the Miners' Strike, so the arrival of Touring Consortium Theatre Company's production of Brassed Off at The Grand seems perfectly timed. Set in the fictional mining village of Grimley in Yorkshire, the play has been adapted by Paul Allen from the screenplay by Mark Herman. It's 1992, and Grimley Colliery pit is threatened with closure. As the miners find themselves torn between redundancy packages and picket lines, playing in the colliery brass band seems the least of their worries. It looks like bandleader Danny’s hopes of winning the national brass band competition are also becoming a distant…

17 Feb

Short play makes big impression at competition

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance, Visual Arts & Exhibitions

Andy Warhol once said we will all have fifteen minutes of fame, but it took less than ten minutes for Vicky Ellis and David Riley to make their mark at the 3 Minute Theatre's Playathon at Afflecks Theatre in Manchester. Fracture, co-written by the pair of award-winning local writers, won the audience vote in the competition for plays of three, six and nine minutes' duration – and the piece will now be developed into a ninety-minute play. Fracture is a play about exploitation, and focuses on a pair of brothers who are involved with the sex trade industry. Prize-winning poet, storyteller, and editor Vicky…