Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh and Scotland

Problems and Answers
First problem - I lost two hours of work on this post when I accidentally worked on a second opening of the page, then closed the first page which over wrote the later version. I then tried revert to draft which went back to the even earlier version. So, from now on, you will get my posts saved as I write the first draft.

1 When to go?
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
4 Aug – 28 Aug 2017

ROYAL MILITARY TATTOO
4-26 Aug 2017

New Year's Eve Dec 2017


2 Where to stay
My friends stay at the same hotel each year and book for the year ahead. That's why the central hotels are all booked up. You may have to go to latebookings.com and find something in your price range. Then book a more central hotel for the following year.

If you go by car, you can stay out of the city centre. If you are a group, try a self-catering place. The great ones I looked at were over £300 but slept four.

If you miss the Edinburgh Festival, consider booking New Year's Eve.

3 What to do and see
Performances, Plays and Performing

4 Stopover between Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England
I stayed in York for a night at a hotel which specialises in a wine theme and a large cellar restaurant, Hotel Du Vin. We travelled by car and made stops on the way up and back to see one of several places associated with Scottish hero Bruce and the spider. (See later post.) Also Lockerbie (see later post.

5 Any Comedy courses?
If you pay for a one day or two day or one week comedy or acting training course which ends with a performance in Edinburgh you then get invited to a post production party in London where you might meet a talent scout.

Going Solo
It's expensive to hire a venue for a night. To get an audience you need one or more of these:
A sponsor. A charity. Mum and Dad. Your savings. A theatre or orchestra or arts grant or city or country grant or student or university group.
Advertising budget for newspapers, free newspaper, posters, flyers.
People to hand out flyers.
Pub alongside with existing clientele.
Two nights or more so that those in the audience enjoying night one will come back on night two or send their friends.
An existing huge fan club or access to huge media circulation
A really wacky idea which gets lots of newspaper publicity.
A big name star to perform or endorse you.
Prior performance.

Who can perform? Actors in skits, plays, stand up comedy, open microphone shows, bands, poetry readings, small music groups, choirs and orchestras, singer-songwriters, musicals, ballets and dancers, street performers.
Alongside may be sellers of relevant books, souvenirs, tee-shirts, related to performances and to Edinburgh or Scotland.
Going With Groups
Look for comedy and acting courses. They end with a show. Just one night.

A huge group of students or others whose families will all pay a little for the performance.
A student group from a religious organisation sponsored by the church or synagogue, either on a topic or theme they like, or to create a fellowship of like-minded people.

Remember to record your comedy online for advance publicity and post-event publicity for the next year.

Invite the press to attend. Send a free ticket. Send a flyer for publicity. Take out an advertisement. Send them a photo or a video link. If they are too busy to send a photographer, offer to call at their office in costume for a photo with the reporter. You can take a selfie with your smart phone or laptop or theirs.

Tips & Websites
Edinburgh Festival
www.edfringe.com
http://edinburgh.org
https://www.latebookings.com//
www.lateluxury.com
https://www.visitscotland.com

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Charity shops online and language

If you want to buy bargain or contribute to charity here are some sites and words to look for:

UK
Words to look for: charity shop; end of line; sales; sale or return; second hand.

Barnados
Cancer Research
Macmillan (nurses)
Oxfam
RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)
St Lukes (hospices)

USA
Words to look for: consignment store; on consignment; Goodwill; thrift.

Goodwill - a company which provides employment for those with handicaps and produces goods to sell in shops and on line.
goodwill.org

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.

Wear A Hat Day, March 24th, to support Brain Tumour research

I saw the advertisements for wear a hat day on the underground in London in early March 2016. Their website says that research into brain tumours is woefully under-funded.

You probably know of somebody who has had a brain tumour and either recovered or died. People tend not to talk about it or think about it much.

My mother's cousin died of a brain tumour. I am still friends with her two daughters on Facebook. I was also friends with their late father's second wife who died this year.

I'm sure research has improved since those days but there's still more to be done. A difficult part of the body to look at and operate on.

The 24th is a Thursday.

The charity has been using this idea for several years now. But they have just got my attention with their advertising on the underground.

In addition to wearing a hat, you can buy a limited edition brooch featuring a hat, or set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for the charity. I think you will like looking at their website showing the hat brooches designed by milliners through the years.

Famous people featured on their website include the chef Jamie Oliver, and actress Sheila Hancock. See them and their hats.

Fundraising
http://www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraising-for-vital-research

Make A Paper Hat
http://www.braintumourresearch.org/uploads/document/Brain_Tumour_Research__Make_a_Paper_Hat_Instructions_81.pdf

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author and speaker.

Tree lit for Charity in Hatch End - and more lights

This year the shopkeepers have not funded an illuminated Christmas tree in the centre of Hatch End but you can see an illuminated tree in a road by the park opposite the station in Park View road.

Cross over the road from the station to the Morrisons side. Walk towards the shops. On the first corner is Impeccables. A small poster about it is in the B & K deli bar and restaurant window in the parade before you reach Tesco.

 Turn back towards Impeccables and that is St Anselm's street you walk along. At the far end turn left into Park View. From the corner you can see the tree across the road.

The tree is lit to raise money for a charity and you can read about it in the illuminated sign under the tree.

Photographs copyright Angela Lansbury.

The tree is equally impressive seen by day. As you can see from the photo, it is more than twice the height of the houses. A nearby tree is pretty impressive, too. 

The dead end road you were facing at the corner has an over grown sign about allotments.

Back in the high street, passing Impeccables clothing shop, you can stop for food at B and K for take away or sit down turkey or salt beef sandwich. Take another look at the poster. The tree for charity is over forty foot high. Even if you are six foot tall, and your rooms are eight foot high with a two foot space between for wiring and what have you, forty feet is about four storeys high, and most houses in the area are two storeys with a roof space. So forty foot is four storeys high and taller than most houses in the street.

What about the charity? You can expand my photo of the poster to read it. It is raising funds for research into the cause of brain tumours. The lights are in memory of 27 year old Darren Walker who died age 27 in 2013. The poster mentions that volunteers work for nothing to help raise money for Ali's Dream, founded in memory of Ali Phelan who died before her 8th birthday, and the charity was launched in 2001 by her family. The poster ends on a happier note, hoping you enjoy the lights and wishing you a merry Christmas.

You could mull over this whilst you sit in B and K. Or, if you've given all your spare change to charity, continue on for a £1 sandwich from Tesco. Maybe buy a gift in St Luke's charity shop which has plenty of bargains for under £5. Or relax in style at one of Hatch End's half a dozen quick bite places, such as jolly La Dolce Vita Italian cafe. Across the side road is Genuine Cakes which offers a free cake with coffee on Thursdays. Or Fellini caffe on the opposite corner. For breakfast or lunch or evening, the Prosecco and Pizza place. Or back towards Hatch End station, more shops, plus the pub, Wetherspoons, which has its own smaller tree outside.

The site alisdream tells you how to donate as well as buy Christmas cards or sell them for the charity.

http://alisdream.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Twinned Toilets, Building Toilets in Africa and India and Toilet Tours of London

I went to a Holy Communion service for All Soul's day which incorporated Mozart's Requium by the church choir and organist (not in a concert setting with full orchestra but in a church setting, for which he wrote it, with an organ. It was at St Mary Abbot's church in Kensington, also famous for being the church where Cameron and family worship.

www.stmaryabbotschurch.org/

In the toilet in the crypt of St Mary Abbot's church, guess what I found.

Twinned toilets. See their website. toilettwinning.org

The idea is to raise money as a charity for building toilets in Africa and India. Ever since the two girls were killed in India when they went out to go to the toilet in a field at night, I've thought toilets should be built for those who need toilets. Go to the tolettwinning.org website and read about the loominaries, (should be spelled loo min aries but the spell checker tries to change it so I keep chaining it back). These are people who come up with ideas for twinning e.g. as Xmas presents.

They have also linked up with London Loo Tours.
http://lootours.com/home/tours-for-a-cause/toilet-twinning.html