5 Half Term Activities in and around Chester!

Half term is almost upon us, and I don't know about anybody else but it definitely feels like it's snuck up on me.

As much as Seren will enjoy nothing more than a few days of sofa slothing, and YouTube (and me too to be honest) I do find I need to plot in a few things for us to do, to avoid us both going stir crazy. We won’t be going away, and Mr O only has a couple of days off, so I want to find a few things for us to do that aren’t on our usual list of ‘go to’ activities.

So, here's what I've found to do in and around Chester that hopefully won’t  

A) won't break the bank and B) won’t lead us into the merry hell of soft play.

See you on the other side!

1.Storyhouse. WayWord Flicks.

 Pic: Storyhouse

From Monday the 19^th of February to Friday the 23rd, Storyhouse will be screening some family favourite short films every afternoon starting at 4pm.

The films are being shown, on the large screen in the stunning art deco foyer, and tickets are priced at a very reasonable £5. The price includes a snack bag for the kids, a hot drink for the adults and a set of headphones to listen to the movie. Or, the adults, could always use the headphones to drown out the film and read a book instead?

The list of films can be found by following the link below, note that on Thursday the 22^nd the film is a full feature length of the Lego Batman Movie.

Storyhouse are hosting lots of fun activities for kids this half term as part of the WayWord festival, including workshops, performances and even a talk with children’s illustrator Axel Scheffler!

More information can be found here

https://www.storyhouse.com/guide/whats-on

2. Yo Sushi. Sushi school for kids.

Pic: Yo Sushi.

Yo Sushi are hosting a fun filled one-hour class called ‘Mini Ninjas’.

Led by experienced chefs, kids will learn how to make three kinds of sushi, all whilst learning some fun facts along the way. The class is aimed at 5 to 12 year olds, and at the end of each lesson, not only will they be able to roll sushi like a pro, they’ll also receive their very own ‘Mini ninja’ certificate.

Both the Chester and Cheshire Oaks restaurants are holding classes, each class costs £15 per child and parents will be required to stay. To book a place click on the link below.

https://yosushi.com/sushi-school/mini-ninja

Storyhouse: The Secret Seven Review

When Storyhouse announced that its first Christmas show was to be a live stage adaptation of The Secret Seven, it was as if a childhood dream had come true. The classic Enid Blyton stories were a firm favourite of mine growing up.

As much as I loved The Famous Five, also famously written by Blyton, The Secret Seven just felt more relatable to me. They made their plans in the garden shed, their adventures were set locally with parents often getting in the way, ruining their best laid plans with talk of bedtime and chores! By contrast the Famous Five spent a questionable amount of time alone, visiting strange island’s and doing what they pleased.  So, whilst the Famous Five books are arguably more widely known and may have been a more obvious choice for an adaptation. I think we can all relate to those early childhood dreams of seeking adventure, sibling rivalry and getting told off in front of your mates by your Mum. More so, than being packed off for the summer to a great Aunts, following bearded strangers and finding hidden treasure anyway.

I was lucky enough to attend the press evening of the Secret Seven with my daughter, Seren who has never read the Secret Seven books before, so was looking at the show with a completely fresh pair of eyes. I am thrilled to say she loved it just as much as I did, so much so that she has now added all of the books to her (still ever growing) Christmas list.

Seren is an avid reader, just like her Mum, and she always say’s that the best stories are the ones where you feel as if you are transported into another time and place. Where you feel like you are part of the adventure itself, and both Seren and I can honestly say that Glyn Maxwell’s stage adaptation did just that!

Directed by Storyhouse’s very own artistic director Alex Clifton, The Secret Seven is set at Christmas in the quintessentially British village of Cherrydale, and the austerity of a post WW2 Britain. It is here the seven friends unwittingly stumble into the adventure that they have been so desperately looking for.

Despite the lack of a saucy pantomime dame or a nativity donkey in the show, it really does feel very Christmassy! I’m not sure if it was the Christmas carols, or the beautifully decorated trees which set the scene, as you enter Storyhouse that did it. Or, if it was the set cleverly designed by James Perkins adorned with branches, twinkling fairy lights and dark corners.
I could almost feel the warmth and cosiness of Peter and Janet’s garden shed, see the snowy rooftops. and feel the cool crisp air of Cherrydale at night.
Seren also really enjoyed the use the cast made of the stage, climbing telegraph poles, being strung from the ceiling, going down into the stage floor, running on and off the stage. The set felt ‘bigger’ than it actually was because of it.

The story itself starts with Joko the baddie – there’s got to be a baddie in a Secret Seven story and Joko is certainly that – and Goldie, a young girl who is a clown in the local circus, and who he has stolen. Goldie never speaks, yet Seren said she still understood everything Goldie was trying to say. An understated and yet captivating performance by local student Evangeline Hartley. We learn that Joko wants his revenge on Cherrydale, and he is going to steal all the presents from the children on Christmas Eve using Goldie to do it. The opening scene was dark in both mood and lighting, but then kidnapping a girl from the circus and keeping her in an abandoned house will do that I guess.

Joko played by Nick Figgis and had a bit of a Jonny Rotten, cockney wide by persona going on for him, he also played the role of Peter and Janet’s Dad, I had no idea!  As the bad guy, Joko doesn’t redeem himself in any way as you would expect in a Christmas show, unlike his somewhat bumbling buffoon of an accomplice Nimms, played by Joel Sams. A hapless, blundering council employee, and you could see he was wondering what on earth he’s got himself involved in with every arm jerk, face twitch and blinking eye.

The Secret Seven come across their sinister plan one dark, cold evening and make a pact to not involve their parents or police and solve the mystery themselves. so standard Secret Seven behaviour! In the books, as much as I loved the adventures they had, it did kind of feel to me that the characters of the seven kind of morphed into one another, They were sometimes almost secondary to the story. That is definitely not the case in the stage show, they seven really do come alive in every way!

Pic: Mark Carline 

We Need To Talk About The Elf....

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVE Christmas, it really is my favourite time of year.
I love decorating the Christmas tree, the Christmas films and Christmas carols, I love visits to Santa's grotto, and browsing the Christmas markets. Markets where you find yourself forking out £4 for a cup of mulled wine that you don't even like, but drink anyway because hey it's festive!
I love the old Christmas traditions that we have, such as a family walk down to  Eccleston village where we grew up, and new PJ's on Christmas Eve.
To new family traditions such as Christmas Eve boxes, tracking Santa, and our family and friends getting together on Christmas Eve in the local pub, then going home to leave a baileys out for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.
Oh, and how could I forget a Christmas Baileys? You can't put up the Christmas tree in our house without a Christmas film on the TV, and a big glass of Baileys it's the festive law. Also, another thing I never drink at any other time of year, but for some reason must have at Christmas!

I try to do everything I can to make it special, and put a huge amount of pressure on myself to try and make it  'perfect'  for everyone. Why I do that? Well that's probably a therapy session I can't afford right now because, you know it's Christmas.....

So bearing all this in mind, you might find it surprising that there's one thing I just can't get on board with.

Elf On The Shelf.

I know, I know! This possibly makes me a terrible parent as it seems most people LOVE him, and really enjoy doing it. I get that he brings a lot of wonder and magic to children, especially to the little ones, who must wake up in anticipation each morning to see what mischief he's been up to.

Not this much, hopefully.