Monday 31 May 2010

Fresh air and art


After some serious pole training I felt that my body needed some relaxation and rejuvenation so my husband and I decided to set of the Delamore Estate for some fresh air and art. We became aware of the art exhibition after reading this story in the Herald. Unfortunately today is the last day of the exhibition so if you have missed it click here to see the Delamore arts website

The Delamore estate is situated in the South hams next to the pretty village of Cornwood, it is usually closed to the public but for the month of May the gardens are filled with sculptures and the public have free run of the land. The experience was so lovely that I am just about to head back for a second visit and a picnic near the lake of the estate.

Rather than listening to me waffle you may prefer to peruse some pictures, Unfortunately I did not take the names of many of the artists but they are all on the Delamore arts website linked to in the first paragraph. The only artist I did note due to being a fan is Mistress Metal herself, Katie Lake - see the dragonfly picture further down.
 

Hope you like my pictures!

The day out has invigorated my senses and has relaxed my overworked muscles! The trip was also finished off beautifully with a pint of Well's Bombardier at the Cornwood Inn and a meal out at Arriba's Mexican restaurant. I am now ready for some more serious pole training as well as trying to sneak in some extra yoga sessions to improve my flexibility (determined to perfect the Spatchcock!). Watch out if you are one of my students this week as I am feeling like some serious hardcore workouts!

Stay Healthy,

Sam x

Thursday 27 May 2010

Plymouth is amazing

I just wanted to share a few pictures taken recently in and around Plymouth to show you how fabulous the area is:

Picture above - view from Efford to Saltram.
  
Picture above of a boat at Queen Anne's Battery.

Picture above of the view from Efford towards Plymouth Sound.
The Embankment is the main body of water you can see.
Picture above of the Hoe forshore.
  
Picture above of the view from the Seafood & Pasta bar, The Barbican
  
Smeatons Tower on the Hoe. Citadel in background.



  
Sutton Harbour flats.
  
 The Belvedere or wedding cake as it is commonly known.

These are just a few samples of what Plymouth has to offer. If you want to find out more about Plymouth's wonderful attractions just visit the VisitPlymouth website. 

Stay Healthy,
Sam x

p.s. anyone else experiencing problems with blogger and its formatting?




Wednesday 26 May 2010

Lord Mayor's Day 2010


I seem to be neglecting my blogging again due to committing to some extra responsibilities. As a result I now have a back log of things I want to blog about so may bombard you with blogs over the next few days. Today's blog will be told mainly in pictures to celebrate some of the wonderful things abut Plymouth. I will start with Lord Mayor's Day which has a special place in my heart; as a child I attended Lord Mayor's Day every year, joining my Mum & Dad on the Plymouth Junior Chamber of Commerce float. Lord Mayor's Day (LMD) was one of my favourite days of the year and always fell just before or after my May birthday. I think my favourite year was the year I was dressed as an alien with silver face paint and matching silver costume. I clearly remember the processions final road stage through Elliott street and onto the Hoe promenade, I remember looking up at the windows of one of the buildings and seeign an elderly lady watching the procession from above, I remember waving frantically so I could catch her eye and then being thrilled when she looked straight at me and started smiling, it was one of life's precious moments and was one of the reasons I started working with the elderly at the age of 16 whilst doing my A-levels.

So LMD 2010 was a little different to the ones I remember as a child, this year involved a walking procession and no floats. I personally love the idea of a walking procession as it promotes exercise and prevents the carbon emissions you would normally get from a parade of motorised floats.

For me the day started with a 9.30am start at Moor View Park where myself and members of the Mutley Traders and Mutley Greenbank Trust prepared to entertain the Deputy Lord Mayor and Deputy Lady Mayoress. The Deputy LM and his wife played games in the park whilst being entertained by music and members of the Onward House Junior Warden group.


picture below of Compton Councillor David Stark playing Boules in Moor View Park.
picture below of the entertainers and the Onward House junior wardens.

picture below of PCSO Pablo Beckhurst and one of the junior wardens

 
picture below of the LMD procession outside the Roland Levinsky building

 
Me in my pirate outfit!


I was hoping to post the video of the pole dancing display I did at my studio of the Deputy LM and his wife but I managed to press the pause button rather then the record button resulting in no footage! I did receive some very positive feedback about my display so hopefully managed to dispel a few myths and educate a few minds about modern fitness pole dancing. Hopefully a next year's Lord Mayors day I will be able to perform in public alongside the belly dancers (see picture below) and morris dancers!


 
I was going to write some more today but blogger seems to be misbehaving so rather than battle with it I will sign off and try to write some more tomorrow.Blogs to follow will include the wonders of Plymouth, news from the art of dance and the NSPDS routine for the nation

Stay Healthy,

Sam x

Sunday 16 May 2010

Healthy?

 image above courtesy of Zoe Draper - Healthy Body Image.

Today I wanted share some news from the web about health, body image and nutrition:

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is urging the media to stop promoting heroin chic and underweight models  to society. It is common knowledge that most glossy magazines use airbrushing and photo enhancement to  create a false body ideal. We are bombarded with images of celebrities with perfect bodies, skin, teeth and hair yet this is not really real. You only have to pick up a magazine targeting women to see advice on dangerous fad celebrity diets and ridiculous weight loss programmes. Dr Adrienne Key from the RCPsych has critiscied the media stating "There is a growing body of research that shows the media plays a part in the development of eating disorder symptoms – particularly in adolescents and young people. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, are serious mental illnesses. Although biological and genetic factors play an important role in the development of these disorders, psychological and social factors are also significant. That’s why we are calling on the media to take greater responsibility for the messages it sends out.”. Click here for the full press release.

We all know we should be eating our 5 a day but how many of us actually achieve this goal? Innocent has commissioned a new report looking at peoples knowledge of their 5 a day and whether this relates to what they actually do. Innocent believe that the 5 a day message is out there but is not being followed due to our fast paced consumer lifestyle where we can argue that we simply don't have time to eat properly. To find out more click here to see the Innocent and Healthcare Professional website.

Maintaining a healthy body , both inside and out, is certainly a challenge in today's world. We are constantly being told what is good for us and what is bad for us. I think the most important thing is to find healthy foods that you enjoy eating; don't eat something just because it is good for you. Eat little and often rather than pigging out on huge portions. Find an exercise that you really enjoy and is not a chore; pole dancing works for me because I never tire of learning new moves and always have something new to be learning. Pole dancing gives me a wonderful all-body workout with each move and combination working different parts of the body as well as releasing endorphins into the body to keep me mentally happy as well as physically fit.


Anyway enough rambling from me today. I have loads more work to do including the Pole Dance Community review of UK Pole Dance Day 2010, updates for the PDC pole dancing syllabus some food shopping and the dreaded housework. 


More news to follow,


Stay Healthy,


Sam x

Sunday 9 May 2010

I'm back!


I am now officially back in my full time role of pole dancing havoc maker! If you want to know more about my defeat at the local elections or my concerns for the future of Drake ward just click here for my last election 2010 blog. I will now be dedicating myself to both the art of dance and Pole Dance Community.

Here is the fabulous new art of dance timetable;
Monday  18:15(advanced pole dancing students only)
Monday  19:30 (inductees only)
Tuesday 13:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Tuesday 18:00 - Yoga - suitable for all abilities.
Tuesday 18:15 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Tuesday 19:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Tuesday 19:30 (burlesque with Kitty Kane)
Wednesday 18:15 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Wednesday 19:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Thursday 13:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Thursday18:15 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Thursday 19:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Friday 18:15 (mixed ability pole dancing students)
Friday19:40 (Voluptuous ladies only)
Saturday 11:30 (mixed ability pole dancing students)

All classes can be booked by clicking this link

I will have dates and times within the next week for our fabulous Burlesque classes with Georgina Gale and Miss Amelia B too.

Must dash now as I want to make the most of my day off before I fully immerse myself back into the wonderful world of pole dancing.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x

Saturday 1 May 2010

The Re-opening of Devonport Guildhall

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being invited to the re-opening of the newly restored Devonport Guildhall (click here to view the Herald article on the restoration). I already knew that Mia and the team from RIO (Real Ideas Organisation) had been working hard to finalise the restoration and ready the building for this weekends series of opening events.

Obviously I have not known the Guildhall for it's entire 200 year History but I have known it for at least the last 25 years, I remember driving it past it with my Mum on our way to use the swimming baths at MountWise, I remember attending Amateur Boxing event there and watching my late friend Ashley fight there on several occasions. I also remember visiting a friend in the former Clowance Lane and returning to another friends car to find the wheels gone. My last memory of Devonport is from my time driving buses for social services, I ferried many elderly women from Devonport to their day car places in an old respite centre just off Outland Road, there were some fabulous characters among these women and I have fond memories of all of them.

So Devonport has undergone some major changes since my childhood memories and one side of 200 year old Ker Street is now just a pile of rubble waiting for clearance whilst the other side is proud to boast brand new houses and flats. Clowance Lane was also knocked down some time ago and replaced with modern flats an children's play area, a vast improvement from it's previous rough estate. 

I must admit I had seen a sneak preview of the finished Devonport Guildhall but I was still excited about attending the tour at 7.30pm last night; On arrival I met a group of approximately 20 people on the steps of the Guildhall as we congregated around a tour sign. There were a few people who were familiar to me including an old work colleague from Social Services / NHS as well as a couple whom I have met previously as we are both proud Suzuki Cappucino owners. We were soon greeted by our tour guides, Rusty & Tamar, and several ushers. Rusty and Tamar divided us into two groups and our tour of this amazingly restored building began.

The Guildhall has been sympathetically restored and painted in colours reflecting it's 200 year old status yet with modern hints everywhere including the lovely glass screen reception area and of course who get forget the Boiler; the boiler has it's own special room and can be controlled externally from a laptop or -phone, it can change the temperature in each room and is probably capable of time travel too. The old cells have been kept as they would have been but currently house some great art from young artists at Tamarside Community College.
 picture above courtesy of RIO.
We were guided through the various hot desk areas and offices of current Guildhall residents such as Chew TV, Zebra, Attik Dance and Coastnet. Click on the name of each company to find out more about each exciting project. After the tour it was of to the stunning Lord Mayor's Parlour where I sank into one of the classic leather sofas whilst being fed exquisite canapes from Blueberry catering, if you need a caterer then you have to try this company, the pea soup and blue cheese cream canape was just divine.

As we all relaxed in the parlour tour participants took part in a brainstorming session (I am sure that word is not politically correct any more but I can't think of the right word!) run by Zebra whilst I chatted to old Friend Korash from Chew TV and potential voter Ed from RIO. I also met a lovely couple from Stonehouse (sorry I didn't catch their names). We had a good discussion about Plymouth City Council faux pas including the neglect of the Old Palace Theatre in favour of the building of the current Theatre Royal, the abandonment of Drake's island which was subsequently sold off to Dan Macauley and now remains redundant and the general short sightedness of Plymouth planners.

The Devonport Guildhall has been set up as a multi purpose venue and can be used for anything from corporate events, dance workshops, martial arts displays, theatre productions and community events to name but a few. If you have an idea or would like to hire part of the Guildhall just visit their website for more info.

Anyway, to summarise I had a fabulous evening and I was delighted to see that everyone's hard work had paid off. I want to particularly praise Mia from RIO whom I know has worked incredibly hard to see this project through and is no doubt lacking some serious sleeping hours as result of the restoration.  Well done to everyone involved.

I must dash now to get some canvassing in before this afternoons open event at the art of dance to celebrate UK Pole Dance Day, pics and vids to follow.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x