Linda Marshall at Salvo's

This Sporting Life at the Hyde Park Picture House

At the Hyde Park Picture House last Tuesday (4 September), This Sporting Life revived the feelings in me which I had when I first saw it on the big screen many years ago - it is stunningly powerful, with superb acting from just about all the cast. It's dour but brilliant. In spite of the odd, hybrid accent, which drifts into his native Irish at times, Richard Harris puts his heart, soul and athletic body into the part of Frank Machin, and Rachel Roberts is so impressive as Margaret Hammond! As with all classic films, you notice things you missed before - I recognised places I know now but didn't at the time of the first showing, I appreciated the innovative camera work and I took pleasure in recognising so many actors who made it after the first appearance of the film - William Hartnell (Doctor Who), Frank Windsor as a dentist, not a policeman, Leonard Rossiter as a sports journalist, not Rigsby, and Arthur Lowe as Charles Slomer, not Captain Mannering. 

Alan Badel (The Count of Monte Cristo, TV series in 1964) was truly aristocratic as Gerald Weaver, the moneyed sponsor in a camelhair coat, and he contributed strongly to the class element in the film - he's from another world completely to the grim one inhabited by Frank Machin. The match scenes were convincing, but the brutality was really played up - to go with Machin's ruthlessness: I would have enjoyed a couple more straightforward tries without players getting punched up, but then the film is pretty long already, and more scenes on the pitch would probably stretch it too much.

This showing will be, I hope, the beginning of a productive collaboration between sports and the arts in Leeds.

Meet The Beats

A terrific jazz group - Des The Miner - will be performing on Wednesday 5 September at the Mint Café, which is on North Lane, Headingley, as part of an evening with a focus on beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, whose 1965 poem ‘King of the May’, written just after he was expelled from Czechoslovakia, will be played from a very rare recording made at Betterbooks in London. 

Also performing with his keyboard will be the inimitable Ted Hockin and one or two surprise guests.  

There's no dress code, but if you own a beret...       

And make sure you sample the Lebanese buffet.

Grow Your Tenner

Here's something that LitFest supporters should be interested in!  

Localgiving.com announces £500k Grow Your Tenner campaign We are pleased to announce that our £500,000 Grow Your Tenner campaign will begin at 10am Tuesday 25th September to celebrate the launch of the new Localgiving.com monthly donations feature! From 25th September Localgiving.com will encourage new supporters to make one-time and/or ongoing monthly donations on the website by matching up to £10 per donation. We’ve got a pot of £500,000 to match donations, and we will match up to £10 per donation until the pot is gone, raising awareness and funds for local charities and community groups across England. So when a supporter gives £10, we’ll double it to £20! And even better- when a supporter signs up to donate £10/month to a local charity, we’ll match the first three months! Our new monthly donations feature will enable supporters to give automatically and regularly to local charities through online Direct Debit. Charities must have a paid subscription to be eligible to receive both one-time and monthly matched donations. Our records show that your charity is currently within your three month free trial. Localgiving.com fundraising facts In the last 12 months, nearly £2.5 million has been raised on Localgiving.com Over 2,300 charities are currently using Localgiving.com to fundraise online Localgiving.com is the UK’s leading website for local charities and community groups We automatically process Gift Aid for charities and community groups Your charity can gain access to new supporters and engage with them directly Charities receive matched donations through Localgiving.com promotions like with our upcoming Grow Your Tenner campaign Click here to learn more about the benefits of Localgiving.com For general questions about fundraising with Localgiving.com, please contact us at help@localgiving.com Best wishes, The Localgiving.com Team “Localgiving.com gives our charity a personal, high level of support and has raised our profile in the community.  Localgiving.com specifically supports those smaller, local charities that might otherwise slip under the radar, which is just great!”  Josie Hill, One25 Click here to view One25’s Localgiving.com webpage

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Poetry Parnassus continues

The Poetry Parnassus continues. It aims to feature poets from all two hundred and four of the Olympic nations, and is curated by Simon Armitage. It's the largest-ever poetry event in Britain.

Read this Carcanet blog entry by Henry King to catch a flavour.

This Sporting Life at The Hyde Park Picture House