English Symphony Orchestra present: a Scottish Fantasy with Esther Abrami

The English Symphony Orchestra present popular works inspired by Scotland.

Bruch’s lively and lyrical four-movement fantasy on Scottish Folk melodies pays homage to Scottish tradition, giving a prominent place to the harp in the instrumental accompaniment to the virtuosic skills of violinist and Sony Classical artist, Esther Abrami. In Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony, inspired by the composer’s visit to the ruins of Holyrood Chapel in Edinburgh, it is possible to hear elements from Scottish Folk Dance and the characteristic Scotch snap rhythm. The Hebrides suitably coveys the natural beauty of this remote location.

The performance will take place on 9 March at The Mount Without, Bristol. 

Tickets: £20 (students £10, under 18s FREE). Carers are provided with a complimentary ticket when accompanying another concertgoer in need of assistance and with a paid ticket. Tickets available at eso.co.uk

Featured image: Esther Abrami

OUR MARCH ISSUE: OUT NEXT WEEK

You'll love our fabulous March magazine which features a great collection of reading by our team of wonderful writers as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bristol's best businesses. We hope you enjoy the read!

15,000 copies are delivered door to door, and you can pick up a copy at many places around town – including our stands at Waitrose, John Lewis, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols.

Read the digital version of our current issue here!

And if you would like to have a copy sent in the post every month, then we offer a postal subscription for just £33 for 12 issues, £18 for six issues or buy a copy for just £4.25. UK mainland prices. For Euro and World zone subscription prices – see our website. 

Recipe by Melissa Blease

Glamorgan Sausages

Celebrate St David's Day on Wednesday 1 March with these flavour-packed vegetarian sausages that showcase two of Wales' most iconic produce superstars (that'll be leeks and Caerphilly cheese, then) working together in perfect harmony. Dydd gŵyl dewi hapus!

Ingredients (makes 12)

50g butter
2 large leeks, peeled and sliced
400g soft white breadcrumbs
2tsp thyme leaves
4 eggs, separated
400g Caerphilly, finely grated
1 heaped tbsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard
50g plain flour

Method

1. Tip 200g of the breadcrumbs into a large bowl. Add the egg yolks, thyme, cheese and mustard, season well, and stir thoroughly to combine.

2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and gently sauté the leeks with a pinch of salt for around 5-10 minutes until soft and silky. Leave to cool slightly before adding the sautéed leeks (and any remaining butter left in the frying pan) to the egg yolk mixture and stir thoroughly to combine. 

3. Mould the mixture into 12 sausages (clean, damp hands are the best utensils here), placing each sausage on a baking tray lined with baking parchment as you go, then pop the tray in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until just turning thick and foamy. 

4. Tip the flour and some of the remaining breadcrumbs onto two separate plates. Dust the chilled, firm sausages in the flour, then the egg whites, then the breadcrumbs, topping up the plate of breadcrumbs as required. Put the sausages back in the fridge for another hour (or up to 24hrs) before frying and baking.

5. When you're ready to cook the sausages, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and heat a little vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the sausages in batches, turning them occasionally, for around 4-6 minutes or until crisp and golden all over (you may need to add a little bit more oil in between batches), placing the sautéed sausages back onto the baking tray. When all 12 sausages have been sautéed, slide them into the hot oven and bake for 10 minutes. 

6. Serve the hot sausages for breakfast with fried eggs and potato cakes, or for supper with mash (or chips?), garden peas and onion gravy.

Fancy Glamorgan Sausage Burgers instead of bangers? Simply shape the sausage mixture into 8 patties and, when cooked as above, serve in griddled brioche buns laden with mayo, iceberg lettuce and slices of fresh tomato.

Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43mm

With a tradition firmly rooted in aviation, the complicated dial of the Breitling Navitimer may, on first impressions, seem rather intimidating even to the most erudite mind. But every calibration, sub-dial and number position performs a very specific function.

It is of course a slide rule for aviators – originally designed in 1952 to measure flight times, calculate speed and fuel requirements – but now has become one of the most iconic and recognisable watches on the prestige market.

Sitting confidently within a 43mm stainless steel case and protected by sapphire crystal glass, this new Breitling Navitimer B01 watch boasts an ice blue dial with three sub-dials, luminescent hands and hour markers for optimum visibility.

Always ready for action, the watch features a steel rotating bezel, which acts as a slide rule, and strap options are a black Alligator with contrast stitching (shown) or a steel link bracelet. Powered by a great automatic movement, the watch is water-resistant to 30 metres and offers a 70-hour power reserve. The transparent case back reveals the automatic movement. A magnificent piece of precision instrumentation | £7,150

Click here to see more from the range of Breitling timepieces at Mallory. 

Dodow Sleep

March is national sleep month, and if you find it hard to drift off then the chances are you’re struggling to switch yourself off.

Dodow is a simple tech device that, when you climb into bed, you tap twice to start; it will then project a metronomic blue light onto your ceiling for 8 to 20 minutes which you try to synchronise to your breathing.

All you do is watch the glowing light and simply breathe in when it glows bigger then calmly exhale when the light shrinks back

Dodow claims that you should fall asleep within 8 minutes easily and without stress. It’ll even turn itself off. Sweet dreams! | £49.99

mydodow.com

Chanel Hair Perfume

COCO MADEMOISELLE HAIR PERFUME scents hair with the airiest, freshest and most delicate notes of the fragrance.

A formula specifically designed for hair, enriched with an emollient that leaves it silky smooth without weighing it down or drying it out. Its travel-friendly frosted pink bottle fits easily into a handbag | £57

chanel.com

Curated by Daniel McCabe

Nomas is a travel and photography magazine with a bit of contemporary art thrown in – enough in fact to make it a difficult publication to truly pin down. Past issues have always been beautiful, yet baffling. The latest is a homage to Milan, and you’re not going to go wrong with that, but a collaboration with one the city’s best known international magazines, the wildly surrealist and madcap Toilet Paper, really seems to suit Nomas’s own oddball aesthetic. This is not one to miss | £15

Click here to buy your copy. 

Netflix: Making All Quiet on the Western Front

At last weekend's Bafta awards ceremony, All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) took home a total of seven awards: becoming the most celebrated foreign language film in the ceremony's history. 

Want to learn more about how this record-breaking movie was made? Earlier this week, Netflix released a behind-the-scenes glimpse. Making All Quiet on the Western Front goes the scenes of Edward Berger’s WWI epic to see how the cast and crew crafted its amazing authenticity — from the sets to the SFX prosthetics. 

Watch it now at netflix.com

Featured image: Felix Kammerer as Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front, Courtesy of Netflix © 2023

This House, 10–18 March, Tobacco Factory Theatres

UK politics is in crisis and the country is in economic peril. Fights break out in the Houses of Parliament and the government whips can barely contain the chaos. Sound familiar? Well this time, it’s 1974 and in this not so distant past, Westminster is at war with itself again.

In a time where every vote counts, James Graham’s explosive and biting political comedy-thriller This House – which premiered at the National Theatre in 2012 – introduces its audience to the farcical and fanatical world of 1970s Westminster. Just how far will these parties go for political survival?

Suitable for ages 14+

Tickets: £10 Concession, £12 General, £16 Pay It Forward

A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1–3 March, Malcolm X Community Centre

Mischief, magic, lovers and fools.

Set beneath a glittering, ethereal surface you will find Shakespeare’s dazzling play transformed into a macabre Edwardian fable from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. As night falls our slumbering players are swept up in an otherworldly experience, left to navigate fairy enchantments, lovers’ quarrels and patriarchal norms.

Suitable for ages 11+

Tickets; £16 Pay It Forward, £12 Full Price, £10 Open Concession, £8.50 Schools Rate

Bristol Bach Choir Spring Concert, St Alban's Church, 18 March

Bristol Bach Choir is delighted to be performing at St Alban’s for the first time. 

The choir will start with Mozart’s Solemn Vespers (which are anything but solemn!), full of joyful music and including the well known Laudate Dominum with its lovely soprano solo. After Byrd’s popular Ave verum corpus, the first half will finish with 5 Spirituals from A Child of our Time by Sir Michael Tippett. They include Deep River, Nobody knows and other familiar spirituals, with thrilling contributions from the soloists. The second half contains charming, if less familiar, anthems by Stanford and W.H.Harris before finishing with Herbert Howells’ sublime setting of the Te Deum, composed for the choir of King’s College, Cambridge. The concert is conducted by the choir’s accompanist, Nigel Nash, with Andrew Kirk at the organ.

Tickets available at bristolbach.org.uk

Bristol Cabot Choir presents: John Rutter's Requiem, 18 March

Rutter’s beautiful and dramatic Requiem is dedicated to his father and to many is also a requiem for his son, tragically killed in 2000.

Soloist: Charlotte Newstead
Conducted by: Rebecca Atherton
Accompanist: Alison Howell

The concert will take place at St Mary Redcliffe Church on 18 March; doors open at 6.45pm. 

Tickets available at Eventbrite or on the door, prices from £5–20: eventbrite.co.uk | bristolcabotchoir.com 

Berwick Lodge fundraising event: Turkey–Syria Earthquake Appeal, 6 March

Berwick Lodge boutique hotel in Bristol is holding a fundraising event with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Turkey–Syria Earthquake Appeal.

Berwick Lodge is selling 60 tickets (at £100 per head) for an evening fundraising event. They will also be holding a raffle to run alongside the fundraising efforts. The aim is to raise £7,500 to support those affected by the crisis. Local suppliers are generously supporting both the event and raffle.

The event will include:

• Drink on arrival
• Canapés
• Entertainment from jazz singer, Zoe Hitchin and Jazz Pianist, Travis
• A three-course dinner with wines
• Tea and coffee

The fundraiser will take place on 6 March at Berwick Lodge. Further information can be found here, and tickets for the event can be purchased here | berwicklodge.co.uk

Sam Jeffries makes long-awaited return from injury

Sam Jeffries makes his long-awaited return from injury when Bristol Bears take on West Country rivals Bath at The Rec tonight. 

The flanker is back in action for the first time since September, after injuring his hamstring in the round two victory over Wasps.

Charles Piutau also returns from a period on the sidelines, joining Siva Naulago and Gabriel Ibitoye in a potent back three.

Joe Joyce is another to return from injury, replacing the absent Joe Batley in the second row. The Bristolian partners Chris Vui, who makes his 100th competitive start for the Bears, in the engine room.

Yann Thomas is named at loosehead for the derby clash, with scrum-half Harry Randall captaining the side for the first time.

Sam Bedlow returns from injury to take his place among the system players.

Bristol Bears team to face Bath at The Recreation Ground on Friday 24 February (7.45pm KO) | bristolbearsrugby.com

Electricity House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, Avon BS1

Offered for sale by Rupert Oliver estate agents. 

The first impressions of Electricity House are dramatic; beautiful architecture sensitively restored and approached via the pedestrianised entrance opposite Bristol's Cenotaph. There’s a beautiful Art-Deco entrance hall with a central desk for the 7 day a week concierge and private post-boxes for each apartment.

Lifts or stairs take you up to the fifth floor, where this fabulous apartment is located. Inside the light is excellent – courtesy of south facing orientation and warmed by the subsequent “thermal gain”.

The property enjoys air conditioning across each floor and underfloor heating adding to a long list of creature comforts.

On the fifth floor the two bedrooms share access to the full width 25' paved roof terrace. This is a superb feature; south-facing and looking directly across to Nick Walker's inspiring street art whilst simultaneously taking in Bristol city centre's amazing architecture.

Both bedrooms have plenty of storage and share a fitted bathroom with a fully tiled with a three piece suite comprising a panelled bath with a thermostatic shower.

A striking oak and glass staircase leads up to the sixth floor, where a spectacular light-filled, open-plan sitting room with kitchen and dining area, with a full width wall of windows overlooking the cityscape and street art, awaits. This room also benefits from a large sliding glazed door, and protected from inside by a glazed safety screen.

A peninsular island separates the sitting room from the kitchen whilst also providing a breakfast bar and casual dining space. The kitchen itself is fully fitted with an expanse of stone work surfaces, quality integrated appliances and and plenty of storage.

With the apartment comes a useful, private and secure storage pod as well as access to a private southerly facing circa 25' paved roof terrace with plenty of space for a dining table and chairs as well as gas oven or grill. On the lower ground floor is an allocated off-street parking space with lift access to all floors. Offers in Excess of £550,000.

Click here to see more images and read through the specifications on the Rupert Oliver website.