The Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA) on Bennett Street in Bath is to exhibit the winners of the Global SinoPhoto Awards 2021 from 16 February until 14 May 2022. 

The Global SinoPhoto Awards invite photographers to tell Chinese stories, imagining, interpreting, and inspiring connections between Chinese culture and the rest of the world. 

Selected from almost 2,000 entries from around the world, including the UK, the winning image titled The Dancing Dreams of a Mountain Girl, (see above) depicts a young mountain girl dancing for her grandmother while she works making toy tigers in a small rural village in China. 

The Museum of East Asian Art is the only museum in the UK solely dedicated to arts and culture from East and South East Asia, with a collection of more than 2,000 objects representing over 7,000 years of artistry and craftsmanship.

To find out more about the awards and the winners, visit sinophoto-awards.com. You can also learn more about the MEAA via its website: meaa.org.uk

Our February magazine features a collection of great reading by our team of wonderful writers as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses. We really hope you'll enjoy the read!

Every month we deliver 15,000 copies door to door, but if you don't get a copy at home then you can pick up a copy at many places around town and from our floor stands at: Waitrose, Sainsbury [Green Park], M&S Foods in Twerton, Tesco in Weston Village, and at The Holburne Museum. 

Enjoy our February issue by clicking here.

Concentrated in red camellia extract and oil, this scented whipped cream is formulated with 95% of ingredients of natural origin, of which 70% are derived from the camellia. On application it visibly smooths the look of lines, adding comfort and radiance to the skin, while forming a protective barrier against urban pollution. £84

Click here to shop the cream 

Tomorrow evening  (12 February), join local pianist and former BBC Young Musician Cordelia Williams  at Wiltshire Music Centre. 

The performance will celebrate two visionary composers, Beethoven and Scriabin, before exploring Brahms’ painful inner world and concluding with Schubert’s luminous A major Sonata, full of magical harmonic strokes and sublime melodies. Recognised for the poetry and conviction of her playing, Williams has played all over the world, including in Nairobi, Kenya where she travelled to work with young classical musicians in 2021.

Can’t make it? Livestream this stunning programme from home. All you need is a computer, laptop, tablet or smart device connected to the internet.

Book now: wiltshiremusic.org.uk/whats-on/cordelia-williams

Book Livestream: wiltshiremusic.org.uk/whats-on/livestream-cordelia-williams

Now in its fifth year (with a year off in 2021 due to COVID) The Bath Art Fair – created in 2017 by award winning professional Somerset artist Alce Harfield – is back!

Bringing together over 90 of the most innovative and exciting professional independent artists from all over the country and Europe (with many from the South West) the Bath Art Fair is the perfect setting to discover new original art. 

This year, the Bath Art Fair have chosen to support the charity Children’s World, a Somerset based charity founded by the late Arabella Churchill (Granddaughter of Winston Churchill) which is normally supported by Glastonbury Festival to raise funds. Children’s World supports inclusion for all children, through drama, performance, film making and fun. Alce specialises in paintings of Glastonbury Festival and is donating a brand new original painting (Alce's donated work, titled Dancing in the Moonlight, can be seen above) of the festival to be raffled at £5 at ticket. 100% of the money raised through raffle ticket sales will go direct to Children’s World. Raffle tickets can be bought by clicking here.

The fair will take place on Friday 25 Feb 2022 (Private View-ticket only, visit the Bath Art Fair website below for more information), Saturday 26 Feb 10am to 6pm, Sunday 27 Feb 10am to 5pm, at the Bath Pavilion. Tickets for the 26–27 dates are £6 online, and £7 on the door; available to buy from the Bath Art Fair website: bathartfair.co.uk

The Great Post Office Scandal is the story of the fight to expose a multimillion IT disaster that put innocent people in jail and is the only definitive account of what has been described as one of the UK's biggest ever miscarriages of justice.

Join Nick Wallis to hear him read extracts from his book, published by local publisher Bath Publishing, get the chance to leave with a signed copy and ask your own questions about this barely believable scandal. The event will give you a glimpse of Nick's efforts to bring it to the public eye.

The Great Post Office Scandal has already been serialised by The Daily Mail, and an ITV drama production is in the works for 2023.

This event will take place on 2 March, 7.30pm – 9.30pm, at The Brunswick Room, Guildhall, High St, Bath BA1 5A.

For a signed copy of the book, entry to the event, and a glass of wine or a beer, tickets will be £25. £10 tickets are also available, which give you entrance to the event and a glass of wine only. Books will be available to buy on the night.

Click here to buy your ticket.

If you can't make the event, but want to buy a copy of the book, you can visit the Bath Publishing website to purchase The Great Post Office Scandal : bathpublishing.com

On Thursday 24 February at 6.30pm, Bath's dedicated young people's theatre The Egg is hosting a magical, interactive and suitably theatrical FUNdraiser of a lifetime to celebrate the theatre's unique initiative, the Wonderfund.

The Egg, which first opened its doors in October 2005, is an established, nationally recognised centre for creativity, innovation and young people at the heart of the Theatre Royal Bath. The Wonderfund aims to make 4000 Egg Theatre tickets - and all the logistics that come with those tickets, such as transport and teacher support - available to state school children this year; ultimately, the goal is to make sure every child has been to the theatre at least once.

The WonderfundRaiser will raise awareness of the Wonderfund campaign and attract donor support in a uniquely creative atmosphere far removed from a traditional fundraising event

The WonderfundRaiser takes place at The Egg. Guests can confirm their attendance at the WonderfundRaiser by visiting this link: theatreroyal.org.uk/event/wonderfundraiser

Featured image courtesy of the Theatre Royal Bath

Tally-ho! Phileas Fogg and his inexorable manservant, Passepartout, are all set to visit Bath this winter with a charming new family comedy. 

Famed for their classical summer season UK tours, professional Gloucester based Rain or Shine Theatre Company are proud to present their own fast-paced comic stage version of Jules Verne’s classic tale Around the World in 80 Days which is booked into theatres, village halls and other community venues across the UK. 

Join Phileas Fogg and his companions for a knock-about adventure full of mishaps, tomfoolery, British stiff upper lip, curious camels, and lashings of comedy! 

Hailed as ‘a delicious mirthfest’, Rain or Shine will once again be reinventing a classic tale using their now signature ‘Morecambe & Wise-ish comedy’ style for another season of adventure, mayhem, but above all multi-role madness! 

The tour includes performances at the The Mission Theatre Bath on Saturday 19 February at 7.30pm, followed by a matinée at 2:30pm and and evening show at 7:30pm on Sunday 20 February. 

Tickets priced £14, concessions £12, child £7, are available direct from the Rain Or Shine credit card hotline: 03306 600541, by e-mailing tickets@rainorshine.co.uk, or by clicking the ticket button below. 

rainorshine.co.uk

This half term, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein presents The Great Escape Room Challenge, on from 15–28 February. 

Dare to enter Victor Frankenstein’s miserable attic quarters strewn with insane equations, strange artefacts and miscellaneous body parts....Your challenge is to unravel the ramblings of a madman and discover the equation that not only reveals the mystery of life itself but more critically your way out to freedom in the fastest time.

The Escape Room is situated inside Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein. It is a puzzle-based experience suitable for families with older children, friends and groups. All tickets to the Escape Room include full entry to the attraction. The team with the quickest time at the end of the challenge will receive a great honour, a Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein bespoke trophy and goodie bag.

Simply get your best team together, with a minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 people, and book online at houseoffrankenstein.com or email the team at info@houseoffrankenstein.com

Find out what's lurking behind the House of Frankenstein doors by watching The Bath Magazine video (above) ...

It’s tempting to assume that Bath’s most iconic views have changed little over the years. These two archive photographs of the Royal Crescent, however, show how different it once looked. The first dates from around 1910 and shows the field in front of the Crescent enclosed by a fence – not so much to keep people out as to keep the sheep and cattle that grazed there in. The most striking difference from today’s view, however, is the church spire rising above the rooftops. This was St Andrew’s, which stood on the wide expanse of grass behind the Crescent. It was consecrated in 1873 and the 67-metre spire was added five years later. After being gutted by fire in the bombing raids of April 1942, it was originally intended to restore it, but in 1949 the decision was taken to demolish it. The second photograph, taken by the late Bruce Crofts in the mid-1950s, shows another wartime development. In 1943, as part of the Dig for Victory campaign, the council voted to establish 50 allotments in front of the Crescent. The number eventually rose to 72 and they survived until 1957 when the allotment holders were offered alternative sites and the field in front of the Crescent was restored – at a cost of £200. 

akemanpress.com

Bath Abbey’s Choirs of Boys, Girls and Lay-clerks will be hard at work next week (week beginning 14 Feb) recording a new CD.

Provisionally titled 'Memoriam’, the album is to help those who have lost loved ones, or who have had their lives significantly changed during the pandemic, to grieve and allow them to remember all that they have lost through the comfort of music.

The Abbey Choirs’ new CD will feature the Boys, Girls and Lay-clerks conducted by Huw Williams, Bath Abbey’s Director of Music, singing a selection of music including Schubert's beautiful Litanei Alle Seelen in memory of All Souls, William Harris’s masterpiece Faire is the heaven, written to words by Edmund Spencer, as well as much-loved comforting hymns The day thou gavest and Abide with me.

Bath Abbey's Choir is unique compared to other greater church or cathedral choirs. It comprises three groups – the Boys, aged 8 upwards; the Girls, aged 11-18 and the adult lay-clerks and choral scholars – and unusually, the boys and girls don't attend a dedicated choir school but are selected from schools all around Bath. There are 25 girls (aged 11-17), 20 boys (aged 8-14) and 12 adult lay-clerks (who sing the alto tenor and bass parts) in the Abbey Choir.

bathabbey.org

On Valentine’s Day this year, Bath BID invites visitors to the city of Bath to show their appreciation for the people who work hard to make the city centre a great place.

The BID encourages visitors to find the Welcome Ambassadors to claim a fair trade rose and then give it to their favourite shop, restaurant worker, city cleaner or contractor as a thank you for their hard work and contribution to the city.

The Say it with Flowers campaign falls on the last week of Random Acts of Kindness, combining to make the ultimate feel-good Valentine’s Day this year.

Share the love with the rest of the UK by scanning the QR code on the roses and posting your pictures to Instagram using #BathInLove and #RandomActsOfKindness

bathbid.co.uk

Bath Rugby and Bath College have formed an exciting new partnership to assist in the development of promising young female rugby players in the Bath Rugby catchment area.

You can train in the Women's Academy alongside learning Level 3 Sports Coaching and Development at Bath College. The BTEC Level 3 Programme aims to provide an outstanding rugby and academic development programme, the role of which is to identify and develop talented young rugby players and support them to achieve their potential, both on and off the pitch. The partnership provides the first female pathway to the elite game in the region, and mirrors the well-established and successful existing partnerships that Bath Rugby has for boys with Beechen Cliff and various other independent schools. 

There will be an Open Event for the programme held at Farleigh House on Thursday 24 February, 10am–12:30am, which will consist of presentations, Q&A's, a sample session and networking. To register your interest fill in the form on the Bath College website: bathcollege.ac.uk

You can also learn more about the programme on The Bath Magazine website: thebathmagazine.co.uk

90th anniversary edition by Robert Dudley Best for GUBI

It’s just over 90 years since Robert Dudley Best designed his iconic Bestlite BL1 table lamp, and to celebrate GUBI has released 300 limited anniversary editions of the BL1 in an exquisite nickel finish, each with their own uniquely numbered certificate.

Held in permanent collections at both the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Design Museum in London, the BL1 table light is loved by designers, architects and design aficionados alike: famously, Winston Churchill had one on his desk. Paying homage to the Bauhaus movement with a timeless and versatile design, the lamp is also highly adjustable. It was the perfect task lamp in the 1930s and to many, it still is. £685

Acquire from Holloways of Ludlow, Milsom Street, Bath

Offered for sale by Whiteley Helyar estate agents

This is a four bedroom detached house with garage and parking, enjoying southerly rural views, in the sought after village of Norton St Philip just seven miles from Bath. The property has undergone an extensive refurbishment, as well as being extended over the past few years and is very well presented offering flexible family accommodation.

In brief the property comprises of: ground floor, a spacious light and airy sitting room leading to dining area and well fitted kitchen, WC/cloakroom and access to the garden. Also on the ground floor is a master/guest bedroom with ensuite shower room. The bedroom also has double sliding doors opening out onto a patio area in the garden.

On the first floor are three more good-sized bedrooms and a family bathroom. Outside there are gardens to both sides, together with a border running along the front of the house. The larger garden is mainly laid to lawn and feels wonderfully private. The other part of the garden contains a summer house, a raised deck enjoying southerly views over the fields. On the other side is a garage and parking space. Guide Price £575,000

For further details and to see more images, click here to see the property on the Whiteley Helyar website.