Sunday 18 October 2009

Fab fun in the north

Ive had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday, hubby and I went to the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield to listen to Stuart Maconie talk and promote his latest book which is part of the "Off the Shelf" Literary festival currently being held in the city. The Showroom Cinema is a fabulous place. It is independently owned and has a great cafe bar attached to it, where we treated ourselves to a lovely lunch - well we were on a "date"!! Stuart Maconie was absolutely brilliant. He is sort of a northern Stephen Fry. He is very witty and really clever. He was really charming. He is a proper Anglophile and advocate for the "North". We were highly entertained for the afternoon and I came away with a signed copy of his new book to digest.

Then it was home - quick tea, quick change and off to Sheffield Arena with hubby and the young man to see the hilarious Michael Macintyre (The dancing queen has a ticket for the Monday night show as she was working on Saturday). All of his material was brand new and we laughed away the evening. This was part of the "Grin up North" Festival currently being held in the city. (Poster by the fabulous Mr Pete Mckee)
Today, I went to see Hugh Fernley Whittingstall (control yourself Lisa!!) as part of the literary festival. The strange venue for this talk was Sheffield Cathedral. As I sat waiting for Hugh to start, I realised to my shame that this was the first time I had ever been in this great building. Why have I visited every Cathedral in every city I have ever been to - some (ie York) more than once, but never my own!! I have in the past been very guilty of not seeing what is under my nose. The Cathedral is an intriguing building and I shall return shortly for a full scale visit. Part of it took a direct hit from a bomb in the Sheffield Blitz and it is so interesting to see how they mixed the old and the new together. Anyway, back to Hugh. I really enjoyed his talk. He was witty, though provoking, and he fired up my enthusiasm for feeding my family. I didn't buy his book as the queue was very long, so I'll have to obtain this by other means - it looks and sounds really good.
All three of these events were totally sold out which I thought was great to see. Sheffield is really a great place to live, work and play.

22 comments:

JuliaB said...

sounds like a great weekend! xx

Lyn said...

You've had a very busy and cultured weekend! sounds fun too! Maybe I could come to Sheffiels Catheral one day as I did not see it last time I was there!
Love
Lyn
xxx

Lyn said...

Thats SHEFFIELD Catherdal by the way!

Lyn said...

Oh goodness Ive missed the 'r' out of cathedral now-It's getting late!!!!!

Lisa said...

What a brill weekend! I've read SM book and it's wonderful, let me know what you think of it.
Glad to hear HFW was entertaining, what are you going to be cooking now?
Who is the second person from the left supposed to be on the poster? I think I can guess the other 3, but that one has me stumped.
Lisa x

Michela said...

You're too cultivated for "looking" like an Italian! xxx

menopausalmusing said...

You little "Gadabout"! Sounds like a great weekend. :O)

Jennyff said...

What a busy weekend. Michael McIntyre, don't you just love him, even if he wasn't funny his enthusiasm and bubbly personality would win you over.

andamento said...

Sounds like a busy and fun weekend. Think I need to get out more!

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourselves Diane

Julia said...

What a fantastic weekend you've had ..... and I love those stained glass windows at Sheffield Cathedral. A cousin of mine lived in Sheffield for some years and she was very happy there, so I'm not surprised when you say that it is a really great place to live, work and play:0)

Rosie said...

Sounds like a great weekend - I like Stuart Maconie and I'm all for advocates for the north! Love the poster for 'Grin up North' - I hope you post about your visit to the Cathedral because I've never visited it:)

The Girl said...

What a celeb packed post! Would love to go and see Michael Macnintyre, he always makes me laugh when I've seen him on telly.

Is Adventures on the High Teas any good? I've been looking and hovering over it for months whenever I go in to a bookshops.

Renaissance said...

Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

sarah-jane down the lane said...

Wow what a topper weekend! Loving the Grin up North motif, very clever! what brilliant events you have been to, lucky girl! glad you had fun,

Sarah x

...Nina Nixon... said...

A great weekend and Mr Hugh FW - you lucky, lucky lady!!

Have a lovely week,

Nina x

Susie's country cottage said...

I've never been to Sheffield but is a place I'd like to visit sometime. That's so typical not to visit something that's on your doorstep. I do that too. I have visited castles all over the country but never been to my local castle in Shrewsbury!!

BadPenny said...

what a lot of treats & fun

JP said...

you certainly made the most of your week - HFW was on with Jonathon Ross on SAt morning - he was d- so good and some of the ideas sounded delish - glad you enjoyed MM - we are off to see him tomorrow night in Manchester - a mother's day present - I'm now looking forward to it even more now

Gilly said...

You've had a good time, I can tell!

I'm not a great fan of Hugh F-W, but I think I could be a fan of Sheffield Cathedral. that stained glass window looks fab!

Karen said...

It's strange the way we don't visit the wonderful places close to home. It's a good reason to have guests--makes you act like a tourist!

Rowan said...

There's obviously been a lot going on in Sheffield while I've been away! I've been to the Showroom a couple of times to see films, it has a nice atmosphere doesn't it. I've never been in the cathedral either so perhaps I'd better have a look round next time I'm in the city.