Swindon Ukrainians Announce Festival. Swindon Welcomes Ukraine – is a group created to support the Ukrainians arriving under the Home for Ukraine scheme.
They’ve decided to host a Ukrainian inspired festival of music, food and culture on 24th August – Ukrainian Independence Day -called ‘Ukraine Fest’. The group, made up of hosts and Ukrainians, are holding the festival around the bandstand area in Old Town’s town gardens. They’re planning an afternoon of immersive experiences linked to Ukraine.
The group’s chairperson, Sofiia Volovyk, says she’s excited to be bringing some Ukrainian culture to Swindon.
Swindon Ukrainians Announce Festival – some of the committee: Viktoriia Zavalnyk, Michelle Lamude, Sofiia Volovyk and David Thrower.
An expression of thanks
‘We’re so grateful to the people of Swindon for welcoming us. So we want to do something exciting for them and showcase our culture, music, and food. On the day, we’re planning live music. That will be a fusion of Ukrainian and English performers and songs. Further, we’ll have Old Town food vendors doing Ukrainian inspired menus. There’ll be a huge bubble show from a Ukrainian childrens’ entertainer along with:
Flower wreath making and…
… pop up projects like a Ukrainian inspired photography wall and some other surprises.
We wanted to hold it in Old Town as Town Gardens is a favourite of our Ukrainian community. And South Swindon Parish Council were so supportive of what we are trying to achieve.’
The festival will run from 2pm till 10pm with the afternoon’s activities designed for families and children. The early evening will switch to more upbeat music and activities designed for adults. Kris Talikowski Vice-chair of the committee added: ‘We want to attract the whole community from Swindon and, we hope, across the county. The team are working on making the afternoon as family friendly as possible. And then we’ll have some Ukrainian dance music in the early evening via a silent disco. And Ukrainian inspired drinks from Old Town favourites the Hop Kettle.’
Efforts and achievements
The committee have achieved significant recognition for their work since they launched in March last year. Sofiia has raised thousands for charity by walking from Swindon to Ben Nevis. She’s also received a nomination for a BBC award. Their bike project has also seen over 200 bikes fixed up and donated to Ukrainians. They also organise social activities to bring the community together, but this will be their biggest event yet. Neil Hopkins, chair of South Swindon Parish Council added:
‘We fully support the work of Swindon Welcomes Ukraine and it’s great that Swindon has opened its arms to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The Parish are very excited to see this idea brought to life, and we encourage all Swindon to come and visit.’
Louise Hunt Skelley PLY, former British wheelchair tennis player, will be commentating on the wheelchair tennis event at the first European Para Championships. The competition is taking place in Rotterdam from next week (August 8 to 13) while her husband Chris Hunt Skelley MBE competes.
Louise Hunt Paralympian – Swindon’s former Paralympian to commentate at inaugural para games in Rotterdam
A new event
The inaugural European Para Championships is a multisport event that includes both judo and tennis. The aim is to stage it every four years. Further, it will always have a major European city as host, in the year preceding the Paralympic games.
The 2023 inaugural event will feature ten different parasports. There’ll be 1,500 athletes competing to become European Para Champions. And, for some, it will mean qualification for Paris 2024.
‘I’m so excited to be commentating on the wheelchair tennis at this fist European Para Championships,’ Louise said. ‘Multisport events always create such a different and unique atmosphere. So I’m looking forward to playing my part in this awesome showcase of para sport.’While at the same cheering on my husband Chris who’ll be competing and hoping to win a medal too.’
Opportunity knocks
As well as the chance to become European champions, the winners in the tennis divisions get automatic qualification for next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
‘The stakes are high, and there is all to play for,’ Louise added. ‘I can’t wait to see some more high-quality wheelchair tennis players promoted on an international stage.’
Experienced commentator
Louise has plenty of experience to bring to the commentary box. She made her debut covering the Wimbledon wheelchair tennis event in 2013. She took a break while competing before returning to commentating after retiring from competitive playing in 2021. During her playing career, Louise represented Great Britain at both the London and Rio Paralympics. She won thirteen singles and forty-one doubles titles, with a career-high international ranking of ten.
Since retiring from playing, Louise has also gained experience as a tournament director. Having had a taste at an event in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Louise went on to direct The Bolton Indoor ITF3 Wheelchair Tennis Tournament earlier this year. That gave her another view of the workings of a major international tennis tournament.
The mission of the European Para Championships is to create a new standard for paralympic sports events worldwide. It wants to inspire people. Whether with or without disabilities. Or rich or poor, young or old and regardless of background – to take up sports and exercise. The wheelchair tennis event runs until the 13th August and the Championships end on August 20.
FIVE WEEK FIGHTING TOUR OF JAPAN IS PERFECT PREPARATION FOR JUDO WORLD GAMES
Japan Tour Prepares for Judo Games. Paralympic gold medallist Chris Hunt Skelley MBE has returned (to Wiltshire/UK) from a five-week training tour of Japan. This as he continues his preparation for the European Championships and IBSA World Games next month – August 18 to 27 2023.
This intense training has also helped the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist to prepare for qualification to compete in the next Paralympics in Paris next year.
Chris said: ‘The camp was about building up to the championships and world games, to take it up to the next level and making sure we were in the best possible shape we can be.’
Judo Champion
Chris, who is the current 100kg Judo Paralympic gold medallist, was one of several athletes taking part in training camps in Japan. All organised by British Judo.
Japan Tour Prepares for Judo Games Chris Hunt Skelley MBE during his fighting tour of Japan with fellow fighters.
‘Japan is the home of Judo, it’s a fantastic place to go to,’ he said. ‘You come across different athletes, of different shapes and sizes, and different abilities. They are amazing fighters so it is top-class work and hard as well.
‘As Judo is one of the main sports in Japan, it meant we could go to so many different universities and fight. They don’t use their strength so much, but they are very technical fighters. It was worthwhile going out there to improve my own performance and to be smarter when competing.’
For the first two weeks, Chris and his group stayed at the International Budo University, in Katssura, Chiba Prefecture. They then moved to central Tokyo for three weeks. There they visited several universities, including Nichidai (Nihon University) and Meiji University.
The trip wasn’t all about fighting though. Chris was able to spend some quality time exploring this fascinating country. ‘It’s the most downtime we’ve had since I’ve been going out there to train. We got to visit temples, the centre of Tokyo, a fish market and lots of cool places.’
And far from taking a few weeks to relax, Chris is brimming with confidence and is eager to get going in Birmingham. ‘It’s very much a case of my coach having to hold me back!’
World games
The IBSA World Gamesis the largest high-level international event for athletes with visual impairment. It has more than 1,250 competitors from seventy nations. It will take place from 18-27 August 2023, at the University of Birmingham.
CHILDREN’S ART DISPLAYED ALONGSIDE TURNER’S ABBEY PAINTING AT MALMESBURY’S ATHELSTAN MUSEUM. Artwork from local children will join Malmesbury’s most famous exhibit: Turner’s abbey painting. Works from pupils at Malmesbury secondary school will be at the Athelstan museum in August and September.
The museum bought Turner’s evocative watercolour of the town’s abbey at auction. The money came via a mixture of local fundraising, funding from the National Lottery and from the Art Fund.
The seller had been to America looking for a buyer. But an advert spotted in Country Life by Athelstan Museum trustee, Angela Sykes, was the catalyst. One that would at length lead to the painting on permanent display in the town.
Artists of the future
Now the young artists of the future are able to see their own work alongside that of one of the world’s most well known masters.
CHILDREN’S ART DISPLAYED ALONGSIDE TURNER’S Photo shows Ben Hobbs, a young artist from Malmesbury School who took part in the Turner project alongside his work.
Angela said: ‘JMW Turner is one of the country’s greatest painters. And to have his interpretation of Malmesbury Abbey hanging in our museum is no better place for people to see it.
In fact, the painting hadn’t been on display anywhere for over forty years. It could have gone overseas, into a private collection.’
Funding criteria
One of the principal criteria expressed by the National Lottery for the successful funding of the purchase was for the museum to involve a ‘wider range of people in heritage’.
As a result, they developed the Turner Diversity Programme. It aims to take art connected to the Turner painting to as many different sections of society as possible.
Involving young people was an important part of this strategy. The museum runs workshops and events for younger people during school holidays. They also invite schools to visit the museum for tours and talks.
Museum outreach
The museum’s outreach team also visits schools to help with specific projects in the curriculum. This latest project work has developed by teacher Sue Gibbons involving forty year 8 students from Malmesbury School. They were able to take part in workshops where they explored the watercolour techniques used by Turner. They then applied them by spending an afternoon painting their own watercolours of Malmesbury Abbey.
Susan Mockler, vice-chair of the Athelstan Museum management team, said: ‘The work with the school has been particularly interesting. The enthusiasm of the pupils and the skills they’ve displayed have expanded our expectations about what’s possible.
The school has been a great partner and leader in this project. We look forward to working with them in the future. This project has brought in more young people to enjoy the museum. It’s only possible to appreciate our living history by experiencing it in such places as museums.’
What the children got from it
For the children, the project was an opportunity to learn more about Turner, his work and the techniques he used. The Museum provided them with watercolours for the project. But what did the children know about Turner and his watercolour?
‘All I knew was that he’d lived in Malmesbury and had sketched it, but finished the painting later in life,’ said Lucy Horlick, Year 8, Malmesbury School. Her painting is one of those chosen for exhibition alongside the Turner. ‘He used to paint from what he felt as well as what he saw. So I tried to paint my piece from what I felt while I was standing in front of the Abbey.’
Gabe Willet, also Year 8, said: ‘He used a lot of watercolours in his work. So a lot of our paintings use similar techniques and look like his.
‘One of his techniques that I had read about was that he started with lighter colours, and then went over in the dark. So that’s what I did with my painting,” added Sophie McMullen, also Year 8.
Before the project, the children visited the museum where one of the volunteers talked to them about the painting and the techniques he used.
Sue Gibbons, Curriculum Leader for Art at Malmesbury School, said: ‘The children had one workshop in school to explore using watercolours. Then a second where they sat in the grounds of the Abbey and in that time they did amazing work.
‘They see the Abbey every day, and a lot of them would have taken it for granted. It was lovely to sit there and for them to think ‘this is an amazing building, it’s beautiful’. Luckily, the weather was glorious when we were painting. But it’s my belief they now have more of an appreciation of the beauty of the Abbey.’
All the work produced for the project was exhibited. That included that of the children of Minety Primary School and some created in community workshops. Although not all the children’s artwork will be on display in the museum, as part of the project and to extend engagement, a larger exhibition was held at the Julia and Hans Rausing Building in Malmesbury in June.
Sue Gibbons said: ‘The exhibition was amazing. A lot of effort went into making it look as professional as possible, all the pieces were professionally mounted, and it looked great.’
The Torin Building Swindon – and there’s a reason that I’ve specified Swindon here. It’s because our Torin building has a sister building of sorts in Brussels, Belgium. And I’ll return to that later.
The Torin Corporation (the erstwhile Torrington Manufacturing Company- produced air-moving equipment. (Fans to you and me I imagine.) The company had its HQ in Torrington, Connecticut. In 1965 the company asked renowned Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) and his associate, Robert Gatje, to design a facility for their British division on Swindon’s Greenbridge industrial estate.
The company planned to use the recently completed facility in Nivelles, Brussels as a model – both in plan and constructions techniques. But – the modular, precast concrete panels used to such striking effect in Brussels turned out to be cost-prohibitive in England.
Instead, the designers sheathed most of the facades in vertical, white aluminium with brick accents around doors and windows. The entrance façade featured a cantilevered canopy – like most of the other Torin buildings – projecting from a black brick façade. A horizontal strip of windows bisected the façade, lining up with the bottom edge of the canopy. Breuer provided a splash of colour by painting the structural steel and mechanical elements on the roof red-orange. Frishman-Spyer Associates served as the supervising architects for this project.
Now Torin-Safin
As you can see from the image, the company is now called Torin-Sifan. In 2015, as reported here, the company invested over £2m in a new facility at Swindon’s Pagoda Park and celebrated its 50th anniversary in Swindon.
‘Its expansion with the opening of the EC Manufacturing and Technology Centre follows five decades of manufacturing in Swindon with the new facility allowing the company to increase EC production by over 20%, whilst continuing with the manufacture of its traditional product ranges at its existing Greenbridge HQ.’
Managing director Neil Sproston said: ‘As we celebrate 50 years of British manufacturing and innovation, we are delighted to open a world-class manufacturing centre here in Swindon.’
As it happens I have a niece in Brussels so I got her onto the case. She managed to get for me, via a sort of tourist information office a few images.
The Torrington factory over in continental Europe is, at the moment, Sabert Europe – a sustainable food packaging and tableware company.
The kind people in Brussels also sent my niece a PDF brochure taken from the catalogue of an exhibition at the Atomiumthat ran from December 16, 2011 to April 15, 2012. Called ‘958 – 1980 Facades en concret / Betongevels / concrete walls most of it is in French. Quelle Surprise! Aside from what’s below.
