Ilfracombe Ukulele Club have raised £306.74 for BBC Children in Need appeal. This beat last years total of £209.51. We toured the pubs, clubs and restaurants of Ilfracombe, playing our ukes and shaking our bucket. Mick Cockram on Twitter https://twitter.com/Mick180/status/401649702707683328 North Devon Gazette http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/north_devon_s_children_in_need_round_up_1_3012392 Ilfracombe Ukulele Club meet Verity on the Children In Need tour Counting up the cash at Larkstone Cafe If you would like to Join Ilfracombe Ukulele Club, we meet every Tuesday 7pm a Larkstone café. All uke players welcome, all ages. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/ilfracombe-ukulele-club.html
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Friday !5th November 2013 is the BBC Children In Need evening. Ilfracombe Ukulele Club will be touring the pubs,clubs, and hotels of Ilfracombe raising money. Ilfracombe Ukulele Club http://paulclews888.weebly.com/ilfracombe-ukulele-club.html
Children In Need http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008dk4b A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Hele Mill History Day on the 19th October 2013. David Jones, owner of the mill, had recorded one of my AudioBoo podcasts a couple of years ago, therefore suggested I would be ideal to record interviews with the residents invited to the event. I was happy to get involved with this event. Here are the recordings I made on the day. Here are a few of the photos of Hele shared between the residents. Hele Mill Website
Many thanks to Paul for the invitation to guest blog. I’m Ruth and I live in Ilfracombe, which is why it’s been an expensive week so far. I had to go to a meeting in London yesterday. The meeting lasted less than an hour but it took nine hours, twenty miles of driving and a stonking train fare to get there and home again. Not to mention the cost of the mysterious transformation that yet again took place somewhere between Barnstaple and Paddington. How is it that I get on the train in Devon looking respectable, and when I get off it in London I look like a bag lady? I’m sure I’m not the only person this happens to. Maybe that’s why there’s a branch of Monsoon in Paddington Station. None of the people at the meeting knew where Ilfracombe was. That was interesting, because they’re in the book business, and while most of the trade is mourning the fact that bookshops are closing down all around us, what do we have right here in our own High Street? I suppose its relative remoteness is one reason that Ilfracombe has managed to hang onto all sorts of businesses which, for friends who live in bigger towns with easier communications, are only a fond memory. A proper greengrocer. Two real butchers. Bakeries and a post office that aren’t just add-ins to supermarkets. A fish shop. A local printer. Pedlar’s. Shops that deliver. Shops that don’t charge silly prices. Shops where the staff know what they’re talking about - usually because they’re the owners. That’s not to mention the proper pubs, the farmers who sell locally-raised meat and the places to buy free-range eggs at the front gate. As the daughter and grand-daughter of former Ilfracombe shopkeepers, I listened to the Londoners saying, "Ilfracombe? Where’s that?" and I smiled, and I thought, it’s in a very good place. By Ruth Downie
Website http://www.ruthdownie.com/ Twitter @ruthsdownie Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ruso-and-Tilla/108745675816262 I recently went to eat in a pub near Bude, Cornwall. It was a place I often went to eat, but on this occasion I was forced to complain because they insisted on a minimum charge on my Visa card. Read my review on Trip Adviser. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1749693-d4366603-r174194696-The_Stables_Inn-Kilkhampton_Cornwall_England.html#readReview Partly due to the rude treatment from the management I emailed Visa to report the fact the establishment was trying it on with their customers by trying to charge a minimum payment. This is what I said. Dear sir, I wish to complain about the Stables http://www.stablesbar.co.uk/ On Monday, they refused to accept my Visa card unless I purchases a minimum of £20. I understand my contract with you is my card will be accepted without minimum charge. How are you able to help me with this matter. It lead to an embarrassing situation, ending in me being told to leave in front of the other customers.
Yours faithfully Paul Clews This was the reply from Visa. Thank you for contacting Visa Europe.
Visa has certain regulations that all merchants accepting Visa cards must follow. One of those rules is that Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items.
If you run into a problem like this with a merchant, please notify your Visa card-issuing financial institution. Visa Member financial institutions have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations. They also have access to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms that should be used by the financial institution to document and file this type of complaint.
Thank you for writing, Consumer Support │Visa Europe I'm now waiting for Nationwide to send me the relevant form to take my complaint further. Watch this space. I had an enjoyable day at Tamar Otter Park The video of the day. Look out for the moment the deer steal the food from me. A real 'You've Been Framed' moment. http://youtu.be/OqChibUlY30?a The Otter Park website http://www.tamarotters.co.uk/ Win a free half hour guitar or ukulele lesson by Skype, FaceTime or google hangouts. During #DevonHour on twitter, this week only (21/82013), 10 questions about me will appear under the hash tag #SoYouThinkYouKnowMe. Simply tweet the answers back to me. All the answers are in my twitter time line and blogs. The winner will be announced shortly after Saturday 6 pm (24/8/2013) when the competition closes, here and on Twitter. In the event of a tie, I will draw a winner from the most correct answers. Anyone is eligible to play, except me. Good luck! You must be able to get your hands on a guitar or ukulele. No cash alternatives. My decision is final. The rain yesterday at Filleigh Fete kept many visitors away. For those That made the effort, there was plenty to do & see. Every time I camp at Tamar Lake, I see a sign at the end of the road saying, 'Wei's Chinese Kitchen'. I always say, 'we'll have to go there sometime'. Well, finally we went and tried it. We followed the sign to another sign pointing into a field. Ahead was caravans and tents, to the right was a smallish wooden building with red Chinese lanterns adorning it. Walking away from the building was a tall slim gentleman, who approached us because we were clearly unsure about where we should park. 'Can I help you'? I replied 'we're looking for the Chinese restaurant'. He told us where to park, and pointed us in the right direction for the entrance. Once inside, the same gentleman introduced us to the menu on the wall above the hot plates. 'This is what we have this evening, Wei changes the menu every day'. We were offered a choice to either eat in or take away. The take away was £4 per punnet, but we chose to eat in, the all you can eat for £9.90 per person. We were offered a table for two, and very quickly a bag of prawn crackers appeared to get us started. We tucked in. Very soon after this, a Chinese lady, who we were later to find out was Wei, offered us a chicken, sweet corn and noodle soup. The main course was a number of dishes, including, egg fried rice, prawn balls, chow mein, sweet and sour, duck and pineapple, and many more. I tried them all except the beef with chilli. I'm not keen on beef, and really dislike chilli, hence the wide berth. Everything I had was unbelievably delicious, causing me to tweet, 'this is one of the best restaurants ever'. We were also offered tea or coffee and apple pie and ice cream. Amazing, and highly recommended. As many of you know, I'm not a fan of open mic nights. You don't need to get ripped off to get your first gigs. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/open-mic-nights-why-you-should-not-play-them.htm You could play at family and friends parties for instance. These kind of events will offer you a supportive audience, and introduce you to other party guests who may never have heard of your band, or if they have, may not know what you sound like. This could lead to another gig. Another simple way to get a gig is to book yourself. Hire a pub or hotel room, or even a village hall or similar and sell tickets. In the old days in Ilfracombe, all the bands used to hire the Vaults Bar. Advertise your gig with posters in local shop windows. Many shop owners are happy to do this for free. These days it is much easier to make your own posters and tickets with computers and printers. They were just not available to me. Advertise your gig on gig web sites and of course on social media. Twitter being the best way to get your word out because of its size and the fact you can reach many people with no followers what so ever, with clever use of hash tags. Always include the name of the town or city where you are going to play, and including the surrounding towns is a good idea too. Facebook is important but difficult, in comparison. You need to actively collect 'likes' on you page, which for an unknown band is not easy. But you can advertise in local and other type specific groups. It is also well worth having a Google+ page to promote your gigs, because it is searchable on Google. Gigs can also be promoted, often for free in local news papers, and on local radio. Just be creative. Sell as many tickets as you can, and don't forget you can charge on the door too. It's a good idea to charge a little more on the door to encourage ticket sales. Get all your family and friends to buy tickets too, and you will make a profit from your gig. What if you don't have enough songs? Well set up the gig as a double or triple bill with other local bands in a similar position to you. Split the overheads, split the profits. More bands promoting, means more advertising, bigger audiences, and more exposure for your band. A word of warning before you start gigging. It's a little boring, and not very rock 'n' roll, but you need to get public liability insurance to protect yourself, your audience, and the venue you are playing at. The best way to get this in my opinion is to join the Musicians Union. Good luck and get gigging. |
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