Invitation to contemplate: August Bank Holiday Weekend

Invitation to contemplate: August Bank Holiday Weekend: The Bank Holidays Act of 1871 introduced four days as bank holidays in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland were given five days...

August Bank Holiday Weekend

The Bank Holidays Act of 1871 introduced four days as bank holidays in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland were given five days.



Busy bank holiday on Broadstairs beach (Viking bay) by William

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the days selected were Easter Monday, the first Monday in August, Boxing Day (26th December) and Whit Monday.

Scotland also had the first Monday in August. However, it had Good Friday,(instead of Easter Monday), Christmas Day,(instead of Boxing Day) and the first Monday in May,(instead of Whit Monday) plus New Year's Day. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, both Christmas Day and Good Friday were traditional days of rest and Christian worship and as such did not need to be included in the Act.

Northern Ireland were subsequently given bank holidays for St Patrick's Day (17 March) by a special Act of Parliament in 1903 and for the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne (12 July) by the Governor of Northern Ireland in 1926.

The Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 is now the statutory basis for bank holidays following the repeal of the 1871 Act.

It made a number of changes to the days allocated following a trial period of the new arrangements between 1965 and 1970. Whit Monday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was replaced by a fixed spring holiday on the last Monday in May. Similarly, the first Monday in August holiday was replaced by a bank holiday on the last Monday in August. However, the August bank holiday is still given as the first Monday in August in Scotland. Scotland was also granted an additional bank holiday of 2 January, although this was not enacted until 1973.


In 1974, Scotland was given Boxing Day as an additional bank holiday, while England, Wales and Northern Ireland gained New Year's Day as an additional bank holiday. The May bank holidays were also brought closer into line with the first Monday in May in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the last Monday in May in Scotland, becoming additional bank holidays in 1978.

August Bank Holiday weather by Penny Mayes

This weekend is the Summer Bank Holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 

 

It marks the end of the summer holidays before the return to school. A chance to soak up the last rays of sunshine and lie in the garden or park. Or is it?

 

Met Office forecasters are predicting a mix of weather over the Bank Holiday weekend.

 

"Around 50 mm of rain are expected locally across parts of England and Wales on Saturday, with winds potentially reaching 50 mph around southern coasts," said Met Office Chief Forecaster Eddy Carroll. However,  he added "the weather is likely to improve for many during the latter part of the holiday weekend."

 

That's good news for the 3.6 million Brits VisitEngland expect to take an overnight break in the UK this weekend. VisitEngland’s Bank Holiday Trip Tracker found that 5.9 million people plan to take a day trip in the UK over the Bank Holiday weekend, with another 14.3 million still undecided. The most popular planned types of trip are a day out to the seaside or the countryside. One in five plan to visit a stand-alone attraction, such as a theme park or stately home.

 

 

 

And if you want to stay at home and have a few friends over, why not throw an end of summer murder mystery party? A great range of games are available from ITM Games. Just visit their website http://www.itmgames.co.uk

 

 

 

 And please visit

·http://www.invitation2events.co.uk

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Thinking of having an end of summer party?

While the weather is still good (hopefully) why not throw a summer party.

Having friends over for a barbeque is a great way to spend an afternoon and/or evening. Or give up cooking entirely and have a selection of salads, pastries and dips.

Photo by M.M.Minderhoud

You can also ask your guests to bring a dish, or a bottle of something. People are usually happy to contribute. Try and get a vague idea of what everyone's bringing, so they don’t all bring the same thing.....and to clarify they need to bring a dish full of something, not just an empty dish. (you know who you are).

See if your local supermarket or off-license provides free glass hire. Using reusable glassware/crockery/cutlery is the sustainable choice, but plastic cups and paper plates are safer in the garden. Similarly, stash away any breakable objects if you think things might get a bit rowdy.

Arrange tea lights in jars around the garden to add light to an after-dark party. But, as with all candle products, keep an eye on them to stop the wind from blowing them out and to ensure they don't set fire to your plants.

Background music can add to the mood of the party. Just make sure you don’t have it so loud it annoys the neighbourhood.

Want to add a bit more entertainment? Why not set a theme and get everyone to dress up. You can add games to the event and even add a mystery party game.

A selection of role-playing party games is available from ITM Games. They have 6 to 12 main suspects and allow for all guests to act as sleuths.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teddy Bear's Picnic - 6 Players

Set in the 1980's.

Enter the world of big business and fluffy toys.

Join Chester Toyes at the launch of the new range of products called "Teddy Bears Picnic".

But are things as innocent as they seem?

Visit www.itmgames.co.uk to buy the game  

And please visit

· http://www.invitation2events.co.uk

· http://www.itmgames.co.uk

· http://www.facebook.com/invitation2events

Julia Child's 100th Birthday

Julia Child's 100th Birthday

Julia Child was born on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California.

She moved to France in 1948, where she became interested in French cuisine. Wanting to adapt sophisticated French cuisine for mainstream Americans she collaborated on writing the groundbreaking Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in September 1961. The groundbreaking book remained the bestselling cookbook for five straight years after publication and has since become a standard guide for the culinary community.

In 1962, The French Chef TV series premiered on WGBH, establishing Julia as a local celebrity. It was soon syndicated to 96 stations throughout America. Julia made regular appearances on the ABC morning show Good Morning, America throughout the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a television icon.

 She became the first woman inducted into the Culinary Institute Hall of Fame in 1993 and in 2000,  received France's highest honor: the Legion d'Honneur. In August 2002, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History unveiled an exhibit featuring the kitchen where she filmed three of her popular cooking shows.

Two days before her 92nd birthday, Julia Child died in August 2004 of kidney failure at her assisted-living home in Montecito.

Five years after her death, Julia Child was the inspiration behind the film Julie & Julia, based on a cooking blog by Julie Powell.  The 2009 film directed by Nora Ephron, starred Amy Adams as Julie Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child in the title. Meryl Streep won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and received an Academy Award nomination, for her performance.

Too Many Cooks - Murder Mystery

Too Many Cooks is a Murder mystery game for 8 players. It takes place at the fictitious British Good Food Awards.

The story opens at the highlight of the culinary year, the annual British Good Food Awards dinner. But before the prizes can be awarded, Veronica Hacker, the investigative journalist, is found dead in her suite. Was she the victim of revenge, or another dish best served cold.......

Who could have done it?

Possibly Annabel Sloane-Ranger, the Roedean educated girl who now runs a successful catering business with a couple of school-chums. Or maybe Fay Rocher, who moved to Britain from Switzerland at the age of 21, bringing the tradition of fine chocolate making with her. Or how about her business partner, Sandi Beech. Then there is Doug Meadows, the American tycoon who has recently introduced US-style cookies to Britain. And who can forget life-style guru Trisha Branflake?

 

And what of the other suspects?

Peter Savoury enjoys fast cars and living dangerously. Did Peter do something too dangerous? Everyone knows Bill Wordsworth bakes exceedingly good cakes, and is an excellent employer who looks after his staff well.....but did he take care of Veronica? Rudi Emmental is a reclusive Swiss cheese maker. He rarely leaves his hideaway in rural Devon. Did he have an ulterior motive for coming here?


The only way to find out is to order the Too Many Cooks - Murder Mystery.
Available from ITM Games

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Seven Cameroon athletes go missing

On Tuesday 7 August 2012 it was reported that Seven Cameroon athletes had ‘gone missing’ during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

First to disappear was Drusille Ngako, a reserve goalkeeper for the women’s football team, followed by swimmer Paul Ekane Edingue. On Sunday the five boxers – Thomas Essomba, Christian Donfack Adjoufack, Abdon Mewoli, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo and Serge Ambomo – also disappeared from the Olympic Village.

Missing athletes, clockwise from top left, Drusille Ngako, Paul Ekane Edingue, Thomas Essomba, Serge Ambomo, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo, Abdon Mewoli and Christian Donfack Adjoufack Photo: LOCOG

“What began as rumour has finally turned out to be true. Seven Cameroonian athletes who participated at the 2012 London Olympic Games have disappeared from the Olympic Village, ” said Cameroon’s head of mission to London 2012, David Ojong.

While it has been suggested that the five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer have “defected” to stay in Europe for economic reasons, officials suggest the group may have gone sightseeing or visited friends.

British immigration rules allow Olympic athletes, and their families, to stay in this country legally until early November. All athletes can “freely leave the Olympic Games village if they wish” said Home Office sources, so they may just be enjoying a bit of sightseeing while they have the chance. After all, none of them have yet applied for asylum in Britain.

Want to play a mystery game about someone going missing?

ZAP, and its gone is a game for 7 Players (4 male and 3 female aged 11 and above). It is set in the year 2310.

Starlines have been established between the major star systems. The starlines are the motorways of space.

Join the crew of a cargo ship on its mission along one of these starlines.

The spaceship “Buccaneer” has just left space dock having collected several people at its last port of call.

Now one of them is missing!

Want to find out who is missing, why they are missing, and who is responsible? Purchase & Download from ITM Games and find out

ZAP, and its gone …..Game for £20

As always, please visit my websites at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and http://www.itmgames.co.uk and
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Invitation to contemplate: A record crowd of 80,203 attended the final of the...

Invitation to contemplate: A record crowd of 80,203 attended the final of the...: The USA beat Japan 2-1 at Wembley, claiming their fourth Olympic gold in women’s football. Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored both go...

A record crowd of 80,203 attended the final of the London 2012 Olympics women’s football.

The USA beat Japan 2-1 at Wembley, claiming their fourth Olympic gold in women’s football.

Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored both goals for the US – a header after eight minutes and a powerful strike after the break.

Yuki Ogimi scored for Japan.

Speaking about the women’s Olympic football tournament BBC summariser Lucy Ward said ”There has been a lot of stand-out performances and goals. The women’s game is constantly improving and the standard gets better at every major tournament.”

USA win gold

Canada beat France 1-0 to take the bronze medal match.

Canada take the bronze

The players were transported south to arrive at Wembley in time to watch the final.
They were presented with their medals on the pitch along with gold and silver medallists the US and Japan.

Presenting the medals

The Wembley crowd cheered and applauded both teams throughout the match in equal measure. However, Switzerland’s FIFA president Sepp Blatter was booed by the crowd before the medal ceremony.

   Raising the flag

All photos by Juliamaud

Want to hold your own sporting party?

Maybe pretend to be in a mixed mens and womens football team?

Try TheFinal Disgrace

TheFinal Disgrace is a role playing mystery game for 8 players from ITM Games.

It concerns the final match for the Eclipse Cup, Football’s Mixed Six-a-side competition. The team of Lower Morrals Athletic have just lost the match. This is a shock result considering they have been enjoying their best season ever. With a string of record breaking scores under their belt, could someone have cheated and lost them the game on purpose?

If you want to learn the answer to this, the game is available for ITM Games.

As always, please visit my websites at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and http://www.itmgames.co.uk and remember to "like" me at http://www.facebook.com/invitation2events

History is being made in Women's football at the london 2012 Olympics

Although men's football has been included in every Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932 women's football was not included in the Olympics until the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The USA has made it to the final in all the preveious four Olympic Games, winning the gold medal three times.

Yet again the USA have made it to the final. For London 2012 the USA are facing Japan. This match comes a year after Japan unexpectedly won the World Cup by dramatically beating the United States on penalties.

Womens football has come a long way and gained many supporters. More than 70,000 watched Britain's group match with Brazil at Wembley; at the time a record crowd for a woman's football match anywhere in Britain.Thursday's final is expected to break that and set a new Olympic attendance record playing to a 83,000-capacity crowd.

Women's results from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_Summer_Olympics#Women.27s_tournament

Year	Host	Final			Third place match
		Winner	Score	Runner-up	3rd place	Score	4th place
1996 Details	Atlanta	United States	2 – 1	China	Norway	2 – 0	Brazil
2000 Details	Sydney	Norway	3 – 2 asdet	United States	Germany	2 – 0	Brazil
2004 Details	Athens	United States	2 – 1 aet	Brazil	Germany	1 – 0	Sweden
2008 Details	Beijing	United States	1 – 0 aet	Brazil	Germany	2 – 0	Japan

As always, please visit my websites at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and http://www.itmgames.co.uk and remember to "like" me at http://www.facebook.com/invitation2events

Chingford sees Godiva Awakes

Part of the Cultural Olympiad, Godiva Awakes is the six-metre high marionette that has travelled from Coventry to London powered by cyclists. This afternoons leg of the journey began at 1pm at Ridgeway Park in Chingford.

Dancers and bands prepared for the trip to Walthamstow Town Hall.

Cyclists prepared for the final part of the journey.

Godiva Awakes and travels from Ridgeway Park.

Photos by Juliamaud

As always, please visit my websites at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and http://www.itmgames.co.uk and
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Godiva Awakes for the London 2012 Olympics

Godiva Awakes is part of the Cultural Olympiad. Costing around £2.8 million,  the six-metre high marionette has travelled from Coventry to London, arriving in Waltham Forrest today.

Godiva, prior to her 'awakening'. Photograph: Andy Moore from guardian.co.uk

She awoke on Saturday 28th July to a cheering crowd, a choir of 150, hundreds of dancers, and aerial artists amid fireworks showering from Coventry cathedral.

This Lady Godiva hopes to revive engineering and manufacturing in the Midlands. Roger Medwell, ex-chairman of NP Aerospace in Coventry said the project began seven years ago, with the decision to make a giant moving statute. What has been created stands six metres high and weighs five tonnes. She is  a moving piece of public art powered by cyclists showcasing sustainable energy.

Godiva left Coventry for London, but will return to a permanent home being created for her in the Coventry city: "Every year she'll wake up, and every year she'll need a carnival to welcome her," said Jane Hytch of Imagineer Productions.

The project recieved £500,000 from the Arts Council of England as part of the Cultural Olympiad with another £450,000 from Coventry City Council.

photo from http://www.harpendenpeople.co.uk/

100 cyclists have powered Godiva's journey to London. The Godiva Awakes Cycling Team is made up of novice and experienced cyclists, led by British Cycling Champion Mick Ives, who have trained together preparing for Godiva's extraordinary journey in 2012. Recruited at Coventry's Festival of Cycling in June 2010, through a public ballot and from cycling clubs across the region, the Godiva Awakes Cycle Team are cycling in groups of 25.

Today the Cyclopedia leaves Waltham Abbey for Waltham Forest on the final part of its journey, travelling towards Ridgeway Park, Chingford from 9.30am via Sewardstone. Around 1 pm the carnival starts its procession to Waltham Forest Town Hall.

Godiva arrives at Walthamstow Town Hall this afternoon for the finale of her journey and handing over of the “book of intent” containing the wishes and commitments of young people to protecting the Environment and final celebratory performance.

The procession route is as follows:

13:45 - Left into Chingford Road
14:15 - Chingford Mount
14:45 - Truck will park outside the dog track and children will walk under the subway
15:05 - Meet up with trucks on the opposite site of Chingford Road
15:25 - Parade ends at the end entrance to the Pool and Track

16:00 - Children will make their way through the pool and track to the front of the Town Hall for presentation

As always, please visit my websites at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and http://www.itmgames.co.uk and
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