Staff ready for the ' Big Day' of Mod and ska music

 
Stanley Events, the organisers of this May Bank Holiday music festival in Chester le Street, are making sure that the event goes off safely and smoothly thanks to training and employing their own group of stewards.

"An event is only as good as the people who work on it. To make sure that the customers have an enjoyable, safe time the company has trained it own people to the highest of standards." said Anna Marshall who has overseen the training

Indeed, since it started operating over three years ago, Stanley Events has trained over 60 staff to work at their events. These people have continued to work for the company as event stewards and SIA staff at their festivals.

" Because of the scale of this years event, with bands starting at noon and music going on until late into the evening, we have trained another 12 new staff members to add to our pool of reliable, hard working staff." Said Anna

One of the staff making a welcome return is 18 year old Lewis Christie who has gained extra work since gaining his qualifications with the company:

"When I got my NVQ in stewarding and spectator safety with Stanley Events, it gave me the confidence to go and look for work where I could use my news skills.  For the past two years I have been working at St. James' Park on all home games. It is really good work so any opportunity, like the Riverside live event that I can be a part of I am always ready for."

Riverside Live will see headline bands from the Mod and Ska era such as 'From The Jam' The Lambrettas' and The Selecter' taking to the stage at the latter part of the day with local bands kicking things off from noon on Sunday 24 May.

"Staff employed for Stanley Events have undertaken a range of training including: Level 2 Award in Understanding Stewarding at Spectator Events and Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Stewarding at Spectator Events. Some have also went on to complete SIA door supervision training.
Not only has this have them the required qualifications to work on a big event such as the Riverside Live but also a lot of our previous trained staff have went on to other similar work around the region." said Anna

Riverside live Mod and Ska music festival is on May 24 at the Chester le Street riverside with doors opening at 11.30 and the first band at noon. There are still some tickets left at £35 from http://www.riversidelive.org/home.htm

Stanley Events will also be making private donations from festival profits to Three charities: The national charity Help For Heroes as well as two local charities St. Cuthbert's Hospice based in Durham City and Chester Le Street Mind.

 

Top restaurant teams up with Hospice to make May 'Donate while you Dine' month

Durham's Fat Buddha Restaurant is making sure that May is the month when the local hospice fundraising gets an extra top up with 'Donate while you Dine' 

The Walkergate based eatery has teamed up with St. Cuthbert's Hospice to offer a deal on the 'Early Buddha' menu that will see each order donate to the charity:

 " We spoke to the Hospice about how we could help in a practical way" said Bob Senior, Fat Buddha Chief Executive, "and we come up with a way that will work throughout the month and hopefully help with much needed funding for a really great cause."

"Anyone coming into the Durham restaurant can simply opt for selection from the  'Early Buddha' menu.  This is the menu on between 5pm and 7pm Sunday until Friday so is ideal for after work eating or an early dinner with the family.  £5 from the price of the adult selection goes to the hospice."

Kay Welsh,  Senior Donor Development Fundraiser for the Durham City based hospice is delight with the offer:

"We would like to thank Bob and everyone at fat Buddha in Durham for supporting St. Cuthbert's Hospice.  May is a really important fundraising month for us as we prepare for our new summer paint event, 'Colourama' on June 6 and fat Buddha are helping as much as they can."

Restaurant 'signs off' Mayor with new menu fayre

The Mayor of the City of Durham, Cllr John Robinson was invited to The Court Inn, in the City, to sample the new menu of local produce recently as one of his last official duties.

The Mayor with wife Maxine, was on one of his last engagements as his tenure finishes during May, who along with other invited guests sampled the new menu that has been put together with as much local produce as possible.

 

 
The Mayor said about his year in office:

"The year has flown by!  The people I have met and the projects I have seen across the whole of the County have been just amazing.  One reason I was happy to come and see Trevor and what he has put on his menu is that he is a champion of local produce, something I have always encouraged and supported."

Trevor Davis, who has run the Court Inn for just under two years now, was really happy to see John as guest of honour at the launch:

"The Mayor has been here before and was very encouraging when he found out that I was planning an 'all local' menu and promised me he would come down when it was complete.  And good to his word he was quick to reply when the invite went out."

 

He continued, " The new menu caters for a wide range of tastes and is sources as local as we possibly can."

Scooter Club snap up last of the bargain tickets

 

Mod music lovers and scooter rides from across the region will be descending on the Riverside in Chester le Street at the end of the month to bask in a full day of music.

With headline bands such as 'From the Jam' The Lambrettas' and The Selector' the day is sure to be a nostalgic festival for those who remember the late 70's and early 80's music as a background to their youth.

 

"We have some top class bands from that era and we also have some cracking local bands that play ska / mod music so the whole day will be a true festival of that time in music." said Carl Marshall from the organisers, Stanley Events.

"Tickets have sold very well so the atmosphere will be great with old and new fans of the bands coming along to see the tracks they know so well performed live."

 
Durham County Scooter Club came down 'on mass' to collect their tickets and could not be happier with the bands on at the event. Paul Buglass, one of the group, is particularly looking forward to seeing one of the bands:

" I have been a 'Lambrettas' fan for a long time now and they don't really tour that much.  To see them on the same stage as the other bands from the era is going to be a great day and we are al looking forward to the day.  To top it all, having them all on our doorstep is just fantastic!"

" Durham County Scooter Club are just one of a host of scooter clubs who have taken an interest in the festival. We are sure to see many a colourful scooter here in Chester le Street from across the region."said Carl

 
Tickets for the May 24th festival can be bought from the website www.riversidelive.org/home.html