Newport weekend round-up: Pirates in the Port, gigs, theatre
From music festivals to family fun days, there's something for everyone in the city.
Kicking off the weekend on Saturday, May 31, is the Pirates In The Port Sea Shanty Festival.
(Image: Supplied) The event, organised by local Welsh shanty group Bois Y Bryn, will bring the tradition of sea shanties and folk music to life.
From 11am to 7pm, multiple venues in the city centre, including The Riverfront Theatre, will host this lively festival.
Entry is free and no booking is required.
On the same day, Brazilian thrash crossover band Ratos De Porão will perform at The Cab, Newport.
(Image: Supplied) The intimate gig, supported by bands Harrowed, Zero Again, Rank, and Mortal Karcass, will start at 6.30pm.
A small number of tickets will be available on the door.
(Image: Supplied)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time continues its run at the Dolman Theatre.
Presented by Dolman Theatreworks, the play tells the story of a gifted boy, Christopher Boone, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery while investigating the killing of a dog.
The show will be performed on Saturday, May 31, at 7.15pm.
Sunday, June 1, sees the return of the free family event, A Teddy Bears Picnic, at the top of Beechwood Park.
(Image: Supplied)
From 2pm to 5pm, attendees can enjoy a cartoon character disco, inflatable slides and castles, face painting, dance act performances, musical performances, bubble fun, a parrot display, and more.
Families are encouraged to bring their favourite teddy and a picnic blanket.
With such a wide range of activities on offer, there's no shortage of things to do in Newport this weekend.
Whether you're a music lover, theatre enthusiast, or looking for a fun family day out, Newport has it all.
So, whether you're planning to sing along with the shanty singers, rock out to Ratos De Porão, watch the adventures of Christopher Boone, or join in the fun at the Teddy Bears Picnic, Newport has a weekend full of activities to round off half-term.
Enjoy the festivities and make the most of the weekend.
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Wales Online
5 hours ago
- Wales Online
Mystery woman's daily ritual on North Wales beaches leaves onlookers astonished
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Beachgoers on west Anglesey were left uplifted and profoundly moved when a mystery woman strode up to the water's edge. As the sun sunk towards the horizon, she began singing a hauntingly beautiful song as if serenading the sea itself. Those looking on settled down on the sand at Traeth Porthdafarch beach to watch the performance, wondering who the woman was and why she was doing it. It soon emerged she often sang at other beaches on the island, enchanting those lucky enough to witness her. Filming a clip of the shoreline song was Abigail Druce, who said it was a 'lovely moment'. She added: 'Everyone just stood still and watched her, definitely not something you see often. Just wow!' Another onlooker added: 'Absolutely beautiful voice, just her the sound of the waves and the sun setting. What a talent and a lovely surprise while we were sat with our beach fire and tea.' When the video was shared online, the woman's identity was revealed as Karen Jones, a former gemnologist and diamond grader from Waunfawr, Gwynedd. The 64-year-old artist sings at sunset most days as a lament to her elderly mother as she battles severe illness. The North Wales Live Whatsapp community for top stories and breaking news is live now - here's how to sign up Sometimes she performs to campervanners on the hills above her home in Waunfawr. From there, she can gaze out across to Anglesey where she dreams of moving to permanently. (Image: Karen Jones) Adding extra pathos to her singing was the death this week of Deiniolen's Annette Bryn Parri. Appointed musical director of the newly formed North Wales Police Choir last year, the distinguished pianist took time out to help Karen compose four songs for Spotify. Usually when she's singing al fresco, Karen performs Welsh folk song Cilfan y Coed (Shade in the Trees). 'It's about sanctuary – somewhere you can go to forget all your troubles,' she said. 'For me, singing these lovely songs is a matter of self-expression. I forget the hurt as I sing. 'I had singing lessons with my dear friend Annette. The day after she died I sung it in her memory at sunset with a big view of the Menai Straight behind me.' (Image: Karen Jones) On Anglesey, Karen performs on the beaches at Trearddur Bay, Porth Dafarch and Holyhead. She always sings at sunset. 'I go out every single evening,' she said. 'It's my way of saying thank you for the day. Otherwise the days pass so quickly: I want to make the most of them. 'When I go up on the hills, I always asked the campers if it's OK to sing. They're fine about it and afterward they're always very generous in their comments, just as people are on the beach when I sing.' For 18 years, Karen and her mother Esme Dyson ran Jones & Dyson Jewellers in Bangor and Caernarfon. When their prime stock was stolen at an exhibition in London, the business folded but the mother-and-daughter bond remained as strong as ever. Now that Esme is seriously ill, Karen's sunset singing has added poignancy – it's the one time she can set aside her worries. It's also meant a planned move to Anglesey has been put on hold. (Image: Karen Jones) In Waunfawr, Karen runs a 12-acre smallholding by herself while operating an Airbnb. With the Welsh Government's 182-day letting rule causing extra work and price-cutting, she's had enough. Last month the property went on the market, only to be withdrawn as her mother's health declined. But Karen still has her heart set on a move to west Anglesey and its glorious sunsets. 'It's such a deeply magical and spiritual place,' she said. 'From the hills behind me I can see the sun setting behind Holyhead Mountain and half of Anglesey. One day I will move there.' One beachgoer who heard her sing said Karen's 'eerily beautiful haunting voice' was reminiscent of the sirens of the sea. Explaining her connection to the coast, Karen cited Fibonacci's mathematical formula, a sequence of numbers that has been used to describe the logarithmic spirals of seashells. 'I love the island's beaches but it's deeper than that,' she said. 'I receive a spiritual connection via Fibonacci's eternal formula from the shells and from the waves. Beaches and the movement of the sea bring me confirmation of the eternal nature of consciousness. "Through song it enables me to express my heartfelt loss as I see people decline and die.' Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Find the weather forecast where you live
Daily Record
7 hours ago
- Daily Record
Brian Rice talks 'genius' Brian Clough, shutting up the Livingston snipers and his wife's scouting role
Lions coach is loving life at Livi - and reveals his secret comrade when it comes to midweek scouting sessions Brian Rice jets off to Italy on his honeymoon this afternoon having helped navigate Livingston back in among the high fliers of Scottish football. After a frenetic season culminated in a dramatic play-off win over Ross County it's chill out time with wife Kirsteen. A chance to indulge in the finer things in life, to relax on the Adriatic coast's beautiful white beaches and to marvel at Rimini's stunning scenery. Inevitably though, the conversation will still turn to football. It's what brought the couple together. A match made in heaven? Alloa to be exact. And, for Rice, it's perfect. 'We're away on Sunday,' he says with a broad smile. 'Rimini for 12 nights, it's chill out time. 'We've been together three years, got married a few months back in front of five people. Kenny Brannigan was my best man. 'Alloa brought us together. We met when I was managing there. Kirsteen was helping out with the food. 'She loves football. She's been at every single game this season. 'She goes to all the mid-week games with me as well. Scouting trips and everything. She loves it. She knows what she's talking about. 'So it's off to Italy now. I've been before .. but only to play football.' Of course it was to play football. It's the perfect link into the story of a man who left school to join Hibs as a YTS and could never have dreamed of where the journey would take him. The new Mrs Rice isn't the first great partnership he's made in the game. Right now he's part of a trio of footballing brains who have guided Livi back to the big time as well as lifting the SPFL Trust Trophy alongside David Martindale and Neil Hastings. His years as John Hughes' sidekick at Falkirk, Hibs and Inverness are legendary. And long before then he was the big slip of a playmaker known simply as 'Scotsman' to one of football's most charismatic and successful bosses. Brian Clough. One word to describe each of those managers? Rice thinks hard: 'Clough: Genius. Davie: Under-rated. Yogi…Perfectionist. 'But all three of them: passionate.' He's 61 now but Rice is as full of enthusiasm for the game as the youngster that left HIbs to sign for Forest in 1985 at just 21. Before packing for his honeymoon, he sat down with Mail Sport this week to reflect on it all. He said: 'That last trip to Italy was with Nottingham Forest when we went to play a summer tournament in Perugia. 'We played against Perugia, Cologne and Roma and some fantastic players. Rudi Voller, Junior, the Brazilian, Pierre Littbarski. 'But we won. The manager never liked to lose even in pre-season. 'As a person, Brian Clough shaped me. His discipline, the way he treated people, the respect he had for people. Massive family man. 'Wanted us to be big family men as well. He was big on that, big on being a team. 'He didn't like individual players.. apart from John Robertson. He could do anything he wanted he was so good. 'Coaching? There was no coaching! We did the same training every single day for six years. 'People don't believe me. We never played 11 v 11, no set plays or shape, no defensive drills, or attacking drills, we never used big goals. 'We just warmed up, into two teams, played seven and eight a side trying to score into hockey goals, everything below head height, kicking hell out of one another. 'Players like Stuart Pearce, Neil Webb, Garry Birtles, Johnny Method, John Robertson, Roy Keane, Steve Hodge! 'Clough's secret? Play your position and get good players. Him and Peter Taylor identified players, fitted into how they wanted to play, it was simple. 'You'd never get away with it now. I see so many robots now, coaches as robots: 'Do this and this'. Football is about using your brain and how quick is your decision compared to your opponent's. 'What we did was simple but effective. There were certain rules. Don't pass back if you don't have to - and cross to the front post. 'One Saturday I hit about three crosses to the back post in the first half. The gaffer never missed me at half time. 'Second half, my first cross was overhit to the back post again. The boards went up, 'Scotsman, off!' 'The next game he started me against Aston Villa as a striker. 'I'd never played there in my life. I was against Paul McGrath and Derek Mountfield, two giants who kicked the hell out of me. 'We won 1-0 but I never touched the ball 'We came off the pitch, went up the stairs into the dressing room. I walked through the door and he was lying in the bath already with a bottle of beer! 'He said: 'well Scotsman, did you learn anything tonight?' 'I went, 'aye, gaffer, f*****g cross to that front post!' 'He was brilliant. I grew up watching Brian Clough on a Wednesday night. Sports Night. Sitting with my gran. He was TV gold. 'A few years later I'm signing for him. Archie Gemmill picked me up in the morning. He took me into the office and said, 'I've got the Scotsman'. 'The gaffer was writing something so his head was down. My heart was pounding. 'In those days my red hair had a side shed. He just looked up and went 'f**k me it's Steve Davis'. 'We just had a brilliant relationship.' The best part of four decades later Rice is now that wise old head passing on his wisdom from a life spent in football. If there's one word to describe him, it's knowledgable. Rice reckons 'lazy' critics don't have a clue when they take aim at Livingston's brand of football. And the Lions coach insists David Martindale has rammed their jibes back down their throats after guiding the club back to the Premiership after a summer rethink. He said: 'It's lazy people. You get tarnished. 'But that's people that don't get off their backsides and go and watch. Don't do their research. 'We were very much under the radar this year. Falkirk had such a good season, such a good team, attacking team. 'Rightly so, they were getting all the positives. Everybody was raving about them. They won the league because they were the best team. 'But we were very, very close. 'I can't really remember three games that we just played long. We tried to play all the time. 'I've seen all the things on social media. I just sit and laugh. 'These people haven't got a clue. They don't go and watch the game. 'Go and ask any other manager in the Championship about Livingston's style of play.' Rice reckons Martindale will look back on this season with a huge sense of pride. He said: 'I'd think this season means more than anything else he's achieved with Livingston. 'He changed the full style because the Championship allows you to do that. 'We had a look at it and the gaffer decided that he wanted to play a possession-based game where we could dominate the ball. The Premiership doesn't allow you to do that every week. 'In the Championship, you can coach to win every single week. You know you've got a chance of winning every week. 'Davie will look back at this with great pride, his own work and the way the boys adapted to the system. 'Everything changed, the way we trained. And I think it needed that. 'He's good at identifying things and seeing what needs to be changed.' Livi roared back from 3-1 down on aggregate to beat Ross County 5-3 in Dingwall on Monday night. And Rice said: 'At first it was relief. Then it was enjoyment, coming back on the bus and waking up the next day and taking the dog out, people stopping me in the street.. it's a wee bit bigger than I thought.' While Rice and Martindale bask in the glow of a promotion and cup winning campaign, his former colleague Hughes remains out of the game. Yogi hasn't managed since leaving Dunfermline three years ago. And Rice reckons that's a massive waste of talent. He said: 'Taking Brendan Rodgers out the equation, tell me anyone else in Scotland with the CV Yogi has got. HIs CV stands up to anybody. 'He got Falkirk into the Premier League. Kept them there. Got to the 2009 Scottish Cup final and into Europe. 'He brought players through. Got players in from the Premier League on loan, Kasper Schmeichel, Tim Krul, Anthony Stokes. 'He then won the Scottish Cup with Inverness. 'Yogi's enthusiasm is incredible. People just look at him as this big centre half but they have not go an idea about his football knowledge. How he sees the game, how he wants it played. 'He took a lot of his ideas from Tommy Burns at Celtic. He'd written down sessions Tommy had put on. 'He demands perfection and doesn't accept short cuts. He knows the dangers of short cuts. 'I cannot understand how someone with his CV hasn't got a job.'
North Wales Live
8 hours ago
- North Wales Live
Mystery woman's daily ritual on North Wales beaches leaves onlookers astonished
Beachgoers on west Anglesey were left uplifted and profoundly moved when a mystery woman strode up to the water's edge. As the sun sunk towards the horizon, she began singing a hauntingly beautiful song as if serenading the sea itself. Those looking on settled down on the sand at Traeth Porthdafarch beach to watch the performance, wondering who the woman was and why she was doing it. It soon emerged she often sang at other beaches on the island, enchanting those lucky enough to witness her. Filming a clip of the shoreline song was Abigail Druce, who said it was a 'lovely moment'. She added: 'Everyone just stood still and watched her, definitely not something you see often. Just wow!' Another onlooker added: 'Absolutely beautiful voice, just her the sound of the waves and the sun setting. What a talent and a lovely surprise while we were sat with our beach fire and tea.' When the video was shared online, the woman's identity was revealed as Karen Jones, a former gemnologist and diamond grader from Waunfawr, Gwynedd. The 64-year-old artist sings at sunset most days as a lament to her elderly mother as she battles severe illness. Sometimes she performs to campervanners on the hills above her home in Waunfawr. From there, she can gaze out across to Anglesey where she dreams of moving to permanently. Adding extra pathos to her singing was the death this week of Deiniolen's Annette Bryn Parri. Appointed musical director of the newly formed North Wales Police Choir last year, the distinguished pianist took time out to help Karen compose four songs for Spotify. Usually when she's singing al fresco, Karen performs Welsh folk song Cilfan y Coed (Shade in the Trees). 'It's about sanctuary – somewhere you can go to forget all your troubles,' she said. 'For me, singing these lovely songs is a matter of self-expression. I forget the hurt as I sing. 'I had singing lessons with my dear friend Annette. The day after she died I sung it in her memory at sunset with a big view of the Menai Straight behind me.' On Anglesey, Karen performs on the beaches at Trearddur Bay, Porth Dafarch and Holyhead. She always sings at sunset. 'I go out every single evening,' she said. 'It's my way of saying thank you for the day. Otherwise the days pass so quickly: I want to make the most of them. 'When I go up on the hills, I always asked the campers if it's OK to sing. They're fine about it and afterward they're always very generous in their comments, just as people are on the beach when I sing.' For 18 years, Karen and her mother Esme Dyson ran Jones & Dyson Jewellers in Bangor and Caernarfon. When their prime stock was stolen at an exhibition in London, the business folded but the mother-and-daughter bond remained as strong as ever. Now that Esme is seriously ill, Karen's sunset singing has added poignancy – it's the one time she can set aside her worries. It's also meant a planned move to Anglesey has been put on hold. In Waunfawr, Karen runs a 12-acre smallholding by herself while operating an Airbnb. With the Welsh Government's 182-day letting rule causing extra work and price-cutting, she's had enough. Last month the property went on the market, only to be withdrawn as her mother's health declined. But Karen still has her heart set on a move to west Anglesey and its glorious sunsets. 'It's such a deeply magical and spiritual place,' she said. 'From the hills behind me I can see the sun setting behind Holyhead Mountain and half of Anglesey. One day I will move there.' One beachgoer who heard her sing said Karen's 'eerily beautiful haunting voice' was reminiscent of the sirens of the sea. Explaining her connection to the coast, Karen cited Fibonacci's mathematical formula, a sequence of numbers that has been used to describe the logarithmic spirals of seashells. 'I love the island's beaches but it's deeper than that,' she said. 'I receive a spiritual connection via Fibonacci's eternal formula from the shells and from the waves. Beaches and the movement of the sea bring me confirmation of the eternal nature of consciousness. "Through song it enables me to express my heartfelt loss as I see people decline and die.'
