Hello everyone
First off, a huge thank you to all of you who helped decorate the Speen Festival tapestry at Speen Fete on Saturday July 11, 2009. We collected well over a hundred signatures for our tapestry stars. The result was stunning! If you missed out, don't worry, the tapestry will be hanging in the King William IV pub until the Festival opens when it will be put on display in the new Festival Marquee.
 
Speen TV - So you want to be a TV reporter?
Saturday 5 September 2009
One of our next SpeenFest Interactive events is a one-day masterclass for budding video-journalists. So if you're aged between 14 to 19 years and want to find out how a newsroom works, how to create a news package and how to break into the industry, sign up now! There are only 12 places. You'll need to come prepared with some local story ideas, get ready to pick up a camera and be primed to report from the frontline for Speen Festival 2009.
 
The masterclass will be conducted by Ian Warr who spent nearly 15 years as a journalist and TV producer - most of them at the BBC - before creating a TV production company for Dragons Den entrepreneur, Peter Jones. Ian currently runs his own communications agency, Eyebright Media.
If you'd like to take part in Speen TV, email why to: director@speenfestival.org.
 
Speen Festival - what's sold out, and what's going fast...
As expected, ticket sales are storming this year! Our jazz and cabaret supper sold out within three weeks of the box office opening. We've even got waiting lists. Other events likely to sell out very, very soon include HONK! our magical musical that's packed with sparkling wit, terrific fun, dazzling choreography and plenty of razzamatazz. If you'd like to enjoy this utterly delicious new musical version of the Hans Christian Andersen story 'The Ugly Duckling' - get your tickets now.
 
Other red-hot events include two of our new themes for Speen Festival 2009. The first is Cosmic Quest, A History of Astronomy hosted by international broadcasters and writers on astronomy, Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest. Featuring rare and fascinating astronomical images of the Cosmos, this sparkling presentation is part of a 30-part series written for BBC Radio 4.
 
Also proving to be a real hit is Science Matters, Speen's own take on Question Time, which offers members of the audience a unique opportunity to quiz leading scientific thinkers and debate some of the most important and contentious topics of the day: healthcare, food, energy, the environment. Hosted by Barry Stickings CBE, Professor of Chemical Industry at Nottingham University, Science Matters boasts a panel of leading scientists including Dr John Emsley, author and former science writer in residence at both Imperial College and Cambridge University, who has written about subjects as diverse as how to poison people and the chemistry of sex; Dr Robert Trezona, Director of Research and Development at The Carbon Trust who is an expert on how technology can help us deal with climate change; and Professor Chris Lamb, Director of the John Innes Institute, who is an international expert on agriculture and food. If you'd like to attend, act now and if you've got any questions, e-mail them to director@speenfestival.org.

Best wishes
 

Jem Symondson
Chair
Speen Festival 2009 Committee