Friday 9 July

In fine style on an outdoor stage we will celebrate the finals of 'Travellers got Talent'. 18 finalists will sing, dance and perform in front of the judging panel and the audience to see who will win this national competition final.
Saturday 10 July

Gypsy World Music Concert

International artists will play a varied selection of Gypsy music from around the world. These include:

Kerieva

Singer, instrumentalist and multi-media performer, known for her passion, intensity and dynamism. Her split Manouche (Gypsy) and Irish lineages have led her to a life anything but sedentary, having lived and performed all over the world, giving both a rawness and beauty to her music. www.myspace.com/kerieva

Cristofe Sors

Flamenca Rhumba guitarist and singer, Cristofe's music draws heavily from that of the Gypsy Kings. www.myspace.com/cristofe.sors

Mazaika

Russian accordionist and singer Igor Outkine and violinist Sarah Harrison. Their performance will be taken from their extensive repertoire consisting of Russian folk and Gypsy music. Mazaika have given concerts and cabaret performances at Concert Halls and Music Festivals throughout Britain, Europe and the U.S.A. From sellout performances at the Purcell Room on London's South Bank, to notable concert venues including The QEH, St John’s Smith Square, Holders Festival in Barbados, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Le Quecumbar, London’s premier Gypsy jazz venue and the Hollywell Room in Oxford. Festivals include Rhythms of The World in Hitching, Pittenweem Arts Festival and Belladrum Festival (Scotland), Wild Flower Festival (USA), and at the Edinburgh Fringe. We are very pleased to have them at our Gypsy Arts Festival. www.mazaika-music.com

Garth Cartwright

DJ, writer and Gypsy music specialist.www.garthcartwright.com

Tickes are £10 for each night and are available from the Museum of East Anglian Life. Telephone 01449 676 800

www.gypsyartsfestival.com

Don't be disappointed, buy your ticket early!

Step back in time this half term and join in with some traditional games such as croquet, cricket and the potato race. Have a go at Ludo, Snakes and Ladders and Draughts and try out some Victorian toys such as the hoop and stick. We will also be making ‘East Anglian’ paper dolls and discovering the art of decoupage.

Jo Rooks, Museum Learning Officer says “Families can come along and try out games that are still as fun today as they were 150 years ago. The Victorian Fun and Games Day is a hands on event for all the family”.

The museum also has a brand new exhibition in the Gt. Moulton Chapel, Happy Days, created by Lavenham Primary School that explores what made Victorian children happy and what makes children happy today.

The museum is set in over 70 acres of beautiful Suffolk countryside with a number of historic buildings, a nature trail and farm animals. Why not bring a picnic and make a day of it!

Enquiries to:     jo.rooks@eastanglianlife.org.uk or Tel: 01449 612229

Come and sample local produce, watch or join in with some fun and interesting demonstrations and find out about your local organisations.  BBC Radio Suffolk will be here all day with their radio car. Learn about local sports groups, have a go at belly dancing with Bellycise, see demonstrations of dog agility and much, much more!

For the children we have a bouncy castle, climbing wall, games and activities.

Museum Learning Officer, Jo Rooks says, “During these times of economic uncertainty, when we are all trying to save money, Happy MEAL gives us all a chance to find ways to improve our lives without spending a lot. You can find out about local groups, use local producers or give some of your time by volunteering. All of these things can make you happier and do not cost a fortune.”

Happy MEAL is a FREE event which will take place on the back lawn of Abbot’s Hall, a Queen Anne house built in 1709. Entry to the museum is NOT included but visitors are welcome to pay the normal admission to explore our historic buildings, take a look at the museum’s fascinating collections and have a walk along the Nature Trail. You are welcome to bring a picnic or try our delicious food at the museum Bistro and make a day of it.

Happy MEAL is supported by Activities Unlimited.

Enquiries to:     jo.rooks@eastanglianlife.org.uk or Tel: 01449 612229

The Queen will join a procession with the Lord and Lady of May and Jack-in-the Green, a mysterious figure seen all over the country until the 19^th century. They will walk from the 13^th Century Abbots Hall Barn up through the woodland walk to the May Queens throne where she will be crowned queen for a year.

If you are 12 or over please send a letter, or email, explaining in less than 100 words why should be the May Queen to The Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 1DL or enquiries@eastanglianlife.org.uk by the 23^th of April.

The Museum is also looking for people who have been a May Queen in the past. So if you were once a Queen of May please contact the Museum. Past May Queens will also be entitled to FREE entry to the Museum’s May Day Celebrations on the 3^rd of May if they bring proof they were once a May Queen.

Please contact Patsy Cane -  Office Manager - on 01449 612229 or enquiries@eastanglianlife.org.uk

Our activity room will be bustling with an art workshop that is free to all visitors who have paid their entry into the Museum.

• Solve the clues and find the famous rabbits on the Easter Egg Hunt.
• Become the Easter Bunny!  Make bunny ears and have your face painted to become the Easter Bunny.
• Design your own Easter Egg
• Make your own mini allotment! Plant some seeds and watch them grow.
• Fete games: stick and hoops, splat the rat, welly throwing and more will be taking place on our top field

Master composter volunteers will be on hand to give all the advice you need to turn everyday waste into the magic ingredient to make your garden bloom. Find out about the mini-beasts that live in your compost bin - and have a go at making one! Visit the compost marquee and see how you can have fun and help make Suffolk the Greenest County".

Archie Gemmel will lead a guided walk and talk through our Award winning River Rattlesden Nature Reserve at 2.00pm.

Come and enjoy the family fun day with us.

Enquiries to:     enquiries@eastanglianlife.org.uk or Tel: 01449 612229

The Museum is open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm and Sunday 11am-5pm.

For admission prices see www.eastanglianlife.org.uk

This year will be a watershed for the museum, as work is due to begin on restoring Abbot’s Hall, a beautiful Queen Anne House. The £2.8m project which will be complete by 2012 will see the creation of a 9 room exhibition centre, the creation of a working walled garden and  the restoration of two derelict cottages as a examples of workers dwellings from the early 20^th century. Director Tony Butler is excited at the thought of expansion. “The Abbot’s Hall project has caused us to think how we might raise the standard of our other activities. We plan to have more people demonstrating crafts on site, more activities for families and improved interpretation of our unique collections.

The children's areas around the Museum have had a re-vamp for 2010. Look out for some new activities including a rope 'feely' box in the Boby Building and new toys in the 'Toys Past and Present' area of the Domestic Life Building!  The animal area has also been revamped as has the children's play area.  New for this year, the museum’s steam volunteers have restored an Innes chaff cutter which can be seen in operation driven by our 1912 steam traction engine ‘Empress of Britain’

There will be a range of exciting events happening throughout the 2010. In May musicians from London Sinfonietta will be performing with children from rural Suffolk primary schools to create new music inspired by the landscape of the county. In that month there will also be the ever popular May Day celebrations with Morris dancers and a procession of May Queens young and old and “Happy meal – an activity packed Saturday evening for young people followed by a fun family day event on the Sunday”. Visitors should also prepare for the Annual Beer festival in July and Traditional Music Festival in September.

The Stowmarket Free Day on 21 March, should be the perfect, ‘recession busting’ venue. Tony Butler adds “Even on days when admission is not free we think the museum is good value for money with 75 acres of countryside, 15 historic buildings live demonstrations and fascinating displays of the old East Anglia to see. Our single admission and group rates prices have been the same for 5 years and our season ticket prices are at 2008 level.

The museum is open from 21 March to 31 October 10-5 Mon-Sat 11-5 Sun.

For details of admission prices contact the Museum on 01449 612229 or check the website on www.eastanglianlife.org.uk

The Museum of East Anglian Life with the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich will be holding the Culture of the Countryside event on Wednesday 17^th February 2010 at the Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket. The event is a half-term family object handling day where visitors will be able to handle objects from around the world.

Come along and handle items from the Sainsbury Centre and the Museum. Find out what stories they can tell and what mysteries they may conceal! Visitors will also hear local tales and stories and join in with a mask-making workshop all from 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

Admission is £6.50 for adults and children age 6 –14 yrs are FREE (no more than 3 children per adult). There is no extra charge for the activities.

The Museum will be open for February half term from Monday 15^th to Saturday 20^th 10am - 4pm.

Throughout the weekend craftspeople from around East Anglia will be demonstrating a variety of crafts and techniques with the chance for visitors to ‘have a go’ wherever possible. Within the museum’s reconstructed historic buildings will be spinning, coopering, printing and more. Come and try your hand at knitting or crochet, learn about the importance of patchwork or needlework samplers, or just reminisce with us about your memories of these activities in the past.

Alongside, the Museum will be running its annual Steam Engine Driver Training Event. This involves locally owned steam traction engines in action around the site, each with a couple of students learning the basics of engine ownership, maintenance and use from the engine owners. As part of our 2010 event we are attempting to have more engines at work, using a chaff cutter, sawbench, corn mill, thrashing drum, etc.

This is the 8^th year that the course has run at the Museum and it continues to be as popular as ever. Over 100 students have enjoyed the opportunity so far, with many coming back year on year to enjoy the experience of working with these incredible machines.

The event also includes a selection of Commercial Vehicles and Vintage Tractors owned by enthusiasts from the area. These will be displayed and demonstrated on site, with a short road run through the town centre on the Sunday.

Museum director Tony Butler says, “In a world of increasing conformity and mechanisation it is vital that traditional crafts and skills are preserved. Traditional ways of working provide links with the past which are becoming increasingly distant and events such as this provide a chance to pass skills and knowledge on for the future."

Visitors to the museum will be able to talk to the craftspeople and steam engine owners whilst they demonstrate their crafts and engines. There will even be a chance to make your own poster on the museums original 1870 Colombia printing press.

The Museum of East Anglian Life is open late March to October, Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 11-5.

For more details contact the Museum on 01449 612229 or check out our website on www.eastanglianlife.org.uk

Event: The 14^th Stowmarket Festival of Beer and Brewing

Date: Thursday 1^st July  – Sunday 4^th July 2010

Venue: Museum of East Anglian Life

Press contact: Patsy Cane – Office Manager or Lisa Harris - Collections Manager on 01449 612229 or  enquiries@eastanglianlife.org.uk

The Museum of East Anglian Life in association with CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale, kicks off its 14^th Beer Festival on Thursday 1^st July.  The event which runs through to the Sunday afternoon of 4^th July is perhaps the Museums most celebrated annual event. Visitors will have the chance to sample up to 60 East Anglian real ales and a number of ciders. The festival takes place in the beautiful setting of the museum’s 14^th century Abbots Hall barn.

Museum Director, Tony Butler reckons that the museum is the ideal venue for an ale festival. “Stowmarket has a long history of brewing. There are former hop beds on the museum site near to the Rattlesden River. Although there is no longer a brewery in the town, companies like Muntons have helped the town retain its malting Traditions.”

LIVE MUSIC

Thursday – East Anglian Traditional Music Trust

Friday – Back Porch Band

Saturday – Saltshaker Blues

Opening Hours are

Thursday 6pm – 11pm

Friday 12noon – 11pm

Saturday 11am – 11pm

Sunday 12noon – 3pm

Admission: £2 to Beer Festival only or included in Museum Admission during the day

CAMRA members free admission to Beer Festival

For more details Tel: 01449 612229

Website: www.eastanglianlife.org.uk

Email: enquiries@eastanglianlife.org.uk