National Garden Scheme (NGS) has made a record donation of £3.1million from funds raised at garden openings in 2017

This year their beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Carer's Trust, Queen's Nursing Institute, Parkinson's UK, Perennial and MS Society.

Donations to charities who actively promote the health benefits of gardens have been increased this year and include two new beneficiaries - Leonard Cheshire and Maggie's Centres. This year's donation to Macmillan Cancer Support also marks an ambitious five year partnership to fund a new specialist cancer care unit at Y Bwthyn in South Wales.

They would like to thank all their garden owners, volunteers and garden visitors for their amazing support, and for their record-breaking fundraising. Read more on their website here >>> www.ngs.org.uk

Tags: charity, National Garden Scheme, (NGS), £3.1million

Exhibition: 5 May - 23 June 2018

Printmaker Anne Desmet RA will curate an intimate exhibition of contemporary wood engravings at Kevis House Gallery in Petworth, West Sussex. Anne Desmet is one of only three wood engravers to be elected as Academicians in the Royal Academy's 250-year history.

The show will feature the work of six artists; Anne Desmet RA, Neil Bousfield, Edwina Ellis, Peter Lawrence, Peter S Smith and Roy Willingham.

“What I hope to create is a sense of six mini solo exhibitions, each one bringing out some of the abiding threads in each artist's work." Says Desmet. "Although all of the artists regularly exhibit with the Society of Wood Engravers, none of the works shown here has ever previously been exhibited by the Society of Wood Engravers, so they will offer a wealth of unseen delights to even the most assiduous devotee of wood engraving exhibitions. All the engravings shown will offer key insights into the ongoing, long-held interests of each engraver and all are works that each artist considers seminal in their expansive oeuvre.”

Neil Bousfield is a younger artist whose engravings started out as imagery in self generated novels without words, following in the grand tradition of Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward and bearing striking similarities to the characteristic noir atmosphere of Ward's 1930's engravings. More recently Bousfield has experimented with subtle overlays of printed colour, tone and pattern, developed from vigorous, keenly observed drawings of beaches, harbours and landscape near his home in Norfolk, coupled with imaginative aerial views, contours and geography of Ordnance Survey maps. “ The work here explores the notion of place and home encapsulated through experience, memory and narrative,” says Bousfield “made tangible within drawing and engraving."

Anne Desmet RA's chooses architectural motifs as her subject matter. However whilst her engravings depict specific places, they are also intended to represent something universal; the way light brings life to a subject; the way apparently permanent structures are poignantly prone to the ravages and redevelopments of time, weather and human intervention. Her interests also spreads into what our buildings tell us about mankind's great aspirations, follies, passions and humour.

Desmet enjoys playing with shape, form and structure - to break down and rebuild existing structures into invented or more abstract forms through the medium of collage. These small scale, highly detailed works which take, often, many weeks to create, may evoke in the viewer a sense both of timelessness or of the passage of time - or both ideas simultaneously. These are the abiding thoughts and threads that have connected her prints and collages since her first tentative engravings (in the mid 1980s) to today, whether their subject is ancient Rome London's Olympic site, Brooklyn Bridge, a derelict neo-classical interior or Eton College.

Edwina Ellis established her reputation with meticulously wrought, observational, landscape and still life engravings. Recently PhD studies have led her to experiment "with colour and compound engraving and printing and continue to augment the modular collection of engravings, vinyl cuts and linocuts developed during this research. My current aim," Ellis says, "is to harness and combine the techniques I have developed in the belief that experimental journeys close in on what it's all about."

Closer looks at Ellis's work shows a strong sense of the abstract within the particular, a sense of layering and an intricate textile reminiscent of woven textiles.

Peter Lawrence's engravings have long celebrated the glorious abstract potential of the wood engraving medium at a time when many other British practitioners stayed firmly within the figurative tradition of Bewick.

"Dark Corners, is one of the first completely abstract prints. Working from an outline drawing of forms, the engraving is largely improvised. Other prints are abstracted from life, or combine a series of differently styled engravings with an abstract form, sometimes using multiple blocks to resemble collage." says Lawrence.

Peter S Smith's engravings, like Edwina Ellis's, have a strong textural quality and a pervading sense of the abstract within the particular.

"On sunny days, while waiting for the train. I draw my shadow across the station: some of the drawings become engravings."

Smith's engravings are fascinating both as semi-abstract compositions in light and shade but also because the character of each engraved mark and the combination of marks he makes are unpredictable and unexpected.

Roy Willingham has long been concerned with the fine balance between the figurative and the abstract. His starting point is often meticulously observed drawings yet many diverse influences including Russian Constructivist graphics, Edward Wadsworth's Dazzle Ship engravings, Picasso, Matisse and a vibrant yet finely calibrated sense of colour and tone have long invested his work with great energy and originality. They are truly miniature marvels.

Refering to his print Downland, Willingham says "This print derives from the memory of a walk over the South Downs from Hassocks to Lewes and a solitary tree near Ditchling Beacon standing out against the emptiness of the downland landscape."

Kevis House Gallery hosts the Society of Wood Engravers Annual Exhibition each year (next held November - December 2018). The gallery holds a large collection of work by the wood engraver Gwenda Morgan (1908 - 1991). Kevis House also exhibits pictures by a range of contemporary artists.

For more information please visit www.kevishouse.com

Tags: Kevis House Gallery, Art, Wood Engravings, West Sussex, Anne Desmet RA, Petworth, Roy Willingham, Peter S Smith, Peter Lawrence, Edwina Ellis

An ‘Eggcellent’ day out for the whole family – The Children's Trust Easter Fair

Promising enough chocolate eggs to feed the whole of Surrey, The Children’s Trust annual Easter Fair returns on Saturday 31 March. Taking place at the charity’s specialist centre in Tadworth between 12 and 4pm, this event is one not to be missed.

Family fun includes the much-loved Easter egg hunt, an Easter themed market, Easter egg decorating, Wacky Wheelers mini-tanks, ponies, fairground rides, raffles and more. Local band Atlantis will also be entertaining crowds with music throughout the day.

Last year the event raised more than £6,000 and it is hoped that this amount will be beaten with the fantastic attractions and games on offer for families from across Surrey and Sussex who attend. All proceeds from the event go to The Children's Trust, supporting children and families affected by brain injury and neurodisability.

FREE entry for children (under 16), £3 for adults. Book now, www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk

About The Children’s Trust
Every year 40,000 children in the UK are left with a brain injury as a result of an accident or illness and many have to live with ongoing, long-term difficulties. The Children’s Trust gives children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability opportunities to live the best life possible, by providing specialist rehabilitation, education and community services across the UK. For more info please visit: www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk

Tags: The Childrens Trust, Tadworth, charity, Eggcellent, Easter Fair

Now available in Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores, oomi noodles offer a functional convenience food like no other and provide a product that is both healthy and tasty.

Whilst low carbohydrate noodles have been on the market for a few years oomi take things to a new level. Not only do they provide a low carbohydrate noodle that has the same bite and taste as a high quality fresh noodle, but one that is also gluten free and bursting with lean protein.

With nearly 13g of high quality protein per serving, oomi provide a low carbohydrate, gluten free noodle with a difference, which will appeal to anyone living an active and healthy lifestyle. Whilst the carbohydrate levels are 75% fewer than your average chilled egg noodle, their superior protein source, sustainably sourced white fish, provides important nutrition to support exercise. oomi don’t just differ from other noodles on the nutrition front. Current low carbohydrate and gluten free noodles often rely on a watery pack environment, which oomi’s patented production method avoids, presenting a finished product indistinguishable in taste and texture to a classic fresh noodle. As with fresh noodles, oomi also offer a high level of convenience. Available in ‘snap- pack packaging’, providing two individual portions, they can be thrown in a wok, heated in a microwave and even eaten cold from the pack in vibrant salads. Basically, everywhere you use a noodle, use an oomi noodle!

Most importantly oomi noodles taste great and their combination of quality protein and noodle convenience creates a delicious food with purpose.

To find out more please visit >>> www.oominoodles.com

Tags: food, noodles, Next Generation Noodles , oomi

101 artist designed elephants enter the City of Mumbai through the Gateway of India

Politicians, celebrities, artists and designers came together at the Gateway of India Mumbai, where a stunning display of 101 artistic elephants were assembled to celebrate the launch of the first ever Elephant Parade India. The elephants will be paraded across the city in a series of public art exhibitions and simultaneously be sold at an online auction on Paddle8, online auction partner, going live on Wednesday 28 February 2018.

Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra inaugurated the parade with Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Hon'ble Minister of Women and Child Development & Founder, People for Animals and Smt. Poonam Mahajan, Hon'ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and Parade Ambassador.

The inauguration was attended by key supporters of Elephant Family including Natasha Poonawalla, Vikram Goyal and Beenu Bawa along with artists, designers and celebrities including Rohit Bal, Ashiesh Shah, Michelle Poonawalla, Aradhana Seth, Mozez Singh, Mehr Rampal, Dhruvi Acharya, Pranab Das, Jennifer Winget and Sehban Azim . Dr Sandeep Kr Tiwari, of the Wildlife Trust of India - Elephant Family’s biggest conservation partner and the organisation pioneering the 101 corridor solution for India’s elephants also attended.

Created as part of the UK India Year of Culture, Elephant Parade India is organised by Elephant Family in association with Good Earth and in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India. The sales generated through the online auction will raise funds to secure 101 crucial Indian elephant corridors, the pathways that elephants depend upon to get from one forest feeding ground to the next.

The exhibition dates and venues across the city of Mumbai include:
March 2-6: Priyadarshini Park
March 2-6: Shri Siddhivinayak Mandir
March 2-6: High Street Phoenix Lower Parel
March 2-6: Sophia’s College for Women
March 2-6: Radio One office Lower Parel
March 3-7: Worli Sea Face
March 8-11: R City mall Ghatkopar, Phoenix Market City Kurla, Grand Hyatt-Kalina
March 14-18: Carter Road beach and amphitheatre; Bandra Fort; Infiniti Malls Malad & Andheri; Oberoi Mall; Taj Land’s End, Bandra; Bombay Art Society, Bandra

Ruth Ganesh, Trustee Elephant Family said: “We dreamed of the Gateway of India to launch our herd and never quite believed it would come true. Today made us feel like children in a sweet shop on a sugar high. Thank you and get ready Mumbai - these elephants will bring you so much joy.”

Poonam Mahajan, Parade Ambassador added: “Having worked as an environmentalist and animal lover for so long, I was thrilled to be approached by the Elephant Family to support the same cause which we have been working on with People for Animals for Asiatic Elephants. It’s important to us as over the past 100 years we’ve lost 90% of Asian Elephants, and now as nature, the environment and human beings all co-exist together, awareness is now coming, and it is time for action. By showcasing these beautifully painted 101 elephants by renowned artists and designers all across the city of Mumbai we are bringing everyone together to increase that awareness. Through this initiative we’d like to raise significant funds to help India’s 101 corridors for elephants, and build the crucial rescue centres around the forests that are so needed. This wonderful art exhibition we have launched is the first step and the exhibition is open to all Mumbaikars .”

Please visit www.elephant-family.org

Tags: Gateway of India, Elephant Family, charity