Seagulls Complete 60 Mile Bike Ride for Brian House Hospice

Big hearted sportsmen from the Blackpool Seagulls ice hockey team completed to 60 mile Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride yesterday to help raise awareness and funds for Brian House childrens' hospice. 

The Seagulls have a just giving page and there's still time to give them your support by clicking here: www.justgiving.com/blackpool-seagulls 

The Blackpool Seagulls will be back on more familiar territory - the ice - on Saturday 21st July when they play their Wyre counterparts in a friendly match at the Subzero arena in Cleveleys - 5pm face off.

For more information about Blackpool Seagulls ice hockey team, check out their website at www.blackpoolseagulls.co.uk

Photo: Seagulls about to leave Old Trafford (by Lisa Jones)

Eastham Rocks and Respects 2012: 4th August 2012

Eastham Rocks and Respects is back!   Please go and support this wonderful event on Saturday, 4th August 2012.

Choking Susan 2012 UK Tour Dates

American punk band Choking Susan are playing dates across the UK leading up to their appearance at the Rebellion Punk Festival. Date are as follows:

Wednesday July 25th-Birmingham-The Roadhouse
Thursday July 26th - Nottingham - The Maze.
Friday July 27th - Stoke On Trent - The Green Star.
Saturday July 28th - Ashton Under Lyne - The Witchwood.
Sunday July 29th - Manchester - The Star and Garter.
Monday July 30th - Carlisle - Club Victoria.
Tuesday July 31st-Gateshead-The Black Bull
Wednesday August 1st...Blackpool-Talbot Rock -Pre Rebellion warm up
Saturday August 4th - Blackpool - Rebellion Festival


More info: http://myspace.com/chokingsusan

Miss Blackpool 2012 Heat 3 Result and Interviews

Heat 3 Result:
1st Kim Braithwaite (left)
2nd Joanna Johnson (right)

You can hear our great post-heat interview with Kim and Joanna by clicking on the sound icon below (please note this may take longer to load if you are using a Mac...):



Both girls have now qualified for the Miss Blackpool 2012 Grand Final, which will be held on Friday 17th August at the Norbreck Castle Hotel. This is a fabulous black tie occasion - 4 course meal, live entertainment, plus the dramatic finale of the 2012 competition. Tickets £35 each available now - call Karen on 01253 820226

Heat 4 will be at Uncle Tom's Cabin in Blackpool next THURSDAY 12th July - free to enter - new contestants always welcome!

Anne Frank Exhibition At Palatine School, Blackpool

We saw this fascinating and thought-provoking exhibition about the story of Anne Frank at Palatine High School in Blackpool today. Listen to interview clips here:



Persecution of the Jewish Race began long before the birth of Jesus and has continued down the centuries.  For those of us who live in a liberal, Democratic Country, this is hard to comprehend.   Visiting the Mobile Anne Frank Exhibition, which is currently touring schools in the North West, was an amazing experience. 

We attended the Open Afternoon held on 4^th July 2012 at The Palatine Sports and Humanities College in Blackpool.  We were welcomed at the school entrance by two of the very efficient and smart, specially trained peer ambassadors – trained to show people around the Exhibition – and taken into the room where the exhibition was set up. As we walked down the corridor we saw some of the amazing posters designed by the pupils to advertise the exhibition, as well as a display of questions that have arisen following study of the Anne Frank story.

We were very kindly provided with refreshments and had a chance to look round the exhibition before an air raid warning sounded and we were advised, for our own safety, to sit down and listen to the presentation prepared by year 9 pupils.   The presentation explained the purpose of the exhibition and included an excerpt from Anne Frank’s Diary, most impressively recited from memory by one of the pupils.

Julian Mineur of the Support our Brave shop in Bank Hey Street, explained the role of our Armed Forces in safeguarding democracy for us.

After the presentation, we were again able to have an in-depth look at the exhibition panels, each of which was manned by a very knowledgeable Year 9 pupil, on hand to explain and answer questions.

Anne Frank was a young, Jewish, German girl who kept a diary about her experiences from her family’s flight to Holland from persecution in Germany in the 1930s, through a period in hiding to the family’s betrayal.   Anne’s Father was the only member of the family to survive the concentration camps and when his daughter’s dairy came to light, he had it published.

And so Anne Frank’s story lives on and, as Marian McQueen of the Anne Frank Trust says, the message of the Exhibition is definitely one of Hope – as it travels round the country and more and more people become aware that is the way to genuine unity and to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again.

As we stand on the threshold of a vote about Britain’s membership of the European Union, it seems appropriate to remember that the original concept of the Union (or the Common Market as it was formerly known) as it was drawn up by a German/Luxembourgish man called Robert Schuman.  

As the Anne Frank Exhibition explains, Anne Frank’s father and uncle both fought for the Germans during the First World War, as did Robert Schuman.   As a German citizen, Schuman also witnessed first hand not only the terrible carnage of the First World War but also the terrible social problems brought about by the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles following the German defeat in the First World War and the destruction to both France and German during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871, which ended in a French defeat. 

Ironically, the original German plan of the 1930s was to move the Jews away to another country (I believe Madagascar was suggested) in order to make room for Germans – and this is exactly what happened to Palestine when Israel was formed after the Second World War.

Robert Schuman hoped that ‘European integration would avoid the errors of national democracies and an excess of bureaucracy and technocracy’.   He was also anxious to ensure that a united Europe would ensure that nothing like the two World Wars and the Holocaust ever happened again.

And talking to the pupils and teachers of Palatine and to Marian McQueen of The Anne Frank Trust, the best way to ensure that such persecution does not happen again to anyone, is to inform and educate people.

There was a huge amount of energy generated in the exhibition room and a great deal of hard work had obviously gone into the preparation of the presentation and of all elements of the exhibition.   It was a very moving experience and very educational.  We had not read Anne Frank’s diary but it is now high on our reading list.

Thanks must go to Miss Cheston and her year 9 pupils, to Mr Powell, the Head Teacher and to the staff of other subjects who also contributed and to Marian McQueen and her helpers at the Anne Frank Trust.

If you missed this wonderful experience, don’t worry the Anne Frank Exhibition “Anne Frank and You” will be coming to Blackpool to Grange Park to the City Learning Centre from 5^th to 30^th November 2012.

For further information about Palatine School see www.palatinesportscollege.co.uk

For further information about the Anne Frank Exhibitions, see www.annefrank.org.uk

Team Parks Art Deco Cafe to take part in Blackpool's Race for Life for CancerResearch UK

On Wednesday, 4th July 2012 from 7.30 p.m. Blackpool's Race for Life will depart from the newly created headland (where Sir Elton John's concert was held) on the Promenade, opposite The Sands Venue.

Lynne, Francesca, Sinead and Mary from the Parks Art Deco Cafe will be taking part and need our sponsorship.  Lynne tells us that she will be cartwheeling - so come on, let's support Team Parks Art Deco Cafe - it's in a good cause!

To donate:  Just go along to the Parks Art Deco Cafe, in Stanley Park, Blackpool and Barbara will be happy to help you.

We will let you know how much they raise as time goes on.  And we will be interviewing Mary on Sunday next, so keep your eye on Best Kept Secrets!

The Original Comedians at Blackpool Grand Theatre - Exclusive Interview

This show was a sell out every night last year when it came o the Grand Theatre and it's back again this summer for a run of Sunday evenings.

Showing Sunday 29 July 2012 to Sunday 2 September 2012

A Night of Laughter with...The ‘original’ Comedians returns every Sunday, throughout the summer.
This trip down memory lane includes live performances from Roy Walker, Stan Boardman, Mick Miller and Duggie Brown.

Hosted by legendary producer Johnnie Hamp and featuring archive clips and rare footage of Bernard Manning, Frank Carson and many more this show really does merge the past and the present!

Booking link: http://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/shows/performance/comedians

To read our review of last year's show click here: http://www.bestkeptsecrets.biz/2011/08/theatre-revfiew-comedians-40th.html

You can hear our exclusive interview clip with Stan Boardman looking ahead to this year's show by clicking on the sound icon below (this may take longer to load if you are using a Mac...):



more info: http://www.stanboardmantv.co.uk/