Bergamo - Loreto Festival 2011

Loreto - 23rd, 24th, 25th & 26th June

This is the first year that I enthusiastically attended the festival that has just been held in the park of Loreto.

Two things had interested me the most, the Swap Party & the Book-swapping stand.

My boyfriend picked up a flyer in the post office on the day of the Swap Party & I knew I had to get there and join in on the event.

This whole idea behind 'Swapping' all started in Manhattan. Swap parties have become a new way of hitting the high street so as to speak, as well as a fun private or public event. It's a new way of making purchases and reducing costs whilst not necessarily having to reduce quality and style.

The first thing I did was grab a mojito before heading over to the stand where these lovely young ladies, the derniercri girls were still busy with their preparations.

I handed over my 6 articles (yet it seems that every female wardrobe has at least 22 items of clothing that go forever unused, and that's not to mention bags, shoes and other accessories), was given a number and told to hang around until it all got started.

I just love this idea of clearing out a wardrobe of stuff that hasn't been worn for a while, or ever, as is often my case, and then popping along to a swap event to come home with another clothes collection.

It doesn't cost anything and it's a favour done for the environment.

Swap parties aren't just about waiting for the new season to arrive to change wardrobe, the method is applicable for so many other uses, for example book swapping.

Book swapping has become a known practice amongst people as an inexpensive way to exchange books, ideas, passions and as a way to find out about new books & authors.

Many colleges & universities have developed online book exchange programmes to help students save money on both textbooks and leisure books.

I'm hinting here about my previous article. The ideas to resolve the problems.

Here are a couple of websites I found that'll lead you to the book swapping world.

http://bookmooch.com/

http://www.swap.com/LandingPageC.aspx

GET LONDON READING CAMPAIGN

The Campaign to get London reading

The last time I was in London, I found myself reading an article on the Underground about how the Evening Standard has launched a major campaign aimed at tackling the illiteracy problem the capital is currently facing. They have joined forces with a unique charity called Volunteer Reading Help which has already been working with children to help transform their lives.

The charity works with schools and uses volunteers to read with children who are having trouble. All volunteers are trained to mentor school pupils who struggle to read & write.

It's quite cheap to fund costing 92 p a day to give a struggling child this kind of one-on-one volunteer help. Raising funds for the charity - and encouraging more Londoners to volunteer for it - is the immediate goal of Get London Reading.

It seems to be fairly obvious that one-to-one reading help for children can dramatically improve their skills. It is the norm in affluent households to be surrounded by books - but not for those less fortunate. And it's unfortunate that for too many children with reading difficulties, schools are unable to offer the sort of intensive individual help they need.

I couldn't believe it when I read that one in three children does not own a book and how one million working adults cannot read; that one in four children leaves primary school unable to read properly and that 1 million Londoners are functionally illiterate.

Now apart from the fact that I never would have imagined that a place like London would have to deal with such a 'crisis', I ask myself when did this all start happening.

For myself, growing up with a book was life at hand, I always had my head in a Roald Dahl book.

So what should London do – sack teachers, persecute non-reading parents, give free copies of books to all children??

In a recent study by the University of Nevada (a feasible survey that looked at 70, 000 children in 27 countries over 20 years), one of the likely predictor's of a child's educational success is the number of books at home. As few as 20 books make a huge difference, while a child brought up in a household with more than 500 books is likely to spend on average three years longer in education than a child from a home with no books. So the key doesn't have to be social class or race, nor wealth or parental educational levels: it's simply books.

And this can be achieved by using the schools. If every school in the land set itself the task of interesting whole families in books - through book-swaps, book fairs, reading competitions, anything - then books will get to those hard-to-reach homes.

What's surreal is that under British law, libraries are compulsory in prisons but not in schools. So many secondary schools don't have librarians and access to a wide range of books of all types.

Lobbying the government to make school libraries a statutory requirement springs to mind here!

To turn children who can just about read into readers takes more than time, it takes lifetimes: the lifetimes of storytellers of children's books like Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, Aesop, Enid Blyton, JK Rowling and so many more, it's just finding the right way to get them into children's minds.

London - The Ann Fanshawe dress

The original owner of this magnificent gown, on display at the Museum of London, is Ann Fanshawe, the daughter of the then elected Mayor of London (we're going back to 1753 here), Crisp Gascoyne.

The dress design is a 'mantua'. The mantua gown first appeared in England around the 1670s, and it's name either derives from the French word for coat, manteau, or from Mantua, the Italian town at the time which produced the most lavish & expensive silks.

A view up close of the dress shows the fine and dedicated detail to the working of this silk, it's an absolutely stunning piece of craftsmanship.

LONDON - The Wembley Stadium tour

For those footie fans about you, the Barcelona vs Manchester United Champions League Final 2011 has just taken place, and I took the opportunity to bring my Argentinian footie-mad uncle to take the Wembley Stadium tour to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes action connected to this legendary venue.

Having once been a leisure grounds back in the 1880s, the original Wembley Stadium, formally known as the Empire Stadium, was opened in 1923.

Costing £750,000 and taking only 300 days to build, the Empire Stadium was built by architects Sir John Simpson & Maxwell Ayrton with an early seating capacity of around 126,000.

This arena hosted from the 1923 FA Cup Final, to the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final to the 1996 European Championships.

Other than football, the Empire was the host of big names in boxing such as the likes of Henry Cooper vs Cassius Clay, to the big names in music like Michael Jackson and Madonna.

It ended in 2000 after 77 years so as to build something bigger and better, yet it remains an iconic emblem, and arguably the most famous stadium in the world.

The new Wembley stadium opened its doors in 2007. Designed by Foster & Partners, the new Wembley boasts 90,000 seats and is the largest stadium in the United Kingdom.

It's a bit of an eye-catcher, or eye-sore, as it is remarkably recognisable by its 133 meter arch, which is visible all over London.

Since its opening, it has hosted some of the biggest names in football, several Rugby Union matches, and has maintained its tradition of music excellence.

Visit the Wembley Stadium tour. Tours are available from 10am – 4pm and tickets costs £15.00.

LONDON - The Museum of London

If you are interested in the history of London from when we were more like monkeys than humans to the present day, this is the right place for you to visit. Here you can get information & discover findings about the habits of prehistorical Londoners right through to present day London. You'll be able to admire from Roman and Medieval archeological findings to dresses and shoes of the 18^th century, from the Black Death to the Great Fire of London to post-war fashion. 

 

The Museum of London is located in the oldest London area known as the “City”, the financial district, just a few minutes walking distance from St. Paul's Cathedral, and a walk away from Liverpool Street & the Shoreditch area; if you arrive to the museum from St Paul's you'll be able to see the remains of the ancient Roman city wall.

As with most of the museums in London, there is no admission fee, and get there early (opens at 10am) as you can easily hang out there for the most part of the day.

Visit the museum of London http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/

London - What's going on in London

A glimpse of what my eyes read & saw;

Something old

Prince Philip will turn 90 this Friday.

In the last few weeks, busy Prince Philip has attended his grandson's wedding Prince William to Kate Middleton, has accompanied the Queen on a trip to Ireland, which most are saying was a great success, and has been present during the state visit to Britain of US president Obama and his wife.

To wind down on his birthday, everything shall be as it normally is – a reception at Buckingham Palace for the centenary of the Royal National Institute for deaf people, and the annual colonels' conference and dinner.

The occasion shall be marked by a 41-gun salute in Green Park, and as tradition wants it, the Union Flag will fly on government buildings.

Something new 

The duke and duchess of Cambridge aka Will & Kate joined the Queen for a Royal gathering on Derby day.

The newly weds went horse-racing to support the Queen on a day which was somewhat special for the Monarch. She has always been a fan of this sport, and was hoping that her horse Carlton House would win the Epsom Derby. She was in the company of many of the other Royals who all gathered to cheer the horse on.

The horse was a 5/2 favourite, and even though at one point it seemed that he might win the race, the three year old came in third.

Well, he is only three bless him.