Are you a parent of a baby or toddler 0 months – 3 years?

Are you looking for an activity to do with them that can help development and learning?

If YES we have news of a new activity here in Ashmore Park.

Rhythm Time is an enjoyable experience involving music and singing for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.

What happens at the Babies session for 0-months to 15 months?

• Singing – to help language development. All children sing before they learn to talk
• Dancing – to help eye tracking, balance and spatial awareness
• Exercise – to help with muscle development and to gain more control over movement
• Massage – to help with bonding, relaxation and circulation
• Exploration – to help with hand eye coordination, develop small motor skills and to encourage speech development
• Social – to help parents and children create new friendships

What happens at the Toddlers session for 15 months to 3 years?

• Unaccompanied singing – to encourage children to have the confidence to find their singing voice and to help them sing in tune
• Listening – to aid concentration and to develop the activity so it becomes something special
• Percussion playing – to explore different timbre, to help with coordination and to develop a sense of pulse
• Dancing – to develop confidence, self-expression and large motor skills
• Rhythmic imitation – to develop listening skills and to echo different rhythmic patterns accurately
• Rhymes – to develop and extend speech through the recognition of shape, pattern and form

When and Where?

At the moment the only sessions on offer are the sessions for babies and toddlers. Rhythm Time do offer sessions for pre-school (3 years to 5 years) but these are not currently offered by the Ashmore Park co-ordinator.

Times:

Babies session (0-months to 15 months) – Every Monday 10:30am. Spring term classes run between 9th Jan 2012 – 26th March 2012.

Toddler session (15 months to 3 years) – Every Monday 11:15am. Spring term classes run between 9th Jan 2012 – 26th March 2012.

Where:

St Albans Church, Griffiths Drive, Ashmore Park.

Cost:

First session is free and approx £4.15 per week thereafter. They have a range of payment options which include weekly, monthly and per term.

For further information please click here to be directed to the Rhythm Time website.

Our recently launched WV11 Events page is quickly filling up with events as the festive season approaches.

As well as the numerous Church services that are taking place, Wednesfield & Fallings Park LNP holds it’s AGM on 8th December at the Jennie Lee Centre.

There will also be a weeks worth of events taking place around the Christmas Tree by the Library – we’ll have more details on these shortly, but the first event is a performance by the Grey Coll Pipe Band on 12th December.

Santa will be visiting the shops at Moat House Lane East on the 15th and 16th of December and members of Churches across Ashmore Park will be singing carols at the bottom shops on 17th December.

And finally, Essington Fruit Farm is now selling Christmas Trees and encouraging people to dig/saw their own.

For full details of  what’s on, visit our events page and if you know about something we’ve missed, let us know.

Music Bugs is an award winning company which offers pre-school music sessions.

Music Bugs is now coming to Wednesfield and sessions will take place at the new Community Library on Wednesdays from 10:10am, starting 3rd November, 2010.

Young children love to sing simple songs and rhymes, dance and move and play percussion instruments, and that is what Music Bugs is all about!

Come along for a FREE taster session. Contact Claire on 0844 578 1049 or e-mail clairejones@musicbugs.co.uk.

In a structured class full of excitement, we sing counting songs, nursery rhymes, action songs, finger play songs and much more. Add to this puppets, instruments, hobby horses, scarves, pom-poms and even bubbles and parachutes and you have the recipe for a lot of fun.

Music Bugs helps to develop a wide range of skills to prepare children for nursery/school, including language, concentration, mathematical concepts, creativity, confidence, fine and gross motor skills and social skills to name but a few!

Our emphasis is on learning through play, and most of all having fun in an informal atmosphere.

Who are The LimeLight and how did you get your name?

The LimeLight are a 4 piece group who formed in January 2010. The group consists of Danny Hill (15) on lead guitar, lead vocals and occasional drums, Alex Jones (15) on bass and backing vocal, Aiden Best (15) on rhythm guitar and backing vocal and Ben Leighon (12) on drums and backing vocals.

The LimeLight name came about when Alex was researching his music instructor Simon Lees. Alex found that Simon had played at a venue called The LimeLight in Crewe and he felt this would be a great name for the newly formed band. Luckily, the band were in agreement and the name was selected!

When did the band form and how did you all meet?

Danny has been singing and playing guitar since the age of 5 and has won competitions UK wide for his talent. Danny and Alex were best friends throughout primary school, so they got together to form a duo. They played as a duo for a number of years – mainly at school events. Danny and Alex met up with Aiden at Wednesfield High School, and Danny taught Aiden how to play guitar. The school are highly supportive of their talent with and The LimeLight can often be found performing at functions along with the school choir.

Ben is considerably younger than the other 3 lads and has only been playing drums for a few months, having been taught initially by Danny. In this time he has become a super little drummer and is actually a better drummer than he realises!

Since forming the band, the lads have gone from strength to strength and are the best of friends.

What are your musical influences?

The boys genre is indie/alternative/rock and they have many musical influences such as: Guns and Roses, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Killers, The Jam, and many more!

Do you write/perform your own songs?

At the moment the band perform mainly cover versions from their influencing artists. However, they have recently written and produced 6 of their own songs and have many more in the preparation stage. The band have performed these new songs at recent gigs and they have been very well received!!

Original songs include: Gimme a Call, Date, Win or Lose, I See You (a sure fire hit single, watch the video below!), Say What You Like and Paradise No More. If you want to see the bands real potential – come and see them live!

How may gigs have you played so far and have you had any interesting or crazy gigging experiences?

The band have played around half a dozen gigs and have many more planned at local venues such as  The Slade Rooms and The Varsity. The band are also performing at a charity event at the Robin 2 club in Bilston to raise money for Compton Hospice and The British Heart Foundation. The gig will be a very big event which will raise money for two very worthy charities and will also be great exposure for the band.

The band’s first gig was in Wellington at The Plough. Due to some parental concerns about motorway travel, the band were driven to the gig in Danny’s Dad’s old Toyota Town Ace (nick-named the Ute!!!). It’s not the fastest of vehicles and when full of band members and equipment, it’s lucky to do 50 mph with the wind behind it!!! Nevertheless, it got the band safely to their destination, and their first gig went down a storm! It’s is now referred to as the tour bus – and will no doubt be used for many future events!

Where do you hope to be in 12 months time?

In 12 months time, the band hope to be performing to 12,500 people at Wembley Arena!!!

Where can our readers see/hear more?

You can find more information on the band and listen to their music via the following links: Facebook, website, YouTube and MySpace.

The band also have the following gigs booked:

16/07/2010 – The Varsity, Wolverhampton(18+) – £4 admission on the door
03/08/2010 – The Ashmore Pub, Wednesfield
04/09/2010 – The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton – £5 admission
23/02/2011 – Robin 2 (private) – £5 admission (all proceeds going to Compton Hospice & BHF)

The band are also available for functions. Please contact 07977 412 361 for more info.

And finally…..when you’re rich and famous, will you come back and play in Wednesfield??

Definitely!!!! The band are very proud of their roots and they would probably return to their old rehearsal room at The Ashmore Pub for a gig or two to thank their fans!

Thanks to the band for answering all of our questions, we with them the best of luck!

Adam is keen to try and build a local music scene in Wednesfield that caters to both young and old musicians alike; his idea is to stage a local ‘battle of the bands’ type event with contestants from the local area.

The event(s) would take place in a pub or club in Wednesfield and Adam would like bands/musicians to get in touch if they’d be interested in performing.

If you’re a musician interested in taking part, or think  that you’re the next Simon Cowell and would make a great ‘battle of the bands’ judge, email Adam on foxboro@live.nl for more information.

A review of last night’s concert at St Thomas’s Church in Wednesfield starring the Ashmore Park Choir, another full house with just under £1000 pounds raised for the Christian Aid charity.

Once more Terry Green as the Musical Director has put together another wonderful Christmas show, along with Ros Green as the accompanist and John Billau as assistant conductor. Some traditional and not so traditional carols and the now legendary extra acts to accompany these, The Cornopean Brass Ensemble with Gillian Edwards had its now traditional part to play with six great pieces played in the two halves, the witty readings by Geraldine Blanchette were funny, Denis Billau’s rendition of “Fields of Athenry” was excellent, Lizzie Watson our own Nick the Vic’s daughter was wonderful in her flute solo of  ”The Dance Of The Snowmen” and Clive Williams’s Dylan Thomas reading was lovely.

As always, Irene Dodd who Terry calls “The Bard of Wednesfield” gave a wonderful monologue this time on how the Angel got on top of the Tree in her usual Yorkshire style and received a very mighty round of applause. I must say that the soloist singers, Rita Williams, Sue Ridgeway and Steve Robtham were a credit to the choir and made the entire evening a joy, with the congregation all being able to take part in some of the carols made it a wonderful evening and one many people look forward to every Christmas.

And finally, the choir sang a lovely new Christmas Carol which was written by Terry Green himself, hopefully we will hear more of his own carols next year.

Thanks to Viv for this great article! If you’d like to write for WV11, please get in touch.

It’s also the time of the year that the events calendar fills with Christmas parties and family visits, but if you still have some time to fill there are one or two things going on that are easy to get to and fun for all the family. We’ve put together a list of just SOME of the fun…

• Tuesday 8th December – Ashmore Park Choir, St Thomas’ Church
• Thursday 11th December, 5pm – 5.30pm, Santa’s coming to town Wolverhampton Town Centre
• Friday12th December to 31st January -  Grand Theatre, Cinderella
• Sunday 13 December 2009 – Christmas Craft Session at Bantock Park
• Wednesday 16th – 20th December, Arena Theatre, The Snow Queen
• Sunday 20 December 2009 – Christmas Craft Session at West Park
• Sunday 20th December, 10am – 4pm (parade 12 noon – 12.30pm)  – Father Christmas Charity Parade
• Tuesday 22 December 2009 – Wreath Making, Smestow Valley
• Tuesday 22 December 2009 – Winter Solstice, Smestow Valley
• Wednesday, 26 December 2009 – Boxing Day Walk, Northycote Farm.

For more information please contact the relevant places/organisations.

If you know of an event that you’d like us to add to the list, drop us an email or call/text 07855 409 319.

Simon Lees, Guitarist magazine’s Guitarist of the Year 1998 and former member of legendary rock band Budgie brings his one man rock show to the Cross Guns in Wednesfield tomorrow night, Sat 5th December!

The guitarist who appeared on ITV’s Stars in Their Eyes as Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler will play a FREE gig which begins at 9pm.

Visit Simon’s website for more info.

There’s been lots of Wv11 news in the last week or so – here’s a round up…

Comic Relief fraudster spared jail
Express & Star – 13th November 2009

Cat’s teeth shattered by gun thugs
Express & Star – 13th November 2009

Lifeguard cleared over swimming pool drowning of Walsall father
This Is Walsall Online – 16th November 2009

Priory Group care home celebrates new dementia unit
Private Healthcare – 16th November 2009

Pride on the cards for troops facing Taliban
Express & Star – 18th November 2009

Cream of club scene celebrating awards
Express & Star – 18th November 2009

Screaming fans get taste of Twilight
Express & Star – 21st November 2009

Amber Lloyd, 13 and Amy Goodall, 14  won the opportunity to appear after more than 30 students auditioned from the school  in front of judges that included the lead performers Nikki Mae and Liam Doyle.

Having studied Drama myself at Coppice I have no doubt that the competition was tough!

You can see the girls in High School Musical 2 at 5pm this evening and other performances of the show at 8:30pm tonight, and tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7pm.

Tickets cost between £14.50 and £31.50, to book call the Grand on 01902 429212.