By Kate Hodges
10th October 2019
EVENT Electric Leeds
See the city of Leeds in a different light – literally – at Light Night Leeds, which runs this Thursday and Friday. The UK’s largest annual arts and light festival bathes the city in large-scale light projections and interactive installations, while music, dance and street performers line the streets. This year, the theme is ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’; Thursday’s vibrant launch parade explores dreams and imagination, while other events include light mazes, a spiritual and atmospheric concert at Leeds Cathedral, clowning shows about friendship, and late-night behind-the-scenes tours at Leeds Central Library. Free.
MAKE Wooly Bully
It’s Wool Week, time to celebrate the natural, renewable and biodegradable material. Why not use up your scraps in crafts? There’s a great list of things to do here, from wool block painting for little hands to woven bangles, crocheted soap on a rope holders, and, just in time for Halloween, pumpkin geoboarding.
EVENT Crimson Tide
Environmenstrual Week is a chance to talk about plastic-free periods and to smash a few taboos. Run by the Women’s Environmental Network, the week is an umbrella for events across the country, as well as a spur to direct action. The Environmenstrual Festival takes place at Amnesty International in London with pad-making workshops, vulva crafts and talks about unbiased period education in schools, as well as a free reusable menstrual cup for every attendee. If you can’t make it, head here for downloadable guides to unbiased period education, money off codes and templates for letters to retailers and manufacturers of conventional period products asking them to ditch the plastic.
RECIPE Wet and Wild
Wet walnuts are in season – if you can find a tree near you, you’re in for a treat. As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says, the time you spend eating them versus extracting the kernels is about 10:1, but it’s worth it. Sit, crack and munch them together – they’re ‘mild, milky and sweet’ in this form, and best as a stand-alone treat. Dried walnuts make for better cooking ingredients, try them in Hugh’s Walnut and Honey Soda Bread or Walnut and Parsley Pesto or Delia’s Wild Mushroom and Walnut Soup – forage for fresh mushrooms!
EVENT Bloomin’ Great
One of our favourite London events, the Bloomsbury Festival celebrates all that this densely arty, literary, science-y area has to offer. Explore the area’s universities, museums, libraries and galleries, all of which will be alive with fun workshops, events and art. This year’s festival is Moon-themed – find Luke Jerram’s stunning Museum of the Moon in Holy Cross Church, join a night-time street party on Store Street, or a creative family street party on Cromer Street, or experiment with augmented reality in a Moon-inspired event at the Wellcome Collection. Full line-up here, family events here. Free, until Sunday 20.
