A Concert will be held tomorrow (Saturday 28th April 2012) at 7.30pm at St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico (London SW1) which features an exciting line up of up-and-coming talent, performing operatic favourites from La Traviata,Carmen, Marriage of Figaro and more.
This Concert is the result of an experiment in using social media to produce and promote the arts, and was thought up as a new way to engage the public with opera. In a time when arts funding is being cut, and there are fewer opportunities for emerging professionals, these young singers have harnessed the power of social networking site Twitter to create the first in a series of opera gala concerts. Called “Opera Twala”, every part of the gala has been organized and planned through the site; from selecting the performers to finding the venue and choosing the programme.
Tickets are £10, £8 (concessions) & £5 (under-16s) on the door.
St. Gabriel's Church, Pimlico
For further information follow @OperaTwala or #operatwala on Twitter
Now the results have been announced I am delighted that the judges and voting proletariat have made their awards in line with my own reading habits:
Best blog
Winner: propertynewshound.com
One of my favourite reads, and very nearly my vote in the users section. The judges were won over by his topical, insightful and authoritative property market musings.
Best blog post
Winner: What Sam Saw Today: Today I got rid of squatters from my London flat Is it so very bad of me to feel smug and say “I told you so?”. Three months ago, soon after it’s launch I fingered “What Sam Saw Today” as THE up and coming Blog. In the words of the judges “These reflections delve into the joy and pain of being a property developer by telling personal stories to make this blog compelling reading. This post scooped the prize because of its great pace and drama – an online page turner if there ever was one.”
Best newcomer Winner:Planet Property This new blog from property writer Mike O’Flynn ran away with the Best Newcomer crown, thanks to its fresh mix of news, views and fun featured properties. Being a newcomer I haven’t read it yet ….. but that is going to change! The Users’ Favourite Blog
Winner:Buying Agent Yes – this is the one that we the readers voted for. Over 1,200 votes were cast and 25% went to Buying Agent – also known as Tracy Kellett – who writes this unapologetically opinionated blog about her life as a buying agent.
It was a tight competition throughout, with Tracey always in the lead, but pushed to the finish line by Moregeous a creditable runner up with just a gap of 3% between winner and runner up.
<div><a href=”http://www.micropoll.com/a/mpview/1062272-393200″>Click Here for Poll</a><a href=”http://www.questionpro.com” title=”online survey”>Online Survey</a>
I had a great time earlier in the week at an event organised by London bathroom suppliers Fonte Dei Marmi and hosted at Swissbathroom manufacturer Laufen. Now if you know me you probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I spent the day looking a toilets (and sinks and baths) and enjoyed every second of it. I found it fascinating to discover how much the design of the simple toilet could be improved by a tiny bit of thought. I’m not talking about space age technology, but simple things like shaping the pads that the seat rests on so that they lodge in side the rim & prevent the seat moving when you wriggle (don’t say that you don’t wriggle when sitting on the toilet – I know otherwise), or designing the seat & lid mounting so that they can be simply removed and replaced for cleaning. The sinks and baths have a ceramic hidden overflow integral to the waste so has no unsightly holes that become dirty and unhealthy, and it also makes plunging simpler and more effective. A cistern liner for your WC, a simple invention that eliminates condensation from the cistern but also reduces the noise when a cistern refills. Simple, clever, effective.
Anyway I had a great time, and would like to express my thanks again to Tony and Mike for inviting me, and to the Laufen team for laying on a great day, which had a twitter theme to it as all those present are active twitter users. So I thought that I would publish this blog on Follow Friday, and commend all those who attended as suitable follows:
