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The Culture Show has had an incredibly busy weekend bringing you two specials from outdoor locations! Saturday saw The Culture Show Christmas Special down at the Lakeside Arts Centre, where Martha, Anna, Hannah, and Ella hosted musical performances and dramatic readings from some of the very talented societies at the University of Nottingham. On Sunday, URN became the station for classical music as The Culture Show brought you three hours of classical performances, including a live broadcast from The Great Hall in Trent Building, featuring Mussoc’s Sinphonia orchestra in their winter concert.

Saturday

Between 2-4pm, The Culture Show took over URN, and turned the Lakeside Arts Centre into a festive concert hall.
The Lakeside Arts Centre

Throughout the day, members of different societies came down to perform some Christmas favourites. Singers from Mussoc treated us to traditional Christmas carols, such as ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ and ‘Hark The Herald Angels’.

Musicality also performed four Christmas songs such as 'Merry Christmas Everyone'. Their singing was so good, we all had a sing along session to Mariah Carey, ‘All I want for Christmas is you’! The Lakeside Arts Centre was the perfect venue for their voices which completely filled the space.

The Arts and Culture show are hosting a Christmas special at Lakeside Arts centre this Saturday. In preparation, Jonny and Genie wanted to make a Christmas cake to get into the Christmas spirit and we employed the help of The University of Nottingham’s cake society! Charley from cake soc spent a morning with us and talked us through the baking- because we really do need the help! Jonny and Genie decided to make this a competition and see who could make the best Christmas cake…

The cake dream team

Here’s the recipe we used:
Ingredients-
3 oz of
3 ½ oz of plain flour
½ tablespoon of mixed spice
Mixed fruit
3 oz of brown sugar
½ tablespoon of black treacle
2 eggs
1 oz ground almonds
1 tablespoon of brandy

After we had lined our tins with parchment Charley told us the first thing to do was soak mixed fruit in brandy to get the taste of christmas. Jonny decided he would use the alcohol he had around the house though and chose Jeager instead. The pinnacle of student baking!

An interesting addition to the cake recipe

Looking for special events to celebrate Christmas in Nottingham? Look no further than the Culture Show’s ultimate guide to ‘What’s On’ around Nottingham this December.

University of Nottingham’s Carol Service.

Thursday, 6th December, 2012 (19:15-21:00), Cathedral Church of St Barnabas. Celebrate the Christmas season with the University in this traditional Carol Service featuring Viva Voce Chamber Choir and The Revival Gospel Choir. Free coaches from Trent Building, University Park at 18:30, returning at 21:15.

Christmas Markets and lights

Every day until 24th December. For good quality, handmade arts and crafts, suitable for all family members, the markets can be found on Smithy Row, Albert Street and Lister Gate. In the centre of Old Market Square is the Winter Wonderland, featuring a carousel, Narnia-themed bar and the North Star, a sixty-metre high swing ride!

Panto!

Who doesn’t love a good panto! And Nottingham is treating us to three different ones:
The Theatre Royal offers ‘Cinderella’, starring John Partridge as Prince Charming, running from 8th December till 15th January. Nottingham Playhouse is putting on Kenneth Alan Taylor’s latest pantomime ‘Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood’ from 30th November till 19th January.
Nottingham Arts Theatre presents 'Puss in Boots' between 8th and 16th December

The Hand and Heart pub
Nottingham is a brilliant city for many reasons. One of which is its caves. In case you had not heard, Nottingham has an extensive sandstone cave network. More importantly, did you know that you can go to a perfectly ordinary looking pub such as the Hand and Heart on Derby Road and find yourself quenching your thirst inside a man-made 200-year-old cave? Nothing like a bit of cave exploration before heading into town, right?

In fact that is exactly what happened to us some weeks ago when we first ventured out in search of cider and stumbled upon this beautiful old pub, located on Derby Road just past the Ropewalk. Freshers, if you have not made it to the Ropewalk yet, get a bus into town and get off on Canning Circus (the top of the hill) and after a little walk you'll find it. Anyway, last night we ventured out to the Hand and Heart for their free music nights on Tuesday and have taken a few snaps to see if we can tempt you along.

Simon Wilson, the Entertainment Editor for the Nottingham Post, has previously described the lack of national recognition for Nottingham’s home grown music as something that could not be more of an embarrassment for the city. However this could be all about to change, as the Guardian reported in a feature on Nottingham music last Friday (http://bit.ly/rpcXCS). With Nottingham sporting one of the best live music scenes in the country – coming in third behind Manchester and Newcastle and beating London which only ranked fifth, it seems Nottingham’s reputation can only grow.

For new students (or even old ones who have yet to explore the smorgasbord of live venues our city has to offer) there is plenty to discover. The Capital FM Arena is the largest venue, playing host to household names and high ticket prices with both Bob Dylan and Tinie Tempah (though unfortunately not together) appearing in the coming weeks. There are also many smaller venues such as the Maze on Mansfield Road where you can see ‘Glastonbudget’ auditions this Tuesday (Europe’s premier tribute act festival held in Leicestershire) and Oxjam on October 12th – Oxfam’s month long music festival whose proceeds go to support the charity.