Hexham Design Week has started! The best of the best in Hexham: make sure you go along

This week Hexham is again leading the way with over 25 businesses showcasing the “best of the best” design-related businesses in and around Hexham. These are all independent, specialist businesses who are offering products and services which are different to and better than the run of the mill national companies.

The Design week includes a full week of special activity and design-led offers within each of the businesses, culminating in a 2 day event within Dickinsons on Beaumont Street on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June, when each participating business will have the opportunity of putting on a one-hour live demonstration of the work they do to allow the public to see some of the things that normally happen “behind the scenes”.
Full credit to Steve Traviss and the team at Dickinsons who are the lead organisers.
I am stuck in London this week but will try and pop in Friday evening if I can. I know many of the shops, food providers and other businesses well and really applaud the effort being made, once again, to show that Hexham is both different and a special place to shop and visit on so many levels.
The participating businesses already confirmed as participating are:
Jewellers Galleria (who will be putting on a Pandora jewellery demonstration) Transcend Hair and Beauty, (who will be performing a Spring/Summer hair and beauty design demonstration)
Fake Monkey (who will be presenting how to accessorise ladies outfits)
Premier Kitchens (who will be demonstrating designing Kitchens)
Dickinsons Interiors (who will have a specialist upholster from Parker Knoll making and upholstering a chair, as well as a “History of Morris fabrics” presentation by Morris, floor-fitting demonstration including their own floorlaying apprentice and a presentation by The Little Greene paint co on the use of paint colour in interior design)
Kirsty Cruicksahank’s “For the love of Fish” (who will be showcasing her specialist masterclass cooking and catering business)
Bouchon Bistro (who will be showcasing some of their fabulous award-winning French cuisine)
Andy Bates Leather (who will be presenting bespoke designer and traditional leatherwork)
Petals lingerie and swimwear (who will be showcasing their fantastic range and service)
Robinson Gaye (who will be featuring printmaker Carol Nunan demonstrating how to create an original floral monotype print)
Deli at Number 4 (who will be doing a cheese tasting and presenting on “A celebration of fine cheese”)
Geoff Steven opticians (who will be showcasing the latest designer spectacles and sunglasses and how to choose the right frame shape for your face)
Woolaballoo (who will be demonstrating spinning and knitting to showcase their knitting masterclasses)
Dillies (who will be demonstrating the art of flower arranging, offering tasters of their unique wines, and also showcasing “How to eat chocolate”)
Core Music (who will be presenting “a choir from scratch” – come and sing!)
Dawson and Sanderson (who will be demonstrating how you can create a bespoke travel itinery designed around your dreams)
Dan Spratt Photography (showcasing “the secrets of a professional photographer”)
Cogito Books (presenting “How to discover great reads”)
Allendale Forge (showcasing their textile, felt and printmaking group, including local artists and craft specialists)
AurioleB (showcasing their bespoke bridal and mother of the bride services)
Wentworth Leisure Centre (showcasing how they can design a fitness programme to give you the body of your dreams!)
Jester Crafts (demonstrating the art of papercrafting)
The Woolly Pedlar (showcasing “recycling Knitwear” making a pair of armwarmers using recycled jumpers)
Shabby Shed (showcasing their unique painted furniture and signs)
Ann Holmes Celebration Cakes (fantastic sugarcraft, cake making and decoration)
……..and these are just a few of the top quality businesses who are going to make Hexham Design Week a fabulous event to attend.
For further information on Hexham Design Week please contact Steve at Dickinsons on 01434 602617
As always support your local businesses - they are your neighbours and the town's life blood.

Westminster this week

Sat at my desk in Westminster recovering from 10 days up north and the mountain of post and to do stuff that awaits. The old rule of never leave your office for more than 7 days applies. This week we are debating the Energy Bill at Report Stage and third reading. I will try and get in to tomorrows debate but it is severely time limited from 3.30-7pm, and a large part of this will be taken up with the debate on decarbonisation and nuclear energy, but I shall bob up and down in hope of catching the speakers eye - probably at around 6.20-30 I suspect given the list of speakers.
On Wednesday we have PMQs in the morning - then we will be debating a variety of issues in the main chamber and westminster hall, from Health issues like the 111 service, to the contentious issue of the proposed badger cull to start the long process of stopping bovine TB spread by badgers. This is decimating the herds of cattle in the south and this menace of TB spread by badgers is slowly heading north.
On Thursday I am hoping to be called in DECC questions and will then be involved in the student visa debate from 12 noon until around 3.45pm when I will cycle like mad to make the 4.30 train to Newcastle. If you see a panting bloke still in a suit running for the 4.30 train at Kings Cross that will be me!
Friday I am hosting the banking conference at the Baltic in Gateshead, followed by a recording of the Sunday Politics [the secret is they pre - record on a Friday afternoon] and various events thereafter in Hexham.

"A blancmange in a hurricane"- Michael Gove's analysis of Labour's difficulties

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/10089425/Ed-Miliband-is-a-blancmange-in-a-hurricane.html
Well worth a read
My point is that at every turn the Opposition simply oppose
There is no engagement, no debate, no realistic alternative simply a desire for none of what is happening.
Every single budgetary cut for the last 3 years + that has been proposed is opposed.
I would rather we had a nuanced debate but it is like debating with a wall.
On Health yesterday there was widespread criticism but Labour would spend less and will not go back on the reforms.
On Education they oppose free schools locally in Newcastle and then complain that there are no free schools in Newcastle!
On spare room subsidy it is in the Labour 2010 manifesto but then they oppose the so called bedroom tax - which is a subsidy by taxpayers to non taxpayers
On borrowing they want to borrow more but will not say how much or what they will spend it on
I could go on but Michael Gove makes the point better...