Broadgate Wordled

Click on this picture to see a Wordle of the Broadgate is Great blog.

Umberto's and the Monks

I know it's not quite in Broadgate, but it's not far, and today, at about 7pm I spotted two heavily bearded monks in brown cassocks running across Fylde Road and diving into Umberto's. Does anyone know who they were and what they were doing at Preston's most famous Fish shop?

No jokes about chip-monks please...

HyperLocal Blogging is the Future

Clarissa Sebag Montefiore explains the phenomenon known as 'hyper-local blogging' in this BBC article.

Hyper local blogging is any blogging that focusses, almost obsessively on a single town, community or even street, and it's taking off in a big way.

Broadgate is Great is one of those 'Hyper-local blogs', using our closeness to the community to give a unique viewpoint and voice to people who otherwise would not get heard, we're delighted that fellow hyper-local blog 'Preston Blog' got a particular mention as a shining example of what a local blog can achieve. We can testify that their coverage of the Penwortham Leisure Centre Fiasco has so far been second to none, so they fully deserve their place in the national spotlight.

Invisible Car From Broadgate

If you're driving round Broadgate, here's another reason not to go too fast - Broadgate student Sara Watson's 'Invisible' car:




At Broadgate is Great, we're pretty impressed with this particular vanishing act accomplished by UCLAN student Sara Watson. We're wondering what Sara could do with Crystal House.

Russians In Lancashire

A new blog has been set up for members of the Russian community in Lancashire

It's authors are Andy and Elena.

They say:

This blog is for the Russian speaking communities of Lancashire in the north west of England. (Русская версия данного блога здесь)

We plan to publish a wide variety of material about our meetings, events, experiences and interests. We hope that Russian speaking people visiting Lancashire will find useful and interesting information and will want to share their experiences with us.

We will try to keep you informed of forthcoming events and please let us know of anything you would like to see listed here on the blog.

We hope to raise the profile of people from Russia and the Republics in the north west of England and we are happy to hear your ideas!

you can read the English Language version here: http://russianlancashire.wordpress.com

The Russian Language version is here: http://russianlancashire.blogspot.com

Penwortham Leisure Centre

The threat of closure to Penwortham Leisure Centre is one which Broadgate residents will take very seriously, as it is the easiest leisure centre to reach from our area, the others require at least two different buses to get to, and a long trip through Preston's usual state of traffic gridlock.

Last thursday night, a public meeting with over 400 people was held, with feelings running high. South Ribble Borough Council and Priory High School are failing to reach an agreement, and unless they can, a valuable community facility could be lost.

Ed Walker provides really excellent in depth coverage of the background to the issue, and of what was said at the public meeting over at 'Preston Blog', this is superb material which shows the very best of what local bloggers can achieve.

Click on the links below for the finest coverage of the Penwortham Leisure Centre dispute:

Public meeting called over leisure centred closure threat

The people's views

The council and the school state their positions

Let's support the people of Penwortham and the leisure centre workers in their campaign to keep this essential facility open, and hope that those in responsible positions feel enough hot breath on their necks to quickly work out a common sense way of delivering this.

Latest from the Continental

While the rest of Preston sinks into gloom, with more shop closures, a swathe of redundancies in different industries, and now some signals that the £750m Tithebarn scheme that the council had pinned all it's hopes and strategies on for the past decade may now be on dodgy ground, Broadgate is staying sunny and optimistic.

We actually seem to be bucking the national economic downturn, Broadgate has had several new businesses opening in our area such as smart sandwich bar 'Obertellis' and Indian Restaurant 'The Spice Lounge'.

One pub that's making Broadgate a really desireable place to be is 'The New Continental', with it's eclectic mix of art, literature, poetry, theatre, music and techie events, not to mention some excellent beer.

They've sent out their latest update of forthcoming events, and it looks really exciting, here's what it had to say:

Thanks to everyone who dropped in over the Easter weekend - we all had a fantastic time, and the weather was fabulous - a taste of the coming summer, we hope.

Taking us up to the end of April, we can't move for great events here at The Continental. May is filling up quickly too - keep an eye on the events page for an update in the very near future...

Next week, we've a two-night run of Stephanie Ridings' acclaimed one-woman show, Me, Mum and Dusty Springfield. The highlight of last year's Royal Exchange Blue Six festival, Ridings' comic monologue explores the mother/daughter relationship with insights we'll all relate to... all cut through with a liberal sprinkling of Dusty's lyrics. Shows are at 8pm on 23rd and 24th April, and tickets are priced at £7, or £5 concessions.

Also next week is Preston Writing Network's first event, Word Soup: Three published authors will be reading from their own work on the subject of Risk. Featured writers on the night are cult novelist Steven Hall (author of The Raw Shark Texts), alongside Preston's own Jenn Ashcroft (A Kind of Intimacy) and Chris Killen (The Bird Room) - backed up by bloggers Socrates Adams-Florou, Sally Cook and open mic from The Continental Collective. Plus musical interludes from the fabulous Ottersgear! Entry is only £3, and it all kicks off at 8pm on Tuesday 21st April. Those of you with a literary bent may also be interested in a new beginners Creative Writing Course which will be starting in the pub next month - drop us an email to info@newcontinental.net if you'd like to take part!

Music-wise, we've a full weekend - Tonight (17th April), we've a performance by Manchester-based nu-folk sensations Ivan Campo - they'll be taking over the snug for an evening of foot-tapping folk-pop, with a keen ear for catchy tunes. They pack us out every time they play, so it promises to be a smashing evening - the gig kicks off at 9pm.

Tomorrow (18th): Martin Carthy - this is now sold out, but there might be a few returns on the door if you want to come down anyway - but no promises! Monday (20th April) sees an album launch gig from Preston's dark electro-rock combo Playing Violet, with support from Stephen J Buckley and the Feverdreamers - Entry is free, and starts at 9pm in the events space.

Next Sunday (26th) is the last of the month, which (of course) means The Continental Jazz Club. This month sees the return of the ever popular (and evergreen) saxophonist Harold Salisbury, with Tom Vernon on Guitar, Norman Helm on Bass and Tim Franks on Drums. As always, we'll be launching proceedings from 9pm

The Beer List is currently being typed up for the Second Continental Beer Festival, which will be running from 30th April through to 4th May - we'll be sticking it up on the website as soon as it's done, and trust us, it's going to be fantastic - 5 days of the best beer, cider, food, music and (fingers crossed) weather Preston can offer!

Don't forget our book club - the next meeting is on the 20th April in the snug - email catherine.cable@talktalk.net for more details if you'd like to join in - the current book is Morvern Callar by Alan Warner. Yoga will be starting in the next couple of weeks after work on Thursdays - get in touch if you've not put your name down already with info@newcontinental.net and the start date will be finalised next week.

Alll the best,


The Continental Team