Events in and around the area this week.

MISCELLANEOUS

KENDAL born TV historian David Starkey will be giving a talk entitled England's Early Kings: The Beginnings of English Difference at Kendal Leisure Centre, on Monday (October 4). The talk begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at the Leisure Centre or the Tourist Information Centre.

THE Beetham Revealed festival opens this weekend (Friday-Sunday) and features a variety of medieval themed events and attractions throughout the village. Highlights include a medieval banquet, craft fair, archery competition, traditional dancing and folk singing. There will also be exhibitions at various historic locations around the village. For details, call 015395-62648.

SCI Fi enthusiasts can meet two of the actors from Star Wars at the 1st Lancaster and Morecambe Sci Fi Memorabilia and Collectors Toy Fair, on Sunday (Oct 3). David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Kenny Baker (R2D2) will be special guests at the event, which takes place at the Lancaster and Morecambe College sports centre from 11am-4pm. There will be more than 100 stalls selling a wide variety of sci fi merchandise including limited edition Star Wars memorabilia.

THE Lakeside and Haverthwite Railway Steam Gala takes place this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) with up to four steam engines working on a full weekend timetable. There will also be various steam exhibits on display and a freight train demonstration. For details, visit www.lakesiderailway.co.uk.

THE Wordsworth Trust's series of Summer Poetry Readings continues on Tuesday (Oct 5) with an evening with poets David Constantine and Sue Hubbard. The readings will take place at The Thistle Hotel, Grasmere, at 6.30pm. For details, call 015394-35544.

THOMAS the Tank Engine visits Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway this weekend (Saturday and Sunday). All the storybook favourites will be there including the Fat Controller. There will be a full train timetable running throughout the day and there will also be children's entertainment including Punch & Judy show. For details, call 01229-717171.

CONCERTS

THE Lakeland Sinfonia series of concerts continues with a family concert at Kendal Leisure Centre on Saturday, Oct the 2nd. The programme includes a wide selection of music including Peter and the Wolf and The Nutcracker Suite. The performance begins at 3pm. For details, call 01539-722533.

THE 4th Ingleton Folk Weekend kicks off on Friday, Oct the 1st with a busy three-day programme of traditional music at various venues in and around the village. There will also be street artists, morris dancers, workshops and a comic song competition. Programmes are available 015242-41049.

THE Gladly Solemn Sound will be performing a concert of West Gallery music at St Mary's Church, Windermere on Saturday, Oct the 2nd. The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets are available on the door. All proceeds are in aid of New Holehird.

FOR an upbeat night of local music head for the Musiclinks annual concert which takes place at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, on Thursday, Oct the 7th. The programme features a variety of local bands and kicks off at 7pm. For details, call 01539-725133.

THE Cumbrian Baroque Choir and Northern Chamber Orchestra will be giving a concert of J S Bach's Mass in B Minor, at Kendal Parish Church on Saturday, Oct the 2nd. The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets are available on the door or telephone 015395-60338.

EXHIBITIONS

LONDON art curator and writer Mel Gooding will be giving an illustrated talk about the work of international artist Kurt Schwitters at Langdale Village Hall, Chapel Stile, near Elterwater on Friday, Oct the 1st. Under discussion will be the work Schwitters completed while living in Ambleside from 1945-1948. The evening begins at 7.30pm. For details, call 01706-827961.

PERCY House Gallery, Cockermouth, is hosting an exhibition by Cumbria Life artist Trevor Green. On display will be a variety of acrylic works and watercolour illustrations. The exhibition opens on Saturday, Oct the 2nd and runs until November 2. For details, call 01900-829667.

FRED, a ten-day art invasion of the whole of Cumbria, featuring artists from all over the county and across the globe, opens on Friday, Oct the 1st. Events are happening at locations around the county, including a Shoes on Fences exhibition at Devils Bridge, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Hidden Memories Past:Present where artist Gordon Cullerne explores childhood memories by inserting small photographs and painted canvasses into the gaps in stone walls below the Old Man of Coniston. For a full programme, visit www.fredsblog.com.

VIRIDIAN Gallery, Keswick, is hosting an exhibition of Lakeland paintings by Marion Bradley. Aspects of Lakeland runs until November 7.

BLACKWELL, the Arts and Crafts House at Bowness, is housing the Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau. This stunning exhibition, featuring furniture and objects from the continentally-styled movement, explores the developments of the 20th Century modern design. The show is open daily until Sunday. For details, call 015394-46139.

ABBOT Hall Art Gallery at Kendal continues to draw the crowds with Walter Richard Sickert: The Human Canvas, a significant exhibition of 43 paintings by the father of modern British art. The exhibition is open from Monday-Saturday (10.30am-5pm).

BRANTWOOD, Coniston, is hosting an exhibition of floral photography by Dave Marshall Ward. The exhibition runs until October 24. For details, call 015394-41396.

AN exhibition entitled Stitches in Time: Quilts since 1790, is on show at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle. On display is a variety of patchwork and quilting, including the earliest exhibit made by Martha Jackson in Westmorland in 1790. The exhibition runs until November 7.

JASON Minsky, winner of the first Crosby Homes Manchester Art Prize, is the subject of an exhibition fusing painting, sculpture and installation. The exhibition explores the relationship between work, leisure, competition and art and is described as half bike race and half art show. Get InGet Out is appearing at the Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, until October 3. For details, call 0161-235-8888.

THE Witherslack Group of artists 11th exhibition is showing at The Old Schoolroom, Witherslack. The exhibition includes work from Alvin Irving, a recent prizewinner at an exhibition in Athens to coincide with this year's Olympic Games. The exhibition runs until October 17 and is open from 10am-5pm daily.

THE Museum of Lakeland Life, Kendal, is hosting an exhibition of glitzy and glamorous 1920s costumes evoking the perennially popular era. The exhibition, entitled Bright Young Things, also feature paintings and furniture from the period. For details, call 01539-722464.

LEGENDARY Northern artist L.S. Lowry is the subject of an exhibition entitled Lowry's Mean Streets of the 1930s and 40s inspired by a strange beauty' he described seeing on the streets. The exhibition is on show at The Lowry, Salford Quays, until January 2. For details, call 0870-787-5780.

FARFIELD Mill, Sedbergh, is hosting an exhibition by Jane Brown, Sue Dee and Jo Holmes. Entitled Eclectic Touch, the exhibition features textiles, sculptures and bespoke installations. For details, call 015396-21958.

THEATRE

WORKINGTON Amateur Operatic Society will be performing Jesus Christ Superstar at the Carnegie Theatre, Finkle Street, Workington on Saturday. The production runs until October 9 with performances at 7.30pm. For details call 01900-602122.

MIKE Leigh's comedy Abigail's Party is showing at the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster. The play focuses on an evening of entertaining in 1970s suburbia in the lounge of Beverly and Laurence. Beverly is hosting a little soiree for her new neighbours, Ange and Tone, and also Sue from number 9, and when the gin and tonics start to flow, so do the home truths. For details, call 01524-598500.

THEATRE Royal, Bury St Edmunds, brings Shakespeare's The Tempest to the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on Monday (Oct 4). The play promises to combine music, magic, poetry and prose to create a world where anything is possible. The Tempest runs until October 6 with performances at 8pm. For details, call 01539-725133. The play will also be the subject of a lecture by Philip Edwards on Thursday at 11am.

QUONDAM's production of Top Banana returns to the Rosehill Theatre, near Whitehaven, on Thursday. David Napthine's hilarious satire brings a fresh slant to the legend of Faust. The performance begins at 8pm. For details, call 01946-692422.