MISCELLANEOUS

ENJOY a celebration of art and literature at the Wordsworth Trust Weekend Arts and Book Festival from today, Friday (Jan 21) until Sunday (Jan 23). The festival is a residential course of lectures and workshops, which takes place at the Thistle Hotel, Grasmere. For details, call 015394-35544.

FOR an evening of laughs don't miss the Brewery Arts Centre's Barrel of Laughs Comedy Club at Kendal tomorrow, Saturday (Jan 22), at 8pm. The programme features Irish comic Caimh McDonnell, Josh Daniels and Greg Cook. For details, call 01539-725133.

BUDDING musicians can learn some Caribbean rhythms at a workshop run by Milnthorpe Steel Band which takes place at Dallam Education and Training Centre, Haverflatts Lane, Milnthorpe, tomorrow, Saturday (Jan 22), from 10am-4pm. For details, call 015395-65123.

IMPERIAL War Museum North, Salford Quays, is commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day with a series of individual performances linked to the themes of liberation and survival, next Thursday (Jan 27). For details, call 0161-836-4000.

CONCERTS

PLATINUM-selling American singer and saxophonist Curtis Stigers will be performing hits such as I Wonder Why, at the Platform, Morecambe, today, Friday (Jan 21), at 8pm. For details, call 01524-582815.

THE Lakeland Sinfonia conducted by Simon Wright will be performing at Kendal Leisure Centre tomorrow, Saturday (Jan 22) at 7.30pm. The programme includes pieces by Lennox Berkeley and Mozart. There will also be a performance of Finzi's Clarinet Concerto by Robert Plane. For tickets, call 01539-722533.

CRUISE ship diva Jane McDonald will be appearing in concert at the Charter Theatre, Preston, on Sunday (Jan 23), at 8pm. For details, call 01772-258858.

RELIVE the ska explosion of the late 70s at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, tonight, Friday (Jan 28), at 8.30pm. The Beat will be performing some of their classic hits including Mirror in the Bathroom and Stand Down Margaret. For details, call 01539-725133.

PETE Morton and Roger Wilson will be in concert at Forum 28, Duke Street, on Tuesday (Jan 25), at 7.30pm, for a double-bill of traditional folk music as part of the Folk at the Forum season. For details, call 01229-820000.

HEVERSHAM Bowling Club is holding an Irish country music night with Shaun Cuddy and his band at Kendal Town Hall on Sunday (Jan 23), at 7.30pm. For details, call 015395-62783.

EXHIBITIONS

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is hosting the first ever UK solo exhibition by Italian artist Carol Rama. The exhibition features more than 100 works in a range of media including drawing, watercolour, sculpture and print. For details, call 0191-478-1810.

THE new season at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, opens with an exhibition entitled Sculpture, Drawing and Light by Nicola Hicks, next Tuesday (Jan 18). Hailed as one of the foremost sculptors of her generation, the exhibition features pieces in a variety of media including charcoal drawings, which explore the physicality and psychology of people and animals. For details, call 01539-722464.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition of images from the industrial North of England entitled Perspectives on the Industrial North, by Christian Shaw, is on show at the Brewery Arts Centre's Sugar Store Gallery until March 6.

IMPERIAL War Museum North, Salford Quays, is marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps with an exhibition of photographs of Auschwitz by Richard Kolker. For details, call 0161-836-4000.

THE Lowry is hosting an exhibition entitled Salford Snapshot featuring the work of three photographers exploring different aspects of the lives of people, past and present, in Salford. For details, call 0870-787-5780.

BRANTWOOD'S Severn Studio 2005 programme of guest exhibitions opens with The Wide Blue Yonder by Mark Haywood. The exhibition is a tribute to famous, but contrasting, Coniston figures, John Ruskin and Donald Campbell, and features artefacts and digital artworks. The exhibition runs until February 13.

For details, call 015394-41396.

ENJOY a diverse new exhibition looking at Morecambe Bay at the Williamson Gallery, Ashton Memorial, Lancaster. AIM artists, formerly Artists in Morecambe, have spent the past ten months working on the theme of Morecambe and the surrounding coastal environment. The exhibition features sculpture, glasswork and painting and runs until February 20.

THE Folly in Lancaster is hosting an exhibition by Paul Floyd Blake exploring the diverse communities in the North of England. The Changing Faces exhibition also looks at the mixed race relationships that are increasingly creating a fusion of cultures. For details, call 01524-388550.

URBIS in Manchester is hosting a new exhibition looking at the future of the North of England in which commuters can travel to four major cities in one day. SuperCity by architect Will Alsop runs until May 15. For details, call 0161-907-9099.

SPORT

KENDAL RUFC go for a fourth successive league win when New Brighton visit in National League 3 North tomorrow (Saturday), 2pm kick-off. Kirkby Lonsdale are at home to Wigton while Upper Eden entertain Rossendale in the North Lancs/ Cumbria League of the Powergen Northern Division. Windermere head north to Keswick for their Cumbria League match.

KENDAL Town's footballers are uncertain of their opponents at this stage. Tomorrow's match depended on the outcome of the home tie against Bishop Auckland in the President's Cup last Tuesday. If successful, Town face another UniBond League Premier Division side in the shape of Leek, away in Saturday's second-round programme (3pm). For further details consult the sport pages in our first section.

RUNNERS converge on the County Showfield at Crooklands tomorrow (Saturday) for the Mid-Lancs Cross Country League, which this year incorporates the Cumbria County Cross Country Championships. Races begin from 12.30pm onwards.

THEATRE

WELFARE State International present Barebones, a wildly inventive miniature dream carnival inspired by stories of Morecambe Bay, using a variety of media including song, music, story-telling and poetry, at Lanternhouse, The Ellers, Ulverston, on Tuesday (Jan 25), and Wednesday (Jan 26), and 10.30am and 1.30pm.

For details, call 01229-581127.

St MARTIN'S College students present a version of Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's classic Jacobean drama The Changeling at the Dukes, Lancaster, from next Wednesday (Jan 26) to Saturday (Jan 29), at 7.30pm. For details, call 01524-598500.

EXPERIENCE a powerful and passionate piece of African contemporary dance theatre from Sakoba Dance, which will be performing Aseju at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, on Saturday, January 22, at 8pm. Aseju looks at the realm of emotions such as anger, frustration, jealousy and rage. For details, call 01539-725133.

WORLD famous Canadian alternative circus troop Cirque du Soleil are appearing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester, with their new show, Saltimbanco, until February 13. For details, call 0870-060-1768.

BRASSY Coronation Street barmaid Susie Blake stars in a new production of Cole Porter's classic musical, High Society, which runs at Manchester's Palace Theatre until Saturday (Jan 22). For details, call 0870-060-1768.

ELLEN Kent and Ballet International present a spectacular production of the classic Tchaikovsky ballet, Swan Lake, at the Manchester Opera House from Monday (Jan 24) until Wednesday (Jan 26). For tickets, call 0870-401-9000.

AWARD-winning comedy duo LipService will be recreating Louisa May Alcott's classic novel set during the American Civil War, Little Women, at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, on Tuesday (Jan 25) and Wednesday (Jan 26). For details, call 01539-725133.

WALKS

LEARN more about the work being done to help the elusive bitterns on a Restore the Reedbed walk around the beautiful RSPB Leighton Moss Nature Reserve, on Sunday (Jan 23), at 2pm. For details, call 01524-701601.

GET fit and meet new people on a 1.5-mile walk around Kendal Castle with the Walking the Way to Health group next Tuesday (Jan 25). Meet at Kendal Leisure Centre, at 11am. For details of this and other walks, call 01539-729511.