October 2007

Blackpool Circus School Presentation Evening

The Mayor of Blackpool Councillor Robert Wynne tries his hand on the unicycle at the end of the presentation evening. All the proceeds of the evening were donated to the Mayors charity "Blackpool's A Knockout"

The Mayor of Blackpool tries his hand on the unicycle.

Our thanks go to Ian Evans Head of Highfield School for the free use of the hall, Marc Dimolow for providing the music for the acts, More poi for their guest appearance, Karen Fishwick, Maureen Walker and Mrs O Sullivan for the box office and Raffle, Dave Hawkins, Roy of St Annes Old links, Frank Carson and the Grand Theatre for providing prizes for the Raffle and all the parents and children that helped to make the evening a success.

And last but not least thanks to all the teachers and to Steve Royle for his great comedy/juggling act that had the audience spell bound with amazement and laughter.

The "Easy Riders" Jamie-Lee-Coldham James Wade & Martyn Hawkins perform at our presentation evening	Steve Royle, who had the audience in stitches, presents certificates to our students
Holly Johnstone performing the arial hoop at our presentation evening	Tonya Gridneff with the man from the "Co-op" Jack Croysdill. Tonya ably compered the presentation evening using her acting skills gained at Corona Academy. Jack arranged for the Circus School to become a supported charity of the Co-op with yearly donations.

Presentation evening with performances by our students, Guest artistes & Steve Royle, BBC Radio Lancashire Presenter

Grand Theatre Blackpool Pantomime Comedian And very unusual juggler will present certificates to our students for their achievements in 2007.

Wednesday 17th October 6PM At Highfield Humanities College sports hall Admission £1 per head All proceeds of the evening will go to the Mayor of Blackpoool,s chosen charity "Blackpool,s A Knockout"

The Mayor will be present & will draw tickets for our prize draw Prizes include (Grand theatre Pantomime tickets) donations from Frank Carson & Many others

April 2007

The "Easy Riders" again featured for the Circus School, this time in "Variety for the Vic" a Charity show at the Little Theatre, Thornton. This was in aid of a breast cancer appeal. The other acts on the bill were mainly adults from the world of musicals. Holly Johnstone was also scheduled but sustained an injury to her shins that meant she was unable to take part.

April also saw a donation from the Coop, the School is now a supported charity of the Coop. Jack Croysdill from the Coop who arranged the donation will formally present the cheque for £500 to the Circus School on Presentation evening. This will take place on Wednesday evening on the 27th June at Highfield Humanities College sports hall.

March 2007

Blackpool Circus School appeared once again at the Grand Theatre in this years production of "Young at Art" Along with a number of other local theatre groups we provided three acts. The first included eleven of our newer members in a combination of skills, including, the walking globe, Unicycles and Diabolos.

The second act featured our very talented Holly Johnstone in a new acrobatic dance. She was to have done her Tower Circus winning suspended hoop act, unfortunately, Health and safety would not permit this to take place.

The final act was our "Easy Riders" featuring Jamie Lee-Coldham and James Wade. They were joined on this occasion by 9 year old Martyn Hawkins, a very talented youngster who is destined for great things if he can stay focused through his teen years.

October / November 2006

See our Blackpool Circus School stars perform!

Holly Johnstone will appear live at the Tower Circus on Tuesday 24th October in 4 performances; 11:30am 2pm 5pm 7:30pm (See news item below for August 2006, High hopes!)

Mark Fishwick can be seen in "U Prove it" on CITV on Saturday 11th November at 2pm and Sunday 12th November 11:30am (See news item below for November 2005)

September 2006

Bold Test

Holly Johnstone wins Uk 's Most talented!

It was announced today, that Holly Johnstone has won the Tower Circus competition for 2006. Her prize is an appearance in the all Female show to a capacity audience in the ring of the famous Tower Circus. Holly trained for her act with Blackpool Circus School and the Circus Academy .

Mitchell Ripley has appeared on BBC2's educational Children's programme Level up.

He was seen live teaching the presenters plate spinning and demonstrated many skills learned at out Circus School . This was Mitchell's 2nd appearance on Level up ( see Mitchell juggling on stage at the Grand Theatre for La Boheme) March news item.  Mitchell helps us to teach at the Beginners class at Highfield and is very helpful.

August 2006

Syndicate dancers get into the Circus groove

The Ladystyle dancers from the Syndicate night club have joined Blackpool Circus School 's Adult class at the Claremont first step centre. They want to add Circus skills to their dance routines to make them more exciting. On their first visit they have mastered scarves juggling, plate spinning and the Diabolo.  They will go on to learn Poi, Stilt walking and even the unicycle!  When they do perform Circus skills at the Syndicate it will bring the site on Church street full circle, the site was once the home of the Hippodrome that used to stage Circus in the early years of the last century.

High Hopes

Following on the success in 2005 by the "Easy Riders" Holly has this year added the Hoop to her stunning floor routine that she performed last year. She has high hopes that this will give her a victory and an appearance at the Tower during half term week. The results will be announced within a fortnight, watch this space!

Blackpool Circus School took part in the opening of the Central Gateway on the Bank holiday weekend. Sunday saw the sun come out and this brought out the residents of Bloomfield. Families enjoyed a day in the new park and participated in our workshop. Many a talent was discovered as the photos show. Mark Fishwick is also featured trying to jump to the top of the climbing towers! He is on Springy stilts which are destined to be a new activitie for 2006 following the Zurich advert on TV. The Circus School will also be featured at the Lancastrian Fun day at the Horrowside solarium on the 24th June and the Poulton-Le-Fylde Gala on the 3rd June.

May 2006

One of our most talented Circus Students, Holly Johnstone, recently won the following at a Dance festival in Morcambe. 7 golds and 1 silver medal, 20 trophies, won the title of "Lancashire and Cumbria Modern Dance Champion 2006" and the icing on the cake was winning the Adjudicator's Choice section and £250!! So all in all, a fantastic weekend.

April 2006

Thanks to the National Lotteries support of the Grand Theatre Blackpool, Mooky the star of the Tower Circus, was able to give Jamie-Lee-Coldham of Blackpool Circus School a master class in juggling.

Blackpool Circus School, thanks to the Grand, were also able to give an opportunity to local youngsters to sample the thrills of the Circus in their own skills & clowning workshop with Yuri & Tonya, tutors of the School. The photo shows Elaine Fossett of the Grand with some of the students receiving their certificates at the end of a very exciting day.

BBC TV Film at Highfield Humanities College for "Level up"

Watch this page for Transmission date for CBBC Level up & CITV's "You prove it"

March 2006

Seen here are our students in rehearsal for Puccini's La Boheme performed at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool on the 12th March. Our Circus School was asked to supply some street entertainers for this Russian production. It was a great experience for our young people to work with some of the worlds greatest artistes. 

The BBC heard about this event and obtained permission to record the students performance. This will be part of a new show to be screened in April called "Level up" a factual magazine show for CBBC. The programme will explore the opportunities and some of the difficulties faced by children as they grow up in 2006.  Further recording for the show will take place at Highfield School on the 18th March when they record a typical Circus workshop that leads to a performance of this standard.

February 2006

Blackpool Circus School were very highly praised for their part in the launch of the National Theatre of Variety. Manager Paul Isles said after the show "How nice to see teachers and students performing together" Three teachers and six students took part with an age range from 8 to 69.

Teacher Yuri Gridneff was particularly proud to be in the show as he was working in variety when one by one the old theatres died. Robin Dukes, Blackpool Gazette entertainment editor quoted "The youngsters of Blackpool Circus School who carry the baton for future generations." And Peter Elliot, executive administrator of the entertainment artistes benevolent fund wrote "It really was a joy to sit in the audience and watch true professionals display their art to such an appreciative audience."

The students that represented BCS along with their teachers were, Holly Johnstone 15, Jamie leeColdham 16, Mark Fishwick 13, Billy Robinson 13, James wade 15 and Martyn Hawkins 8. The teachers that appeared in addition to Yuri, were Roger Mirales, ex Barnum & Bailey Flyer and Liang, ex Chinese state Circus acrobat.

Also in February, Yuri Gridneff appeared on the Ted Robins Radio Lancashire morning show to Juggle on the Air! The outstanding success of this resulted in Yuri being invited onto Alison Brownes Top 10 show where Yuri had to select 10 records that were memorable in his life and to talk about the events that led to his selection.

On the 12th March, 5 students from Blackpool Circus School will take part in La Boheme at the Grand theatre Blackpool. They will play the parts of street entertainers during a scene that features a market place in Paris.

January 2006

Following the introduction of the beginners class at Highfield humanities College last term, we have eight successful graduates to Circus club.  These will now be able to go on to learn all the other skills that we teach.  The skills include, Trapeze, Tightrope, Stilt walking and Unicycle. 

Due to the success of these eight students, we now have places for more beginners in the Spring term commencing 11th.

November 2005

Blackpool Circus School students and trainers dedicated their appearance at the Grand Theatre Blackpool to the memory of Allen McPherson.  The occasion was "The most extraordinary dinner on earth"  with Aled Jones and hosted by the world famous Ringmaster, Norman Barrett. 

The Circus School performed in the auditorium while Blackpool Brass played for them in the Circle.  The diners were on the stage and later in the evening, Aled sung to them from the front of the circle.

November 2005

Arnold School Xmas fayre was also attended to Blackpool Circus School and once again was hosted by Norman Barrett.  The Circus School provided a workshop and sales table manned by our volunteers, Karen Fishwick and Maureen Walker. Their sons Mark & Joseph helped teach the youngsters to plate spin and learn the Diabolo.  Later in the day, Mark, dressed and made up as Ronald McDonald entertained at a children's party in Lytham.  Everyone present thought he was great and Mark wants to do more entertaining in the future.

November 2005

Our Co-founder of Blackpool Circus School, Allen McPherson, Passed away this afternoon the 14th of November in Victoria Hospital, Blackpool at 1:45PM.
Our thoughts are with his widow Babs McPherson and their daughters, Debbie & Gina.

November 2005

Student features on TV show. Mark Fishwick 12, who started his juggling with Blackpool Circus School, has recorded a programme for ITV called "U Prove it" a scientific children's programme that will be transmitted nationwide in the spring. 

Mark, an original member of the "Easy Riders" got hooked on juggling and balancing when the Circus School visited Arnold School two years ago.  He has appeared on stage many times but this was his first solo effort.

Praise was heaped on him by the two stars of the show, James & Joe.  The director and producer also commented on how professional Mark was in his work and behaviour.  His teachers Yuri & Tonya Gridneff, who accompanied Mark and his mother Karen, to Maidstone, were delighted with his performance and feel that this will be the first of many appearances on TV.

Alan McPherson, a co founder of BCS, who is seriously ill in Victoria hospital, was cheered when he saw a recording of the TV show. This was made possible by the very nice people at Maidstone studios.  His dream and vision of a traditional Circus school was fulfilled by this appearance plus the
earlier performances of the "Easy Riders" (see earlier item below) at the Tower Circus.

News

November 2005

On their first visit to Lytham St Annes, Martin Burton director of Zippos Circus invited Blackpool Circus School to participate in a workshop in the big top.

The artistes took the trouble to dress in costume for the occasion and even Norman Barrett and Charlie Cairoli joined in.  The students were delighted to join in on the trapeze with one of the very best trapeze artistes, Miss Kimberly from the USA.

Greg from Zippos Circus academy helped with the Diabolo and Nicolas Souren took the students in Juggling.  Nicolas was very impressed with Martyn Hawkins (age 8) who juggled 5 rings with him.

Three of the boys were appearing at the Tower Circus on the day of the workshop, so were unable to join in.  Nicolas Souren, very kindly offered them a master class in Juggling on another day and they took advantage of this.  Nicolas impressed Jamie Lee and Yuri  with his ability to throw out 10 rings in practise.  All the students were invited to the show and all together this was an experience that they will never forget.