The Eastgate - w/c 17 April 2008

17th 7.30pm
Johnson & Boswell – Late But Live
Stewart Lee the Television star and comedian extraordinaire serves up a real delight with this latest offering. Miles Jupp, star of Balimory and a well known comedian in his own right is joined by Edinburgh Festival and BBC Radio 3 star Simon Munnery. “Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.” (Samuel Johnson). “In England you have better horses, and in Scotland we have better men.” (James Boswell). A combination of stand-up and storytelling - “this is a spellbinding, giggle-engendering hour”. The Scotsman. This show sold out at last years Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Early booking advised.

Fri 18th 7.30 pm
The Borders Strathspey & Reel Society
A special concert in aid of Scottish HART, who provide screening and defibrillators for detection of early heart disease. Tickets for this event will be in short supply and high demand; early booking recommended.

Sat 19th 7.30pm
Fondoo
Dip in to the live music melting pot... An eclectic range of original live music to suit every taste, mixing fresh new sounds and your favourite local acts. Sample the delicacies of forthcoming acts at www.fondoo.eu

Wed 23rd 7.30pm
David Binns Lecture
Dave Binns was invited to visit Spain in 2001 and became absolutely addicted to the country, especially the rich diversity of the landscape, flora and fauna. He uses 35mm film with a Pentax MZ7 and a 28-300mm lens.

Thu 24th 7.30pm
Ga Ga
If you enjoyed our last tribute band... then hold onto your socks... or GA GA will blow them off! From playing at the International Queen Convention to appearing on TV, GA GA continue to prove why they are highly rated by critics and audiences alike. No wigs, no make-up, definitely no false moustaches but a host of massive Queen songs played like they were meant to be.

Fri 25th 8pm
Toast
The popular youth cafe returns and brings the usual friendly mix of bands, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, pool, table tennis, bar football, all for High School age youngsters. It’s the only youth event of its kind in Peebles! Contact Shona Haslam 01721 721783 for details.

Scottish Borders Healthy Choices Awards 2008

2 of our members - Lazels at Peebles Hotel Hydro and 1745 Restaurant, Traquair, are the latest catering establishments to gain the Scottish Borders Healthy Choices Award - for their commitment to developing, providing and promoting healthy food choices.

Len Cumming, Head Chef at Peebles Hotel Hydro feels it is important to work at a local level: "There are a number of community initiatives in Tweeddale that we are keen to support, passing on some of our skills and knowledge relating to healthy cooking and healthy eating. A real focus for us is our work with children and we have the facilities within Lazels to allow us to do this. Attaining the Scottish Borders Healthy Choices Award also complements the work we are doing at a national level neither of which we could do without the support we have from Douglas Macmillan, Director."

Rob Dalgleish, chef at 1745, was delighted to receive the award: "This award gives us a real boost at the start of the new season. Visitors to Traquair House have the opportunity to go for a nice walk in the grounds and then stop in the café for a bite to eat with a delicious range of healthier dishes to choose from."

Read more at the NHS Borders website.

Caddon View Wins Awards

Steve and Lisa at Caddon View are pleased to report that they have received a number of awards from Hotel Review Scotland following a visit by Gary McLean, the Editor.

They have received a Silver Plate Dining Award, a Breakfast Rosette awarded to hotels that provide a truly excellent breakfast and a Hospitality Award which is 'awarded on merit to extra-friendly hotels, ones where we feel especially confident guests will receive real hospitality'.

We are very proud to have achieved this within a year of us taking over the hotel.

You can see the full review here.

And this month there is a focus on the Borders, and several Tweed Valley members are featured, with Caddon View featured as Guest House of the Month.

The Eastgate - w/c 10 April 2008

Thu 10th 7.30pm
Brian Friel’s Winners & Losers
Theatre Crave & Emotional Tramps Theatre with two one-act plays by Brian Friel. Winners: a couple discussing their marriage, education, family and lives as parents-to-be. Losers: a couple with an overbearing, bedridden catholic mother, a nosy neighbour and St Philomena.

Fri 11th 7.30pm
Karine Polwart
The multiple BBC Folk Award winning songwriter, and new mum, comes to the Eastgate to let us hear her stunning musical and song-writing talents. This show is sold out.

Sat 12th 7.30pm
Abba-Cadabra
Re-live the magic of ABBA with the UK’s number one ABBA-tribute show. Join in and enjoy all of your favourites including: Waterloo, Mamma Mia, Thank You For The Music, Dancing Queen, Winner Takes It All, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme... and many more!!!

Sun 13th
Film Sunday
Underdog (U)
2.30pm 1hr 24mins
A bomb-sniffing beagle is fired from the mayor's office for a faux pas. That night a mad scientist dognaps him and injects him with an elixir. The dog escapes, but now has superpowers. He's adopted by a security guard - an ex-cop, who's a widower with a moody teen son, Jack. The boy discovers that the dog, named Shoeshine by dad, has super powers, but it's their little secret. While Underdog saves people in distress, the mad scientist and his underling continue their plot to catch him and take over the city. There's also a girl Jack likes who has a dog that Shoeshine takes a shine to. Will every dog have his day?

No Country For Old Men (15)
7.30pm 2hrs
“No Country for Old Men” tells the story of a drug deal gone wrong and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama, as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980West Texas. The film melds the themes of fate and circumstance the Coens have previously used in Blood Simple and Fargo with the novel's motifs of chance, free-will, and determinism.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun – Times called it "as good a film as the Coen brothers... have ever made A Guardian journalist said the film proved "that the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah, are matched by few living directors. The film was honored with numerous awards, garnering four Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay), three British Academy of Film Awards

Tue 15th 4pm
Heelie-Go-Leerie (Head Over Heels)
Where have we come from and where are we going: to the moon, the stars even? What will we find: dragons in the dustbin, fishes on the roof? An exuberant show for families, with bagpipes, drumming, dancing, games and songs. Free materials down-loadable from www.licketyspit.com

Thu 17th 7.30pm
Johnson & Boswell – Late But Live
Written by TV Comedian Stewart Lee this side-splitting show features Balimory Star Miles Jupp and star of comedy at Edinburgh Festival Fringe Simon Munnery. This show is a superb opportunity to see quality comedy outside of the Fringe and in the Borders. “Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.” (Samuel Johnson). “In England you have better horses, and in Scotland we have better men.” (James Boswell). A combination of stand-up and storytelling - “this is a spellbinding, giggle-engendering hour”. The Scotsman.

Fri 18th 7.30 pm
The Borders Strathspey & Reel Society
A special concert in aid of Scottish HART, who provide screening and defibrillators for detection of early heart disease. Tickets for this event will be in short supply and high demand; early booking recommended.

Tontine Hotel Spring Offer

Kate from the Tontine Hotel in Peebles tells me that they have a special last minute offer from now until the 10th April (last booking date) offering a rate of £45 per person including dinner, bed and breakfast (minimum stay 2 nights based on sharing a twin or double room) from Sunday to Thursday.

The Eastgate - w/c 3rd April 2008

Fri 4th April 7.30pm
Simon Thacker and Camerata Ritmata
Simon Thacker (classical guitar) with three jazz musicians: Paul Kirby (piano), Mario Caribé da Rocha (bass) and Stuart Brown (percussion). The programme will include works from their repertoire in the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe, completed by the sultry and evocative sounds of Brazil.

Tue 8th April 12.30 and 3.30pm
The Tin Soldier
A little boy is given a present of 12 tin soldiers. One soldier is very different from the rest. So begins the story of a very special toy, and his extraordinary journey. This production from Storybox Theatre retains all the beauty and magic of one of Hans Christian Andersen’s best-loved tales.

Thu 10th April 7.30pm
Brian Friel's Winners & Losers
Theatre Crave & Emotional Tramps Theatre with two one-act plays by Brian Friel. Winners: a couple discussing their marriage, education, family and lives as parents-to-be. Losers: a couple with an overbearing, bedridden catholic mother, a nosy neighbour and St Philomena.

Fri 11th April7.30pm
Karine Polwart
The multiple BBC Folk Award winning songwriter, and new mum, comes to the Eastgate to let us hear her stunning musical and songwriting talents. This show has almost completely sold out…severely restricted view seats only... we did warn you!

Outdoor Show 2008 Video Update

Spring Offer from Caddon View

During April, if you are visiting Innerleithen, Traquair, Glentress or Peebles, why not spend 3 nights at Caddon View for the price of 2 nights?

Please quote Spring Offer on booking.

Note: there is no availability on April 4th, 28th or 29th April.

The Eastgate - w/c 27th March 2008

THU 27th March 7.30pm
Skin
Using captivating physical expression to discover what makes us function as a human being, ACE Dance explores the invisible signals we give out and the force and flow of feelings running through our veins. From the outside we look different, but underneath, aren't we all the same?

FRI 28th March 7.30pm
Preston Reed
"Spectacular... the best one-man show this reviewer has seen since Bruce Springsteen... A terrific performer" The Irish Independent.
"Widely thought of as the world's most gifted guitarist”" Total Guitar.
"Amazing... hypnotic" The Scotsman.
Returning to Peebles with his dazzling technique.

SAT 29th March 7.30pm
Richard Digance
Appealing to all ages and a regular on TV's Countdown, Richard is one of Britain's top comedy and music attractions. He is a rare performer - respected by comedians for his original material and by musicians for being one of Britain's top acoustic guitarists.

SUN 30th March 2.30 and 7.30pm
FILM SUNDAY
The Water Horse (PG)
2.30pm 1hr 51min
A 2007 fantasy film directed by Jay Russell. An adaption of Dick King-Smith's children's novel The Water Horse. It stars Alex Etel as a young boy who discovers a mysterious egg and cares for what hatches of it: a 'water horse' that becomes the fabled Loch Ness Monster. Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and David Morrissey also star.

The Bucket List (12A)
7.30pm 1hr 37mins
Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with cancer. They become friends as they undergo their respective treatments. Both are diagnosed with a year or less to live. Carter begins writing a "bucket list," or things to do before "he kicks the bucket." While not a serious list of intentions, he is goaded into going through with it when Cole discovers the list. Cole pushes Carter, and promises to pay for everything. Despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd), Carter agrees. The pair then begin an around-the-world vacation, embarking on everything from race car driving to sky diving to climbing the Pyramids to hunting lion Safari in Africa. Along the way they discuss faith and family, and learn from each other.

MON 31st March 12.30 and 3.30pm
The Man Who Planted Trees
This show sold out last time round... Puppet State Theatre Company bring a magical, comical, multi-sensory adaptation of Jean Giono's well-loved children's story. Accompanied by his faithful dog, a French shepherd sets out to plant a forest and revive a barren and desolate land.

FRI 4th April 7.30pm
Simon Thacker and Camerata Ritmata
Simon Thacker (classical guitar) with three jazz musicians: Paul Kirby (piano), Mario Caribé da Rocha (bass) and Stuart Brown (percussion). The programme will include works from their repertoire in the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe, completed by the sultry and evocative sounds of Brazil.

The Eastgate - w/c 20th March 2008

FRI 21st & SAT 22nd 7.30pm
Hostage, by Tweed Theatre
World premiere. The late 15th century saw Muslim fundamentalist jihad in North Africa and Andalus, and the determination of Christian rulers to extend their power.. At the Holy Cross in Peebles, the Trinitarian Order is devoted to the redemption of the Christian captives of the Moors...

TUE 25th 7.30pm
Schools Outreach Halyrude
In the Eastgate’s fifth school project our Outreach Worker Mandy Durkin has turned Halyrude’s P3s and P4s into Jumblies! Come and see them set sail in a sieve and explore new lands, in this classic poem by Edward Lear.

WED 26th 7.30pm
Mr McFall’s Chamber
An adventurous group of classically-trained musicians who break down barriers – mixing genres, bridging different musical traditions and different art forms. They’re joined by Fraser Fifield, Tom Bancroft and James Mackintosh, in a celebration of the late, great Martyn Bennett.

THU 27th 7.30pm
Skin
Using captivating physical expression to discover what makes us function as a human being, ACE Dance explores the invisible signals we give out and the force and flow of feelings running through our veins. From the outside we look different, but underneath, aren't we all the same?

FRI 28th 7.30pm
Preston Reed
“Spectacular... the best one-man show this reviewer has seen since Bruce Springsteen…A terrific performer” The Irish Independent. “Widely thought of as the world’s most gifted guitarist” Total Guitar. “Amazing... hypnotic” The Scotsman. Returning to Peebles with his dazzling technique.