From bird box building and bee keeping to Chinese New Year celebrations and children’s shows, there’s plenty to do in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe and Woodbridge this weekend.
For more ideas, check out our packed Event guide every Friday and our entertainment writer @WhatsonWayne on Twitter.
Family Friday, bird box building at Lackford Lakes, Friday, February 19, 1.30pm-3.30pm
Build a bird box and bird feeder with your family to take home.
The Last Wild? Foxburrow Farm, Friday, February 19, 10am-2pm
Orienteering in the woods for six-10 year olds, play extinction challenge games and make animal crafts to take home.
Wildlife time travellers! Knettishall Heath, Friday, February 19, 2pm-4pm
Travel back in time on the heath through trails and activities. Discover the different animals that have lived on the heath. Turn detective and use natures clues to work out the food chains and the wildlife crime scenes.
Landguard Fort half-term trail
Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, to Sunday, February 21, 10am-3pm
Pick up your sheet and Landguard Fort pencil and start exploring.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Shotley Village Hall, to Saturday, February 20, 7pm today, 2.30pm and 7pm tomorrow
Shotley Drama Group’s cast of 30, ranging from adults and children, plus the usual backstage crew stage their annual family pantomime. It staged its first with only five cast members in 1983. Over the years it has staged more than 40 shows including pantomimes, plays and reviews.
Chinese New Year
Ipswich Corn Exchange, 7pm, February 21
The Anglo Chinese Cultural Exchange (ACCE) returns with another show to celebrate 2016 - the Year of the Monkey. If you saw last year’s successful family show you’ll know to expect an exciting line-up, with professional performers including martial artists, dancers, singers and Suffolk talent showcased too.
The Boy Who Bit Picasso Palgrave Community Centre, 11.30am and 2pm, Saturday, February 20
Part of Corn Hall on tour, Untied Artists present this family show inspired by Antony Penrose’s well-loved book.
It follows Tony who becomes friends with Pablo Picasso, telling the true story of how he spent his childhood with one of the greatest artists who ever lived.
Audiences are invited to take part in a variety of hands-on art and craft activities, aimed at everyone aged four and upwards. There will also be storytelling and music.
Carmen and Madam Butterfly Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, 7.30pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, February 23-24; Princes Theatre, Clacton, 7.30pm, February 21
OperaUpClose returns for a third year with their new English version of Bizet’s popular opera Carmen.
Set in a torrid South American landscape of dust and concrete, where small-town boredom and machismo can turn nasty; she captivates and provokes, disturbing the composure of everyone she encounters. When Carmen meets Jose, sparks fly but as her passion cools, his turns to obsession.
Meanwhile, the highly acclaimed Russian State Opera returns with Puccini’s tragic opera Madam Butterfly.
Set in Japan at the turn of the century, it tells the story of a doomed love affair between an American naval officer and his young Japanese bride, whose self-sacrifice and defiance of her family leads to heartbreak and tragedy.
Bee-keeping introductory course
People’s Community Garden, Maidenhall Allotments, Halifax Road, Ipswich, February 22, 1.30pm-3.30pm
Led by Betsy Reid, it will cover the relevance and importance of bee-keeping, how a bee colony lives and works, different kinds of hive and how they work, the beekeeping year, queens, swarming, pests and diseases, bees, plants and hive products and getting started.
Call 01473 345350 or email jo@activlives.org.uk to book your place.
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