1.  Weather:  We are hoping for fine (dry) weather on Saturday, but should we be unlucky then we have a Plan B, to hold the Festival inside the Rochester Community Hub.  So please come, whatever the weather.

2.  Eastgate House Exhibition: Something Old Something New - Discover the story of how wedding customs have changed throughout the years.  Special offer entrance price of just £2/ person (carers free, usul price £5.50) when you show your MNAF Sticker.  These stickers are given free at our Welcome desk and we will be using the issue of stickers as a measure of attendance, that forms part of our Art Festival evaluation.

3.  Evaluation Forms:  We are asking everybody to please complete a Neuro Arts Festival Evaluation Form, when leaving the Festival. Tell us what you think about the Festival as this will help us learn what we have done right, and what needs improving.  Completed Forms will be entered into a draw, and the winner will receive a Medway Adult Education voucher worth £50 off any course.

4.  Food for sale within the Festival Site:

a).  Jaspers Community Cafe within Rochster Community Hub will be selling boxed Ploughman's Lunches and/ or a Cream Teas, that can be eaten in Eastgate Gardens (weather permitting).

b).  Miss Twinkelton's Fine Coffee House in Eastgate offers a range of sandwiches, jacket potatoes and beverages hot and cold.

Medway Neurological Network (MNN), in partnership with Medway Adult Education (MAE) and Nucleus Arts, has organised a Medway Neuro Arts Festival on 20 - 21 July 2019.  This will aim to highlight the therapeutic benefts of Arts for those with neurological conditions.  Another feature of the planned Neuro-Arts festival is that it will provide neurological information and signpost participants to relevant local support.

The main venue for Saturday 20 July will be the Rochester Community Hub/ Library/ Medway Adult Education building and Eastgate House & Gardens, see attached flyer to the right.  Arts being showcased will be in 4 zones: Music & Poetry Corner; Dance;  Health & Wellbeing (Tai Chi, Yoga, Mindfulness); and Visual & Creative Arts. There will also be a range of neurological support information stalls, outside in Eastgate & Eastgate Gardens. Inside Rochester Hub there will be a great ART Exhibition with works submitted by local artists who have a connection with neurological conditions. Please note that entrance to this main venue and associated activities is FREE AND no tickets are required to enter.  

Jane Cullen's play 'Say that again' - based on her successful book of the same title - will be premiered on Saturday 20 July. The Hempstead Players will be performing the play at Eastgate House, 5.30pm to 7.30pm. After the play there will be a Q/A session with the author.

Entrance is FREE, but this performance is by ticket only and is already SOLD OUT.

BREAKING NEWS: By popular demand the Hempstead Players have kindly agreed to put on a SECOND performance of this play on Sunday 21 July, 5.30 to 6.30pm at Eastgate House.  Again, tickets are FREE, but must be booked through EventBrite, as seats are limited.  Book now by clicking this LINK to EventBrite.

Film Festival: Sunday 21 July, with a neurological theme, at the Huguenot Museum, Rochester, running 11am to 1pm and then 2pm to 4pm. Entrance is FREE, but tickets must be booked prior to the event using Eventbrite, by clicking HERE. Please note that this link takes you to booking tickets for the MORNING session of the Film Festival only.  To book the AFTERNOON session either follow the link at the bottom of the above EventBrite page, or go directly by clicking HERE. Tickets are still available for both the morning and afternoon sessions.

To see the Film Festival Programme, morning and afternoon, please click HERE.

The Morning Session features the main film: Kinetics by Sue Wylie, who will be in attendance for Q/A after the showing.  This film is about the authors own story and follows the unlikely friendship between an exceptionally bright but bored student who finds release in Parkour (aka free running), and a middle aged women with early onset Parkinson's. Two characters at polar opposites, but both with a shared desire to move. The play takes an honest and open look at what it is like to live with a chronic condition, while bringing humour and empathy to deliver a very human story.

The Afternoon Session features the main film: Recovery, that deals with the life of Alan Hamilton (played by David Tennant), the former head of a construction firm, after he receives serious personality-changing brain injuries in a road accident, and the emotional feeling of his family. Tricia, his wife (played by Sarah Parish) struggles because the man she knew has gone. Q&A with Jane Etheridge from HeadwayMedway.

Festival Sponsors: Rochester Riverside has kindly agreed to part-fund this event with a grant of £5,000 - thank you!!! A cheque hand-over ceremony, conducted by Deputy-Mayor Cllr. Habib Tejan, on 20 May was used to launch the Medway Neuro-Arts Festival, see below for more details. More good news - Jane Cullen, author of the play 'Say that Again', has not only offered to pay for the hire of Eastgate House for the performance of her play, but also donated £500 to the Festival from the proceeds of her book sales. Many thanks indeed, Jane. 

If you would like more information, or have any suggestions or comments, then please contact MNN by email: info@medwayneuro.org.uk