PR Stunts
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Press Release
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Forget Got to Dance and Strictly Come Dancing, telly bosses are currently battling it out for the rights to bring an even more sequined dance event to our screens, the World Gypsy Dance Championships! The first and only worldwide contest for dancers from the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community is to be hosted in London later this year. Organisers have already begun the worldwide search for the next Gypsy dance star, and are expecting stiff competition for the coveted gold medal.
Running the contest is Irish Romany Gypsy, Róisín Mullins, a former Irish Dance World Medallist and dancer with Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. Róisín has judged thousands of Gypsy acts, including performing horses, in TV talent shows such as Travellers Got Talent and Gypsy and Traveller Face of the Year, alongside singers David Essex and Jentina. But now Róisín will be encouraging Travellers to swap their twenty stone wedding dresses for flamenco skirts, hitch up their wagons, and hit auditions at Traveller fairs, sites and events throughout the UK.
Róisín Mullins said: “The World Gypsy Dance Championships is a fantastic opportunity for dancers to take centre stage. We have already seen singers from the community make it on TV talent shows, but for me, the dancers represent our culture best”.
Joining Róisín to organise the contest will be her Gypsy partner, Irish dance show producer, Jack Jacobs. The pair are keen to show off a more positive side to the community, at what they hope will be the biggest gathering of gypsy dancers in history. Event organiser Jack is particularly excited about revealing the community’s hidden talent.
Jack Jacobs said: “The contest is a real first for the Gypsy and Traveller community. There are some incredibly talented dancers out there, and traditional dance styles that we, in the UK, have never seen before. So the chance to pull Gypsy dancers together from all over the world to compete against one another will be an amazing site”.
Celebrities rumoured to be taking a seat on the judging panel alongside Róisín include world famous Gypsy dancers, and stars from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
As well as heavily diamented costumes and fake tan, the contest promises to deliver an all out battle of traditional versus modern, with Flamenco and Irish dancing facing off against hip hop and street dance.
Entrants can compete in any dance style, but must be from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background.
To enter visit www.worldgypsydancechampionships.com
Press Enquiries:
For all media enquiries please contact: siobhan@connopr.com Tel: 07966 177025 or Jack Jacobs at jackjacobs@live.co.uk
Connor PR entertainment PR Specialist, Connor PR working with Gypsies, Come Dancing
THE YOUTH REBELLION –AN ANTI-PINK AND BLUE PROTEST ROCKS HOUSE OF FRASER, OXFORD STREET
THE YOUTH REBELLION –AN ANTI-PINK AND BLUE PROTEST ROCKS HOUSE OF FRASER, OXFORD STREET
Rockabyebaby
“Stand out from the crowd? Yes please!
Why is the crowd all dressed the same anyway?”
- We’ve learnt to walk – let us stand on our own two feet!
- We’ve learnt to talk – let us have a voice!
Gone are the days when children were seen but not heard – an electric group of future trend-setters were seen protesting on Oxford Street, London, over the weekend. Why? Because they are fed up with being told to wear boring stereotypical clothes! Lucky for them, a new label has come to town.
Anti-stereotype brand, Rockabye-Baby, has a fresh approach to dressing kids and a motto to match – don’t give into mainstream cute. Owner and founder, Emma Parkes-McQueen, believes kids should be able to dress as individually as they think and is spearheading the campaign ‘down with cute; up with cool’. This bright and funky range of luxury cotton clothes for children up to the age of eight looks fantastic and is not designed with ‘three-year-old-Daisy-who-only-wears-pink’ or ‘six-year-old-Max-who-loves-dragons’ in mind. With a musical theme to boot, they are cool clothes that crush clichés.
Just as toy shops have started to listen to the public about the need to scrap the signage of gender-specific toys, Emma believes the same should be said for clothes. Why do we feel the need to even define the sex of our children? Is it because we’re offended if someone thinks our boy is a girl? Is it because we’re worried they will stand out from the crowd?
The history of clothing is an endless read – from a 1918 trade publication stating that pink (the stronger colour) was right for boys and blue (the delicate and dainty option) was the one to dress girls in; to shops publishing charts about which colours were appropriate for which sex; jumping to 1940 when the colours were switched; and then the 1960s seeing a unisex comeback…
This great new brand simply focuses on cool – that’s unisex cool; across the board cool; appealing to all cool. It’s more than a brand. It’s a statement and one that is fun to get behind (and into). With an ethos that makes refreshing sense and a quality that is unrivalled, what’s not to love about this fresh new label!?
Following a competition organised by The Great Retail Revival Foundation, Rockabye-Baby was chosen as one the UK’s hottest new retailers to showcase its clothes at House of Fraser’s POP at HOF – a pop-up at the flagship Oxford Street store. The winner secures a year’s concession online. Champagne Taittinger is partnering the event and customers who buy any POP at HOF brands get a free glass to celebrate.
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Notes to editors:
Owner and founder of Rockabye-Baby, Emma Parkes-McQueen is available for interview.
For all media enquiries please contact:
siobhan@connorpr.com / Tel: 07966 177025
Following a competition organised by The Great Retail Revival Foundation, Rockabye-Baby was chosen as one the UK’s hottest new retailers to showcase its collection at House of Fraser’s POP at HOF – a pop-up at the flagship Oxford Street store. The winner secures a year’s concession online. Champagne Taittinger is partnering the event; customers who buy any POP at HOF product get a free glass of champagne.
About House of Fraser:
House of Fraser is a department store group with 59 enviable locations across the UK and Ireland plus one dot.com concept store. As one of the best known names on the high street, House of Fraser has presented customers with an unrivalled nationwide department store for 165 years. The company announced the sale to Nanjing Cenbest on 12 April 2014 marking the exciting beginning for the company under Chinese ownership. The Group has annual sales of £1.2bn and employs 6,800 House of Fraser staff and 13,000 concession staff through 4.5 million sqft of selling space. Customers can shop at House of Fraser from http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk. During 2013, the Group opened its first international franchise store in Abu Dhabi.
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/rockabye-baby/133581963319701
Twitter: @RockabyeBabyLDN
@gr8retail #popathof @houseoffraser
Website: www.rockabye-baby.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockabyebaby/
www.thegreatretailrevival.org/competition.html
Connor PR working with RockabyeBaby, Connor PR specialist in fashionPR
Connor PR working with The Davis Dyslexia Facilitators Association
TOP BRITISH YOUTUBE CELEBRITY SHAVES HEAD
TO RAISE FUNDS FOR DYSLEXIA HELP
On 1 August 2013, dyslexic singer, artist and make-up artist Klaire de Lys will shave her head to raise bursaries for people with dyslexia and on a limited income to access the Davis Dyslexia Programme.
21-year-old Klaire, who lives in Reading, Berkshire, founded KlairedelysArt in January 2009, a YouTube Channel devoted to artistic make-up tutorials. To date, the channel has accumulated over 380,000 subscribers. There have been over 86,000,000 views of the videos on the channel. Klaire was featured in a recent article in the Observer, “YouTube UK: 20 of Britain’s most popular online video bloggers”.
After years of going undiagnosed, Klaire underwent a Davis Dyslexia Programme to address her personal challenges with dyslexia. “To say that that experience made a difference is a serious understatement,” says Klaire. “It changed my life completely and gave me the tools to achieve things I could only dream of before.”
The Davis Dyslexia Programme was created by Ronald Davis, author of the internationally best-selling book, “The Gift of Dyslexia”. The programme originated out of Davis’ own experience of severe dyslexia and is now provided in over 30 languages and in more than 45 countries. It plays to the perceptual talents inherent in dyslexia and makes innovative use of plasticine clay as a learning medium.
“At present, the Davis Programme receives no state funding,” says Richard Whitehead, Director of Davis Learning Foundation, the non-profit UK arm of Davis Dyslexia Association International. “We are delighted with Klaire’s amazing gesture, which will bring the benefits of the programme to people who could never have dreamt of them before.”
At the same time as shaving her head, Klaire will launch her new band, Fenix, with a song that is all about her experiences with dyslexia.
“I’m hoping that by approaching this project by both shaving my head to raise awareness, and releasing my song Paper Wings, I can really make a difference in the lives of Dyslexics,” says Klaire. “Not only raising funds to help, but also by hopefully creating a song which will continue to raise awareness long after my hair has grown back.”
People with dyslexia will not be the only people to benefit from Klaire’s gesture. After shaving her head, Klaire plans to donate her hair to Wigs for Kids, a non-profit company providing hair replacement for children who have lost their hair because of cancer treatment, burns and other medical issues.
Further information:
Klaire’s video about the campaign:
Campaign web page (for donations):
http://igg.me/at/dyslexiahelp/x/3930552
http://www.youtube.com/user/KlairedelysArt
http://www.unlocking-learning.co.uk/
http://www.wigsforkids.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/07/youtube-uk-20-online-video-bloggers
Connor PR runs successful Creative Enhancement event at Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury
Spring is here and the daffodils have finally been brave enough to open their heads and now we are inviting you to dip your toes into a little bit of summer after work and join us for an evening of Pimms, delicious treats, expert advice and lots of great offers to help you get your body gorgeous for summer!
Creative Enhancement Permanent Cosmetics and Cedar House Clinic invite you to join them for an early evening ‘Look Fab, Feel Fantastic’ event at the Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury on 15th May 2013 between 5.30pm -8pm in aid of the Severn Hospice.
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Creative Enhancement
You will be able to enjoy the taste of summer with Pimms, strawberries and canapés served to you by the wonderful staff at the Lion Hotel and talk to the experts about treatments you may never have known existed.
You will have a great opportunity to speak with Mr Stewart Good, Consultant at Cedar House Clinic and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) about surgical and non surgical cosmetic treatments such as, anti-wrinkle injectables, dermal fillers, fat removal with skin tightening, cellulite removal, and facial laser rejuvenation.
Jo Bregazzi-Udakis, a Permanent Cosmetic and Medical Tattooing Specialist Nurse of Creative Enhancement will be on hand to discuss the long lasting and striking effects that her up-to-date Semi-Permanent Makeup techniques using high quality pigments giving you sparkling eyes that can take 5-10 years off your looks. Jo can also advise on how her Semi-Permanent Makeup can increase your self-confidence through camouflaging surgical scars, hair loss, vitiligo and reconstruction of nipples and areolas after mastectomy surgery.
You will also be able to seek advice from a specialist hypnotherapist and Registered Nurse, Maria Fielding, whose expertise is in hypnosis for Behavioural Change, Anxiety, Motivation, Confidence, Presentation/Exam Nerves, Phobias & other Irrational Fears, Weight loss & Hypnotic Gastric Band and IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and many other issues.
Acupuncturist, Bronwen Lloyd-Hughes will also be available to advise on the wide range of treatments that she is able to offer using traditional acupuncture techniques She regularly treats clearly defined complains such as neck, back and knee pain through to more general feelings of ill health such as nausea, low energy and stress related problems.
There will also be a perfect chance to experience the fast acting benefits of ‘Remedial Massage’, easing away those aches and pains you may have developed after the long cold winter of driving your car instead of walking or sitting for long periods of time in your office or at home. Many of us feel we can just start the long awaited exercise programme that was on our new year’s resolution list come spring or start heavy DIY or work in the garden without really thinking about how our muscles are going to cope with such sudden workload. Steve Udakis, a Sport and Remedial Massage Therapist, can advise on posture correction, exercise techniques, trigger points (knots in the muscles) and how they can cause increasing chronic pain and minimise movement in the joints if untreated. Steve can also advise on how to treat these trigger points before starting the fitness programme or building the new patio. If however, you have already injured yourself with overzealous DIY, gardening or sport, Steve can also advise on treatment programmes for your injuries.
Media enquiries:
Please contact Siobhan at Connor PR click here Tel 07966177025
Notes to editors:
Guests will be asked to donate £4 for drinks and canapés, all proceeds to go to the Severn Hospice.
Connor PR working with Sam Pooley Wallpaper Project
We love our boobs so much we turned them into wallpaper
– 300 ladies get it off their chest by baring their breasts for wallpaper
– 25% of proceeds of the wallpaper to go to coppafeel website, a breast cancer awareness charity
– Artist Sam Pooley took part in her own topless photo-shoot describing it as “an invigorating experience”. She has posted one of the photographs on her website boobwallpaper website
As the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words. Likewise, for one Shropshire artist, a wall became an expression of her personality. More than 300 women have been photographed topless as part of a project to create limited-edition wallpaper of women’s breasts.
With a renewed campaign to ban Page 3 models; topless women demanding equal rights on the streets of New York; controversy raging over paparazzi pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing semi-nude; and Angelina Jolie revealing she’s had a mastectomy, breasts are very much in the news. This inspired artist Sam Pooley, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire to think about how she feels about her own breasts. Sam did a topless photo shoot in The Quarry, a local park in Shrewsbury town centre – it was both terrifying and liberating.
Sam embarked on a tour of the UK visiting York, London, Bath, Bristol, Northampton, Totnes, Chester & Watford, looking to recruit women to bare breasts of all different shapes, ages and sizes. Sam discovered that the majority of women she photographed didn’t like their breasts. She was inspired to create an artwork that celebrated breasts and in the process, enabled women to feel liberated by the experience and have their self-confidence boosted.
The breast has been an image used in art for many thousands of years, from Stone Age fertility goddesses and classical sculpture to breast-feeding Italian Renaissance Madonna’s and fleshy modern nudes. It has been revered as life-giving, wholesome and liberating. In modern times, photographic images of breasts have become something smutty or rude, while women in many African and South Pacific cultures wander around bare-chested and no-one bats an eyelid.
Sam Pooley says she has been overwhelmed by the response and the inspiring personal stories of many of the volunteers.
“The women in the wallpaper are from all walks of life, from the age of 19 right up to an 82-year-old grandmother.” she said.
“The wallpaper tells so many stories of women who have had mastectomies, breast reductions and enlargements, lifts and tucks, even a professional wet nurse who has breast-fed over 50 children.
“I’ve received some truly inspirational emails from women who’ve had breast cancer and wanted to be part of this campaign. I’m amazed at the stories coming out.”
The final artwork will be unveiled at Miss Pooley’s fine art degree show at Birmingham City University School of Art alongside a soundtrack of some women talking about their breasts. It will be reproduced and sold as limited-edition wallpaper with 25% of proceeds from the sale going towards breast cancer research.
***Sam Pooley is available for interview***
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Notes to editors:
Sam Pooley is available for interview, for any media enquiries please contact Siobhan at ConnorPR Tel 07966 177025 / Siobhan@connorpr.com
Case studies of are available on request.
Sam Pooley Biography
Is an artist and a mother. She lives in Shrewsbury Shropshire. She is studying Fine Art at Birmingham City University School of Art.
Sam has many fingers in many pies. She shares a shop Compost & Gooseberry in The Market Hall Shrewsbury where she sells her art and other Artisans creations. She runs Compost Kids art classes for children of all ages. She is the features editor for Severn Magazine where she has a regular column showcasing local creative talent, she works as a creative consultant and has even been known to design and coordinate events.