FREE!April 2011informer.cumbria.ac.uk

NEWS FEATURES ENTERTAINMENTN F E

SU ELECTIONSMartin Dodd interview P12

ROYAL WEDDINGHow are you celebrating P6

SUMMER EVENTSEssential guide P4

CARLISLE WELCOMES RADIO 1’s BIG WEEKEND+

OMG!! Picture: BBC

Big Weekend is coming to Carlisle...Just some of the per-formers to grace the main stage include;Foo Fighters – American Alternative rock band Foo fighters will grace the main stage with hits such as “The Pretender” and “All my life” as well as songs from their new album, “Wasting Light.” The band, who have been around since 1994, takes its name from the UFO and various aerial phenomena reported during World War 2, collectively known as the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl as awarded a “God-like genius” award at the NME awards by Roger Daltry.Jessie J – Born Jessica Ellen Cornish in Redbridge London, Jessie J shot to fame with “Do it like a Dude” which peaked at Number 2 in the UK. She then had her first number 1 with “Price-tag.” She has previously written songs for Miley Cyrus and Chris Brown. She confessed to being bisexual in a radio in-terview earlier this year and she was awarded the Critics Choice award at this years

Just some of the acts to tread the boards of the new music stage are;Panic at the Disco - the band consists of american rock duo Breden Urie and Spencer Smith. Their genre has been called evrything from pop punk to Baroque pop. They wil perfomring songs from their hit album “A fever you can’t sweat out” including “I write sins, not tradgedies.”Swedish House Mafia - A little trip to sweden is in order for this trio. With songs like “One” and “Miami 2 Ibiza” the band with a random name are a

perfect follow up to the Foo Fighters. Friendly Fires - Ed Macfar-lane, Jack Savidge, and Edd Gibson make up the band and they will be performing songs from their self-titled album.

Cage the Elephant - The Kentucky rock band are leaving america to join us in Carlisle. they will be performing songs

from their album “Thank you, Happy Birthday.” Nero - The duo are promising a sci-fi inspired set at the Big Weekend. They have remixed the likes of Beyonce, Dizzee Rascal and The Streets.

Everything Every-thing - This British alternative rock band formed bck in 2007 and released their debut album “Man Alive” last year. They are previous winner of the BBC’s sound of music award and are back in the North West to entertain Carlisle revellers. Wretch 32 - Rap artist Jermaine Scott,

better known by his stage name Wretch 32 will be performing 2011 singles “Traktor” and “Unortho-dox.”

BRIT Awards. Tinie Tempah – Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, won to awards at this year BRITs including Best Single and Best breakthrough act. Appearing first on Channel U, Tinie shot to fame with number 1 singles “Pass

Out” and “Written in the stars”Black Eyed Peas – Will.i.am, Fergie, Taboo and apl.de.pe will grace the Main stage and put on a show good enough for the American Super Bowl. We hope to hear hits such as “Imma be” and “Where is

the love?”Plan B - Benjamin Paul Bal-lance Drew, better known by his stage name, “Plan B” will be performing hits from his album “The Defamtion of Strictland.” Did you know? That he used to deal can-nabis. Ellie Goulding - Miss Gould-ing was the reciepient of the

Sound of 2010 BBC award and her cover of Elton Johns “Your Song” reached number 2 in the UK singles chart after being released for the John Lewis Christmas ad campaign. She is also co-wrote Gabriella Cilmi’s “Love me because you want to” and songs for Diana Vickers.

Main Stage

In New Music We Trust Stage

2 April 2011

Carlisle’s Airport is the venue of choice for the two-day festival, and will be graced with a star studded line-up, including performers such as Tinie Tempah, The Strokes, Plan B and Black Eyed Peas.Roughly 40,000 people from Carlisle and the surrounding areas will be able to get their hands on tickets by register-ing on Radio 1’s website. But fans penning the big weekend into their diary could face disappointment as tickets will be handed out via a ballot.Commenting on ticket al-location BBC Radio 1 Editor of Live Events said:“We expect a lot of interest again this year, in Bangor last May we saw almost half a million people apply and obviously no one can be guaranteed a ticket.“Everyone in Carlisle will feel the benefit – we’re bringing some huge inter-

national and UK artists to the city and it should have a huge impact on the area.”Although rumour had reached fever pitch and Carlisle was hotly tipped as the destination of choice, the announcement was officially made by Scott Mills on the Radio 1 breakfast show this morning. Confirmation that the City would hold the event took place at Carlisle’s Trinity School where Mills, stepping in for Chris Moyles, broadcast live in a packed out school hall.“I’m buzzing to have been able to reveal that Carlisle is the city of choice for the big weekend, just to see the re-action from the pupils here, it was a special moment.” Said Mills.Last year the event was held in Bangor in North Wales, generating a £3.5 million investment for the city and surrounding areas. Mike Mitchelson Leader of Car-

Saturday 14 May

Friends Electric, Rizzle Kicks, Luke Bingham, Satur-day Night Gym Club, Yaaks, Zane Lowe, Jaymo and Andy George, Judge Jules, Pete Tong, Riva Starr, Pete Tong vs Vernon Kay, Rob Da Bank, Mistajam, Annie Mac vs Grimmy, Target, Cameo and Westwood.

Also appearing...

The Informer’s Tom Burrows and Amy Shadbolt guide you through the biggest thing to happen to the city in decades

Big Weekend is coming to Carlisle...

Even more acts will be storm-ing the stage on SundayThe Strokes - In 1998, in the hustle and bustle of New York City, The Strokes were born. The five piece indie rock band will be performing hits from their 4 albums including “is this it” and “Angles” The Strokes have won countless awards including 4 NME’s and they will come to Carlisle to show us why. Two door cinema club - the indie rock band are formed in 2007 and released their debut album “Tourist History” in 2010. The band take their local cinema, Tudor cinema and they first met at grammar school in Bangor. The Vaccines - The London based indie rock band formed in 2010 and wasted no time in

Main Stage of Gerard Way, who decided to form the band shortly after the September 11 attacks. He said the event affected him so much that he was

inspired to start a band. If the band don’t play “Teenagers” I will be one unahppy bunny.Bruno Mars - We think he’s amazing just the way he is. Bruno has dominated the UK chart with songs like “Just the way you are” and “Gre-nade” and he even co-wrote

Cee Lo Greens “Forget you.”Oh and he would catch a grenade for you, Bless. Olly Murs - Essex boy

Olly will perfrom his hit songs “Thinking of Me” and “Please don’t let me go.” as well as others from his new album. Did you know that Olly used to work in a call centre and has appeared on tv show Deal or No Deal. The Script - Fresh from their UK arena tour, the irish trio are coming to delight Carlisle with their performances of “We Cry” and “The Man who can’t be moved.” forming in

1996 the band has sup-ported U2 and their music has been featured on pro-grammes such as Vampie Diaries, 90210 and East-enders. If Your music has been on Eastenders you know you have made it.

releas-ing their debut album “What did you expect from the vac-cines?” in 2011. Noah and the Whale - Bringing a slightly different flavour to the stage is indie folk group, Noah and th Whale.. Originally from Twickenham, London the band take their name from the bands favourite films. They will be performing “5 years time” and “Shape of my heart.”Magnetic Man - Dubstep trio were picked up by Zane Lowe

on Radio one and have had hits with “I need air” and “per-fect Stranger.” They also did a cover of Willow Smith’s, “I whip my Hair back and forth” which we hope they will bring with them to Carlisle.

Also appearing...Among Brothers, Linc, Masters in France, MOPP, MyElectick, Skream and Benga, Annie Mac, Toddla T, Fabio and Grooverider, Kutski, Kissy Sell Out, Calvin Harris, Westwood vs Moyles, Jaguar Skills, Zane vs Fearne, Dev, Semtex, Westwood with Wiz Khalifa PA.

3April 2011

Sunday 15 May

lisle City Council believes that the ‘Big Weekend’ will have similar success, this time in Cumbria.“The event provides a great opportunity to promote how great Carlisle is to the rest of the UK and will provide a boost to our local tourism and economy.“I’m sure our local communi-ties will relish the opportu-nity to be a part of this world class event on their door-step . We would like to thank Carlisle Tourism Partnership for their support and look forward to welcoming BBC Radio 1 to the City in May.Marie Whitehead, Director of Carlisle Tourism Partner-ship, added: “This is without doubt the single biggest event to happen in Carlisle this side of the Millennium.”Last year Radio 1 gave students in Bangor the op-portunity to earn themselves tickets to the event by taking part in beach clean-

ing in North Wales. This year’s campaign plans to do similar things, involving local communities, residents and students in volunteer-ing campaigns to benefit the area.Speaking on behalf of the SU at the announcement, Martin Dodd Representation Sabbatical said:“This is just one of the benefits of getting involved with volunteering schemes through the SU, if it wasn’t for SU volunteering we wouldn’t be able to be here today and I hope that now Radio 1’s Big Weekend has been confirmed as coming to Carlisle there will be more opportunities for students in the coming weeks.”However, with the final count for tickets being well over 600,000 and only 40,000 tickets available, it looks like there wil be quite a few disa-pointed faces come April 12, when the draw will be held.

The Informer’s Tom Burrows and Amy Shadbolt guide you through the biggest thing to happen to the city in decades

A second day of huge acts on the main stage include;jLady Gaga - Thats right, the princess of pop is cming to Carlisle and she is bringing with her all the glory of her Mon-ster tour. In a show that promises to be completely zany, Gaga will eb sing-ing the like of “Poker face” “Alejandro! and “Born this way” as well as other songs from her new album due out the week af-ter the Big Weekend. Gaga is sure to be the main attraction on Saturday. My Chemical Romance - After their recent success at this years NME awards, the american rock group are heading to Carlisle with singles from their epic al-bum “Welsome to the Black Parade.” The band consists

In New Music We Trust Stage

There are so many reasons I love summer. But the main one is all the amazing things that go on that simply could not happen in winter. Here is my pick of the best. 1. Notting Hill Carnival – Held every year since 1966 the Notting Hill carnival is the largest street festival in Europe. The streets come alive with colour and costume. Originally starting as a West Indian festival the carnival is now a full blown celebration. Over 40,000 costumes appear every year and stall and parades are all part of the fun. The festivities usually run over the August bank holiday weekend and bank holiday Monday is when the main parade goes from Great Western Street to Ladbroke Grove, London. Every year the festival has up to one million revellers. 2. Appleby Horse Fair – Make no mistake, this is not your average fun fair. There are no carousels or Ferris wheels here. Instead this is one Europes biggest gatherings of the Gypsy and travelling communities. Every year these enchanting people come together to trade horses and meet up. General public are more than welcome to come along and there promises to be plenty of hustle and bustle with sights including the traditional washing of the horses in the Eden River. 3. Ben and Jerry’s Nuts about fair-trade festival – this festi-val gets bigger and bigger every year. Celebrating not only great mu-sic but also delicious ice cream, the event is held yearly on Clapham Common, London. With some truly amazing music acts plus all the free ice cream you could eat, what on earth is stopping you? There even a fun fair! Tickets sell out fast so head to http://www.ukfestival-guides.com to book yours. 4. T4 on the Beach – This year acts such as Jessie J, The Wanted and The View are set to grace the main stage at Weston-super mare. Hosted by the T4 gang, including Nick Grimshaw and Jameela Jamil. All set on the lovely coast. let’s just hope the sun stays out. Tickets are available from ticketmaster.co.uk at the bargain price of £40. 5. Race for life – these fundraising events take place all over the country but Carlisle’s will take place at Sheepmount Stadium on July 10. You can walk, run, jog or do just about anything you want to cover the 5k and still raise money for cancer research. Since Race for Life began in 1994 an amazing 5.4 million women have participated to help saves the lives of people with cancer. Sorry Boys, this event is ladies only, but I am sure the lady in your life would love you to come along for some moral support. To get your sponsorship form head to http://www.raceforlife.org

4 April 2011

Amy Shadbolt takes a tour of Britains sunniest eventsLots of Ladies ready to run the 5k at Race for Life The Ben and Jerry’s Helter Skelter

The Crowd goes crazy at T4 on the Beach

Washing the Horse in the River Eden at Appleby

A vision in green at Notting Hill Carnival

Yaaaaaay! It’s summer

Festival on your doorstep5

The Informer’s Evie Copland takes a look at this year’s Kendal Calling line-up and why its the best yet

April 2011

The Informer’s favourite local festival,Kendal Calling is set for a record breaking year in 2011 as Blondie are set to close this year’s show as the Sunday night headliner.Friday night boasts Chase

& Status as the top act of the day. Across the weekend, revelers can expect to see The Whip, Young Knives, Nero and The Cribs.

When we heard Blondie were

set to headline, we were very excited! Two words: Debbie. Harry. The 65 year old will take to the stage after a summer of festing to perform such hits as Atomic, One Way or Another and Heart of Glass. Blondie have 40 million worldwide record sales under their belt, 4 platinum selling albums, 5 UK number 1’s and countless awards, it’s fair to say we can’t wait for August!

Saturday night’s headliner is UK band The Cribs. Yorkshire twins Gary and Ryan Jarman along with younger brother Ross are only playing a few shows this summer ahead of working on album number 5. Ex-The Smiths and

Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr is now a fully fledged member too!

The festival is renowned for bringing some of the best names in dance to the Lake District too. This year is no different as Kendal Calling welcomes Chase & Status as their Friday headliner. According to organisers: “Friday night is going to be mega!” The Dance Tent has also confirmed Nero for the weekend.

Regulars on the festival circuit, The Whip, are fresh from touring with Babyshambles and British Sea Power will come to the Lakes to perform singles such as Trash and Divebomb. The Whip have

also recently been commissioned to do remixes for the likes of Editors and The Courteeners.

Also confirmed to play across the weekend are Leeds four-piece Middleman who have been picked out as Ones to Watch by national radio stations and Mercury Prize nominees Young Knives, the quirky trio have hit the charts with tunes such as The Decision and Turn Tail.

This is the first headliner announcement but there is still much more to come. The Calling Out stage, the Kaylied Tent, the Glow dance tent and the five other stages line ups are still to be announced. Kendal Calling

is shaping up to be a fantastic weekend with some of the finest acts in the world coming to the Lake Districts to play some music throughout the weekend.

Kendal Calling is an award winning festival based in the Lake District brimming full of contemporary music and art alongside traditional entertainment. Organisers say: “Kendal Calling is all about fun the old fashioned way, great times, great entertainment and great friends all in one place!”

Tickets for the weekend are priced at £95 and are selling quickly. To get yours, visit www.kendalcalling.co.uk

Kendal Calling is one of the highlights of our musical calendar, with thousands attending. Dumfries-born Calvin Harris (above) headlined KC last year

UoC graduate wins film awardA former graduate and

a lecturer here at the University of Cumbria have been awarded a prestigious ‘Indie Fest’ award for a low budget horror film they have worked on for over three years.The film entitled ‘The

Manic Project’ was created with a budget of just £500 and started out originally as just a short project created by a group of friends. Andrew Elliot, a film graduate and Darren Horne, a lecturer of Media Production then began to expand the film until it was good enough to send away for viewing.

Andrew, who wrote, directed edited and acted in the film said: “The idea for the film came from my love of the seventies and

eighties horror films. The genre (of the film) is like a spoof of all those films, a strange satire that’s hard to explain. Because of the budget and the struggles it took to make there was no time for a serious plot in the film.”

Now working on his second feature film called ‘Stories’, Andrew was shocked when his film was picked for the award saying, “It’s so surprising. It was never made for anything but fun so it is great to have recognition from the film industry.”

‘The Indie Fest’ is a virtual film festival which rather than having physical screenings, sends the entries through email to industry expert judges. The festival gets entries from all over the world and the winners get their films sent to over 25,000 industry insiders.

Darren took on the role of producer after seeing the film and felt that it needed to be seen by an audience, saying “Andrew was about two and a half years into the project when he asked for my help. After being disappointed by the professional films I had seen at the cinema I

was thoroughly entertained by ‘The Manic Project’ and was happy to offer my services. We went about making the film flow better because at that point it almost felt like a series of Monty Python sketches and I also bought some stock footage and paid for a location shoot.”

It was Darren’s idea to begin sending the film away to festivals and says it was the “best feeling in the world” when he received a letter saying they had won an award. From a lecturers perspective Darren has also been rewarded saying, “The students love that work is out there. When they begin the course they often think they have to make a serious British art house film and this enthuses them to do otherwise.”

The UoC has many film students still working towards their degree and Andrew offers up his advice to them saying, “Just make films that are entertaining, that’s so important. Also if you put your heart into a film it should hopefully always shine through.”

UoC graduate Andrew Elliot and lecturer Darren Horne with their awardsLuke Milne

6 April 2011

Canoodling around campusUniversity and love

often don’t mix, we all know of the trials and tribulations when trying to find the right partner, most of us will have experienced the ups and downs, but is university the place to meet a poten-tial partner for life?

Whilst they may be a world of difference between the marriage of a future king and queen compared to a pair of student’s relationship, but HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton do have one thing in common with UoC students, John Irvine and

Steven RamShay

The Royal Wedding: are you celebrating?

“It’s very unlikely; I really couldn’t care less about it. I wouldn’t want to watch a

wedding on telly, never mind who is getting married.”

“I think it’s very over-hyped and I wouldn’t say I am much of a royalist, but I suppose it will be everywhere you look.

I’ll probably end up celebrating it.”

“I am going to a stag and hen party at Concrete which is celebrating the

wedding, doesn’t that count?”

“I am going to a party on the night, it’s a nice excuse to celebrate and I am looking

forward to that.”

“I’m weirdly excited by it all; I really want to see Kate’s dress. I’d like to know more about it, but I’ll definitely be celebrating

this occasion.”

“It’s doubtful that I will be celebrat-ing this day. At the end of the day is it

really that important?”

Becky Swainson, Foundation Art Jade McCarton, Foundation Art Glenda Ashley, Art and Design

Jennifer Sproat, Art and Design Nikki Proctor, Art and Design Phil Dale, Games Design

Kimberley Baker, both couples met and fell in love at univer-sity.

The future King met Miss Middle-ton at St Andrews University and the couple are now set to marry later this month. However, back when they were at university it was not rubber-stamped that they would head down the aisle together, universities are actually a great place to meet new people and in turn will often provide successful long term relationships.

John Irvine and Kimberley Baker are both studying for BA Joint Hon-ours in Drama Performance and Musical Theatre and have been in a relationship for nearly a year and both said that when coming to university they did not expect to get into a serious relationship.

John said “I wasn’t looking for a relationship when I got here, but things change and if it’s the right person then why not?” They met back in November

2009 while enjoying a night out with mutual friends. They did not get together until Janu-ary, and even then it was in an unusual place, Outrageous, which John joked “not the usual place for straight couples to hook up.”

Universities are a place to learn new skills and this can be academic and non-academic. As a student, university gives you life skills and increases your independence.

But as we all know, a social life is one of the biggest parts of a student’s university experience and building relationships is something that becomes very easy for stu-dents. John and Kimberley’s relationship was strengthened with the learning of a new skill, Kimberley explains “John plays guitar and he started to teach me too and for Christmas he bought a beautiful blue electro-acoustic guitar.”

The future looks bright for this couple and they will not be the last couple to fall in love after meeting at university, they and HRH Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middle-ton are just two examples of how a university can play cupid.

Keep calm and marry on: Kate and Wills look forward to their big day

The Royal Wedding is almost here, we asked some UoC students, what they would be doing to celebrate and how they were going to spend their Bank holiday.

7April 2011

It’s party time in the city!

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Super souvenirs for a perfect princess

Steven RamShay

The City of Carlisle is aiming to turn itself into one big party in April, to celebrate the upcoming Royal wed-ding. Events will take place across the city including traditional street parties.

The city centre is to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton by hosting a ‘Royal Garden Party’ on Friday 29 and Saturday, 30 April, between 10am and 4pm. Appealing to residents and visitors, it will in-clude street entertainment, bunting and a live broadcast of the Royal wedding from Westminster Abbey (Friday, 29 April) on a giant Stobart LED screen. The theme is set on the best of British.

Leader of Carlisle City

Council, Cllr Mike Mitchel-son, said: “Carlisle’s Royal Garden Party will be an event unlike any other in the city. The theme is very much all that is great about Britain. As visitors wander around the city centre, they will be able to browse a host of specialist plant retail-ers, accessories, nurseries and garden centres. Made in Cumbria will offer the best of our county includ-ing local food products and quality gifts. There will be something for everyone.”

The Carlisle City Council event is in partnership with The Cumberland News and will be brought to you by CN Events.

Live street entertainment will also follow the Brit-ish theme. Beefeaters and traditional characters such as Charlie Chaplin and the Madhatter will be perform-ing for shoppers in the city centre.

On the Saturday, top Beatles tribute act Beatle-mania will perform live on

the city centre bandstand and will play three fully-costumed shows. The band has toured and performed all round the world and will aim to get the city rocking.

David McNeill, events and promotions manager for Cumbrian Newspapers, said: “The Beatles are an institution and are at the heart of British entertain-ment. We are thrilled to have the one of the most prestigious Beatle tribute acts playing in the heart of Carlisle.”

For the students in the city, Concrete is hosting a Royal Stag and Hen night to celebrate the wedding, inviting students to: “Grab your L plates and hand-cuffs and head to Concrete for a Royal knees up! The Royal Hen and Stag Doo is being run by USCU and is on Thursday April 28.

Carlisle City Council welcomes

Beatlemania to the city

‘yeah,i’m not a diva’

Evie Copland talks to Kate Nash on all things music and making her own tea

‘yeah,i’m not a diva’

Kate Nash on all things music and making her own teaWORDS BY EVIE COPLAND

PICTURE BY AMY SHADBOLT

EC: How does it feel to be a role model for young women?KN: Its something that I take seriously, because I feel like anyone that’s in the public eye becomes a role model without even wishing it. I think my main thing to preach is be yourself and love yourself and don’t hate other people and be an individual and don’t worry about being called a freak because if you’re called a freak, then you’re probably really cool.

EC: At our university, there is a lot of music courses, what tips would you give to anyone trying to get into the music business?KN: Do gigs. Get out there and play live shows, demo. Don’t wait for anyone to come and tell you to be anything and don’t wait to get signed, just start writing and writing and writing and writing. Write as much as you can, play live as much as you can, find like minded people in your local area. Create little scenes of creatives in one town and put on nights together and make things happen. Be active and do stuff and don’t be scared.

EC: Have you ever read anything about yourself and laughed it off because it was so ridiculous?KN: I got married apparently. That was weird. I remember getting slagged off for dressing like a child in one magazine and they were like “oh she can’t pull it off” and I was like really angry, I was like “that’s so annoying, I don’t dress like a child” and then I looked down and my shoes had a mouse on them!

EC: What does the future hold for Kate Nash?KN: I’ve no idea. I want to write another record pretty soon. I’m just coming to the end of the album campaign at the minute and I feel like I want to write some more songs and work on this after school girls project that I’ve started, going into to schools and trying to change the statistics that there are less female song writers than male, drastically by like 86% or something. It’s an exciting time because I don’t really know what I’m doing.

EC: Lastly, tell us one thing we don’t know about Kate NashKN: I have a huge bruise on my arse from falling over the other day. Look at my chin. It was pretty wild! I was like jumping on my keyboard and then I fell off and I didn’t realise till I got back up that there was blood all over my keyboard. I was like oh shit. It’s easy to do!

EC: Kate, are you making your own tea?KN: Well, yeah, I’m not a diva!

Evie Copland: Good afternoon Kate Nash! How’s the tour going?Kate Nash: Really good thanks, really good.

EC: Where’s your favourite place been so far?KN: I think Stoke was probably the most mental. People were like crowd surfing to every song. It was really weird. But London was really cool as well and Cardiff was cool.

EC: What’s your first impression of Carlisle?KN: I’ve literally just pulled up but we had a beautiful drive, we saw lots of baby lambs in the spring which was really nice. It seems like a really beautiful area.

EC: What got you first into music?KN: As a kid, we had a piano in the house, I used to play it and my mum and dad played cool records like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Johnny Cash, just some cool music like Harry Nielson and stuff when I was a little kid. So I think I was always into it.

EC:What items can’t you live without on tour?KN: I guess phone. I need to get in contact with my family and boyfriend. And my laptop because I’ve got to do so much work. They’re not very cool items, my phone and my laptop! My speakers! I always bring my speakers, I have to have them. I like to be able to listen to music in my dressing room.

EC: What are you listening to just now?KN: Brigitte Aphrodite, is really awesome, she’s playing with us tonight. I’ve started a small record label called Have 10p Records and I’m releasing her single, she’s really good. And there’s another band called Sugar playing with us who are really, she’s also in another band called Thrash Metal which is a really awesome band. The Cribs always, The Strokes, Emmy the Great, Samantha Valentine who was in Ipso Facto now she’s in Romance now, Supercute, this band from New York, they’re really cool. I’m looking forward to hearing Metronomy’s new record too.

EC: What’s your favourite thing about being on tour?KN: Getting to play live shows every night. Hanging out with friends and good people and having fun. I think it’s really important who you have with you, it makes such a difference to the tour. You can have the worst tour if you’re not with people that are cool and fun. Whereas I’ve got Emma Chitty and Lewis from Thrash Metal and all my girl band and my sisters and we all just hang out and have a drink together. Its good company and good fun.

EC: What’s your favourite place to perform?I like intimate venues like this, like small and I like theatre-esque places, like the Shepherds Bush Empire, I really like. Tents in festivals are the best, definitely the best. The dusk slot is so cool at a festival. It’s like when it starts off and its light and then it starts getting dark and by the time you’ve finished its dark. I think that’s a really cool slot.

EC: What’s your best festival experience been?KN: Big Day Out in Australia was amazing. The best trip of my life. You go away for like a month and all the artists get put up in the same hotels. So that’s when I first met Billy Bragg and I was watching like Bjork and Arcade Fire and Rage Against the Machine like every night. You just get to know everybody and they have really good backstage areas and you’re in Australia so it’s like beautiful and warm, it’s amazing.

EC: What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you at a festival?KN: I played at a festival in Germany that was really bad because all the bands played on the same stage and it just didn’t work. You should be able to get different fans going to different types of stages. And there’s this band that have been around for like forty years and they’re called like The Baggy Trousers in German. And they are shit; they’re a shit old punk band. I like punk a lot but they’re really shit and all their fans were stupid like bratty punk kids that just discovered punk for the first time and get into like shit bands. And they were just like so rude and horrible to me and throwing stuff at me and swearing and shouting and giving me shit the whole time. Which was bad, but I kind of enjoyed it in a way because I felt like it gives you even more purpose really, if people are giving you shit, you’ve got even more point of being there. And just be like fuck you!!

EC: How do you juggle work and play?KN: It’s a bit of a murky line for me. My work is also my play. Sometimes I do it well and sometimes I do it badly. But you’ve just got to stay as organised as possible. Which is hard for me because I’m a really unorganised, messy, clumsy person. I try my best.

EC: How does it feel to have accomplished so much when you’re still so young?KN: I think that I’m always striving to do more and achieve more and my brain is never satisfied with working on one thing, so I just like to keep going. I never feel like I’ve done what I want to do yet. I’m always like continuously working towards what I want to do.

‘yeah,i’m not a diva’

‘yeah,i’m not a diva’

WORDS BY EVIE COPLANDPICTURE BY AMY SHADBOLT

10 April 2011

Massacre attack on Carlisle metal scene! Local groove/thrash

metal band Triverse Massacre played their first gig at Carlisle’s Club 35 last night, with an impressive turn-out.Liam Clark (vocals), Joe Coleman and James Graham (guitars), Dan Fisher (bass guitar) and Mike Collins (drums) formed in April last year, and since then have been writing and practicing together weekly.Triverse, who have some

death metal influence, played alongside Thir13een and No Colour - with a hugely respectable turn-out for the boys’ debut show.

“It felt awesome,” says Liam. “We’d been rehearsing and writ-ing material for about a year so it was nice to get out and finally play.”

It was a small venue to house such an onslaught of brutal metal, with no space for a pit, or even standing room. However with Li-am’s showmanship, reverberating bass, speed from thrashing drums and Mike’s skillful repeated cym-bal choke and hold of rhythm, the band owned the room.

“Me, Dan and James had been in a band previously, but due to differences in the band we ended up splitting. We recruited Mike and Joe soon after and started practicing under the Triverse name.” says Liam. “James usu-ally starts song ideas off with a riff idea and we all work on it from there, its good to have input from everyone on all aspects of the music instead of concentrat-ing on just your part of it.”

The band, who list their influ-ences as Slayer, Metallica, Mega-deth, Lamb of God, At the Gates, Suicide Silence and others, have

worked hard to find time to fit practice around their daily lives. “Work usually gets in the way for me getting to practice, but we all get on really well and we make it work.” says Liam, who works as a mental health nurse. “The gig was worth all the work we put in.”

His advice for other bands hop-ing to get out onto the local music scene is to “not rush into it, make sure you’re group is as tight as you can be. And never take a gig just because it’s available.”

Keep an eye out on Triverse’s Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Triverse-Massa-cre/116244971729204 for more information on upcoming gigs and info.

With typical flair, Liam warns, “We’ll be melting your faces off again very soon.”

Liam Clark: nurse during the day, rockstar by night

Second year photographers shot into the real worldNick Samsom says: “One of the

groups has arranged everything without any kind of fundraising, but as we don’t get anything back from it, we can’t afford that, so (the fundraising) was a bit of a necessity.”

The students had problems finding an appropriate venue as they were turned down at places such as Crown Gallery, Tullie House, the Cathedral, Source Café before finally being accepted at Foxes’ Café on Abbey Street.

Although originally they were worried that it may not be big enough for the exhibition.

“Foxes have been so helpful; they are allowing us to paint the walls for our exhibition, and nail things up, which they don’t have to do.

They also supplied some presents for the bingo night we held, which was generous of them,” says Nick.

With people from both graphics design and performing arts helping out, the exhibition has become more than just a singular course event.

“You have got to watch out for printing times, they have taken maybe seven to ten working days

so far.” said Nick.The theme of the show is that

there is no theme, as ‘forced connections’ means that although there is no visible connection of all the subjects, they are related through the means of this exhibition.

“Everything we show is for sale, with prices starting from around £20 for an A4 print, and slightly more for another thing larger. Perhaps £40” says Justyna.

Although there is no direct help from their tutors, advice was available if they specifically asked for it.

“We expected the people in our group to help out, but they just seem to expect us to tell them what to do” says Nick.

“We have had experience with holding an exhibition, as in first year we held one at ‘Theatre by the Lake’, but this is the first time we have had to organise and hold it ourselves,”

l Admission to this event is free to all.

Several second year photography students at UoC have been given the task to organise their own exhibition. The group consists of

Nick Samsom, Justyna Skowronek, Lea Hanson and Emily Swarbrick. The other groups on the

course have exhibitions in Penrith, and Terminal 1, with one still to find a place.

Given approximately a month to organise, the group have already achieved a lot.

From finding an appropriate place to exhibit their work and setting up several fundraising opportunities, because as we all know students aren’t exactly rolling in money.

From bingo and guess the name of the snake, to a bake sale and guess the name of the bear, they raised roughly £90 in total, most of which went towards buying the alcohol for the big night.

Event poster created by UoC graphics students

Amy hunter

Jess Copley

For more music in-terviews, check out informer.cumbria.

ac.uk

Plan your holiday health kick11

As summer approaches and we get ourselves prepared for spending time in the sun, we normally think about how flat our stomach is or how toned our legs are, but nails are something that everybody sees day in, day out and something we shouldn’t forget about.

At London fashion week a variety of colours took to the runway.

Brightly coloured nails such as blues and greens were a key trend for Alaxander Herchcovitch whereas the Christian Dior Show chose bold shades of pinks and oranges.

Black has been a popular colour in the winter months but grey is the new black for the summer season. Silver is also very popular as it has a slightly softer look and the sun will reflect the colour well.

Acrylic nails are ideal for the summer as they instantly give you longer nails and a perfect shape.

As summer is the manicure and pedicure season you want your nails to look fabulous and stand out in a crowd and nail art is an ideal way of doing this.

The must-have design for this summer is flowers but glitter also looks great on the tips of your nails, and will capture the sun light to create a nice effect.

Following in the footsteps of celebrities such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Minx nails are a fun and fashionable false nail choice.

With plenty of prints and patterns to choose from there will be something to suit everyone’s taste and as they are expected to last four months they will see you right through the summer.

Sarah Wright takes a look at this year’s diet solutions to achieving your perfect body in time for summer

April 2011

With bold nails in fashion, make-up is following the same trend.

Christian Dior chose bright colours such as greens, blues, yellows, red and pinks for his models on the catwalk and a key trend this season: eyes and lips which don’t match.

Some of the models had yellow eye shadow and red lips and the contrast of the colours created a bold effect.

Smoky eyes have long been in fashion, but this summer they are being tamed down to create a more subtle, smoky look. The mascara and eyeliner is left off and the mixture of black, blues and brown eye shadows creates the effect on their own.

Bold lips are a big hit this

Sam Harker summer, but ditch the usual reds and opt for a more extravagant pink or orange shade to really stand out from the crowd.

HD eyebrows, like the dark, defined ones Cher Lloyd sported

on the X factor, are also big for the summer.

The procedure takes seven treatments to see the full effect, which include tinting, waxing, tweezing, clipping, threading, dusting with mineral powder, and filling in with an

eyebrow pencil.This treatment is especially

good for people with fair eyebrows, as the HD effect helps to define your face.

Katie Price is a big fan of the treatment in the celebrity world.

Summer beauty: nail it

Designed by health experts, this diet plan suggests you eat four 400 calorie meals a day so you have a 1,600 calorie intake. By practicing portion control, you will feel satisfied as well as keeping your body’s metabolism fired up in working order. For people after a quicker fix, there’s the 400 Calorie Fix diet where you eat three meals a day instead of four, meaning your body takes in 1,200 calories. By incorporating exercise into this eating regime, it’s a fast-track way to slim.

While some people obsess frantically about their weight, others are a bit more easy going and can feel fab regardless of their shape and size. Here at the University Of Cumbria students share their views on the summer and its faddy diets.

“I think dieting is different for everyone. It depends on how much weight you want to lose and what kind of lifestyle you live. Personally I try to keep fit and healthy all year round to avoid extreme dieting when it comes to summer.”

Suzie Barrett, studying primary education at Fusehill Street.

“I don’t diet, not properly anyway. When the weather is warmer I tend not to eat as much anyway. I don’t think it’s necessary to diet as long as you’re healthy! That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to lose weight, I just love my food!”

Victoria Soro, studying PE at Fusehill Street.

Glow gettersWhether you’re an

experienced bronze hued tanner or a false tan virgin, we have researched the best self tanning tips to keep you golden and glowing this summer.

As most tan lovers know, the secret to a flawless application is good skin preparation, this means exfoliation and moisturising; essential the day before you plan to apply your fake tan.

Make sure to rigorously scrub your knees, elbows and ankles with a good body scrub as these are the dryer parts of your skin that tend to collect more of the tan. This is the No.1 sign your tan is not the result of a Mediterranean holiday.

The best tool to use to apply tan is a tanning mitt, which are available in such stores as Superdrug, Boots and Savers for as little as £3. Mitts give a smooth even application unlike using gloves which can leave you with the dreaded tell tale streaks.

If you are new to fake tan then it is advisable to start off with a gradual tanner such as Dove summer glow body lotion (£5.10 at Boots) or St Tropez everyday gradual tan (£11 Debenhams.)

Gradual tanners mean you can control how deep you want your tan to be by applying a thin layer

every day until you reach your desired colour.

Blondes, redheads and brunettes with pale skin should stick to using more golden toned fake tans such as Fake Bake Fair(£22.50 at House of Fraser), which gives a golden sun kissed glow that compliments your natural pale skin tone.

Fake Bake fair can also be reapplied over a couple of nights if you wish for your tan to be deeper.

Brunettes with medium or olive skin tones, can go for darker bronze toned tanners such as celebrity favourite Xen-tan’s dark lotion (£25.95 at Debenhams) or for a cheaper alternative try St Moriz, which comes in a spray or mousse formula which can be found for only £2.99 in Savers.

A good tip is to apply nail polish to your fingers and toes before you tan, to prevent any unsightly staining on your nails and if you are fair haired try applying a thin layer of Vaseline around your hairline, or cover hair with a towel to prevent your locks taking on an orange hue.

Beautician and spray tan artist Emma Bell says: “To keep your tan looking perfect for as long as possible, start to exfoliate in the shower two days after you have applied the tan so that it fades away evenly, leaving your skin soft and healthy looking.”Make bold beauty choices to stand-out this summer.

With Spring approaching, we know that Summer is not far in the future. It’s almost a given that, whether jet-setting off abroad or soaking up the UK summer sun, thousands of people will be looking into how to shed those extra pounds pronto.

With hundreds of diets to choose from, some dangerous, some without any noticeable results, what are the latest healthy and effective crazes for 2011 to watch out for?

The ‘17 Day Diet’ was originally designed to avoid holiday weight gain. The idea behind the diet is that every 17 days, you change what you eat, altering your metabolism and confusing your body. This particular diet also encourages exercise within its plan and claims to speed up weight loss.

Weight Watchers have just released their new diet plan, the ‘Weight Watchers ProPoints Plan’ redeveloped from the original 1997 diet plan. Now it’s a lot more advanced and assesses more than just calorie intake and saturated fat values. This new diet system also takes into account how the body processes the nutrients in our food, which research suggests is the most accurate way of measuring energy. However, the original Weight Watchers plan and the new Propoints plans are completely different in terms of measuring what you eat so you’re advised not to mix the two.

The ‘400 Calorie Fix’ is a calorie counting, easy to follow plan that allows you to lose weight while still eating your favorite foods.

kate king

12

Tim Jennings

April 2011

Looking back on what the SU have told The Informer in the past, just how effective is it at keeping its promises? Judge for yourself.

November 2009: Parking charges were introduced at Brampton Road campus. The SU Vice President at the time, Danny Morville , was un-

impressed, “there will be people who can’t afford this but who have to take their car to university. Educa-tion should never become a matter of class.” Now, almost a year and a half later, we are still being charged to park our cars on campus.

Student’s reluctance to pay for a parking space has led to cars parked on the road-side off campus, causing complaints from

residents. Back in 2009, Morville told The Informer with regards to parking charges, “We will be here for the students and take whatever steps we can to reach a reason-able and sensible outcome.” So why is this still an ongoing problem?

The library closure at Brampton road in 2009 would ‘ve also benefitted from SU support. The SU President in 2009, Emma Green said: “The most basic of facilities should be provided and a library is a basic

facility.” But again, a year and a half on and we have still seen no outcome.

One thing the SU never fail to do is help-ing new students settle into the univer-sity life and come out of their shell long enough to make new friends. However, Emma Green confessed in an interview with The Informer that this isn’t what she wants the SU to be popular for, “If I had it my way I would close down all SU bars. SU is about representing you.”

KaTe King

Ex-SU VP: ‘if you don’t vote and you’re not happy –

it’s your fault!’Following the UOC

student elections in Feb-ruary, where only 406 students voted out of a possible 13,000, ques-tions have been asked to why there is such a lack of interest for these elections and the Stu-dent Union in general.Former Student Union vice

president from 2008-2010, Danny Morville, spoke to The Informer to help shed some light on the positive work that the Student Union does, and why he thinks stu-dents should take the time to vote in future elections.

Danny, who described his two years as vice president for the Student Union as one of the best things that he has ever done, said:

“National statistics show that every Student Union in the country has a similar problem with voting, as with any democratic process. It’s completely up to the individual if they vote or not. However, if they

don’t vote but don’t approve of the change, then they have really caused it themselves by refusing to spend just two minutes voting.”

The UCSU have recently gone through a complete restructuring of staffing and the sabbatical process. This was done in-line with student demand after a referendum was held in January 2010.

Danny said of the results of the referendum: “There was an overwhelming response for change to happen and what you are seeing now is the start of a whole new life for the Union itself. The turnover of sabbaticals is what makes being a worker for a Student Union difficult. The law states that you can only be an elected sabbatical for two years but obviously the people that then replace the previous sabbaticals are fresh with new ideas, but more importantly, have the knowledge of what the student body wants.”

There has been speculation from students that all the Student Union focuses on is arranging sports matches and the odd pub crawl, and that students are now ready to see more from their SU

representatives.When asked if the sabbaticals

were involved with any projects to help students in need, and if there is any truth to the Student Union only being there to plan nights out, Danny said: “Having worked at the SU for two years, the line we regularly heard from students was ‘the union is there for bars and sports right?’. The biggest challenge facing unions today is to change this mindset. UCSU has a team of extremely dedicated staff and volunteers that work all year round for students. The advice centre is on hand for students with any problems, personal or professional. I regularly attended hearings for students who felt hard done by the University.”

While speaking about the positive things that the UCSU do for students as well as the local community, Danny said that the SU volunteers regularly hold different events such as beach cleans, RAG (raising and giving events) and much more.

Danny said “In an ideal world, everyone would love everything that the UCSU do and it would be perfect. But unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world and some people will only use the union for sports, for entertainment, for somewhere to buy a hoody from.

All I’d say is that if people are unhappy with the service, then why not do something about it? Stand in the elections, become an

officer with the SU and please, help make the changes that are needed and that you want!”

Make a difference: Danny says students need to vote

SU election: Why was there only a 5% voter turnout?Students’ Union Sabbatical,

Martin Dodd, claims the SU is ‘still relevant’, responding to the poor electoral turn-out in the recent election. Less than 5% of students turned up at the ballot boxes in early March, following university-wide advertising campaigns from the three potential candidates.Martin attributes the seemingly

low interest to a general trend amongst student unions through-out the country, saying: “Nation-ally, the average turnout within student union elections is around 10% of the student population. Of course want to be up there with those that manage 25-40% turn-

out and we are looking at ways to be more vocal and improve this.”

Students cited poor advertising and displeasure with the union as reasons why they didn’t vote. First year Film and TV Production Student, Chris Hayton said: “I didn’t vote because the SU is more interested in things like pub crawls than in the big issues like tuition fees. They’re Fusehill-centric and don’t take Brampton Road or any of the art courses seriously.”

Student Peter Bebbingden said: “I didn’t know why to vote, or what would change if I did vote for some-one. I read the candidates bios online, but there wasn’t much about them except ‘vote for me!’ I didn’t know where the ballot was. If it had been more accessible, I might have thought about it.”

Martin disagreed with this, respond-ing: “We interact with probably one third or half of all students annually, they just may not associate these activities with the SU. We organise

sports teams, volunteering, course reps and students nights. We provide crucial advice services, which we can’t make a song and dance about because it’s largely confidential, but we always do what’s best for students and I would claim that we’re still relevant. I can’t defend the election results entirely and recognise that that we always need more people to vote and more volunteers to get involved with us.”

Former student Liam Walker won the election for new SU Sabbatical (which basically means ‘President’) with 60% of the votes. In his campaign he pledged to fight for low tuition fees and better learning resources, and claimed to have been liaising with students and university staff to get to grips with their concerns. He will undertake his new role at the end of June, and has said on the SU website that he is ‘very excited about the year ahead and looking forward to playing my part in maximising [students’] experience and enjoyment here at the University of Cumbria!’

Still relevant: Martin says that there is still a place for the Students’ Union at UoC

For more on the SU, check out the Informer Online at informer.cumbria.ac.uk

The Students’ Union’s promises: Let’s take a look back

UoC seconds clear up at sports awardsA poor turnout didn’t

dampen spirits as the football seconds swept up at the annual sports award ceremony.They won team of the

year for the second year running, and team captain Jordan Whinn won sports personality of the year. All of the awards are voted for by attendees.

Manager Stuart Wilson also won the ‘most honourable’ trophy and this is what he had to say: “The clean sweep has been done, and will probably never be done again. I intend to let everybody know that. Despite being the second team we won, but the first team didn’t turn up and that’s their downfall.”

The only other team to attend the ceremony was basketball. USCU representation sabbatical

Martin Dodd said: “I don’t know why attendance is low. I tried to set this up a few months ago but it’s not my role to set it up. I felt after the last three years, it’s such a good event I wanted it to hap-pen again.”

Sports personality of the year Jordan Whinn still enjoyed the night: “This year it’s only been the basketball and football second team, which is alright for us be-cause it’s just a second team party and it’s been brilliant.”

On winning his award he said: “It’s an honour and a privilege. I would like to dedicate this award to the second team, who have been brilliant this year.”

Whinn added that he thought the poor attendance could be down to the organisers of some teams being third years who have a very busy schedule at this time of year.

It was inevitable that the foot-ball seconds would scoop at least one award at the ceremony be-cause they put such an effort into making it a good night, bringing down plenty of support.

The fact that the seconds were so successful at the awards cer-emony, despite being beaten to the league title by the firsts will only intensify the season long

rivalry between the two teams as they look forward to Wednes-days cross campus tournament in Lancaster.

13

Carlisle United paint the town blue

April 2011

BLT for lunch?Sarah Langford

New lunchtime slimming classes have been launched at the Fusehill Street gym for students and lecturers who want to trim their waistline without eating into their lectures.The thirty minute sculpting

sessions will run every Wednesday and Thursday, covering Ab Attack and Bums, Legs and Tums respectively.

The classes are run by Lucy Charlton, sports hall manager at Fusehill Street, she said: “The re-sponse has been positive, people have said that they like it because it is something different and gets them out of the gym. A lot of people especially like the classes because they’re easier to fit in with their schedule.”

The classes run from 12.15 to 12.45 on each day and costs £2 per class, £1.50 for staff and students or £1 for those with a sports card.

Lucy added: “We’re in our third week now and I would urge any-body to come along. We welcome all levels of fitness and can ac-commodate people with injuries”

and headed to a make-shift beer garden in the car park of the Wembley Way Premier Inn for our big game build up.

I must admit, I’m still not a big fan of the new Wembley, it’s just like every other new ground, all concrete and plastic with no pas-sion or history.

The view we had in our seats, just behind the goals at the back of the lower tier, was brilliant. We were in a block that didn’t seem full of plastic fans that only come out for the big games. There were faces that I recognised and people whose hearts that were with the club.

This is a stark difference to last year, where I was surrounded by people who only turned up to see the new stadium and jumped on the bandwagon.

The first half of the game was like a dream, Carlisle dominated possession and looked extremely comfortable, making intelligent passing, strong tackling and man-aging to bypass, mostly, Brent-ford’s brutish tactics.

Murphy’s goal was of another class, his unstoppable volley in the11th minute was a far cry from his usual headers from set pieces.

A sickening blow was delivered to the blues after a rash tackle on Ben Marshall by Adam Reed saw the on-loan midfielder stretchered off with ligament injuries.

The Blues managed to keep up their dominance for the remainder of the first half, holding on to their one-goal advantage.

The second half saw Brentford come out with a renewed vigour and had Carlisle sitting deep for much of the remainder of the game.

Carlisle managed to keep their

cool after a few shaky moments at the back which saw the Bees have an attempt at goal hit the post.

Brentford were forced to play the last

The final whistle offered a huge relief as the Cumbrians were the confirmed Johnstone’s Paint Trophy winners.

I shed a tear or two when I saw the team lift the trophy, all the nervousness and anticipation escaped me. Carlisle’s second victory in their sixth attempt at the cup final had made the Blues one of the most successful teams in the competition.

The game is still a blur now, nearly a week on, the excitement and emotions of the day made the game disappear in what felt like no time at all.

We have to look to the rest of the season now, hope for a top ten finish and continue with the momentum from the final.

The one thing I do wonder is if we’ll see those 13,000 “fans” turn up for the remainder of the games this season?

Remember, supporting Carlisle United is for life, not just for Wembley. Up the Blues!

Above: Paul and I show off our tribute to the late great commentary legend, Derek Lacey.Right: The pre-match build up gets underway.Below: Part of the “Blue Army”. L - R: James, Ste, Iain, Paul, Ray, me, Ryan, John.

Trophy winners: The Carlisle mens football seconds team celebrate retaining their title of team of the year

lcontinued from page 14

Tom LiTTLe

Carlisle painted the town Blue14 April 2011

The Informer’s Sarah Langford on her trip to Wembley and Carlisle United’s triumph in the JPT Final

YES! YES! YES! YES! Finally, I have seen

my beloved Carlisle United win a trophy at Wembley and for once, a great weekend wasn’t spoiled by the football as history was re-written and last year’s miserable 4-1 thumping off Southampton has been well and truly forgotten.The trip started with a

6am gathering at Brunton Park on Saturday, where excitement was building and bleary eyes were replaced with anticipation and nervous energy.

When we got on the bus, I noticed that I was one of only 3 girls on the coach, and realised I’d have to settle into the role of “one

of the boys” for the weekend.After a bit of chatter and

a power nap, there was a collective snap of metal on the coach as an acceptable amount of time had passed before the drinking could commence. Little did I know that this would turn into a 40 hour bender…

Seeing a flood of blue shirts entering the service station at Norton Canes will always stay in my memory, as many of the coaches London-bound met, suddenly it turned into a Carlisle reunion, with thumb-raising, handshaking and hugging going on all around!

Because we were making such good time in getting to London, our driver took us on a sight-seeing tour around the major landmarks. I’m sure I was doing everybody’s heads in as I was shouting the colour and price of each Monopoly landmark we passed!

The hotel was fantastic! The Guoman Tower, overlooking

Tower Bridge was huge and 90% of the people staying there were Carlisle fans, which kept the excitement going even more.

After a quick spruce up, the eight of us who travelled together headed into Trafalgar Square where we got settled in a Wetherspoons pub (think of the money!). My boyfriend, Paul, and I had a couple of drinks with the group before I dragged him to buy me a meal.

Upon re-joining the group, I was met by a beaming grin from my best friend Iain. He’d gone for a walk around the area for half an hour to take in some of the sights and met a celebrity!

Richard E Grant, famous for his appearances in Withnail and I and Treasure Island, had been spotted and bullied into a picture with Iain. Although, it has to be said that Iain was so excited that the picture came out terrible!

We moved on to another pub, where we paid £4.40, yes £4.40 for a pint (and sipped it might I add) before jumping on the tube

back to the hotel. Apart from the result it has to be said that what followed was the best part of the weekend.

We somehow managed to start a party on the carriage that we were in! The eight of us, 10 Spaniards, a bemused lady and a man with huge dreadlocks were singing all manner of Carlisle songs, dancing and even had a Mexican wave going up and down the carriage. It was the most fun I’ve had for quite a while. The guy with the dreadlocks turned out to be a street performer and put on a juggling and magic show for us, he was brilliant and seemed to revel in someone taking an interest in him.

After a couple of drinks in our hotel room, and some rather naughty prank calls with a Spongebob Squarepants app on my phone, everyone headed back to their rooms, exhausted, at half past one in the morning.

Paul and I weren’t in the mood to sleep, so we continued on our own. We walked around

London, played Hangman in the reception of the hotel and sat on St Katherine Docks with a couple of beers.

By some miracle, we had no hangovers nor were we even boozy, which meant that we were first in for breakfast at 6.30, taking full advantage if the full English buffet!

Then came the really exciting part, heading to Wembley from the hotel was surreal. There was a definite air of nervousness on the coach, as all Carlisle fans know that nothing is ever easy with our team.

Surely, I thought, this was our turn.

As we pulled into the car park, it suddenly seemed real, that we were there for the second year in succession. It felt so much more positive this time around, like we had a chance of winning the trophy rather than having to be giant-killers like last year.

We took a few pictures outside the ground with our Frank Sidebottom heads on and our flag

lcontinued on page 13

Carlisle United’s players celebrate after their 1-0 victory over Brentford. Picture: Mark Fuller