Championsheeps LIVE! will be staged in At-Bristol, the family attraction on Bristol’s Harbourside, from 30 July – 31 August. The hilarious event has been developed jointly by SGA Productions and Aardman Animations, the award-winning animation company located in the city and creators of the popular Shaun the Sheep series. The event features a range of amusing activities from Shirley sheep space hoppers, a farmyard assault course and a naughty pig’s sack race.

Commenting on the event SGA Productions says: “SGA are delighted that Championsheeps LIVE! will be coming to Bristol this summer. It will be a great addition to the At-Bristol programme – just a stones throw away from where it all began at Aardman Studios.”

The farmyard sports day has been designed for the enjoyment, fun and laughter of the whole family. Premiered at the Eden Project earlier this year, At-Bristol will be the second venue to host Championsheeps LIVE! Be among the first to take up the challenges presented by the farmyard themed games:

Shirley’s Pieathlon – Race a Shirley-shaped sheep hopper while trying not to drop the piece of cake you’re carrying and avoid the fruit obstacles that stand in the way at the same time!

Naughty Pig Sack Race – Dress up as a Naughty Pig and race your challengers to prove that you’re the fastest porker in the yard!

Free Range – Lift the chickens and see what you find: If it’s a chick, take it back to the safety of the henhouse; if it’s an egg, balance it on the wooden spoon and take it to the wicker basket.

Farmyard Fling – The farmer is keeping an eye on everyone with his three ‘farmer scarecrows’. Try knocking their vegetable heads off in this welly boot throwing contest.

Keep Fit with the Flock – Get fit with a hula hoop challenge whilst wearing ears just like Shaun the Sheep and friends.

Sheep Shape – Add your creative touch to the growing farmyard scene by creating Aardman style Naughty Pigs out of clay. Use your newly created model as a prop in Animate It! Then take your masterpiece home to share with friends and family.

Flock n Roll – Work in teams to roll a giant Shirley around an obstacle course. The fastest team to push their Shirley around the farmyard wins!

In addition to the above activities, At-Bristol will be out and about around Millennium Square with Cabbage Football ‘Keepie Uppies’ where you will be challenged to keep the farmer’s prize cabbages up and out of the mud, ready for the market!

Kerrie Grist, from At-Bristol’s marketing team said: “We are looking forward to Championsheeps LIVE! coming to At-Bristol this school summer holiday. Some of our team went to the Eden Project when it was there and hadn’t laughed so much in a long time. Championsheeps LIVE! is a fabulous mix of a school sports day, a country fete and It’s a Knock Out, all rolled into one. As a science centre it’s something quite different for us and I encourage people that may never have visited At-Bristol before to come and give it a go – it really is tremendous fun”.

Kerrie added: “All Championsheeps LIVE! contestants will receive a victory Championsheeps badge as a reward for completing the farmyard challenges. Visitors will also have the opportunity to have their photo taken on Shaun’s special Winners’ podium, so don’t forget your camera!”

Championsheeps LIVE! will cost just £1.50 per person after standard admission into At-Bristol. Visitors will be given one hour to complete the farmyard challenges, with bookable sessions available throughout the day, seven days a week. Championsheeps LIVE! will launch the same weekend as the Bristol Harbour Festival on Saturday 30th July and will be held in At-Bristol’s Rosalind Franklin room overlooking Millennium Square.

David Sproxton, Executive Chairman at Aardman Animations, says: “Championsheeps LIVE! is an exciting new venture for us with Shaun the Sheep, encouraging kids and families to have fun and get active in the way only Shaun and his flock can. As a board member for At Bristol I’m thrilled that the event is being hosted here and am looking forward to seeing it for myself.”

For further information on Championsheeps LIVE! and other events and activities taking place in At-Bristol, see www.at-bristol.org.uk or call 0845 345 1235

Top comic poet, John Hegley will be giving one of his virtuoso performances when he visits Bristol Central Library on Friday, July 15 at 7pm.

John Hegley is known as one of the country’s most innovative comic poets and an Edinburgh Festival regular. He is noted for his exploration of such diverse topics as spectacles, dog hair, potatoes, handkerchiefs and the misery of human existence.

Tickets, which must be purchased in advance cost £8 and are available from any Bristol library. Doors will open at 6:30pm and a licensed cafe and bar will be available.

For further information please contact Andrew Cox, library reading manager, tel. 0117 922 2180 .

John Hegley was born in Newington Green, North London, and was educated in Luton, Bristol and Bradford University.

His first public performance monies came from busking his songs, initially outside a shoe shop in Hull, in the late Seventies. He performed on the streets of London in the early Eighties, fronting the Popticians, with whom he also recorded two sessions for John Peel, and has since been a frequent performer of his words, sung and spoken, on both local and national radio.

An Edinburgh Festival regular, he is noted for his exploration of such diverse topics as dog hair, potatoes, handkerchiefs and the misery of human existence.

He is also an occasional DJ, dancer and workshop leader, using drawing, poetry and gesture. He has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts from what is now the University of Bedfordshire, and once performed in a women’s prison in Columbia.

John’s website can be found here.

Communities in Knowle West, Lawrence Weston and Lockleaze will be able to enjoy this ‘green’ cinema and its planned programme of screenings.

This unusual community cinema is run and provided by “KnowleAlternative”, which has been funded by the city council’s neighbourhood arts team, with thanks to Encounters short film festival, Knowle West Media Centre, Wellspring Barton Hill and Aardman.

“This solar-powered milk-float mobile cinema is a great idea,” says, Councillor Simon Cook, Bristol’s deputy leader and cabinet member for culture, sports and capital projects. “As far as I know, it’s a first for the city and will bring films lovers together for a special film night.

“This is another example of how the council’s neighbourhood arts team successfully works with a range of partners, including Aardman, to bring communities together through cultural projects.”

The screenings are as follows:

• Tuesday, September 22, at 7.30pm Knowle West Health Park amphitheatre – showing a selection of short films and animations made locally, including Aardman shorts and some local Knowle West Creations.
• Thursday, September 24 at 7.30pm on the green at Ridingleaze, Lawrence Weston – showing a selection of locally made short films and Aardman shorts.
• Tuesday, September 29 at 5.30pm Lockleaze Primary School – showing Aardman’s BAFTA-winning Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.