Archive of Day Course | LeisureCourses.net - short courses & residential study breaks in great locations - Part 4
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Pick up the Ukulele and Play in a Day
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesAimed at total beginners, this fun and light-hearted course will have you playing the ukulele (uke!) in no time at all. Starting with the absolute basics, you will learn how to play through a variety of different sessions, some led by the tutor, others in small break-out groups. By the end of the course you...
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Style, Image and Colour
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesThis course encourages you to explore and develop your personal style. It aims to encourage a greater sense of confidence in your own self-image through the clothes you wear. It does this by explaining what factors are important and why. It helps you identify your body shape and how best to dress it...
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The Heat Is On
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesDefining the Anthropocene and looking at the effects that human activities are now having on our planet; and investigating the way forward to reverse the damage we are causing to protect our planet for future generations. Illustrated throughout with images from Brian’s travels to some of the world’s most fragile wilderness areas.“Human activity...
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Beading Day
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesThis course is for total beginners to learn some basic bead work stitches. It is hoped that on this taster day student's will gain enough knowledge and experience to complete the chosen project at home, and have a wearable piece of jewellery resulting from their first experience in Bead work
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A Day of Bedfordshire Lace
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesStudents will learn the next steps on their personal ladder of achievement wherever it is, from beginner to very experienced, giving them more confidence with which to tackle new work. Through discussion of previous work and assessments of each student’s needs, individual programmes of work for the day will be established and a pattern provided...
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A Fun Introduction to Origami
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesThese days we are inundated with all manner of paper but most of us don’t realise how these humble sheets of paper could be transformed into something special, fun and entertaining. This course will show you not only basic skills, techniques and traditional models but also introduce a new aspect of the paper,...
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Bobbin Lace: Bucks Point Day Course
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesThe course covers all the techniques for this type of lace and is suitable for those who are new to Bucks Point as well as for those who are experienced in making this beautiful type of lace. During the weekend you could start a new project or work on / complete an on-going one, learn...
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Two Elizabeths – A Tale Across two Centuries
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesOur world today is defined by politics, people and personalities. It was so in the Tudor period in a redefined country forged by Elizabeth I and populated with adventurers and a generation of explorers. We look at the England re-shaped by Elizabeth I more than 450 years ago and examine the way it was changed...
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Dao Yin and Tai Chi
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesSpend a day enjoying a variety of flowing Chinese exercises and leave feeling relaxed. This course is suitable for men and women, for beginners and those with experience of Dao Yin or Tai Chi. We will work on a variety of Dao Yin exercises, including some from the Baton set and a section of even-paced,...
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Canal Boat Art: Roses and Daisies
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesCanal Boat Art is the colourful decoration found on working narrow boats that travelled on the many canals that radiated out from the Midlands. It was the ‘Folk Art’ of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that has now been adapted to suit contemporary boats found on our inland waterways. The traditional styles included Roses,...
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Canal Boat Art: Castles
Listed on March 7, 2016 by Knuston Hall in Featured CoursesCanal Boat Art is the colourful decoration found on working narrow boats that travelled on the many canals that radiated out from the Midlands. It was a ‘Folk Art’ of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that has now been adapted to suit contemporary boats found on our inland waterways. The traditional styles included Roses,...
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Let the Train Take the Strain: Planning Your Own Travels Through Eastern Europe
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesThis day course takes the form of a workshop for planning your own travels by train through Eastern Europe. This year Mike Shaw extends his focus to the Western Ukraine, Rumania, Bulgaria and on to Istanbul. He will explain the origins of each of the national networks, the resulting choke points and how to avoid...
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Edward I & Queen Eleanor
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesKing Edward I (1272-1307) is best remembered for his Welsh and Scottish wars, and his great series of castles around Snowdonia. Less well known, but more significant, were his promotion of law, parliament and currency reform, as well as his patronage of the arts. His wife, Eleanor of Castile was less well known, and this...
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Singing Workshop: Best of Bacharach & David
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesDynamic song-writing duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David dominated the pop music scene during the 1960s and 70s, penning 52 Top 40 songs and bringing a new sophistication to the traditional ‘pop’ sound with their unique combination of memorable melodies and unsentimental, bittersweet lyrics. Spend a day with experienced vocal coach Jo Sercombe delving around...
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News From the Fronts: August – September 1916
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesThis standalone day course is one of a rolling series covering the centenary of events as they occurred during the Great War. The approach taken is broader than the conventional narrative treatment. Each course starts with a strategic overview of events across all Theatres of the war thus highlighting the immediate problems confronting the leadership...
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Creative Writing Workshop: “The Child is Father to the Man…” (Wordsworth)
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesWhat are the most important influences which make us the adults we are today? Nature, nurture or our education in the widest sense? During this day we will explore the many areas of education we had as children: the teachers who inspired us with a love of learning and conversely those who sadly made us...
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Denmark: Art, History & Culture
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesWe look at Denmark’s proud history, and the way that its empire shrank over the centuries, including its naval battles with Britain. Art will include Denmark’s ‘Golden Age’ from the early 19th century, and the paintings of two great women artists, Bertha Wegmann and Anna Ancher, as well as the brilliant P. S. Krøyer. Music...
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Finland & Iceland: Art, History & Culture
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesWe will discuss Finland’s battles with Russia, and the Kalevala, a 19th-century epic poem of myth and legend. Sibelius will supply haunting music and there is striking art from Albert Edelfelt, Gallen-Kallela and Hugo Simberg. In Iceland we will look at the world’s oldest parliament, its volcanoes and geysers, the music of Sigur Ros and...
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Nordic Noir & Nordic Film
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesScandinavia has been a great recent international hit in terms of both its influential films and its crime literature. We will look at such successful films as Together (Sweden), Trollhunter (Norway), and Oscar winners Babette’s Feast (Denmark) and The Man without a Past (Finland). Our dip into literature will include Stieg Larsson (Girl with a...
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Verdi and the Force of Density
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesThe hammer blows of cruel fate drive the plot of this dramatic tale, one of Verdi’s longest, richest and most incident-packed operas. We explore the tragedy befalling Leonora and the men in her life - her lover Alvaro, and her vengeance-obsessed brother, Carlo. But mostly we focus on Verdi’s superb score with its plethora of...
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Meeting Me on The Cloud
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesDo you feel that you would like to keep up with family events and share your news online but are daunted by just how to start using social media, and nervous of who’s out there? Keep up to date with friends and family, news, research, reviews and more; social media is more than just a...
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Sweden: Art, History & Culture
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesWe examine Sweden’s place in the history of Scandinavia, involving unions with Finland and Norway, and battles with Denmark and Russia. Art will feature many fine landscapes and the portraits and nudes of Anders Zorn. More recent Sweden will include the Moomins and the Ikea phenomenon, and music will feature Swedish Rhapsody by Hugo Alfvén...
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Spanish Cinema: The 1980s
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesThe 1980s were a fascinating decade for Spain. Franco was dead, the repressive regime had been dismantled and for the first time in its history, Spain breathed a climate of artistic freedom. In the cinema, the 80s were a decade of dramatic change. The 'New Cinema' was led by the iconoclastic Pedro Almodovar and for...
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Norway: Art, History & Culture
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesWe look at the history of Norway from the days of the Vikings onwards, including its fight for independence and the ‘Heroes of Telemark’ in WW2. Inspirational pictures of the mountains and fjords will be supplemented by art that reflected Norway’s growing Nationalism in the nineteenth-century, not forgetting Edvard Munch. We will also look at...
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The Music of Spain
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesAlthough it is true that Spain did not contribute much to the classical or symphonic tradition of European music there are nevertheless great riches to discover. Its choral polyphony is arguably the greatest ever written and the music of Granados, Albeniz and Manuel de Falla presents a whole new sound world that is Spain in...
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Cervantes & Don Quixote
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured Courses2016 is the quatercentenary of the death of Spain’s greatest writer. It is remarkable that Cervantes’ literary creation has endured across the centuries and throughout the world. We will explore the author’s life and times and examine the various themes of the novel. We will also consider the representation of the story in music and...
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The Rise & Fall of Facism in Spain & Portugal
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesThe illegal uprising by the army against the elected governments and the bloody civil war that followed was a prelude to World War II. Remarkably, when racism was defeated elsewhere, the right-wing dictatorships endured in Spain and Portugal. With Europe developing new economies and institutions it was inevitable that the end would come. When it...
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The Life & Art of Vincent Van Gogh
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesVincent's short life and artistic achievement is remarkable by any measure. Largely self-taught, we know that his individual vision of the world was born from his intense humanity and a passionate belief that painting could make a difference. In this course we will look deeply and critically at his extraordinary life, his work and legacy...
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Gustav Holst – The Man & His Music
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesDespite the huge success of ‘The Planets’, Gustav Holst has always been hard to pin down. His fascinating life story is full of abrupt changes of direction, multiple influences and a vast breadth of inspiration. English folk music, oriental mysticism, the doctrines of William Morris – it’s all there, expressed in terms of glittering orchestration,...
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The Fiestas of Spain
Listed on February 18, 2016 by Dillington in Featured CoursesTo many Spain is synonymous with fiestas and no one celebrates better than the Spanish! Through music, video and images we look at some of the great religious, historic and culinary fiestas that define this diverse and utterly captivating country. To understand the fiestas is to understand the people.
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