Monaco’s annual gigantic charity jumble sale, the Ecumenical Kermesse, will be held in the Fontvieille Chapiteau on Saturday, December 2. Entry is free and the doors open at 10 am until 6 pm.
There will be over 25 stalls this year including clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, antiques, plus jewellery, household items, shoes, bags, gifts and novelties. Also on hand, Spanish, Greek and French speciality stands as well as Christmas decorations.
The annual tombola has over 20 prizes and tickets are just €2 each. A selection of inexpensive food and drinks will be served across the day.
Donated items can be dropped off at the Chapiteau all day on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. Access is open to cars and pedestrians.
For those who can donate items, contact Merville: +377 93 15 02 89.
Ristretto Choir preforming Messiah in 2014. Photo: Facebook Ristretto
For the fifth time, and continuing the tradition started six years ago, the Ristretto Chamber Choir and Instrumental Ensemble, directed by Errol Girdlestone, will perform Handel’s Messiah at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Monaco on Saturday, December 2.
The 8 pm concert will include international soloists Elenor Bowers-Jolley, Sarah Richmond, Aidan Coburn and Thomas Dear.
One of the greatest musical masterpieces of all times, George Frideric Handel’s
Messiah was first performed in 1742. Composed in English, the Baroque-era oratorio still awes listeners 250 years after the composer’s death. The work – regularly performed during Advent, with its stunning choruses, dramatic arias, and underlying emotional intensity – has become a tradition for many music lovers firmly associated with the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The annual production at St Paul’s Church (22 ave de Grande Bretagne) is possible thanks to a generous anonymous donor. Tickets €30 from FNAC or Carrefour, or at the door based on availability.
Mothers of Africa. Photo: Paul Crompton/Go Zambia – Shiyala School Build 2017
On Saturday, December 2, the Monaco-based association Terres méditerranéennes is holding its annual Christmas market in collaboration with the humanitarian project Mothers of Africa.
Mothers of Africa was founded in 2004 by Professor Judith Hall OBE, Head of Anaesthetics, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine at Cardiff University School of Medicine, who became aware of women dying unnecessarily during childbirth in Africa.
Each day in Africa the number of mothers who die giving birth is equivalent to the number of seats in three jumbo jets. Sadly, the chances of a woman dying from treatable or preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth are one in six.
Photo: Paul Crompton/Go Zambia – Shiyala School Build 2017
Judith, who is highly regarded in her profession and has too many titles too include, “had to try” to alleviate the problem. The former Welsh woman of the year set up a Medical Educational Charity that trains medical staff in Sub-Saharan Africa to care for mothers during pregnancy and childbirth. She also provides African women the tools necessary to implement change via education and infrastructure within their communities.
Judith’s sister, Janice Newport, is a Monaco resident, and over the past two years she has found enthusiastic local support from Susanne Batstone. Judith and Janice have visited Zambia previously and Susanne joined them to help run a holiday school in Shiyala in August of this year – a truly life changing experience. Sandrine Mannoni Oria, Brett Barling, Vicky O’Shea and Noeline Gally have also joined the team in Monaco.
Last Friday, Mothers of Africa took part in a fundraising cocktail at the Metropole Hotel in Monaco for 50 people to talk about their school in Shiyala Village, Zambia, and announce their new project.
After the success of the Shiyala school, which opened in August after five years of work and is home to 540 students, even though it has no electricity, Mothers of Africa has decided to create a Resource Centre for Evergreen School, an existing institution, which runs on electricity. Their new fundraising goal is a modest €80,000.
“With the school, we can walk away with confidence knowing that the teachers can run it themselves,” Judith told Monaco Life. “We have created a sustainable model by investing in professionals in Africa who will look after their own people.”
Talking about the Resource Centre, which will be a regional school, Judith said, “You can’t go too big. A regionalised approach with set standards is key but change doesn’t happen if you are too ambitious.”
Photo: Paul Crompton/Go Zambia – Shiyala School Build 2017
Friday’s invitation-only event was hosted by Ane Fogtdal, owner of Hip Bazaar who had organised a jewellery pop-up, donating ten percent of the evening’s sales of her clothing and accessory line to Mothers of Africa. Judith Hall made it very clear that all monies raised by the association go to help people in need at a local level and that Mothers of Africa pay all their own expenses for visits.
Members of Mothers in Africa will be at Saturday’s Christmas market with Terres méditerranéennes where various African-inspired products will be on sale, as well as table linen, decorations and Christmas cards, jewellery and clothes. The one-day fair opens from 10 am to 7 pm in the workshop area “u mazaghìn” at 18, rue Grimaldi (interphone Terres méditerranéennes).
A children’s workshop, from 10:30 am to noon, for ages 5 and up will make “mariote e gali”, small puppet-like figures from an old Monaco Christmas tradition. Cost: €10/child or €8 for members. Bring aprons.
Reserve, specifying names and ages of children, at termedmonaco@gmail.com or on 06 22 800 166. For those who can’t attend but wish to help Mothers of African, donations can be made online.
META Monaco is celebrating the work of acclaimed photographer Jean-Daniel Lorieux with an exhibition, entitled “Sunstroke”, dedicated to his photos and paintings.
Lorieux is a glamour photographer and man of elegance, and is acknowledged as one of the greatest French masters of fashion photography, in the lineage of artists such as Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin.
The 80-year-old has travelled in the world in pursuit of the sun, marking his style with photographs in very contrasting colours. He spends a lot of time in Monte Carlo.
META, at 39 avenue Princesse Grace, presents masterpieces from antiquity to contemporary artists of global importance. Highlighting pure aesthetic passion in the subtle relationship between artists and their audience, the gallery space has been designed to merge art and technology.
The exhibition opens to the public on December 8 and runs until February 2018.
