Photo of the Turin Shroud © Barrie M Schwortz. 1978 All rights reserved

A replica of the Turin Shroud, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus, goes on display at the Roman Catholic cathedral later this month.

The controversial shroud has sparked debate amongst scientists, historians and archaeologists as well as within the church, raising questions about how the image was formed.

For the full story, see Keith Morris’ report for Network Norwich and Norfolk.

The exhibition at St John the Baptist Cathedral runs from Tuesday 28th February – Saturday 3rd March and from Monday 5th March – Saturday 10th March 2012.

While cold enough for the lake at the UEA to freeze, a solo otter appeared in front of volunteers, as a new nature trail was officially opened this lunchtime.

According to a recent UEA survey, the otter is one of 2000 species found along the 5km trail around the UEA estate.

July’s performance will co-incide with the arrival of the Olympic Torch Relay in Norwich.

The performance – called Pulse – will bring together people from all backgrounds – athletes, dancers and percussionists for a one-off outdoor show in Chapelfield Gardens.

“Pulse will be a feast of rhythm and movement.  We’re looking for excellent percussion musicians along with people who have great physical skills, whether it be in martial arts, dance, circus, gymnastics or any sporting field,” said Pulse Project manager, Carrie Mansfield.

It’ll be choreographed by Norfolk dancer, Aaron Sillis who has worked with big names such as Kylie Minogue and Take That. He’ll host four master classes for 11-25 year olds at venues in and around Norwich during the February halfterm. The master classes will be followed by auditions at The Garage in March, open to everyone, of any age. Thirty performers will be picked to attend a ‘bootcamp’ followed by rehearsals throughout May, June and July.

The show comes about as a partnership between Norwich City Council, The Garage and Norwich and Norfolk Community Arts (NORCA).

The master classes are free but places are limited.

MASTER CLASSES:

Tue 14 Feb, 10am – 1pm: Norfolk Academy of Gymnastics, Besthorpe, Attleborough

Wed 15 Feb, 10am – 4pm: The Garage

Thu 16 Feb, 10am – 4pm: Norwich Academy of Martial Arts, King Street, Norwich

Fri 17 Feb, 10am – 4pm: UEA Sports Park, Norwich

Places for The Pulse auditions will be available to book via The Garage website from Tuesday 7th February.

To join in with The Pulse, you’ll need to be available on the following dates:

AUDITIONS: Sun 4 Mar: The Garage

BOOTCAMP: Sun 11 Mar: The Garage

REHEARSALS: 15, 29 April / 6, 13, 20, 27 May / 3, 10, 17, 24 June

PERFORMANCES: Wed 4 Jul: Olympic Torch Event / Fri 6, Sat 7 & Sun 8 Jul: Lord Mayor’s Procession

For further information, look up The Pulse at The Garage.

For further information, visit www.thegarage.org.uk.

Two new galleries, with brand new exhibitions open this weekend at The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.

One of the free exhibitions focuses on Japanese cartoon art in Japan: Kingdom of Characters.

Mansize 3D models of characters such as Ultraman, Pokémon and Pikachu welcome you into the show which includes over eighty graphics, photographs and films which trace the history of cartoon characters by decade.

Organised by the Japan Foundation, the exhibition takes you inside the world of Japanese characters. Astro Boy, who turns 60 this year, was conceived in the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Installations, including a fully furnished Hello Kitty bedroom, show how the characters have become commodities in a now billion-dollar industry.

“In the UK we tend to associate Manga and Anime with young people. In Japan though the culture associated with Manga is also embraced by adults to the extent that it forms a realm, or as suggested by this exhibition, a ’Kingdom’ in its own right. ” said Harriet McKay, curator at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.

Also new in 2012: The First Moderns: Art Nouveau from Nature to Abstraction; There is Here – photographs from Avi Gupta and Thomas Houseago’s Hemaphoradite is the first in a series of displays in the Sainsbury Centre’s new west end sculpture garden.

With a summer of sporting events around the corner, details of which events will be screened at Chapelfield have been announced.

Take a seat for Wimbledon, the Olympics or the Queen’s Jubilee.

Coming up in 2012:

February
Tuesday 14th: Send your loved one a Valentine’s Day text message to be displayed on the Big Screen.

March
Sunday 25th: Coverage of the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief mile

April
Wednesday 18th: Local talent on display in celebration of 100 days until the 2012 Olympic Games
Friday 20th to Sunday 22th: The Live Site will be supporting the national Face Britain arts project.

Monday 30th: The Big Dribble record breaking hockey attempt.

May
Thursday 10th: BBC live broadcast coverage of the Olympic Torch Lighting ceremony from Greece
Thursday 17th: Screening of La Bohème from the Royal Opera House
Friday 18th: Live coverage of the Olympic Torch arriving in the UK
Saturday 19th: BBC live broadcast of the start of the Olympic Torch Relay
Monday 21th: Local talent on display in celebration of 100 days until the 2012 Paralympic Games
Wednesday 30th: Screening of Falstaff from the Royal Opera House.

June
Sunday 3rd: 12noon – 2pm. A Big Lunch to mark the Diamond Jubilee along with the rest of the country.

Monday 4th: BBC live broadcast coverage of the Diamond Jubilee music concert in London
Tuesday 5th: BBC live broadcast coverage of the Thanksgiving service from St Paul’s Cathedral
Thursday 21th: Join in a free aerobics session from 12noon-2pm to mark the start of the Olympic Festival
Monday 25th: Join the Live Site celebration of World Sports Day. Further in formation and activities to follow
Monday 25th June to Tuesday 3th July: Wimbledon coverage

July
Wednesday 4th: Live coverage of the Olympic Torch Relay arriving in Norfolk and making its way through Norwich to the celebration in Chapelfield Gardens, where the Torch will light the cauldron

Thursday 5th to Sunday 8th: Semis and finals from Wimbledon
Monday 16th: Screening of Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 from the Royal Opera House
Wednesday 25th July to Sunday 12th August: Get a front row seat to the long-anticipated London 2012 Olympic Games.

Friday 27th: Watch the Olympic Games kick off with London 2012 Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Stadium

August
Wednesday 29th August to Sunday 9th September: Coverage of 2012 Paralympic Games.

Community groups and organisations can bid for up to £500 for five events coming up in 2012.

Norfolk County Council is making a pot of £30,000 available to help mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend. Groups can also bid for funding to help mark the Norfolk leg of the Olympic Torch relay, The Paralympic Torch Festival, the final weekend of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the planned return of the Tour of Britain cycle race in September.

The fund will help meet the costs of putting on an event. Funding is likely to go to events which are community focused, accessible and open to everyone.

James Carswell, Norfolk County Council Cabinet member for Cultural Services, said: ”2012 will be a year to remember for the whole country and we want to help communities to bring the party to Norfolk.”

Both the application form for funding from ‘Norfolk’s Year of Celebrations 2012 Fund’ and a handbook can be downloaded online.

The deadline for the first round of funding is Friday February 24th, with the closing date for the second round on Friday April 27th.

2012 dates:

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend: June 2nd – 5th

Olympic Torch Relay: July 4th-5th

Paralympic Torch Festival: August 28th-29th

London 2012 Cultural Olympiad: September 8th-9th

Tour of Britain, Norfolk leg: September date tbc

Available to download from next week, all the proceeds will be ploughed back into the charity.

YMCA residents and staff have been working with youth arts organisation, Culture Works East, to create an original album from scratch.

All the young people are either not in employment, education or training. By working with industry professionals, they’ve learnt what it takes to work in the music industry, including album design, marketing, social media and advertising.

Elli Chapman from Culture Works East said: “It’s about giving young people ownership of a project. If you set the bar high enough for them, they’ll reach for that bar.” Many are now hoping to find apprenticeships locally, drawing on their experience of making the album: “They can use the album as a virtual cv, allowing them to talk to potential employers about how they kept to deadlines and worked as part of a team.”

One of the young people involved, Sonya Dover, said: “I have been in charge of doing things like press releases and creating marketing materials. The money raised will contribute to homelessness, training, education and making sure that people get back on the right track.”

Tim Sweeting, Chief Executive of YMCA: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Culture Works to create our first charity album to promote gifts of our amazing young people who will be using and developing their talent for design, promotion, sound technology and other industry skills as well as expressing their own story through music.”

For more information and to purchase the ‘Right Tracks’ album, go to the YMCA online.

Organisers are hoping even more will sign up for this summer’s event.

Mums, daughters, sisters and grandmas are being encouraged to sign up for this year’s Race for Life at Norfolk Showground in May.

Women can choose whether to walk, jog or run the 5k or 10k route. Last year, 9,456 women took part the Norwich event raising over half a million pounds for Cancer Research UK.

Events manager Gemma Turpin said: “We know many women want to take part in Race for Life but are worried they won’t be able to complete the course.  We want to reassure them that Race for Life is not about being fast or fit.  Instead, it’s a celebration of sisterhood and hope.”

According to Cancer Research UK, every two minutes someone in the UK is told they have cancer.

To join Norwich versus cancer on Saturday 19th or Sunday 20th May, enter Race for Life 5k or 10k or call 0871 641 1111.

Over in our Opinion section, local solicitor Andrew Wood explains his involvement with Start-Up Masterclass.

Start-Up Masterclass is holding events throughout the year, helping young companies get off the ground and creating local jobs for the future.

At next Monday’s event, I’ll take entrepreneurs through the legal pitfalls to avoid at the John Innes Centre.

One of the biggest issues that startups face is coping with the legal aspects of setting up and running a business.

From the outside this can look pretty arcane and frankly a bit dull but it needs to be handled correctly or you risk facing major problems as your company develops. Whether it is protecting your idea or structuring your business to minimise risk, these are all decisions that need to be researched and thought through when you begin.

The law is also one of the areas where businesses often struggle most to find impartial, non-technical advice that sets out the options tailored to their own needs. And while the web can provide background information, nothing beats a face-to-face conversation that allows you to ask (and get answers to) your individual questions. Every business is different.

With BusinessLink moving solely online, there’s even less free advice available, hence this month’s Norfolk Startup Masterclass session focusing on How to avoid awful muddles and other legal nasties. To be held from 6pm on January 16^th at the John Innes Centre, I’ll go into more detail on the legal decisions you need to take at all stages of the startup lifecycle.

Without giving too much away, it comes down to what I call the 5 Rs – questions you need to ask yourself when setting up:

• Risk – how much am I happy with?
• Responsibilities – who am I responsible for? What are my obligations?
• Rights – What are my rights?
• Rewards/Return on exit or otherwise – What am I looking for?
• Relationship with others, particularly stakeholders and employees – How will these be managed?

Aimed at early stage businesses and those looking to launch into startup life, the session will give an introduction to what you need to think about and the options out there. Sign up online for the event and see the whole programme for the year.