If vintage is your thing you'd best get yourself along to the Pump Rooms this Sunday from 10am - 5pm. Blind Lemon Vintage are hosting a vintage fashion fair which promises to be a smorgasbord of vintage clothes and accessories.

For more details and to book your tickets in advance please visit http://www.blindlemonvintage.co.uk.

Happy sunny Sunday everyone! We are pleased to announce the addition of two new contributors to our armaments of creative goodness - they'll be scouring the streets of Cheltenham and beyond to bring you lots of exciting news, features and interviews about wonderful creative things. They're both hilarious & opinionated as well as being local creative types (our favourite kind of type). We can't wait to see what they've got lined up for us.

So without further ado, please allow us to introduce (drumroll please....) Fran Pearce and Sam Beddoes!

FRAN

http://www.franpearcepr.com

Word. Im Fran, I live in Cheltenham and have a small freelance pr agency specialising in art, design and fashion stuff. I am lucky enough to work for the awesome Creative Review, JamFactory, Anyforty and Momiji amongst others. I also contribute to www.vinylabuse.com as my other big love is vinyl toys. Having been a massive fan of Creative Boom for ages, it is amazing to get an opportunity to write about all the stuff I love. So gonna be looking at all things creative in Cheltenham,also bringing you some fresh stuff that I find on my travels and introduce you to some people that I think are rocking their skills. Good times I hope.

SAM

http://www.sambeddoesdesign.com

Sam here. I'm a freelance Graphic and Web Designer and Illustrator based near Tewkesbury. I've been my own boss full time ever since I left the pot-noodle lifestyle that is education but even then it was freelance work which paid for all those microwave ready-meals. My business is international - I work with people all over the world via e-mail. I'm going to be checking out creative people and places around Cheltenham and Gloucestershire and annoying them into revealing a little about why they do what they do for the sake of your entertainment. I also plan to write a few features on all-time greats (and not-so-greats) in the medium of art and graphic design and how they changed the way we think, and perhaps we can even spark up a little bit of comment-based controversy. Here goes nothing!

WELCOME Fran & Sam

Do you think you've got what it takes to write (or ya know, take photos n stuff) for Creative Boom Cheltenham? If so give us a shout - cheltenham@creativeboom.co.uk - and we'll set you up!

Cheltenham has some hidden gems. StuffedNonsense craft den, Badlands record shop and the Emmaus charity shop spring immediately to mind. There's plenty more though. One of the best things about writing for Creative Boom is a chance to find and celebrate all these amazing spots, and hopefully ensure their longevity by helping newcomers and the initiated find their way.

One such spot is Global Footsteps. On Portland Street, opposite The Cotswold Inn. Global Footsteps are quite possible the most lovely people ever. This is what coordinator Morgan Phillips said to me about what they do:

"We don't just go round telling people to drive less, eat organic food, change their lightbulbs, recycle their mars bar wrappers and so on, in fact we don't do that at all. What we do is give people the opportunity and inspiration to Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give in very enjoyable but environmentally and socially responsible ways!".

How good does that sound? They've got loads of exciting new projects coming up soon and they're always looking for more people to get involved so why not pop along and say hello! They're also looking for artwork to display in their shop so if you're an arty type and you'd like to get your work seen by lots of lovely people why not give them a call?

Here are their deets:

Address: FootSteps, 16 Portland Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 2AB

Phone: 01242 577 893

Email: info@global-footsteps.org

Cheltenham is, as far as several thousand people a year are concerned, is home of the greatest show on earth - The Cheltenham Festival. For four days in March the town is taken over as hordes of passionate race fans descend upon us to witness the high point of the sport's calendar.

This year local developer and dedicated racefan Jonathan Pollinger has used the opportunity to develop Cheltenham's first dedicated app. Racegoers will be able to receive up to the minute information about the festival on their mobile phones.

Owners of the T-Mobile G1 and G2, T-Mobile Pulse, HTC Dream, HTC Magic, HTC Hero, Samsung I7500 and Motorola CLIQ can download this free app from the Android Marketplace by searching for “JP Festival”.

In the near future the JP Festival app will also be available for download from the iPhone App Store.

Are you a Cheltenham based developer with an awesome project in the works or already available for us all to play with? If so, drop us a line to cheltenham@creativeboom.co.uk so we can share your techy news with the world!

Do you have any fabric, remnants, curtains, blind material, or any type of fabric can can be reused and recycled to make something new?

If so, bring it along to the "Fabric and Remnant Swap" on 57 Naunton Lane, Leckhampton this Saturday March 6th from 11am to 1pm where you can trade it in for something different and pick up some fab tips for things to make.

Pop in for a chat over cofffee, biscuits and fabric on Saturday!

For more details please call Karen Wilson on 01242 231866 or visit http://cheltenhamconnectgogreen.ning.com/events/fabric-remnant-swap?rsvpConfirm=1

Tickets costs just £5, for which you'll get to see:

The Howlers (www.thehowlers.co.uk/) play rock n pop covers

Skamp (www.skampmusic.com) playing rock/pop/funk/dance covers

Andy Gladwin (www.illusionist.co.uk) performing some 'up close' magic

plus DJ Malc Manero will be spinning some disco hits throughout the evening.

For more info please visit http://www.thefrontrooms.com

Maybe you fancy writing the ultimate how-to tutorial, or you've got a killer set of icons you want to share with the world.

If you're working in Cheltenham and you'd like to showcase your fabulous creative talent please email cheltenham@creativeboom.co.uk and we'll help you get your work seen.

As part of our ongoing mission to investigate anything A Bit Different that happens in Cheltenham and drop our findings at your feet, on Saturday night Creative Boom Cheltenham embarked on its scariest mission yet.

A trip to the cagefighting.

Knuckle Up, held up at the racecourse at the Centaur, is a mixed martial arts event that saw an array of fighters take to the ring to pit their wits & strength against each other in a series of rounds up to 5 minutes long. Does covering this event step outside the remits of this blog? Mayhaps. Yet having a chance to witness the spectacle of the cage as well as being able to experience a new culture was too tempting. Also, it's true (I think) that definitions of creativity can vary wildly amongst different subculture - and they are martial ARTISTS after all.

Personally, a lot of the time, watching anything like boxing on the telly makes me feel a little bit sick. Yet from speaking to people involved with the sport of cagefight I know that they're keen to move away from the stereotypes of extreme violence and agression to focus on the skills and dedication of the athletes involved. I was interested to see where the event itself lay between its two representations - brutal gorefest or restrained and tactical sporting event.

In the end, it was somewhere between the two. And it was fabulous. Whilst much of the media coverage following the event focused on the fight that broke out amongst some of the supporters (it really wasn't that bad), the night itself didn't feel seedy, dangerous or overtly assualt-centric.

We had a massive blast. Photo passes in hand we had primetime ringside seats. Alternating between pressing our lenses through the cage wire and shooting down into the ring from up a big ladder, it was amazing to experience the action from such a close angle.

The layout of the seating gave it an interesting angle, having VIP tables with silver service and then having the rowdy cheap seats made it feel more akin to professional boxing than pro-wrestling. And it's easy to see the appeal of the sport that's reportedly one of the fastest growing in the country.

The technical side of the fights was interesting and unexpected...it was almost more like chess than brawling. You could see the guys sizing each other up, at times taking a hit like a chess player might lose a rook in order to get a check out of his opponent. Skill definitely seemed to triumph over size.

And it looked utterly exhausting. Respect to those involved for the level of fitness that clearly needs to be cultivated in order to participate.

Yes, there was blood. Yes, there were times when I had my hands over my face. But it rarely felt gratuitously violent. Oh, and we got our photos taken with Dane Bowers, which was the icing on the cake of an evening that was random, slightly gory but essentially massively enjoyable. I'd go again.

To see more of the photos from the event visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtyenid/sets/72157623354129969.

Words and photos by Holly Knowlman & Gareth Edwards.

Badlands, on Saint George's Place off the lower high street, is one of those places Cheltenham deserves to be a truly proud of. A veritable goldmine of musical... well, gold, the shop has been open since 1986 and has managed to weather the digital storm to continue to provide a fantastic collection of rare yet reasonably priced tunes.

Today the shop was named the BEST INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE IN THE UK. How good is that? In a competition launched by http://www.indierecordshop.org/ which aimed to promote the 300-ish indie record shops remaining in the UK the Badlands crew emerged victorious.

If you've ever stepped inside it's immediately obvious why. It's easy to get lost amongst the piles of fantastic music, plus the staff are incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. It's the perfect place to spend a rainy Sunday.

Creative Boom Cheltenham hearts Badlands. Well done everyone!

Just one week to go until Digitalks! It starts at 8pm next Thursday at D'Fly in Cheltenham and is the place to go for some tech-networking, learning about new and exciting things from the digital world and generally finding out some interesting things.

Plus, we'll be there. What could be better?

Innovation in fundraising
JustGiving award winners @BigDaveSB and @SimonPainter will be sharing their amazing Jail Break story at the next DigiTalks Cheltenham - http://jailbreak.ragabonds.org.uk/

Social media monitoring
How companies quantify the impact, ROI and ultimately measure the perception of their organisation through social media.
Gray Dudek & Nigel Bromley from RBH Engage

Wi-Fi revolution
How Wi-Fi introduces options for marketing, branding & location based social media.
Rob Harrison rob@walkinwifi.com

News of a new creative blog for Cheltenham
Holly Knowlman @DirtyEnid <---- That's me! I'll be talking about ways in which Creative Boom Cheltenham can benefit creative agencies & freelancers working locally. And getting well scared about standing up in public.

How to make your product or service irresistible to everyone
We will look at what makes a good user experience, how to get inside the head of the consumer and why it is that some ideas just don't work even if you think they should.
John Denley, john@deba.org.uk