Summer Holiday Fun 2015!

    The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!

    Peterborough Museum

    The Age of the Dinosaurs is the museum's main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands-on exhibits！Watch out for monsters lurking around every ember！The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Saturday，and from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.

    Call 01733 864663 for details.

    School holiday fun：Young people aged 13—19 will be able to produce their own music，compete in sports activities，or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club，Saxon Community Centre，Norman Road，Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday,12th August between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

    Call 01353 720274 for details.

    Houghton Mill

    Through the Looking Glass—a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30th，August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open 5:30 pm，performance 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. Tea room will be open until the end of the interval. Adult ￡10. Child ￡7. Family ￡20.

    Booking advisable on 0845 4505157.

    Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey

    Farmland Games：From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches，come and join the Farmland Team. Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner！No need to book，just turn up between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Thursday,19th August. Suitable for children aged four and above，each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price. Tickets Cost：￡ 7 per child.

    For further information，call 01223 810080.

    I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.

    After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.

    I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn't enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.

    Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me!

    When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.

Venom(毒液）from a local scorpion(蝎子）in Cuba is being used by Cuban scientists as an effective weapon to fight cancer. The venom, with stopping pain, anti-inflammatory (炎症） and anti-cancer properties, is the active ingredient in the medicine “Vidatox 30 CH“ which can be used to treat liver, brain, lung and other cancers. The treatment has been successfully used for more than four years in humans after being first tested in biological models. Labiofam, a Cuban laboratory, has breeding(繁殖)centers for both the Red Scorpion and Blue Scorpion. Each month, some 30,000 scorpions in Las Minas town, 270 km east of Havana are made to give the venom. After two years, the scorpions are released back into their natural habitat.

Denyer Sanchez, a biologist from Labiofam, explained that the conditions are adjusted for reproduction, proved by the high number of breeding female scorpions. He said when the offspring(后代）becomes able to live in the environment, we release them because they do not have the necessary size yet to remove their venom, said Sanchez. Sanchez also said that there is still much to research on the exploitation process of scorpions, such as female death rate or the ability to survive of the released scorpions.

Cuban research on the scorpion's venom began at the end of 1980s in Guantanamo province, the island's eastern tip, where a group of biologists and doctors became interested in the stories told by the peasants about the venom's benefits. However，the first discovery was made by Cuban biologist Misael Bordier. In 2001, Bordier visited Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) and presented the research progress in a professional journal. Bordier died in 2005, one year before Cuba's Industrial Property Office gave Labiofam the rights to exploit the patent related to the venom.

    For the past 15years, factory owner Kamal Parmar has been running an after-school program for slum kids in Ahmedabad, India, helping them with basic skills like reading and writing and even preparing for their school tests.

    Parmar's story began one afternoon 15 years ago. He stopped a few kids returning home from the local school and took their exam paper and asked them a few questions. Shockingly, he made a shocking discovery--the students, even the older ones, knew nothing about reading except the alphabet. And that left him thinking that something should be done for these children.

    So he invited the kids to visit his workshop every evening, where he set up a temporary classroom with metal desks. The shabby school started off with 10 students. Today, the Footpath School has a total of 155 students and many of the kids that Parmar has taught in the past 15yearshav e gone to attend college and build successful careers.

    Despite having studied only till the seventh grade, he has been able to teach the kids by inventing creative techniques. He asks them to read first and then to form questions on their own and read them out. In this way, many kids learn all seven subjects in six months.

    Parmar's family are very supportive of his project and are proud to see how much of an impact he has had on the kids. His students love him. Ten of his ex-students are currently serving as teachers at the school and he doesn't have to employ any teachers.

    For those who are inspired by his story, but can't actually volunteer at school, Parmar has a simple piece of ads ice: “Try to educate just one child a year, and see the difference it makes to the society.”

    As we know, earthquakes can bring people much fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.

    The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 700 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.

    Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 2,000 people died.

    In 1923, a very strong earthquake hit Tokyo, Yokohama area of Japan. A hundred and forty thousand people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.

    One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 2008. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China, in which 400,000 people were killed or injured. This earthquake happened in 1556.

    Earthquakes worry people a lot. The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming. People cannot prepare for earthquakes.

    Monthly Talks at London Canal Museum

    Our monthly talks start at 19:30 on the first Thursday of each month except August.

    Admission is at normal charges and you don't need to book. They end around 21:00.

    November 7^th

    The Canal Pioneers, by Chris Lewis. James Brindley is recognized as one of the leading early canal engineers. He was also a major player in training others in the art of canal planning and building. Chris Lewis will explain how Brindley made a positive contribution to the education of that group of early “civil engineers”.

    December 5th

    Ice for the Metropolis, by Malcolm Tucker. Well before the arrival of freezers, there was a demand for ice for food preservation and catering, Malcolm will explain the history of importing natural ice and the technology of building ice wells, and how London's ice trade grew.

    February 6^th

    An Update on the Cotsword Canals, by Liz Payne. The Stroudwater Canal is moving towards reopening. The Thames and Severn Canal will take a little longer. We will have a report on the present state of play.

    March 6^th

    Eyots and Aits—Thames Islands, by Miranda Vickers. The Thames had many islands. Miranda has undertaken a review of all of them. She will tell us about those of greatest interest.

    Online bookings:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/book

    More infor:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson

    London Cannal Museum

    12-13 New Wharf Road, London NI 9RT

    www.canalmuseum.org.uk    www.canalmuseum.mobi

    Tel:02077130836