Dates for the diary

The Manama Theatre Club is presenting a traditional family pantomime in the form of Robin Hood and his Merry Men from December 2-5. Shows will take place at the British Club, Um Al Hassam, from 7pm nightly on Dec 2, 3 and 4, while matinees will start at 3pm on Dec 4 and 5.

Tickets cost BD5 for members and BD7 for non-members. They are available from the club reception, Craftzania in Saar, and Words BookstoreCafe in Budaiya.

Telugu Kala Samithi Bahrain will organise its annual dance and music show ‘Rasamayi 2015’ at the Indian School in Isa Town on December 4. Artists include Shiva Reddy, Vandemataram Srinivas and Pratyusha.

Inspire Bahrain’s Christmas Celebration Concert will take place on December 4 at 6pm at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club in Janabiya. Tickets cost BD6 for adults and BD4 for children aged 12 and under and can be bought at the Inspire Centre, the club, or online.

For more information, call 39047734 or visit www.inspirebahrain.com

The Sheraton Bahrain Hotel’s Christmas Tree Light-Up will take place on December 9. Father Christmas will be giving out gifts to children and there will be a festive photo booth.

Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa is commemorating the beginning of the holiday season and festivities with the lighting of its Christmas tree as well as a rendition of traditional Christmas carols by its choir on December 10 from 6pm.

Mask Productions will be staging Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s hit musical, CATS, at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club from December 10 to 15. Tickets are priced at BD7 and BD10.

For details, contact 39047734 or email catsinbahrain@gmail.com

The Palm Association is celebrating 15 years in Bahrain with a festive lunch to be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay on December 10. There will be a vendor sale at 10.30am before the lunch at noon, and the event costs BD22.

Tickets can be purchased from the Bahrain Rugby Football Club, Dilmun Club, British Club of Bahrain or The Bookcase until December 3. All proceeds will go towards the charity’s Feed a Family programme. For more information, call 39967896.

Al Riwaq Art Space will launch its cultural project The Nest 2015/ Market 338 from December 10 to January 9, 2016.

This will be the fifth year the Adliya neighbourhood has been transformed into a live arts space with public installations, live music and a weekly marketplace.

The Nest is a local hotspot, offering live music performances, activities for children and workshops that reflect on current topics of contemporary design and its related disciplines. There will be a full programme of events lined up including a film series curated with the Sharjah Arts Foundation.

For more details, contact 17717441, email info@alriwaqartspace.com or visit www.alriwaqartspace.com

Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa will put on the longest Christmas brunch buffet on the island with a vast selection of cuisine. It will be spread over three restaurants, with Saraya Restaurant serving international cuisine, Wok with its Vietnamese offering and Fiamma Restaurant’s authentic Italian delights. A kid’s corner with various children’s activities will also be available as well as live entertainment from the resident Cuban band.

It will take place between 12.30pm-4pm on December 25 and the price is BD42 net per person, inclusive of unlimited selected beverages.

The Movenpick Hotel Bahrain’s Christmas brunch will take place on December 25 and will feature traditional Christmas delicacies such as roast turkey with all the trimmings, chestnut stuffing and selected beverages for BD41.

La Fontaine Art Centre, Adliya, is hosting a jazz music exhibition and concert dinner on January 21. Tickets cost BD30 and are available by emailing info@lafontainearecentre.net or by calling 17230123. Tickets booked before December 20 will receive a 10 per cent discount.

Saudi princess Nourah Al Faisal is set to showcase her sparkly designs for the first time in Bahrain at Jewellery Arabia 2015.

Nuun Jewels, based on her nickname, will feature a variety of elegant and modern pieces ranging from cuffs and bangles to wrap around bracelets, necklaces and rings inspired by nature, music, architecture and everything that moves her.

Her glitzy designs will be staged at the Overdressed Pavilion at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre, during the five-day extravaganza.

Nourah, who is currently living between Saudi Arabia and France, is thrilled to be exhibiting her accessories in Bahrain. She said: “I am very excited to be here. This is sort of like a ‘hello, I am here’, specifically in the Middle East …sort of my first step back home.

“In Riyadh, I have people who have been historically my clients always asking me when can we get Nuun back home. So I really do want to start being part of this whole creative thing that is going on in the Middle East right now.”

Nourah will have special exclusive pieces on display including an opal, diamond and pink-gold dragonfly cuff costing BD36,200 and the rose-hued orchid bracelet at BD41,000 from her Light Collection. She will also display her Banajir bangles starting from BD4,100. Rings from her new collection entitled Tasali will also be on display and other items can be made to order.

The jewellery and watch exhibition continues daily, from 4pm to 10pm until Friday and from noon to 10pm on Saturday. Entrance is free.

Thanksgiving, the national US holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year, is coming to Bahrain at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay tomorrow and Friday with an extravagant Thanksgiving feast in CUT by Wolfgang Puck.

Diners will be able to enjoy a three course Thanksgiving dinner menu tomorrow from 7pm-12.30am (BD35) or a three-course Thanksgiving lunch menu on Friday from noon until 3pm (BD19). On offer will be a true American menu featuring Wolfgang Puck’s favourite festive dishes prepared by Executive Chef Ben Small and Pastry Chef Pierre Chambon.

Originating back to 1621, Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and the previous year, although in modern times it is generally a more secular event of showing gratitude for friends, family and general life.

For those who prefer not to cook, Four Seasons Executive Chef Stefano Andreoli and his kitchen team are offering the perfect solution: ‘Turkey to Go’.

Orders can be placed by phone and each includes a dinner-for-eight. The menu includes oven-roasted turkey with chestnut stuffing, turkey sauce, cranberry chutney, mashed potato, Brussels sprouts and carrots.

To-Go orders will also be open right through Christmas until January 1, and start from BD78. For both Thanksgiving reservations and Turkey To Go orders, call 17115500.

The Westin Bahrain City Centre is also hosting a special Thanksgiving dinner at its Saveur restaurant, featuring a turkey carving station, roasted root vegetables, pecan pie, and more from 7pm-11pm. It costs BD16++ inclusive of soft drinks and water, or BD26++ inclusive of selected beverages.

For more information, call 17171441 or email restaurants.bcc@starwoodhotels.com

Bookings are being accepted for private Christmas parties, turkey takeaways, and Christmas and New Year dining at the Royal Golf Club’s Links Restaurant.

Executive Chef Paul Gindra and his team will be offering a Christmas Day buffet lunch featuring all the traditional favourites at a cost of BD29 net per person, inclusive of unlimited selected beverages. Santa will be taking a break from his rounds to drop off gifts for all the young diners too!

For New Year’s Eve, Chef Paul has created a four-course dinner costing BD36 net per person inclusive of a welcome beverage, while Boxing Day and New Year’s Day will see the highly-popular Jazzy A La Carte Brunch taking place at a cost of BD27 net person, including beverages.

If you prefer to entertain from home over the festive season, save yourself some work and order Chef Paul’s ‘Turkey Takeaway’. The turkey and all the trimmings will cost BD90 and will serve 10.

To make your festive booking, call 17751262.

Local artist Thajba Najeeb has added a refreshing burst of colour to the walls of the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) mall in a bid to delight shoppers.

The 35-year-old IB art teacher at Ibn Khuldoon National School and Artology Studio founder this week unveiled her 6m x 3m vibrant mural on the second floor of the complex.

After captivating Capital Club members with her work back in September, the BFH team requested that she entranced mall visitors too.

Thajba’s mural entitled ‘My love affair continues…’ took a month to complete and was inspired by her last trip to Lahore, Pakistan. She said: “The whole point of the mural is that people are forever moving and buildings remain static. It’s symbolising the hustle and bustle and movement of a city which also relates to Manama.”

Angus Campbell, chief executive officer of Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company, said: “Her art is vibrant, full of life and includes the use of strong colours. All of these attributes are inspirational and so we encouraged her to do some more of her work here.

“We aim to reposition the harbour to become a lively, great place to meet friends and family, an enjoyable lifestyle proposition as well as a business destination. Exciting and lively art not only does this, but is also fun, interesting and an uplifting thing for all to come and see.”

Alongside the mural, Thajba plans on exhibiting eight of her paintings within the West Tower lobby from next week until January.

Cognitive behavioural therapist and coach, Kelly Armatage, is hosting a ‘Nine Habits of Epic Entrepreneurship’ workshop on December 12 from 10am-1pm.

Focussing on helping participants to increase their entrepreneurial productivity, they will learn the insights, rituals, habits and techniques of the successful, how to retrain mind-sets with powerful subconscious rewiring tools, emotional energy management and more.

The workshop costs BD30. For more information, call 17002320 or email info@kellyarmatage.com

A ‘B2B - Meet The Big Boys’ event will be held at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters in Sanabis on December 6 from 9.30am-2pm.

It will feature small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who will get a chance to interact with large corporates and institutes, with the aim of encouraging partnerships and creating business opportunities for small entrepreneurs.