I need opinions please.

The October before last I did a Curry & Kipling Show in Ilkley that at least 3 IM regulars came to. It was not a bad show, and has got a lot better since.

This year I have one offer from an Ilkley pub for a price per head curry in a small room, and I am waiting on two more.

I have also discovered an unbooked venue with a stage and a kitchen, but which will not do catering.

If I do Curry & Kipling I doubt I could sell tickets at less than £15, and may have to ask for more. If I do a straight show, tickets might be less than a tenner, and I may be able to do some spicy food, but not a sit down curry.

I need opinions. Even I hate Kipling, and you! would allow me to cross you off my sales list. If you would fancy seeing my Kipling show though, and you told me if you would rather pay to have a curry or not, that would help me much more.

Will there be beer ? Beer and curry is always good.

What do you mean by a Kipling Show ? Poetry reading sort of thing is it ?

I'm a little interested, but do tell us more.

"I say sir, do you enjoy Kipling ?"

"I don't know, I've never Kippled."

It will be poems mixed with some of Kipling's story and some stories. There will be graphic features (ie. slides) this year. I have had music in some shows but that is unlikely without big sponsorship. For more check http://kipling.bradwan.co.uk/page.php?page=home

If I do it in a pub you can have all the beer you can afford, but if use the venue with a stage I do not think there can be beer, but I need to check. I have also just realised the kitchen there will cost around 30 percent on top of the venue hire.

I think everyone should try to attend this event! As Imor and RubyS will confirm, Branwan really brings Kipling alive! It's almost as if Kipling is actually there in the room!

There was another chap last time who had a bash at reading something,
but he wasn't so good as I remember, will he be there too?

Branwan certainly reads exceedingly good Kipling!

Why not try and have the event in an actual curryhouse? Also Branwan can I PM you the name and number of a hack who might raise your profile a little on this?

Why thank you mcnab, my cup cake runneth over. PM away.

The thing about the way I do the show is I need a separate function room so I can have a door charge. I know very few curry houses that have that, so it would have to be hire the whole curryhouse, or have the owner pay me to do a show. Is there an Ilkley curry house with a function room?

I may have the curry done by outside caterers, as I thing IMOR suggested last year. That would mean I could use the best venue although it adds to the complication. If anyone has contacts with curry cookers let me know.

The show will be a lot tighter this year, I may have other readers though.

well most curry houses are empty in Ilkley on certain nights at a certain time, so you could just book a few tables and pass a hat round at the end?

Not my style mate, though it does make me think that doing a deal for a whole curryhouse may be easier than I think, if I ask for a time it is usually dead.

I know a few of you use the Vaults, if any of you know Elizabeth, and see her, could you give her a gentle prod about her promise to get back to me with a quote for this Curry & Kipling, or even urge on her the potential benefits?

The same with Katherine, or even Nigel, at the Riverside.

There could be all sorts of reasons why they have not mailed me, including problems with my e-mail, but it may be weeks before I can get to either, and anyway, I am loathe to go chasing a promise (leastways, not for a curry, I seem to have spent most of my life so far on a promise!).

To my surprise I found myself in Ilkley chasing a promise. Got a good commitment from the Riverside, but the Vaults was shut and being painted when I tried there, so a gentle proxy prod thereabouts would still be welcome,

The next show will be in Skipton, the town Rudyard Kipling's grandparents retired to, where his parents reputedly had their honeymoon, on the birthday of his extraordinary, Pickering born, father, John Lockwood Kipling.

Kipling, Curry & Yorkshire
A new show about Rudyard Kipling and his roots

7.30 pm. Monday 6th July, Cross Keys Inn, Otley Road, Skipton. Tickets £11 inc p&p from the Kipling & Curry site, or £10 from the venue.