THE INTERNAL - NEWSLETTER 36/04

Sad as it makes me my precious ones, I will be leaving you soon. Next week will be my last week working for World of XChange. I will however, still be around, you’re not getting rid of me that easily, and will be happy to join in on anything that will be happening.

Serina (yes, yes, I know, almost the same as my name), will be taking over from me beginning middle of next week. She will be arriving on Tuesday, and will be here until April.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to Simone and Diana. Simone will be having her birthday on the 5th of November, no worries, I am not going to write what year you were born J. She will be going to the Coromandel this weekend, so we will not be able to celebrate with her L. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Diana is however having her birthday on Tuesday, the 9th, so we will be able to celebrate with her, yeah! It’s going to be loads of fun I’m sure, as it always is when we all meet. Looking forward to that.

GUY FAWKES DAY

A couple of us have been pretty curious about the fireworks going on in town, and as we all know, on the weekend there is a huge firework show being planned. So, curious as always, I decided to take a look at the reasons behind this.

On the night of November 5th, throughout Britain (and New Zealand) bonfires are set alight, effigies are burned, and fireworks are set off. The people do this to commemorate their country's most notorious traitor Guy Fawkes.

In 1605, Guy Fawkes (also known as Guido - yes, really) and a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had had a rough time under her reign had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. Alas, he was not, and this angered a number of young men who decided that violent action was the answer.

One young man in particular, Robert Catesby suggested to some close friends that the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.

But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that some innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.

Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.

It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed - some people think the gunpowder they were planning to use was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and his colleagues got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, since the failed coup, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Today, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

These days, Guy Fawkes Day is also known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Some of the English have been known to wonder whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honouring his attempt to do away with the government.

SOMETHING FROM DIANA

Ok this is Diana. The last weekend is over and we need a short break to get new power for the next one. On Saturday we said “goodbye” to Jan and went to the Sky Tower for a special kind of lunch. It was really an incredible buffet. But some of us had made the wrong decisions according to the oysters J we had a wonderful view over the whole city and it was a nice and special way to say goodbye! Hopefully Jan will have fun in the south of New Zealand and we are looking forward for a revival meeting in Germany.

After this some of us went to the town to get some accessories for the Halloween party in the evening. We bought tinsel for our hair and it was so funny to test them in the shop J wasn’t it? In my opinion it was a great party with lots of fun and almost too much alcohol as we all know! Sunday some tough guys of us went to Rangitoto for hiking. I think you are really crazy because I can imagine that it is not so easy to get up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep . Isn’t it? Ok so far to this, today is Tuesday and the next weekend will be coming soon. That I’d like to see!

This is the only picture I could get from our halloween party before I sent off the newsletter, so all the wonderful costumes we had will have to be shown off another time. Katja went as a tampon, Nina an “Eisverkaeufer” and I as Red Riding Hood.

WHAT’S UP IN AUCKLAND

Friday, November 5

Morrisson - Two Auckland legends - long play
Greg Churchill (4 hr set) and Mark Emerson (3 hr set) play Morrisson. These two Auckland House legends will have the downstairs room at Morrisson pumping. Expect a night of the highest order.
With support upstairs from Simon Spence, Kit, Tim Richards and Tom Ward.
$10 before midnight/$15 thereafter
Doors open 9 pm
Genres: Funky House, Deep House, Tech House

Float

New Zealands biggest monthly club night
With resident DJ's - Reminise, General Lee, Meex and Bounce
Entry only $10 before 11pm
Genres: Hip Hop

Saturday, November 6

St James

Groove Armada Live in Concert
Support from Tim Phin & Jolyon Petch
Tickets on sale now from Real Groovy & Ticketek.

NEWS ARTICLE:
...blinding psychedelic hip-hop blues... joyous filthy ramalama funk... boiling dub-hop rock Œn¹ roll grooves... calypso-ska hysteria on a Saturday Night Congo round the perimeter of the entire planet Earth...
This is definitely, says Tom Findlay, in considerable understatement, the least noodly record we’ve ever made. It’s a funk album, really. With proper songs.

To hear some samples visit www.groovearmada.com

Morrisson – Mint

Essential House Music
Auckland's best monthly house night
Guest DJ's - Tim Phin, Sample Gee, Grant Marshall, Randall Munro
Entry only $10 before 11pm
Genres: Funky House

Saturday, November 27

Three Islands – Galatos fifth anniversary party featuring Dynamite MC (UK), The Nextmen(UK), Mystro/Braintax and DJ Disorda(UK), Goldenhorse, Rhian Sheehan, Batucada Sound Machine, Manuel Bundy, Stinky Jum, Cesar, Isaac Aesili, Mr Big Stuff, Dunc Tha Funk, Sam e, Pari, 48 Sonic, Finn (Jugglin Sound System) and Bobby Brazuka. Tix Just $30 inc booking fee from Real Groovy, Conch and Beat Merchants.

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY!