Laura-southdevonplayers

Can anyone help? I am asking on behalf of the South Devon Players, a small non-profit community theatre company from Devon (UK)

We are looking to link our voluntary opportunities with people developing employability skills and references, (as people have done with us since we started) but we cannot find any information on how to go about this.

We are a small non-profit community group, no-one making any profit from the group/ no paid staff, and the only things we have found online are for profit-making organisations offering opportunities or schemes relating suitable for larger groups not small community groups. We have approached the jobcentre who didnt reply, and we have approached some advice places for non-profit groups and just been sent around the houses with no information forthcoming, and again, virtually no replies anyway.

We have quite a history of people using thier time with us for skills building and then being able to use those and references to go on to work and further/ higher education, and we are seeking to formalise this and open it up to more people, to help local people in these tough times, but we can find no contact for formal advice/ networking in setting this up. While we are not looking for money to do this, nor do we have enough money to pay to join schemes, either, which is all we have been able to find.

Do you have any contacts please?

I urgently need to remove chalk-pen from a vinyl banner for a theatre show tomorrow, I have tried soap and water, white spirit, bleach and fabric stain remover (not all at the same time) but nothings shifiting it, please help, this is really urgent, I need the banner clean and dry in three hours, help please.

I sold an ornament on Ebay, and the buyer (in the UK) contacted me to say that they hadnt recieved it. When we looked at the tracking number, it had been delieved and signed for by someone of a different name, and the buyer is adamant that there is no-one of that name at thier house and they dont know anyone of that name. So we need to know what address the parcel was actually delivered to, but the Royal Mail site doesnt state that.

Considering that they never answered when I has a complaint or enquiry, in the past, I honestly don't know what to do. Any advice on this insane "postal service" issue would be appreciated.

Looking to post a casting call for community UK theatre project... Please reccomend sites to list the auditions on. Thanks.

Google isnt showing a lot other than a lot about pubs and running clubs, and a database of executions in Exeter. I am looking for details of true stories, not pub adverts and lists of names. The local museums seem to have no information either.

Please can you tell me what medieval and fantasy fayres take place annually in the UK? (website links are a godsend!)

A good friend of mine (he is currently unemployed) is looking for work as a car or van driver in the Devon area. Other than the jobcentre, and the local paper, can you suggest any good websites or employment agencies covering the area that he might contact? (and of course if you KNOW of any driving jobs.... that would be superb too).

Relevant replies only, NO scams or get rich quick schemes. Thanks.

This is on a computer not connected to the internet. It is not detecting input from my mics, though I have tested the soundcard and the mics, and checked all my settings, all seems OK. Is there anything I can download (legal only please!) to try to get it to detect the mic?

The D key on my HP laptop is sticky,as in, whenever it feels like it, just producing long lines of "ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd" in whatever I am doing. This of course is making it very hard to use my laptop! How can I fix this?

My friend and I have done really well with this at local charity gigs and pulled big crowds - being asked back for extra performances in the day as well as our scheduled ones. We only have three dances at the moment but are working 5 nights a week on doing new ones now.

So we are looking at ways of promoting ourselves for events and shows next year around the country. We are well used to promoting local theatre, but small dance duos is a new thing for us, especially as we wouldnt be looking to do a whole show ourselves, but rather to be an "act" at events instead. We are working on a website, promo photos and videos, but how would you suggest we approach organisers of relevant events? Should we do a whole "pack" of material as we do for theatre shows?

I am trying to get my site updated, I have done all the changes but then I hit the "publish" button and it says publishing is disabled at the moment...

I apologise if this comes over as very stressed, and garbled, I am genuinely in a very distressed state, and basically panicking. If anyone has any advice, or contacts I would be terribly grateful. I have not mentioned the names of specific institutions of course but I will go so far as to say I am in the southwest of England

I have been doing a part time PGCE in post compulsory education (specialism drama and media) and if all had gone according to plan, I would have been finishing this month.

When I started, in 2007, I was working as a paid tutor in Adult and Community Learning, but I was told that I needed, for the PGCE, to work with learners on an accredited course (rather than unaccredited evening classes). I was verbally told I "should" have a small placement at a local college, but when it came to two weeks before I was due to start (at the beginning of my second year, my PGCE tutor (not me) was emailed to say there was no placement for me, and when I complained, another member of staff in that department whom I had spoken to several times, claimed never to have heard of me. I was told I could not continue my PGCE (I was left to phone all the local schools and sixth forms to try and find myself a placement, far too late in the year, they said they were all full and anyway that it was the job of my university to arrange the placements, not me). Eventually, my tutors found me a placement in another college.

I served two terms there, with no apparant problems of which I was aware and good feedback from staff, tutors and students. I of course have had to apply to extend my PGCE over a third year to get the required amount of teaching practice, but I was not too worried, as this college had said I could continue my placement. My tutors and I had this in writing this time! And now I have been told that due to a department restructuring, there is no placement availble to me after all.

I am required to finish the PGCE in three years, that is the maximum to which it can be extended, and I am now looking at the third year. I dont know what to do, I have spoken to my tutors, and others at the university,and have again emailed all the local schools and sixth forms, I have already had several "no we are full"s back. I have also contacted the local volunteer bureau and jobcentre, as well as posting my CV on Monster.com. I am heartbroken as through the PGCE despite the problems, I have found that I really love teaching, and would really like this to be a long term, lifelong career. I would have wasted two years of student debt and fallen in love with a career aim, all for nothing. I am terribly upset, and not sure what to do. If I had done something wrong I could understand, but I have only ever had people being positive about my teaching, using words like "impressive" and "excellent".

To be fair I think my tutors began making some enquiries yesterday, but I have lost all trust in the academic process of the PGCE.

I dont know if there is anything else I can be doing, or places to contact. or if anyone has any suggestions.

I apologise if this comes over as very stressed, and garbled, I am genuinely in a very distressed state, and basically panicking. If anyone has any advice, or contacts I would be terribly grateful. I have not mentioned the names of specific institutions of course but I will go so far as to say I am in the southwest of England

I have been doing a part time PGCE in post compulsory education, and if all had gone according to plan, I would have been finishing this month.

When I started, in 2007, I was working as a paid tutor in Adult and Community Learning, but I was told that I needed, for the PGCE, to work with learners on an accredited course (rather than unaccredited evening classes). I was verbally told I "should" have a small placement at a local college, but when it came to two weeks before I was due to start (at the beginning of my second year, my PGCE tutor (not me) was emailed to say there was no placement for me, and when I complained, another member of staff in that department whom I had spoken to several times, claimed never to have heard of me. I was told I could not continue my PGCE (I was left to phone all the local schools and sixth forms to try and find myself a placement, far too late in the year, they said they were all full and anyway that it was the job of my university to arrange the placements, not me). Eventually, my tutors found me a placement in another college.

I served two terms there, with no apparant problems of which I was aware and good feedback from staff, tutors and students. I of course have had to apply to extend my PGCE over a third year to get the required amount of teaching practice, but I was not too worried, as this college had said I could continue my placement. My tutors and I had this in writing this time! And now I have been told that due to a department restructuring, there is no placement availble to me after all.

I am required to finish the PGCE in three years, that is the maximum to which it can be extended, and I am now looking at the third year. I dont know what to do, I have spoken to my tutors, and others at the university,and have again emailed all the local schools and sixth forms, I have already had several "no we are full"s back. I have also contacted the local volunteer bureau and jobcentre, as well as posting my CV on Monster.com. I am heartbroken as through the PGCE despite the problems, I have found that I really love teaching, and would really like this to be a long term, lifelong career. I would have wasted two years of student debt and fallen in love with a career aim, all for nothing. I am terribly upset, and not sure what to do. If I had done something wrong I could understand, but I have only ever had people being positive about my teaching, using words like "impressive" and "excellent".

To be fair I think my tutors began making some enquiries yesterday, but I have lost all trust in the academic process of the PGCE.

I dont know if there is anything else I can be doing, or places to contact. or if anyone has any suggestions.

I re-tuned my freeview this morning after the switchover and I can only pick up all the BBC channels on Freeview. Arent we also supposed to be able to get non-BBC channels on Freeview as well?

I have Word on my laptop (running Windows 2000 Pro) and I cannot use it as the spell check box constantly comes up of its own accord every couple of seconds, even when I have pressed cancel. I have checked for viruses, and there are none. Please can you tell me how to disable this box so I can actually do some typing!

(I also tried Open Office and the same problem occurs)

(as detailed at http://www.open.ac.uk/cpd/?q=APEL)

Have you heard of this system, and if you are an employer or education provider, would you value qualifications gained through this system equally with other educational or training qualifications? (or more/less than)

If you a private person and looking to increase your qualifications, would you consider this as a viable route to such - why/ why not

(thanks for answering, I am asking as part of some University coursework!)

Question on behalf of a friend who is going to be spending 2 and a half weeks in and around Plymouth later this month

Can anyone reccomend a cheap B&B or hotel, that is in walking distance of Torpoint? (bearing in mind she cant relay on ferries and buses, having to be at work at 4am most days).

all info will be passed to her and we both send thanks in advance! :)

I was hanging on for an hour on the Inland Revenue phoneline, with no answer so am asking on here. I worked a new job this year and was massively over-taxed, and have a lot of overpaid tax on my P60 that I need to claim back. I dont know how to go about this or where to contact (preferbaly somewhere that answers phones or emails!)

Is this a phishing scam or what? I just got this email, it seems very fishy, Yahoo asking for my password - my email account is VERY active, I use it at least twice a day, and have done for 5 years.

______________________________________

Dear Account User,

This Email is from Yahoo! Customer Care and we are sending it to every

Yahoo! Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions

due to the anonymous registration of Yahoo! accounts so we are shutting

down some Yahoo! accounts and your account was among those to be

deleted.We are sending you this email to so that you can verify and let us

know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested

please confirm your account by filling the space below. Your User

name,Password,Date Of Birth (DOB) and your Country information would be

needed to verify your account.