We live in a world that can be very busy and very demanding of us. Often, many people live in a state of stress and we rarely take time out for ourselves to relax.

Stress can have huge effects in our lives, from stopping us being able to sleep properly, causing aches pains and muscle tension and the longer term health effects can include mental health problems, heart and blood pressure problems and more,

The ALT Group, a newly formed local community group has teamed up with local venue Blackhill Comrades Club to offer free entertainment, to the community in Consett on Thursday night.

Animal Show host and Magician Steve Lucock, 50 from Blyth has previously featured on Britain's Got Talent and Channel 5 Series, 41 Dogs In A 3 Bed Semi, received a warm welcome to the venue and entertained over 100 guests and volunteers with his comedy and education show alongside live animals.

In between the laughter, children and adults were introduced to many creatures including a Meercat, Skunk and Zante the Fox who are all rescued by Steve's animal rescue charity, Saviours Haven Sanctuary.

I hope you'll agree our menu was a great start, and it seemed to go down well with our diners. ​It was a long day, starting with collections at 9am and food preparation and cooking starting from 10.30. 
A huge Thank you! to Matthew, Heather & Shirley for their help. The quality and standard of the food was something to be proud of! 

All the meals were prepared and ready to serve for 6pm when the doors opened and it was an exciting moment. We welcomed several community members, mainly from Blackhill, and managed to pretty much have our first service without any hitches. 
Ann, Ryan, Jane N, Jane F and Chloe did a really good job of helping our diners and providing friendly service with a smile.