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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Another day, another @firebrigademusical.bsky.social cast announcement! This time our Solo Concert Crew: singer Noa Shakhar, and pianist Felix Elliott - who went to @girtoncollege.bsky.social just like Hertha Ayrton did 🔥💪 Join us on Sat 12th Sep at @whipplemuseum.bsky.social for Open Cambridge!

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Our phenomenal cast for @firebrigademusical.bsky.social this Autumn! Come see us in Southampton at @mayflower.org.uk Studios on Saturday 19th September, as part of the British Science Festival ⚛️🔭🦠👩‍🔬🔥 Tickets are FREE! www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/bri...

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Jenni Pinnock @jennipinnock.com · 12/05/2026

Sunday saw the first two workshop performances of @firebrigademusical.bsky.social performed by the brilliant University of Lincoln MT second year students, and a creative dream team. Thank you for bringing our story to life! And thank you for the fabulous photos @briansayle.bsky.social !

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BSHS @bshsnews.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade, a new musical about Hertha Ayrton and pioneering women in science, supported by the BSHS OEC project grant, @ the britishsciencefestival.org on 19 Sept in Southampton. bshs.org.uk/cambridge-fi... Free tickets: www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/bri...

Illustration of a woman climbing a ladder with a rope over her shoulder

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

OXFORDSHIRE PEOPLE! Come to our FREE family physics singalong workshops! Or get £5 tickets for our concert of @firebrigademusical.bsky.social at an ACTUAL FIRE STATION (bring picnics!) All at GAP Festival in Goring & Streatley on Saturday 20th June... pls share share share! thegapfestival.org

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Meet Annie Maunder! The eclipse-chasing, sun-photographing astronomer and "Lady Computer" of @firebrigademusical.bsky.social Come see Annie and the rest of The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade this summer in Cheltenham, London, Oxfordshire and Lincoln! firebrigademusical.com/about/

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Our Hertha Ayrton musical @firebrigademusical.bsky.social has a big ol’ article on the BBC website! Give it a read!

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Our second "Meet The Characters" and this time it's the indomitable Ethel Sargant: respected botanist, morning hater, and law-breaking suffrage campaigner! Yes, she really was all these things 🤯 Meet Ethel this summer at our @firebrigademusical.bsky.social shows! 🎟️ firebrigademusical.com/about

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Brian Mackenwells @mackenwells.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Would you like to hear a song from the musical I'm writing with @helenarney.bsky.social and @jennipinnock.com , sung by the amazing LVL musical theatre choir? You for sure do: www.youtube.com/watch?v=myY-...

youtube.com

"Put Out The Fire" from The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade, performed by Leading Voices Ldn

YouTube video by Helen Arney

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Our first "Meet The Characters" post for The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade Musical, and it's HERTHA AYRTON - on her actual birthday! 172 years young, she's the real founder of @girtoncollege.bsky.social Fire Brigade in firebrigademusical.bsky.social Share her story today! #makingmarks

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Come see me and my badass STEMinist musical in concert this summer: @firebrigademusical.bsky.social! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 PLUS - free family singing science workshops for ages 7 to 107 in CHELTENHAM, OXFORDSHIRE and LINCOLN (did I mention these are FREE?) Come one come all! Click link in bio to grab your place!

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

“It’s really happening… it’s kind of overwhelming… it’s all the knowledge we have dreamt of holding in our hands”🧯🚒👩‍🚒 Announcing TWO performances of “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade” at Lincoln Uni, with their amazing students! 3+8pm on Sun 10 May Tix: firebrigademusical.com/about

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Royal Institution @rigb.org · 08/02/2026

Dmitri Mendeleev, who created a version of the periodic table of elements, was born #OnThisDay in 1834. 🧪 Of the 10 elements discovered or first isolated here at the Ri, one has a bit of an image problem. @helenarney.bsky.social wrote a great song to remind us that boron isn't boring at all!

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

@rhodri.biz Here with friends who want guidance on where best to go for Christmas Sleeping Quarters Updates…?

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Prepping for a week in Canterbury, workshopping "The Unstoppable Letty Pegg - the musical" with @nymt.org.uk... the dream is coming true! We have an amazing young company, director, choreographer, MD and more in the room - plus a Q&A with Letty's book-mum @iszi.com. Get ready for LONDON CHAOS!

A copy of "The Unstoppable Letty Pegg" and sheet music for one of the songs I've written for the show with James Hughes

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

ncredible scenes! I applied a second (final) time for a DYCP grant from @artscouncilengland.bsky.social and... I got it! From September, I'm developing my bookwriting skills for youth companies & coming up with new ideas for British Musicals to nurture towards production over the coming years 🙌

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Digging into the Science Museum archive today, and found this: an original notebook of Hertha Ayrton’s research into fans 🪭 Also found a Suffragette Society letterhead being used as a bookmark in a science journal 😝💪🔥 Hertha Ayrton Fan Club assemble! We have some big things coming soon…

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Throw back to June 2023 when we sent "Unstoppable" from The Unstoppable Letty Pegg into the Stiles+Drewe Best New Song Prize... and Sienna Aurora Clarke sang it in the final concert! 💁‍♀️ 🥋 💪 Now we're about to workshop the rest of the show based on @iszio.bsky.social's book with @nymt.org.uk 🤯 🤩 😲

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

What a night #PintOfScience was on 20 May! @neilgostling.bsky.social shattered dodo myths with science & wit, then @helenarney.bsky.social stole the show with songs, smarts & a ukulele. Extinct birds + geek comedy = a Tuesday treat. Thanks for the laughs, facts & full house! @pintofscience.uk

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Kid's publishing people, and adjacents! I've written a draft of a kids picture book text in a genre I'm calling GIANT SQUID MAGICAL REALISM. My 4 year old and 8 year old like it, but does anyone want to have a look at it? 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑

Screengrab of first page of a picture book text called "HELP! I'm trapped inside a squid!" with a cartoon squid creeping across the top of the page.

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James Topham @jamestopham.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE

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Brian Mackenwells @mackenwells.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

If you're in Southampton at the end of the month, you should go to The Stage Door and hear them sing some of the songs from @firebrigademusical.bsky.social (the musical I'm writing with @jennipinnock.com and @helenarney.bsky.social !) thestagedoor.org.uk/product.php/...

A poster showing a woman singing. It's for an event called 'Showtime', on the 24th of May at the Stage Door in Southampton.

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Happy Birthday Hertha Ayrton! Physicist, inventor, science communicator, social activist and founder of the Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade: youtube.com/watch?v=lkiU...

youtube.com

The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade - Birmingham Hippodrome New Musicals Showcase

YouTube video by Birmingham Hippodrome

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

A rare solo show from me, doubling up with an even rare dodo expert… what a team!

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

🧪 Science... 🦤 Dodos.... 🎶 Ukuleles! We're back at Pint of Science again on Tues 20 May, 6 - 8pm: @neilgostling.bsky.social reveals the dodo’s wild side, then @helenarney.bsky.social hits you with sharp wit & science songs. Expect surprises, LOLs & maybe singalongs. 🍻 Book here: bit.ly/3G3hGIH

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Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · 09/04/2025

Check out the updated version we helped produce in 2019 with @helenarney.bsky.social, the Waterbeach Brass Band and chemists from around the world! www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDY... #ChemSky #ScienceSky #MusicSky

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The Elements Song 2019 – Chemistry World

YouTube video by Chemistry World

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Sharing brilliant news that @jennipinnock.com and @mackenwells.bsky.social are part of Lincoln Arts Centre's 2025 Innovate Artist intake! Can't wait to work with local talent to bring @firebrigademusical.bsky.social to life here - one of our Fire Fighters is Lincoln-born Charlotte Scott! 🔥🔥🔥

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Head over here to find out what I’ve been wanging on about for a year and a half so far…

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The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Ready for some sparks to fly? Head over to our website to watch our showcase filmed at Birmingham Hippodrome earlier this month! firebrigademusical.com/about/

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Jenni Pinnock @jennipinnock.com · 29/03/2025

The showcase recording of our fire brigade musical is here! Head to the link to see what the fabulous @helenarney.bsky.social , @mackenwells.bsky.social and I have been up to this year (aside from spending 30 minutes on single bars of music of course..)

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Happy World Theatre day, to anyone and everyone who feels seen by this...

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Sometimes writing a musical involves spending 30 minutes on a zoom call "discussing" a single bar in a song in ever decreasing circles of madness and then adding one SINGLE WORD and the song is suddenly 3,000% better and everyone is happy (PS love you @jennipinnock.com @mackenwells.bsky.social)

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Matt Parker @standupmaths.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Happy π Day everyone! This year we collided some masses together. In practise: youtu.be/vlUTlbZT4ig And in theory: youtu.be/6dTyOl1fmDo

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We calculated pi with colliding blocks

YouTube video by Stand-up Maths

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The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

We nailed those fire drills! Thanks to Birmingham Hippodrome, the entire New Musicals team, cast and crew for two amazing New Musicals Showcases yesterday. It was brilliant to share the sparks of our musical with so many people!

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The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Our fabulous fire brigade at last week's showcase! From left to right: Elena Pitsiaeli, Courtney Stapleton, Rosie Coles, Elexi Walker and Maddison Bulleyment. Birmingham Hippodrome 📷@danny_with_a_camera

Five performers at stands with a band behind them and red/orange lighting.

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Maths Inspiration @mathsinspiration.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Maths & English teachers - what is your experience (if any) of collaboration between the two subjects? Please take part in this joint @mathematicala.bsky.social / @englishassociation.bsky.social survey app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/gsoe/engli...

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk

English and mathematics collaboration survey

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

It’s one of those days… After a quick email exchange this morning, you can tune in to More Or Less on @bbcradio4.bsky.social tomorrow morning at 9am to hear me sing a topical new version of a popular nerdy song… 🤓

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The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Fighting fires, smashing the patriarchy and studying hard for a degree they won’t even earn. Our intrepid band of firefighters were a busy gang. But they also found time for fun – and one of the many activities they enjoyed was singing. Find out more: firebrigademusical.com/2025/03/02/w...

firebrigademusical.com

Why is a musical the perfect medium for our fire brigade?

Music referenced in the Girton archives and Hertha’s biography: In questa tomba, Schubert’s Gott in der nature and Gott ist mein Hirt and Mendelssohn’s Laudate pueri dominium. Fig…

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Hana Ayoob @hanaayoob.co.uk · 27/02/2025

If you want to achieve all three at once, you can have a snack while booking tickets and telling @helenarney.bsky.social and me that the line up we’ve created is amazing 👇🏼

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The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

One of the central driving forces behind our main character, Hertha, is her powerful sense of justice. She has to do the right thing, whatever the cost. Find out more about moments of protest in Hertha's life in Helen's blog post: firebrigademusical.com/2025/02/25/h...

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Blazing fires start with small sparks... 🔥🔥🔥 Come see the sparks of the new musical I'm writing with @jennipinnock.com and @mackenwells.bsky.social at Birmingham Hippodrome on Thursday 6th March: "The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade" www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/new...

A group of badass ladies in Victorian dress stand outside Girton College Cambridge with ropes, ladders and fire appliances. They are a fire brigade!

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Come see what we’ve been up to at Birmingham Hippodrome on 6th March… only a few tickets left! www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/new...

birminghamhippodrome.com

New Musicals Showcase – Birmingham Hippodrome

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Helen Arney @helenarney.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

So... who do I know that is connected with a choir? Adults or children or in a school! Professional or leisure-time! Basically ANY CHOIRS! COME AT ME!

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