Our Christmas Members' Evening was a Do Your Own Thing event produced by Doug and Julia Yule with contributions from Betsy & John Rimmer, Judith Dredge, Wendy Davies, Graham Harper, Mike Nicholson, Linda Stabler and Jenny Hewitt. Linda and Jenny also led the audience in a medley of carols. The pianist was Stuart Lee.
On Saturday 18th August a Murder Mystery set in the Sixties, written by the Castaway group and directed by Janet Methley, was a fun, well supported evening. Whilst the audience, ostensibly there to watch an “Elvis” concert, enjoyed a delicious two-course meal organised by Charlotte Turner, a murder was committed and the suspects entertained everyone whilst doing their best to avoid detection as they were questioned. Our members and guests entered into the spirit of the evening, many dressed in sixties style with a prize for the best dressed table. A visiting bat was a brief distraction but was capably caught by Janet and released back into the “wild”.
At our February Members Evening we were entertained by Mike Nicholson, one of our members, who is an accomplished professional singer. He showed his great skills as a folk singer and musician even getting the audience to show their singing prowess. The fish and chip supper, bar, quiz and raffle completed the evening.
Faces old and new treated us to some of their favourite songs, sketches and poems and Hermin and Julia must be congratulated on bringing it all together so well. Music was provided by Terry Turner.
For first time director Justin Curtis the entertainment for our August Members Evening was a double success as he also wrote the play. In Two Minds was the winning entry in our annual Chairman’s Challenge competition open to members of the society to write a one act play. The cast did a wonderful job - Natalie’s performance brought tears to our eyes while Janet made us laugh. Julian was in serious mood for a change and Angela, with very few lines still made an impact. Congratulations to John who did an excellent job having joined the cast at a late stage. As usual none of this would be possible without the unseen heroes of the evening, the backstage crew, lighting, sound, etc. and we must also give thanks to our catering co-ordinator, Betsy Rimmer, who organised the food so brilliantly and with a small band of helpers ensured that everyone was satisfied.
The February Members Evening was the Pantomime postponed from December 2010 because of the snow and ice. It was seen by a record audience of 100. Wendy Davies and Hermin Daley can be congratulated for producing a very well received version of Cinderella. Indeed the panto was an adaptation by Wendy herself. The cast entertained us with some excellent acting with musical accompaniment by Stuart Lee.