READ DANCE AND THEATRE COMPANY THE BEST OF THE WEST END

The Read Dance and Theatre Company were staging a production of The Best of the West End at the Arlington Arts Centre on Saturday 10 May and I was invited with Edwina Cooper to attend this single performance in the evening. We had met the Co-founders of the company, Jamie and Helen Read, at the Mayor of Thatcham’s final reception so we were looking forward to their production. They have a wonderful pedigree in the performing arts arena as they have appeared in many West End productions with stars such as Judi Dench and Maureen Lipman. They have set themselves up locally, providing theatre training and production and they also work with young people in schools and colleges.
We have been to a number of productions at the Arlington Arts Centre and have enjoyed it as it is an open theatre which is reasonably intimate. The production was in two parts; Act 1 incorporated songs and dancing from three shows, Wicked, Smokey Joe’s Café and Hairspray. The show got underway with five songs from Wicked which was confidently sung and danced by the youngsters who seemed very confident and well rehearsed. Their costumes were very colourful and someone worked very hard on these. The six songs from Smokey Joe’s Café was performed almost exclusively by three students from Reading Theatre College and their singing and dance routines was excellent, and in particular Teach Me How to Shimmy which was warmly applauded. The final four songs were performed by the youngsters which included I Can Hear the Bells and You can’t Stop the Beat, which I remembered from many years ago from Hairspray. We needed the interval to stretch our legs and get a drink as well as to reflect on the first Act.

The second Act started with songs from the show Snoopy which I had not seen or heard before and we certainly enjoyed these, particularly Peanut Butter Sandwich and Just one Person. This was followed by five songs from West End Tribute from the Reading Theatre College students, Ravarna Hunsdon, Kharmen Smith and Kathryn Halls. We both enjoyed the songs and their choreography which really went down well with the audience.
The final seven songs were from the show We will Rock You which Edwina had seen in London. This combined the two groups and the climax of the evening was the songs We are the Champions which some of the audience joined in and concluded with the Bohemian Rhapsody. There was a standing ovation from the audience and it was a fitting response to an excellent show.
We were invited backstage to meet Jamie and Helen Read and all the cast. It was a great pleasure to talk about the performance and everyone said how much they enjoyed singing and dancing and how enthusiastic they were. We both said that we would go to any future performance that they put on. We also thought that the three students from Reading would have great careers on the stage in the future.

This is the last item for my Blog before I hand over the reins to Phil Barnett at Mayor Making on 18 May, so I hope that he continues with the Blog to record what engagements he has attended. Goodbye from Edwina and I.

MAYOR OF NEWBURY’S FINAL RECEPTION

I held my final reception in the Council Chamber on Friday 9 May and Edwina Cooper the Mayoress and I were pleased to receive something like 65 guests that evening. Many of those attending were our personal friends who had given us such good support during the year. We were also very pleased to welcome the Mayors of Hungerford and Thatcham, the Chairman of West Berkshire Council, the Member of Parliament, Richard Benyon and David Stone, the Mayor’s Chaplain. All the Civic Team, apart from the Town Marshal, and their wives were also there.
My speech was really to summarise the year’ activities and to thank all those people who had supported us by attending charity coffee mornings, the gala concert, the Mayor’s Ball and other functions. It was also an opportunity to thank the Civic Team. Last year a professional photographic firm visited the Town Hall and photographed the Macebearers, the Town Crier and the Town Marshal. I was able to get copies of their photographs and had them framed. These I presented to them with my thanks for their efforts. I also gave small gifts to Peter Curry, who is the Mayor’s Attendant’s husband who occasionally stands in for her when she is unavailable and to Colin Lewis, the Civic manager’s husband who always helps out on most occasions. In thanking David Stone, I presented him with a rather thick book on the Crusades which I think he would enjoy.
In conclusion, I did ask everyone to give the same support I enjoyed to my successor.

BOYS BRIGADE BADMINTON NATIONAL FINALS

The Boys Brigade national badminton finals were being held all day at Cannons Health and Fitness Centre on Saturday 3 May and I was invited to go there later in the day to present the prizes to the teams. Edwina Cooper and I arrived at around 5.p.m. and we saw some of the final games. The standard of playing was very high and we were impressed at the fitness levels of the boys who seemed to be in the 15 to 18 age range particularly as they had been playing the heats since the morning. We met up with the Captain of the Newbury Boys Brigade, Roger Vogel who was in charge of the organisation of the finals, despite the fact that the Newbury Boys were not playing.
The 1st Newbury are based at the Baptist Church in Cheap Street and the Badminton championships are part of their 125th anniversary celebrations. The competition began earlier in the year and has been open to all Boys Brigade branches in England Ireland and Scotland. He told us that the Hilton Hotel had sponsored the overnight accommodation and Cannons had not charged for the use of the facilities.
The finals was won by a team from Colraine in Northern Ireland and I was pleased to present the winners cups to this team Teams from Scotland and England came second and third respectively. It is very encouraging that these young people have done so well and I am sure that they will continue to play badminton well into their future lives.

NICK SCHLEE’S EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS

I was invited to attend an exhibition of paintings by Nick Schlee in the West Berkshire Museum on the Wharf on Thursday 1 May 2008. I arrived at 6.40 p.m. to find a number of people there including the Chairman of West Berkshire Council, Andrew Rowles and Mrs Wendy Carpenter. I looked at the numerous paintings displayed and I admired his oil paintings of landscapes in his strong style and I then saw two paintings of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the desert. These were in total contrast to his other paintings and reminded myself to ask him about these when I met him. Andrew Rowles gave a speech, thanking Nick for presenting three of his paintings to the Museum and the purpose of the exhibition called Retrospection was to give the people of West Berkshire the opportunity to view his paintings and photographs and other artefacts to indicate the interesting life he had.
I was eventually introduced to Nick and his wife who have their home in Upper Basildon. I asked Nick about the pictures of anti-aircraft guns which seemed to be a very high calibre, he said they were painted when he was an officer in the Royal Artillery and he explained that were used in a field gun role as well. I also discovered that his wife was also artistic and that their house was literally full of paintings.
I found the exhibition very interesting and liked his paintings very much. It is worth a visit and I would encourage readers to visit the Museum to see it.

NEWBURY WEEKLY NEWS LAUNCH OF BUSINESS WEBSITE

I was invited to attend Newbury Weekly News launch of their new local business website at 8 a.m. on Monday 28 April in their News Hall. I arrived a few minutes after 8 a.m. to find that I was not the first to arrive. A very cheerful group of their lady staff were there to greet me and give me a name tag and one took me through into the News Hall where I met the Managing Director, Adrian Martin. He in turn introduced me to Clive Young and the deputy news editor Simon Lyle. Amongst the other guests was the Member of Parliament, Richard Benyon who seemed to be invited to every event I go to so I have to admire his stamina as he spends most of his time in the House of Commons and is a regular user of First Great Western Railway.
Adrian Martin and subsequently the Group Chairman, Jeremy Willis gave a speech on the purpose of the new website which was to feature local business news and to give information on new business ventures locally. No doubt large companies such as Bayer and Vodafone will be included but also smaller businesses will also feature.
As a matter of interest, when I returned home, I did use my newly acquired computer skills and was able to log onto the website without difficulty and I found it very interesting. I am sure it will be a great success.

ROTARY CLUB OF NEWBURY STROKE AWARENESS DAY

I was invited to take part in the Newbury Rotary Club’s Stroke Awareness Day and not knowing too much of what the event was involved with, I arrived with my suit and chain and was promptly asked if I would like to have my blood pressure checked. I readily agreed and sat down on the couch. Mary Gibb was the nurse taking the blood pressure checks and I have known her for a number of years as she is a regular attendee of the Greenacres Monday fitness class for the over 50s. She was not happy with my wearing my coat so I had to take my chain off and then rolled my sleeve up. The first test showed my blood pressure was high, which did surprise me, as I am reasonably fit. She did take it again and we were both relieved. I was amazed to see a queue of people forming and it stretched outside onto the pavement.
I understood that the event was organised by the West Berkshire Primary Care Trust with the Stroke Association. It was certainly very successful and there were some people referred to their GPs which may well benefit the people in the longer term. I am sure that another event such as this will be equally successful and may well save lives in the future. Well done Rotary for organising it.

MAYOR OF THATCHAM’S CIVIC RECEPTION

Friday 25th April was the Mayor of Thatcham, Phil Dray’s civic reception to which Edwina Cooper and I were invited. Unfortunately, Edwina had fallen heavily that day and was not feeling or looking too good so I had to go unaccompanied. I arrived just after 7 p.m. with my attendant, Carol Currey and joined the line to be greeted by Phil and his wife. During the reception I met other guests, including the Mayor of Hungerford, Peter Harries and his wife, John Miller, the former High Sheriff of Berkshire and his wife and the Chairman of West Berkshire Council, Andrew Rowles and his lady. I also met Mike Harris, who was at one time the Director of Legal Services at Newbury District Council, then helped out at Newbury Town Hall when the Town Council was formed and is doing something similar at Thatcham Town Council. After dinner, we were treated to a performance of dance given by West Berkshire Ballet School, under their Principal, Jane Scholl. I am not an expert on dance but nevertheless, I thought it was a very polished performance and beautifully choreographed.
Phil then presented civic awards to members of the local community who had given outstanding service in mainly charity work and also presented a cheque to the West Berkshire Community Hospital to purchase a special bicycle for patients undergoing physiotherapy treatment.
After the presentations, Phil invited John Miller, a former High Sheriff of Berkshire to speak on his experiences during his year.
He gave an explanation on how he was recruited, what his duties were and some of the engagements he attended. I did not know that the High Sheriff was originally the Monarch’s representative until relatively recently when the duties were split between the Lord Lieutenant andf the High Sheriff. He is an excellent raconteur and his speech was well received.
Phil then thanked everyone for their support during the year and it was time to say farewell. Phil has been a great ambassador for Thatcham and I wished him well for the future.