An Evening with Alistair Donkin

After all the hard work from many different members of the Society, last Friday's night seemed to be enjoyed by everybody. It was an excellent sign that more tables had to be hastily brought out to accommodate all the guests that had turned out for Alistair's entertainment and it was lovely to see people from not only our Society but also from the Hereford Musical Theatre Company who are currently working with Alistair on Me and My Girl.

Alistair was on sparkling form and had the audience in stitches with his many stories of life behind the scenes of the D'Oyley Carte Opera Company, particularly when he was telling some slightly 'naughty' stories of swearing in the wings and chopping scenery into tiny pieces to get it on stage!

As well as recounting some of his funniest stories, Alistair also sang a huge range of 'patter' songs from a variety of different Gilbert and Sullivan shows. Despite protesting that he hadn't sung some of the songs in many years, he was note and word perfect and the applause at the end of each song proved that he had impressed everyone with his skills! The final wonderful element was Rhiann Morris, our pianist, who accompanied Alistair wonderfully and even managed to keep up when Alistair finished the Major General's song at such a pace, most of the audience were left behind!

Thanks to everyone who came and supported, sold tickets, provided food and drink, sponsorship, prizes for the draw and helped with the setting up and packing away. Without you all we wouldn't be able to survive!!!

'Dame' Hannah

Dedicated members have got a few years experience between them...

And by a few years, I actually mean 560 in total!!!!

John Hyde has been busy organising and totalling up all the years members, both performing and non-performing, have dedicated to G & S throughout the years, and Louise Hickey, the regional NODA rep was on hand to award the medals. So here is the run down of who earned what:

John Chapman - 25 years service

Anne Hawthorne - 25 years

Gordon Auty - 30 years

Pat Dooley - 30 years

Peter Dooley - 30 years

Jill Ridley - 30 years

Daphne Sayce - 30 years

John Hyde - 35 years

Alan Durman - 40 years

Gill Haslam - 40 years

Jill Hyde - 40 years

Alec Dawe - 50 years

Ann Dawe - 50 years

Audrey Hart - 50 years

Geoff Rawcliffe - 55 years

It is hardly surprising that with this level of dedication, our Society is truly fabulous! And seriously, some of the people on this list don't even look old enough for their awards... ;-)

'Dame' Hannah

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congratulations to absolutely everybody involved in another cracking show!! We have all worked SOOOOO hard and it has paid off in the form of an amazing week. I celebrated by sleeping in until lunchtime (hey, I deserved it!) so I hope you've all had a chance to relax and unwind. After all, we've got to start work on Iolanthe pretty soon ;-)

I hope to see everyone in their glad rags on Friday at the Blind College to celebrate and have fun!

'Dame' Hannah

Sun on Saturday, please!

I hope you are all busy at home doing a little Sun Dance for the Society, as on Saturday a number of members will be out and about in High Town handing out leaflets, talking up the show and getting shops to display posters in an effort to sell loads of lovely tickets. There will even be some brave souls such as 'Dame' Hannah (me!) and the actual Dame Hannah (Gill), along with scary Mad Margaret (Karen but without her equally terrifying wig!!!) parading round in our wonderful costumes. So if we could all keep our fingers crossed for a warm, sunny day, I personally would be very grateful...

So, if you are in town on Saturday between 10am and 3pm, come and say hello - don't walk past pretending you don't know the crazy people ;-)

See you on Saturday,
'Dame' Hannah

Lots of leaflets!

I've got loads and loads of leaflets ready for publicising the show - so now we need helpers to distribute them. We're having a day handing out leaflets on Saturday 5th March between 10 and 3 (in or out of costume!) and plastering town with them but where else can we put them? If you can take any number and put them up in your local village shop, library, doctor's surgery or pub then please see me at rehearsals. The more prominent we can make them the more tickets we can sell.

If you have any suggestions for where they can go, let me know!!

See you on Tuesday night,

'Dame' Hannah

First floorwork rehearsal went well - I think...!

It's that time of year again - the first rehearsal with THE DIRECTOR! We might be a very small cast this year, but good grief we work hard! I suppose I shouldn't tempt fate, but apart from forgetting the lyrics now that we have to multitask (move about the room AND sing!), we were pretty good! We just need to remember it all again next time ;-)

I'm off to write down what I'm supposed to be doing, if I haven't forgotten it already....!

'Dame' Hannah

PS On Tuesday we need to take a whole cast photo and possibly the principle cast head-shots so please remember to a) smile and b) tart yourself up (if needed!!!)

New Year's Resolutions

As we enter the final weekend of January, is it too late to reveal one of my New Year's Resolutions? My Resolution has been to blog more... So, that's gone well so far!

Seriously, I don't quite know where December and January have gone. One minute we were all rehearsing furiously for Trial by Jury and suddenly, BAM! we're having full read-throughs of Ruddygore. In between we have all worked super hard: Trial by Jury was a great success and a very enjoyable night (check out February's Herefordshire and Wye Valley Life for the write up and pictures), our Christmas party was a lovely get together at the end of the year, the Society's small Christmas concert at the Town Hall in December raised a wonderful £600 for our chosen charities of St Michael's Hospice and Help for Heroes, and last weekend the Roper family kindly held a fundraising masked soiree at their home where the small audience were treated to a beautiful violin recital from Hannah and the most gorgeous and tasty buffet ever laid on - I wasn't the only person who went back for seconds! As you can see from all the exciting events that have taken place over the last few months, the Society has had a jam-packed schedule and there will be plenty more exciting events this year too. Check out the Society website www.herefordgandssociety.org.uk for the dates calendar to see what the next event is to attend.

So, back to my resolutions. Is it too optimistic of me to hope I manage to write at least one blog entry a week? Watch this spot to see if my will power and blogging skills match for the rest of the year...

Wishing you all a belated Happy New Year!
'Dame' Hannah

A message from Ian regarding the Society's website

I've received a message from Ian about how to access the Society's website:

'In order to make accessing the HG&S website members' area easier for members, the login requirement has been removed. You will still require a login to view the picture galleries and to download any of the documents (other than the rehearsal schedule).

Please see http://www.herefordgandssociety.org.uk/blog1.php as there are a number of announcements for members now posted there.'

'Dame' Hannah

Happy Halloween

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Halloween Quiz on Thursday night. It seemed to be a really popular event and it looked like people had a lot of fun. So many people made the effort to dress up - they looked fab and I've added some photos here for you to enjoy. I think I have some new candidates for the next photo competition.....! The rest of the photos will be up on the new website later in the week.

Enjoy....












Deanne in need of a manicure...

















Daphne and Jean compare outfits











The hardworking ladies of the Tombola stall - Margaret, Daphne and Deanne.











The Roper family looking a littler scarier than usual...

Extra special congratulations to Jean and her team for the decorating of the hall and to everyone who helped in any way from donating prizes, helping with clearing up and of course, those that turned up!

So, watch out for anything that goes bump in the night and if you spot anything tonight, remember who to call - GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

Yours 'spookily',

'Dame' Hannah

Our new website!

We have a brand, shiny and new website for you all to admire and visit and it is all thanks to the hard work of Ian! Follow the link www.herefordgandssociety.org.uk and see the beautiful transformation that has taken place. You can see photos from past shows, check out what's in the news and look at the Society calendar so you know where you need to be and when. This blog will stay here and the Facebook page will also be ongoing but make sure you book mark the website so you can visit again and again and keep up to date with the world of Hereford Gilbert and Sullivan Operatic Society.

Yours in great excitement,
'Dame' Hannah

Spooky goings on...

Hopefully, all you blog followers will already know about this but for the occasional visitor this is an announcement for you!

Thursday 28th October is the important date to remember for our Halloween Themed quiz. Taking place at the Hereford Welsh Social Club in Hinton Road, Hereford, this is an evening to test your brain cells, have a drink and have some fun! It's £1.00 per person to enter with quiz teams being a maximum of 6 people. There is also optional fancy dress! So, come along, have a drink and a giggle and maybe even win a cash prize!

Drop me an email at herefordgands@gmail.com for any further information.

See you on the 28th!

Yours spookily,

'Dame' Hannah

And the winner is....

Many apologies for the late announcement of the winner of our second Caption Competition - sadly work has got in my way recently!

So, without further ado; the winner of September's competition is Dr Ian Roper with "Gordon - I know carrots help you see in the dark but there's no way this parsnip will improve your hearing!"

Second place goes to Mrs Alison Auty with "Sex bomb, sex bomb, you're my sex bomb!" and Mr John Hyde comes in third with "You'll have to speak much louder, this thing is full of ice-cream!"

Chocolatey prizes will be available at Tuesday's rehearsal.

So, the next picture to test your thinking skills is this one: (I'm running out of comedy pics - I might have to bring my camera to rehearsals... :-)

Any ideas for a witty caption, either add them as a comment or email herefordgands@gmail.com and I'll upload them.

You have until the end of October, so good luck,

'Dame' Hannah

A New Chairperson

Last Tuesday night, the first rehearsal for Ruddygore and Trial by Jury, saw the hand-over of power from Peter Dooley, the outgoing Chairman, to Mary Benson, our incoming Chairwoman.

I think I speak for all of us when I wish Mary all the best for the coming year!

Sky Arts and Gilbert and Sullivan

For all you G & S fans with Sky TV, next week sees the start of a new series called Gilbert and Sullivan: A Motley Pair. This series explores the success behind the operas and is presented by Simon Butteriss, a singer and actor who has performed many of the comic roles written by G & S.



The link below will take you to the official Sky TV page with further information.



http://www.skyarts.co.uk/opera/article/gilbert-and-sullivan-a-motley-pair/?DCMP=EMC-Sky-ArtsEmail_BI



Tune in on Wednesday 8th September at 8pm on Sky Arts 2.



TTFN

'Dame' Hannah

We have a winner!

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the first ever Caption Competition is none other than our very own Musical Director, Mr Alan Durman with a winning entry of 'Three Little MADS from school.' He wins a chocolatey prize which he will receive next week at the FIRST REHEARSAL (Tuesday 7th September, 7.30 - bring a friend!!), well done! Mr Cliff Spooner receives a 'Highly Commended' for "...with cat-like tread...grrr...". He wins a slightly smaller chocolatey prize! Mr Graham Jones was runner-up with "give us back our cauldron, or else..." (Sorry, Graham, I only saw your email after I published this post - oops!)

There were, sadly, no other entries so August's competition can be counted as a warm up.

Take a look at September's Caption Competition and add your caption as a comment below the post (or email it to me if the comment box is playing up!!).

Best of luck (and apologies to Wendy and Gordon this time...)

'Dame Hannah

A lovely review from the Hereford Times

I wasn't aware of this review of our last production, The Sorcerer, until Alan emailed me the link to the website. Follow the link below to see what lovely things the Hereford Times had to say about us - http://www.herefordtimes.com/leisure/reviews/8101695.The_Sorcerer_at_The_Courtyard/

More soon,

'Dame' Hannah

Competition time!

Inspired by the old show photos that Laura has put on the group Facebook page and a chance comment by Cliff, I would like to introduce you to the first ever Society Caption Competition!

There will be an exciting prize for the best entry (can't tell you what it is yet as I haven't bought it!) and you have until the end of the month to come up with something fabulous. Add your entry to the comment space or email it to herefordgands@gmail.com

So, without further ado, thinking caps on and off you go! (Apologies to Chloe and Debs, for the choice of photo!!!)

'Dame' Hannah

More exciting cyber news

While the revamp of the new website is still a work in progress, I'm pleased to announce we now have a Facebook group dedicated to raising our Society's profile online. If you have a Facebook account search for Hereford Gilbert and Sullivan Operatic Society, or follow the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=136408563059027&v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=136408563059027&v=wall

Sign up as a member (there are 8 members already - good work, guys!!) and keep your eyes peeled for news and events.

As always, please tell your friends about the page as the more people that know about us, the higher our profile will be.

Yours in CyberSpace,
'Dame' Hannah

60 Year Award

Roy Pearce was at the AGM to collect his Long Service Medal, for a massive 60 years. In this photo he's seen receiving his medal and certificate to commemorate his achievement.

25 years with the Society

Janet Mitchum receiving her 25 year medal from President Geoff Rawcliffe.












Margaret Meiklejohn receiving her medal for 25 years from President Geoff Rawcliffe.

President Geoff Rawcliffe awarding a 25 year award to Jean Stiff.









Jonathan Sayce was also awarded his medal for 35 years but wasn't there to collect it. His daughter Chloe collected the medal on his behalf but was so shy she couldn't stand still long enough for a photo!!!