2010 Show 2011 Show History Members Links Contact Us 2010 Show 2011 Show History Members Links Contact UsStuff which is getting a bit out-of-date.................but not unimportant, I may add !
(24th October 2009): RECRUITMENT.
I'm just thinking aloud..........
I suppose this goes for all groups, but I might as well put it into words. We have a very good membership, who are part of a successful Society. But when you think about it, Penzance and Penwith has a population of about 50,000. That's an enormous number of bods who are not members of PAOS, and who are not members of our audience.
You all know what fun it is, belonging to a Society like ours. So how about asking your friends, colleagues and loved-ones if they'd like to have a go with us ? Maybe they have never thought about performing, or helping back-stage (which is every bit as important as being in the spotlight). How about encouraging our local youngsters to join up ? We always fuss about the younger generation, don't we ? All generations do. Today's youngsters will also complain when they grow up themselves. So, why not do some recruiting now, and help them out ? We all know that a group like ours gives each of us confidence, and we discover talents we didn't know we had before.
So, will you Members please have a go at dragging people off the street for a couple of hours each Thursday ? They may be a bit late for Brigadoon, but let's think about Sept 2010.
PAOS can and should do its bit to help our fellows in West Cornwall, especially the youngsters.
Have a go !
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(20th October): THE FUTURE.
That sound ominous, doesn't it ? - but don't worry. It is a reminder that we must always look ahead as far as possible. Things happen, people leave, people join, we are affected by outside events. So let us think what PAOS wants, or needs, to do in the future.
Firstly, we must decide now on the 2011 big show. Will you please have a serious think about what we should do......not just the show you want to put on, but the show which will be right for the Society and for our audience. Think about filling St. John's Hall at every performance.....even on a Monday night. Think about entertaining our loyal audience - is it 450 of them at every performance ? That's a lot of people who bother to turn out for us. Think about something which will be challenging and fun for us to do. Think about the costs and returns; perhaps a show which does not need huge royalties to be paid might be a good idea this time; that gives us a better chance financially of staging a show which does need royalties to be paid in 2012.
Secondly, do we want to do anything between "Brigadoon" and the start of rehearsals again in September ? Does anyone want to put on a play, a concert, or a small musical ? Do you think we could go to village halls, pubs, hotels, gardens, etc. to entertain locals and all those tourists ? We have lots of talent, we are known, we have survived (when other groups unfortunately have not), some of us have free time in the spring and summer. Surely we can do something. Please think carefully, talk to others, come up with a plan which you can put to the committee - and let's keep things going.
That's it for now. I'll get off my soap-box. Pip Pip. Stephen B
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3rd July2010: Helpers needed, please, for the Summer Concert on July 16th.........Mostly Meeters and Greeters. If you can, do please bring some finger food (cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, etc) and a raffle prize. It will help if you leave a message on my phone to let me know what you'll be bringing: 01736 363350. We do hope everyone in PAOS will turn up with friends and family. If you cannot come, any donation will be very welcome. Do please remember that this is meant to be a fund-raising effort too. We have all put a lot of work into the concert, and we want it to go well for the reputation of the Society. Thank you.
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(9th April): We had the first rehearsal of the Concert last night. Andrew has come up with a LOAD of songs for us to do, chorus, solo and duets..............and he wants us to dance as well! Make sure you come next Thursday at 7.30. I think it's going to be very good. By the way, the first Summer Concert (there may be more) is on Friday 16th July, at a venue to be chosen..........that means "Ideas to me, please".
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(22nd March): First rehearsal for the VARIETY CONCERT is at Pensans School on Thursday 8th April at 7.30pm
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(26th April): Posted letters about our Annual General Meeting on 20th May to everyone today. Please let me know if you didn't get a letter, will you ? (Wait a day or two, of course). I have also included an up-to-date copy of the PAOS Rules. They have not been changed, but every member should have one anyway. Nomination Forms for your votes for Committee Members are also included, and a copy of the rules about the AGM for the barrck-room lawyers amongst you/us !
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(24th April): Please remember that the Annual General Meeting will be at The Pirates Club, Alexandra Road, Penzance at 7.30pm on Thursday 20th May. I shall be sending out all the paperwork to you on Monday.
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(25th April): HA HA !! We had a lovely time at the PAOS party. You should have come ! Gerry and Simon did us proud. They are sooooo professional and such good fun too. And thank you to those of you who who had a bash at the karri-kroakie (?)...............lots of talent there. Hoped you liked Mr Lavender's pasties as well. Well done everyone.
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(14th April): I do hope you are coming to the party at the Pirates on the 24th I've had a few of you let me know. I have ordered 41 pasties. First come, first served, of course, unless you have ordered beforehand. They are good pasties, and we'll all have a great time with Gerry and Simon.
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(22nd March): You'll be glad to hear that The Pirates Club in Penzance has been booked for our party on Saturday 24th April, starting at about 7.30. Gerry and Simon will be there with the music, and we'll all have a good time. Invitations are in the post to you today. Good.
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(19th March): Your Committee hopes you all found the EGM useful, and that we got quite a few things sorted. Thank you for turning up in such large numbers. As promised, Andrew Beard has given me his e-mails, so that you can contact him and Ian Davies with your ideas and wishes for the variety concert. This needs to be done very soon, please. Here they are:
alspookybundi@hotmail.co.uk or
ale@andrewlisa1.http://www.facebook.com/l/a5708;plus.com
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(12th March): In the post today all members should receive notice of an Extraordinary General Meeting to be at Pensans School on Thursday 18th March at 7.30pm. Your Committee thought that everyone should be able to input their views on what PAOS should do in the Summer months. Please be there.
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(8th March): I need photographs of the Show to put on this site urgently, please !! I have asked the Group on Facebook twice, but with no reply. Come on everyone.......where are all those photos you took ? E-mail or disc them to me, will you ? Thank you, Stephen.
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(2nd March): Phil Barnett has sent us his NODA Review of Brigadoon. Here it is, complete and unaltered:
Beautiful scenery throughout the show gave us a lovely atmosphere for the evening. Costumes were authentic –although a couple of kilts were a bit low. Lovely harmony singing at the beginning was very atmospheric and in the main continued throughout the evening. Principals were well cast although sometimes relationships between them were not as developed as I would have liked them to be. Most of their singing was first class – what strength in depth! The most difficult hurdle with this show is the accents. These varied from very authentic Scottish through to an Irish lilt and a definite Welsh twang by way of West Cornwall, but in the main were acceptable. Choreography was a little stilted in places, with a lot of standing around from chorus without much involvement with the main feature dancers. I felt a lot of the show needed a bit more energy from the ensemble. I enjoyed the show very much but was left with the feeling that it could have had a lot more excitement. The orchestra was bright and lively. Front of house staff were as always excellent and very welcoming – I rarely see such a polite and friendly team. Lighting added to the atmosphere and was sympathetic to the story. Scene changes were handled quickly and efficiently and props were good and used well. I sense that the society seems to be strengthening again and am very pleased to see this happening, with planned workshops to improve skills. Please try to take advantage of the NODA Summer School in August as I have found all the courses to be very helpful to me in all sorts of subjects.
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(21st February): Our thanks to Chris Tyack, Paul Collins, Bill McGraa, Rob Murdoch and Alan Winters for their hard work in dismantling all the sets on Saturday night, and for turning up at 8am on Sunday to clear the Hall; tasks which would have been made so much easier with some help from us.
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(18th February): Down to the The Bath Inn at 10.30pm on Saturday, after a long day at St John's Hall. All hands to the pumps to make our dressing rooms clean, tidy and empty and help clear the stage before we leave. Able bodies needed from 8am till noon on Sunday to clear the stage too, please. Thank you all.
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(13th February): A huuuuuge thank-you to all those members who turned out in a cold Penzance today to rehearse, then sing ten songs outside the Market House to raise funds for Haiti. It raised about £2700 . Brilliant. We did the Society proud.
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(4th February): As I mentioned on Tuesday, I have committed us to give a half-hour sing-song outside Lloyds Bank at 1pm on Saturday 13th. We shall be part of about ten other local groups singing to raise cash for the Haiti disaster. I shall put together a hymn-sheet, and we shall have a rehearsal on the day, starting at 11am at St Johns Hall. That will give us enough time to get into costume too. It is most important for our Society to be a part of this, not only to raise funds, but also as much-needed publicity for our own show. Will you PLEASE volunteer for this. Let me know. Thank you so much. Stephen
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(29th January): Right.........Results of last night's meeting. The choice of shows for us to stage next February is between:
The Pirates of Penzance and Me and My Girl
Both are very good shows. So, next Tuesday (2nd Feb) Angela will present Pirates and Tim will present MAMG for us. On the Thursday (4th Feb) we shall have a secret ballot to decide which show will be put on. Do go online to find out about the shows yourselves too. You Tube has a few excerpts of both. So has Spotify. Whichever we choose, we shall do a good job.
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(26th January): On Thursday 28th your committee is having a long meeting solely about next year's big show. Committee members are aware that, for various reasons, we haven't done anything about it yet, and that is not good. Hey Ho.......Now we are onto it, and a shortlist will be offered to Members to choose very soon.
Here is a copy of something I wrote here in October last year. I hope it gives everyone some idea of what we should think about when choosing a show:
...........Firstly, we must decide now on the 2011 big show. Will you please have a serious think about what we should do......not just the show you want to put on, but the show which will be right for the Society and for our audience. You must think about filling St. John's Hall at every performance.....even on a Monday night. Think about entertaining our loyal audience - is it 450 of them at every performance ? That's a lot of people who bother to turn out for us. Think about something which will be challenging and fun for us to do. Think about the costs and returns; perhaps a show which does not need huge royalties to be paid might be a good idea this time; that gives us a better chance financially of staging a show which does need royalties to be paid in 2012.
Secondly, do we want to do anything between "Brigadoon" and the start of rehearsals again in September ? Does anyone want to put on a play, a concert, or a small musical ? Do you think we could go to village halls, pubs, hotels, gardens, etc. to entertain locals and all those tourists ? We have lots of talent, we are known, we have survived (when other groups unfortunately have not), some of us have free time in the spring and summer. Surely we can do something. Please think carefully, talk to others, come up with a plan which you can put to the committee - and let's keep things going.
That's it for now. I'll get off my soap-box. Pip Pip. Stephen B.
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(23rd January): I've just been going through the Minutes of Committee Meetings over the year, and have come up with a couple of points which need attention:
1 A volunteer should be sought to learn how to audit the Society's annual accounts. Harry can go through this with the volunteer. It ain't rocket science, so will someone please come forward ?
2 I, and others, have asked before now about doing PAOS stuff during the Summer (see 20th October below). I have had no feedback from anyone, and would welcome some.
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(10th January): David Brown, because of work committments, has regretfully had to withdraw from being in Brigadoon. OMG ! Wadda we do ? We think, "Who looks as if he could be a seedy New York Barman" ? and John Tremelling immediately comes to mind. We ask him, and he kindly and gallantly steps into the breach. Brilliant. Thank you, John.
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(8th January): REHEARSAL...MONDAY 11th JAN.............Tony has expertly arranged for the next few Monday rehearsals to take place in Penzance Orchestral Society's Bandroom, near the bottom of Queen Street, Penzance. The postcode is TR18 4DF. Here is a map. The rehearsal will start promptly at 7pm, and will end at 10:00. I shall try to contact all those concerned to confirm in good time, when things are confirmed. By the way, ALL Principals with anything to do in ACT 2 are needed for a run-through of that Act.
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(7th & 8th January): WEATHER THURSDAY............I'm pretty sure most of you got my message that Thursday's rehearsal was cancelled; and I was glad to see we had about 20 hits on the website today.....thank you.....maybe it is all worth it !
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(28th December): As Ian Davies is now Harry Ritchie, "The Management" have taken the very wise decision to cast Rachael Benney as Sandy. Good. She'll do well.
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(6th November) and again on 28th Decemer: I've been reminded to ask you all to kindly donate suitable items for the raffles at the show. Seven performances; that means at least 35 prizes ! Will you please look around your homes, especially after Christmas.......do you really want those beige socks ?.............you don't like sherry, do you ?..............so please give it to Tony, who will use your stuff as a raffle prize. Thank you.
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(24th December): Just a reminder to all Principals that there is a rehearsal at Bolitho on Monday 4th January at 7.30pm prompt, .............hopefully with no libs in your hands. I'll send out my annoying reminder texts to you all, of course. Please realise that attendance at all rehearsals is so important from now on. Time is short, and there is still loads to do.
You may already know that Ian Davies has kindly and gallantly taken the role of Harry Ritchie. I am also sure you will want to wish Ian Wood well for the future too. All that's left is for me to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and to thank you for keeping PAOS going successfully in these straightened times. Over and out.
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(6th November): I've been reminded to ask you all to kindly donate suitable items for the raffles at the show. Seven performances; that means at least 35 prizes ! Will you please look around your homes, especially after Christmas.......do you really want those beige socks ?.............you don't like sherry, do you ?..............so please give it to Tony, who will use your stuff as a raffle prize. Thank you.
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(5th November): A lot happened at this evening's rehearsal............even that went well ! Firstly, our President, Harry Matthews, thanked us all for giving him support over the last few months, during a difficult time at home. Of course, we all wished him and his family well for the future too.
Secondly, we gave Tony and Jean Nicholas a Caithness paperweight as a present from the Society for their Golden Wedding Anniversary, which they seem to have celebrated in great style with their family. Tony and Jean very kindly put a lovely buffet on for us during tonight's interval, which was most welcome. Today was also Tony's (75th) birthday, which came as a bit of a shock to us, so he had a PAOS "Happy Birthday" from us.
Finally, at the Committee Meeting, it was unanimously decided to offer a Life Membership of the Society to Marilyn Baker, who has been with us for many years, and who continues to be really helpful, and a friend to all. We were all so very pleased and proud to give her three cheers tonight. Congratulations and thanks to Marilyn.
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(5th October): As you probably know, the results of the Auditions held on 4th October are out. First of all, we must especially thank Jill and John for the wonderful accompaniment; they do so much for us, and we are all very grateful. The whole Audition Panel asked me to thank all who had a go, even though everyone didn't get what they wanted. That's the way things are. Hey Ho.
There are a few small parts uncast. I'm sure Angela, Timothy and Lizzie will order some willing volunteers to do them in due course........That's the way things are too !
The decisions were very, very difficult this year, because of the very high standard you all set. Well done to everybody.
I have now (10th Oct) removed the names list from this page.........security, privacy, etc etc.
Rehearsals for Principals started on Monday, 26th October in the Gym at The Bolitho School at 7.30pm Angela has got a Provisional Rehearsal Schedule together, so that everyone will know when they are needed, or not. This can now be seen as an Adobe file in the 9th October entry above.
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(25th September): I heard today from the Council that they will kindly allow us to continue using the cloakroom at St. John's Hall as the Booking Office for Brigadoon next February. I am so relieved about this and we must, of course, thank those at the Council who agreed to it. Tony and Harry, who spend many days manning the Box Office, will be very pleased too.
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(19th August): The First Rehearsal for the February 2010 show - Brigadoon - was on Thursday, 3rd September 2009 at Pensans School. We had an extremely good turn-out, with brand-new members and some returning ones, all of whom are most welcome. I do hope they enjoy their time here. Tim, Jill and Angela put us through our paces straight away, with some complicated harmonies........which I think we got through all right. All done with great humour, as usual !
From then on, rehearsals start at 7.30pm.
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The Committee for 2009/2010, elected at the Annual General Meeting on 14th May 2009 was:
Officers |
Members
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Harry Matthews |
President
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Nicole Creasey
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Stephen Bennetts
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Hon Secretary
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Ian Davies
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Margaret Bowery
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Hon Wardrobe Organiser
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Gerry Gunn
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Rob Cooke
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Hon Publicity Manager
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Paula Hosking
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Tony Nicholas
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Hon Treasurer
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Jakki Williams
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Chris Tyack
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Hon Stage Manager
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Cynthia Yates
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Marilyn Baker and Doreen Nicholls are our Patrons' Secretaries.
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At the final curtain-call of 'My Fair Lady' on 21st February 2009, our President, Mr. Harry Matthews, was brought on stage and presented with National Operatic and Dramatic Association's Certificate for 50 years' service to the Society. Actually, Harry has done 57 years !.........but never mind; his continuing contribution is appreciated and welcomed by us all. Here is a photograph of Harry surrounded by some admirers.
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Page updated 12.08.10. This Site is Copyright PAOS 2010