AGM 2008: Not a very good turn out for the Annual General Meeting and for those of you who were not
there it was agreed as follows.
Officers elected:
Chairman: Richard Taylor
Vice-Chair: Helen Page
Treasurer: Ray Marsh
Secretary: Sarah Horner
Committee members elected:
For three years: Lynn Dey, Julie Francis and Andrew Taylor.
For one year: Jason Dey.
It was also agreed that as from the 1st September the subscriptions would be increased as follows:
Individual member£12. 00
Family membership£18. 00
Senior Citizen and Junior£6. 00
Therefore, it would pay you to make sure you pay before the 1st September
and Vanessa will be pleased to receive your subs.
KDA Awards 2008: The Birchington Guild of Players won the
Timber Woods Memorial Shield for 'Initiative in Stage Presentation' at a Gala awards
ceremony held at the Whitstable Playhouse Theatre. Alison Sheekey,
pictured here collected
the award on behalf of the Guild. The adjudicator made particular note to the effort made to
create the feeling of a real townswomen's guild event with market stalls, the audience sitting
around tables, and "extremely good" home made cakes. Congratulations to the Director, Ruth Childs,
and to all those who worked hard to make this evening such a success.
The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: Perhaps the longest play title in history, but this very funny play was this years entry for the Kent Drama Festival. Judging has now finshed and this years nominations have been announced. Birchington is one of three societies in line for the Timber Wood Memorial Shield for 'Initiative in Stage Presentation'. Congratulations to all those who helped in staging this play and a special thanks to Thanet Village Market for their assistance in providing the correct atmosphere.
Evening of Comedy: The October production was directed by Peggy Mann. She chose two one act comedies to present; 'Cut in the Rates' by Alan Ayckbourn and 'Waiting at the Church' by L. du Garde Peach. Although the plays were quite short, the added attraction sitting at tables with food provided attracted some very favourable reactions. Thank you to Wendy and her team for organising the food and to the Vicar and PCC of All Saints Church for the loan of suitable furniture and props.
AGM 2007: The well attended AGM saw Geoff Kirk
and Ruth Childs stand down as Chairman and Secretary respectively. Both
individuals have been tireless in their support of the Guild and in the work
they have done for the committee over a number of years. The guild members
offered their apprectiation to both retiring officers. Richard Taylor was
elected Chairman, unopposed and Sarah Horner takes over as Secretary. Helen
Page takes over responsibilty of Vice Chairman. Ray Marsh failed in his bid
to hand over the Job of treasurer to any willing volunteer! Peggy Mann is
re-elected to the committee and MarcHamilton joins as a new member.
Agnes of God: This play written by John
Pielmeier was the Guild's entry to the Kent
Drama Festival for 2007. Despite playing to small audiences, the play
was very well received by the Festival adjudicator and went on to be
nominated for three awards: Best Young Player (Anna Sampson), Best
Technical Achievement and Best Lighting. At the Awards Ceromony, held in
Tenterden, the Guild won the Geoff Goodwin Cup for Best Lighting.
Congratulations to Betty Cleminson for directing the play and to the cast and
crew for their efforts.
New Web Site: To those of you who may have come across offensive images on the old guild website at "www.birchingtonguild.com", the Guild would like to apologise. Ownership of this domain name appears to have been transferred to an offshore company which acquires dormant domain names for resale. How this has happened is not clear. This new site will become the regular home of the Guild. Please return to it frequently for all the Guild news and details of forthcoming productions.