Stage Write March 2016

THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM THE FRIENDS OF SHANKLIN THEATRE MARCH 2016

2016 STAGE-WRITE

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BROCHURE DISTRIBUTION AROUND SANDOWN BAY

Three times a year we organise a ‘Theatre Brochure Drop’ around Sandown Bay, to ensure a successful distribution to every door, we need an administrator. Would you like to take on this challenge?

The full Island distribution is now 40,000, but most of this is organised through a delivery company outside the Sandown Bay area. The number of brochures delivered voluntarily is about 7,000 through letter boxes.

So what does it involve? Well, once the printed brochures have arrived from the printers, we need to notify all the volunteer deliverers and make arrangements for them to collect their allocation from the theatre.

Lists of streets have already been drawn up and when the supplies have been picked up and delivered, we need the administrator to be advised and a record kept.

New helpers are always coming along, so the administrator needs to record them as volunteers and allocate a new area, working closely with the membership secretary. If volunteers can no longer help, the administrator will help find replacements.

Not a huge job, but very important. Would you like to have a go? Then just e-mail membership@thefost.uk and one of the FOST Committee will be in touch.

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THE ISLE OF WIGHT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUSINESS AWARDS 2015

The best in Isle of Wight Business was celebrated on Friday 27th November at the annual Isle of Wight Chamber Of Commerce Business Awards for Excellence.

The prestigious event at Cowes Yacht Haven was hosted by ITV’s Simon Parkin and co-presented by the Chamber’s President Geoff Underwood.

Representing Shanklin Theatre on the night was theatre chairman Chris Quirk, director Pete Stockman & Michael Beston vice chairman for the friends of theatre.

The theatre was nominated in the VISITOR ATTRACTION category sponsored by Lifeline Alarms & Security Systems along with Adgestone Vineyard & Vectis Ventures (Robin Hill & Blackgang Chine).

We were up against some really strong opposition on the night and the worthy winners were Vectis Ventures picking up the Visitor Attraction Award.

Newport based technology firm RFEL scooped up three awards before being named business of the year.

Chris Quirk said:

"We were up against really strong opposition this year, the standard of businesses being nominated just gets better & better.

We have the taste for success after winning two Chamber awards in 2014; we will definitely be back next year”.

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CHRISTMAS RAFFLE DRAW WINNERS JANUARY 2016

SOME GOOD FEEDBACK

We received some very good feedback to finish off 2015 within a letter written by Jane Oliver.

Jane is one of our corporate members who runs her own business (Jane C Oliver Educational Consultancy Ltd) She writes:

“Once again we spent Christmas on the Island and thoroughly enjoyed Jack & the Beanstalk. I am always impressed with the improvements that FOST have made to the theatre. It just gets better all the time”.

With every good wish for 2016. Kind regards. Jane Oliver.

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SPOTLIGHT ON FOST VOLUNTEER – VIC FARROW – THEATRE MANAGER

Who are you?

Vic Farrow, Volunteer at Shanklin Theatre in the roles of booking manager and managing director.

Why are you here?

My wife, Denise, and I holidayed here for years, moving permanently in 1991, when we owned & ran Screen De Luxe Cinema, in Lake.

Why do you stay here? I would not live anywhere else.

Where is your Wight heaven? Walking beside the sea.

Favourite Town? Shanklin.

Favourite beach? Shanklin / Appley.

Favourite beauty spot? Winkle Street.

Favourite pub / restaurant / café? The Pointer Inn, Newchurch / Waterfront,

Village Inn & Fine Nammet, all located in Shanklin.

What do you miss when you are away? Everything, especially my home.

What don’t you miss when you are away? Potholes and roadworks.

Vic’s other favourites include: A song from Les Miserables - Bring him Home, the book Born Brilliant-the life of Kenneth Williams by Christopher Stevens, a film called Cinema Paradiso as this reminds him of great times at Screen De Luxe, favourite food & drink include Newchurch Pie & Real Ale, Vic’s favourite sports are Football & National Hunt horse racing.

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THE FRIENDS OF SHANKLIN THEATRE WEBSITE UPDATED

The Friends of Shanklin Theatre are a group of volunteers dedicated to support The Shanklin Theatre and Community Trust in the running of Shanklin Theatre.

The Friends website has now undergone major upgrades over the last few weeks or so headed by Tim Marshall & Tim Leal, you are able to access information on becoming a Friend / Volunteer of Shanklin Theatre, you can also find out how the Friends were originally formed back in 2008.

Find out how to "Name a Seat" & view our present and back copies of the Friends newsletter publication "Stage Write" magazine.

Why not consider becoming a friend or volunteer of the theatre, by becoming a Friend or even a Patron of the theatre your money will help fund essential work required to keep Shanklin Theatre open.

To become an Individual Patron costs £25 a year / Corporate Patrons costs £100 a year.

Please contact our membership secretary Jacqui Robertson membership@thefost.uk Come and join us on the first Saturday of every month for our very popular “Coffee, Cake & Chat”, this is held in the theatre Green Room from 10am until noon, please contact our co-ordinator Pam Phillips on 01983 862739.

You can also Follow & Like us on Facebook & Twitter here:

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CILLA’S 90th BIRTHDAY PRESENTATION

Our Welfare Officer Cilla Morris celebrated her 90th birthday on 28th January, Cilla is our most senior lady volunteer, and is also deputy head usherette. A framed caricature drawing and a beautiful basket of flowers was presented to her from fellow volunteers at a recent training session at the theatre on 1st February.

Born in 1926, Cilla grew up in East Cowes where she spent a happy childhood as the youngest of three girls. Her father was a Yorkshire man who worked at Whites shipyard in the town as a riveter. On leaving school she worked in the office of Saunders Roe aircraft factory. During the war she was evacuated to Hampshire along with some of her peers, to be kept safe from the bombing.

Whilst there she met her future husband Bill. They married in 1947 and moved to London where Bill worked for the London Electricity Board, their son Michael was born in 1948 and they settled in Merton Park. Cilla worked as a secretary in a boy’s school in Wandsworth for 22 years. Sadly Bill died in 1998, and in 2003 she decided to come home to the Island.

At present she is busier than ever, being actively involved in Shanklin Bowling Club, secretary of Lake WI, and of course her involvement with the theatre, in fact she was one of the first volunteers to sign up to FOST in 2010.

Pictured left to right: Alana Bird, Cilla Morris, Vivien Howell & Peter Coleman.

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STAGE FLOOR REFURBISHMENT

4th January 2016 and so it started, the old stage covering comes up ready for a new skin. The new covering will require 53 sheets of 6mm MDF & 2kg of wire nails, all hand nailed by hammer as the use of a nail gun is out due to the minimum depth of the original flooring.

The stage floor was last recovered some 28 years ago, and extended outwards into the Auditorium by around 4ft in the mid Nineties.

You will see the original lower stage wall fascia panels revealed in the image, also revealed are the recesses (Troughs) for the original Footlights on the outer edge of staging; these will have to be re-hidden & recovered as with the fascia panels during refurbishment.

The original Oak flooring can be seen now that the old covering has been removed, using the stage in its original form is not ideal due to the Oak being slippery underfoot especially on a raked angle such as the case at Shanklin.

Also, due to lighting and technical issues the flooring, back drop and side curtains all have to be in matt black to prevent glare and shadows during shows and productions.

A more revealing shot of the “Trough” for the Footlights; these are now hidden under the new stage covering. Before they were called Footlights they were known as “Floats” in the distant past.

Before gas lighting took over, the Trough was filled with oil in which Wicks were floated and lit. Not many cues were possible back then, but a hell of a lot of theatres came to grief from this form of lighting.

The original Oak flooring revealed below.

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The old Hardboard covering has now been completely removed and de-nailed, the old Footlight Troughs see their first light for many years, and this will be the last time we see these dip traps for a while.

The right hand Limb has now been removed to improve the selling space in the auditorium.

It's all change at the Shanklin Theatre, it will now look a little different to the visitors and customers, and will improve the flight case storage on-site now that the under-thrust area has been improved & enlarged.

The stage has now been recovered and fully nailed down, next job was to move onto the new fascia frontage.

All the stage legs have been spirited to upright and the packing pieces attached.

Time to start cutting the fascia doors in ply, the final area of the auditorium floor has also been diamond coated ready for the seats to go back. There is a lot of paint to go on yet too.

The first coat of “Black Out� being applied to the new floor covering by Rebecca.

New flip top electrical sockets have been installed into stage floor for ease of access for performing acts stage equipment etc.

Meanwhile, our friends TD Decor were busy redecorating the back stage stairwells, once completed the stage fascias were repainted to match the existing auditorium decor.

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STAGE FLOOR REBURBISHMENT Cont:

A couple of images of the fully redecorated back stage stairwells by TD Decor, the two tone grey gloss paintwork matches the already redecorated front foyer, front left & right balcony stairways, box office & side entrance hallway.

The new stage floor covering is now complete; all the blackout coating has now been applied and finished.

The new facia frontage & storage doors have now been re-painted to match the existing colour of the auditorium.

The next future job will be to affix decorative architrave to the front stage facia to tie in with the theatre's existing decor.

Images courtesy of Chris Gardner & Michael Beston.

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THANKS TO MIKE FOR EDITING NEWSLETTER

Back in the Spring of 2013, Mike Crowe took on the task of editor from Ron Bird who had commenced the FOST Newsletter in the Autumn of 2009. Retaining the name “ Stage Write” Mike developed the information and advertising in the Newsletter to carrying stories of interest to people who loved the theatre and the Shanklin Theatre in particular.

Each quarter since June 2013 a new edition has been produced, charting the rise of our community project award by award, and brick by brick of refurbishment. With the rapid increase in electronic mail, FOST were able to enlarge and produce a larger and more picture orientated newsletter and at a greater reduced cost now we only post about 80 copies.

Peter Coleman, Chair of the Friends of Shanklin Theatre said “Mike has been a stalwart in producing details of what we have been doing over the past three years, sometimes with limited help from other member contributors. Whilst this is quite a common problem for community newsletters, to make it a worthwhile read it was important that ‘Stage Write’ focused on both what the ‘Friends’ had achieved and more importantly on what we are hoping to achieve for the future. I am sure you will agree that Mike has achieved this”.

“At the same time Mike has been playing other roles within the Friends, and many will recall that for a time following one of his roles on stage he became well known as the ‘corpse’. Others would declare that he has made great strides since then and was seen only a few months ago as Santa Clause handing out ‘small bags of chocolates’ to those attending the special Christmas Breakfast Club”.

“A really big THANK YOU on behalf of all the members for the tremendous hard work you have done Mike”.

THANK YOU EVENING FOR ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS

In late January, the Friends invited all the volunteers who had helped during 2015 to an evening at the Theatre. More than sixty attended and the evening began with a welcome glass of ‘bubbly’ supplied from the proceeds of a prize draw organised by Vivien Howell.

They were then offered a choice of three meals – Chilli Con Carne & Rice, Vegetable Casserole or a Gammon & Salad Buffet.

Janet Wardle then hosted a ‘brain teaser’ based on cryptic questions on the London Underground, with the aid of a tube map some questions proved easy, whilst some out foxed the entire brain power of the volunteer force.

Donated wine, chocolates, Turkish delight and a ‘Junior Spike’ Supersaurus were drawn out of the hat for some lucky members. All were thanked by the Managing Director, Vic Farrow and the Chairman of FOST, Peter Coleman.

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NEW BOOKING FOR MAY

We give a big welcome return to Shanklin for ‘Roy Hudd’s Very Own Music Hall’. The show will be on Saturday 14th May at 7.30 pm. It is an extra show to the brochure and tickets are priced at £18.50 with concessions at £17.50.

This will be the second visit by Roy, who paid tribute on his last visit to the tremendous restoration and refurbishment achieved by the community in Sandown Bay. We look forward to another great night of entertainment.

ASSISTANCE FOR THE DISABLED A bell to obtain assistance is to be fitted outside the Box Office entrance to enable members of the public who wish to visit to be assisted to gain entrance. The bell will be fitted at wheelchair level.

AUDITORIUM TRAINING DAY Fifty volunteers involved in the auditorium as Ushers, ice cream sellers, sweet shop attendants or prize draw sellers attended an intense three hour training session in early January.

As you would expect with our talent at Shanklin Theatre, we created some wonderful role play exercises, which caused a laugh or two as well as the deadly serious business of ensuring safety and pleasure for all our seat purchasers.

Alana Bird, Vivien Howell and other members of the team gave personal experiences which could be collected together and could form a book.

Never the less, they were true and volunteers are now better prepared for whatever the public may come up with, not just before the show starts but during the evening as well.

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SHANKLIN THEATRE CONTINUES TO ATTRACT INSPIRING EVENINGS

Steve Richards, British TV presenter and chief political columnist for The Independent newspaper will be presenting an evening entitled ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Politics’ on Monday 16 th May at 7.30 pm.

Take a journey on an entertaining trip through the current political scene of Dave, Boris and Jeremy, asking the questions like will we remain or leave the EU.

FOST AGM RAFFLE We will be holding a raffle at the FOST AGM on Monday 25th April. If you have any unwanted Christmas gifts, chocolates or wine that you really don't like! - Please consider donating them to FOST. Can you please leave any items in the box office or the usherette’s room. Thank you very much in anticipation. Kind regards, Heather Whitchurch.

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FRIENDS OF SHANKLIN THEATRE 1000th MEMBER

Mrs Flora Upson from Brading joined the Friends of Shanklin Theatre (FOST) on 4th January 2016 and became our 1000th member.

To celebrate this FOST achievement, on 6th February during the monthly Coffee Cake and Chat meeting in the Green Room of the Theatre, she was welcomed personally by Peter Coleman, Chair of the FOST committee who handed her membership card, Theatre vouchers to the value of ÂŁ20.00 and a certificate.

FOST was started in February 2008 following an announcement of the closure of the Theatre.

The primary objective of the Friends is to support and maintain the Theatre for the use of the Community.

Since then, the FOST membership has grown from strength, the support of members past and present, has made Shanklin Theatre an award winning theatre that is surpassing all expectations.

Pictured left to right: Jacqui Robertson, Peter Coleman and Flora & Mark Upson.

Image courtesy of Mike Crowe.

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NEW EMERGENCY EVACUATION CHAIRS FOR BALCONY

The Friends have now purchased two special innovative ‘Ski Pads’ which will be based on each side of the Balcony in case of an emergency.

These can be operated by any experienced volunteer who is working in the Theatre.

This is the first step in increasing the safety measures for the upstairs of the building; others are under discussion with early implementation being planned.

In the event of an emergency the Ski Pad is easily removed from its storage bag.

The individual is quickly transferred to the Ski Pad and secured in place with seatbelt style straps.

While being moved the individual is protected by a 5cm thick foam pad.

The tough, slippery, vinyl coated base means that the pad moves easily over indoor and outdoor surfaces so the individual can be safely and quickly evacuated.

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FRIENDS OF SHANKLIN THEATRE VOLUNTEER STRUCTURE

SUPERVISORS Box Office – Doreen Armstrong.

Ushering – Alana Bird.

Deputy – Priscilla Morris.

Bar – Maureen Harden.

Deputy – Brian Platt.

Maintenance – John Steege.

Deputy – Rob Robertson.

Catering – Dorothy Coleman.

Deputy – Annie O’Neill.

Housekeeping – Shirley Hughes.

Merchandise – Vivien Howell.

CO-ORDINATORS Confectionary Kiosk – Cherry Scudder.

Social Media & FOST Publicity – Michael Beston.

FOST Webmaster – Tim Marshall.

FOST Coffee, Cake & Chat – Pam Phillips.

FOST Prize Draw – Sylvia-Lay Flurrie.

FOST Membership – Jacqui Robertson.

Enquiries to - Friends@shanklintheatre.com

Stage-Write magazine.

Published by the Friends of Shanklin Theatre.

While every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of Stage-Write magazine the publishers do not accept any liability or provide any guarantee that the information is accurate, complete or up to date. The publisher and its contributors have used their best efforts in preparing these pages and this publication but make no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the information supplied.

Editor: Michael Beston, March 2016.

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