FOST

FUNDRAISING - 7 WONDERS WALKS 13th – 21st May 2023

We all enjoyed the Walking Festival very much and had a rewarding experience. It was great to enable walkers, including island residents, to discover different areas of the Isle of Wight. Some even asked for the details of the walks so that their friends and family could also enjoy these areas. Many walkers had booked 2 or 3 walks with us, and we were happy to see familiar faces in the morning at the start of walks.

The walkers have been very supportive of our Challenge 70. They really like the novel idea and the diversity of the walks. Of course, the excellent weather and spectacular countryside was the icing on the cake!

Also, many discovered Shanklin Theatre and some went to book a couple of shows.

A great many thanks go to all our generous sponsors: walkers, FOST members, Jane Robert, Matt Day, Chris Turner, Gwyn Dawson, Sarah Bucher-Jones, family and friends, patrons of the Chine Inn and The 50+ Club.

The total raised was £1,587, well above our original target of £700! This will go towards creating additional downstairs ladies’ toilet facilities at Shanklin Theatre. THANK YOU! Heather and Jacqui.

The Seven Wonders of the Isle of Wight are:

1. Cowes you cannot milk

2. Freshwater you cannot drink

3. Needles you cannot thread

4. Ryde, where you walk

5. Newtown, which is very old

6. Newport you cannot bottle

7. Lake you can walk through without wetting your feet

A Message from Suzie Thurgood – FOST Volunteer Liaison Officer

‘I am very excited to let you know that on Saturday 9th of September between 10.30am and 3.30pm, Shanklin Theatre will be holding its first ever Volunteer Fair at the theatre.

‘I know you all give your time already, but I am sending this to you firstly, to let you know what we are doing and secondly you may have friends or family interested in volunteering but are unable to make the usual Coffee, Cake, and Chat events.

The Theatre is mostly staffed by volunteers Chat to team members from all departments and find out what's involved

You will be surprised at how many roles there are to choose from:

• Bar staff

• Catering team

• Box Office

• Housekeeping team

• IT

• Maintenance

• Ushering

• Gardening

• Brochure Distribution + more

Free tea and coffee plus a chance to win:

£10 Theatre voucher

Free Theatre tour ticket

One year's membership to Friends of Shanklin

Gwyn Dawson’s – ‘A Quick (Autumn) Theatre Quiz’

All the answers start with the letter B. If the answer is a person, it could be either the first or second name or both. Good luck, Gwyn. Answers are on page 35.

1. What are the first names of the ABBA men? (Congrats if you know their surnames too) 2. Who composed the opera Carmen? (Grab your ticket for next February’s performance at Shanklin Theatre). 3. Which American choreographer was famous in Hollywood for his elaborate musical productions? 4. In which 1971-1976 Sitcom did Sid James and Diana Coupland appear as a married couple? 5. Who played Fancy Smith in Z Cars? 6. Who painted The Birth of Venus? 7. Who wrote the songs Alfie and Walk on By, amongst others? 8. In which film, starring Steve McQueen as a policeman, did a car chase take place through the streets of San Francisco? 9. Which comedian, who created an alter ego called Lee Nelson, is appearing at the Theatre in October under his own name (tickets are already on sale)? 10. Which playwright wrote The Lady in the Van, based on a true story ?

Paul Young – Behind The Lens

Paul is performing for us here at Shanklin Theatre on the 13th of September. He’s been a major star for four decades. Paul Young broke into the big time 40 years ago when No Parlez went to number one and spawned iconic hits like Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home). More success followed with the number one album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away, not forgetting an appearance at Live Aid and more. Paul sustained that success – while having fun in his tex-mex band, Los Pacaminos. Now, on the 40th anniversary of No Parlez, he’s releasing a remarkable new record and publishing his extraordinary memoir; both called Behind The Lens. He’s touring the UK, too, where he’ll meet fans, sing hits and tell stories about his incredible career. It’s time to revel in the classic hits and learn the stories behind them as Paul steps out from Behind The Lens.

Paul Antony Young was born on the 17th of January 1956. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. His smooth yet soulful voice belonged to a genre known as "blueeyed soul". At the 1985 Brit Awards, he received the award for Best British Male. In July 1985, he appeared at Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium, performing the Band Aid hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

In 1992, Paul formed a new group - Los Pacaminos based on the sounds of Ry Cooder's "Chicken Skin Music” era and the Tex-Mex group the Texas Tornados, and they first performed low-key events in bars and clubs before progressing to theatres. In 1993, Paul was dropped from his contract with the CBS/Sony Records label, and afterward, released fewer solo albums. He reformed with the Q-Tips for a short series of concerts that year. He contributed to the Vangelis album Voices in 1995. Paul sang the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen", at Wembley Stadium before England's Euro '96 semi-final match against Germany.

In 1996, he was again performing solo and preparing for his next album, Paul Young, which was released the following year on East West Records. In November 2001, when Paul was on the final night of the Here and Now tour, Michael Aspel awarded him his This is Your Life book. The show went out on BBC One on 5th December that year. 2006 saw the release of Rock Swings – On the Wild Side of Swing. In September 2006, he appeared in the BBC1 cooking show Celebrity MasterChef, and won his show, allowing him a place in the semi-finals. A year later, he was a contestant on another cooking show, ITV's Hell's Kitchen.

Although his musical career had begun to decline, Paul began to make more appearances in the media. He appeared as a guest on shows including The Wright Stuff, This Morning, and The One Show. In 2010, he recorded and released a new track "Come Back", a duet he did with electronic dance music act Chicane. The single was a sample of his 1983 hit "Come Back and Stay” and charted at 151 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was recorded onto Chicane's 2010 album Giants. After a lengthy absence of recorded material, Paul released an album of vintage soul songs in 2016 called Good Thing produced by Arthur Baker and began a lengthy period of tours and festival appearances. He still is touring around the world with his band.

Tickets to see and hear Paul Young are available from the Theatre’s Box Office or online. £31 - All Prices include £1 Booking Fee. VIP £46, VIP Meet and Greet £81 (NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE).

www.shanklintheatre.com/events.aspx

Phone 01983 868000

DON’T MISS OUT ON SHOWS WITH FOST DISCOUNTS!

One FOST member can book up to four tickets at FOST price

FOST tickets can only be purchased by phoning the Box Office or in person

FOST Membership can be renewed or bought on day of purchase by phoning the Box Office (01983 868000)

All shows performed at the Theatre can be found on the What’s On Page of the Theatre Website

Beyond The West End Performances are at 8.15pm every Thursday from 4th May until 12th October except 1st June

Tickets: £19.50 FOST & Blue Light: £16.50

Concession: £17.50

Under 16: £16.50

Sh!t Faced Shakespeare present Much Ado About Nothing

Wednesday 11th October 2023 at 7.30pm

Adult: £25

Concession: £22 FOST: £22

Included £1 booking fee

Classical Ballet and Opera House Presents Swan Lake Tuesday 31st October at 7.30pm

Tickets: £37.00 FOST: £35.00

Ticket prices includes £1 booking fee

Spotlight IOW Ltd presents Rapunzel Standard tickets: £22.50 Senior: £20.50 FOST: £21.50

Ukrainian National Opera Presents Carmen Thursday 1st February 2024 at 7.30pm

Tickets: £40.00 FOST £37.00

Ticket prices include £1 booking fee

Vic’s TALK and 80th BIRTHDAY CAKE

On Saturday 1st of July, at the Coffee Cake and Chat morning, our guest speaker, Vic Farrow, an avid collector of autographs, entertained us with funny anecdotes on how he acquired some of them from very famous actors. He was then surprised by the presentation of a birthday cake made by Cherry Scudder, a member of our FOST Catering team to celebrate his 80th birthday! Happy 80th birthday Vic.

Our thanks go to the Catering team – Dot Coleman, Cherry Scudder, Doreen Sheath, Barb Bronwin, Chris Harris, Lesley Kast, Fiona Klein, Tricia McMurray, Anne Reader, Heather Whitchurch & Pam Phillips.

Billie’s Blog – Pam Ayres

Many of us were thrilled to have seen Pam Ayres earlier this year performing to a full house at Shanklin Theatre on her solo tour.

Unlike The Mahabharata, a poem with more than 220,000 verses and about 1.8million words, Pam’s poems are relatively short, witty, and humorously relevant to life and which many of us can relate to.

Pamela Ayres was born in March 1947 in a semidetached council house in Stanford in the Vale, which was then in Berkshire. The house had no hot water, no bathroom and the toilet was no more than a bucket with a wooden seat.

Pam is the youngest of six children and although there was little money in the family, her dad worked tirelessly to ensure there was always a dinner on the table and her mum ran the house like clockwork. There were constant household chores, washing, cleaning, making pastry, ensuring all had packed lunches and cycling to the village shop for the next bulk of shopping for the household of eight.

There were very few books at home but at Primary school, Pam enjoyed reading and visiting the new school library. After taking the eleven-plus, Pam failed to get a place at the Grammar School but instead attended a secondary modern school at Faringdon.

Whilst Pam used to enjoy her lessons, this new school was a challenge and Pam fell behind in English and Mathematics, she didn’t understand the theory of music and was hopeless at sport.

In 1961, the family was offered a new council house with proper sanitation, a boiler and a lovely lawned garden. A new teacher at the school helped Pam to regain her confidence and her work improved. She started to write articles for the school newspaper and enjoyed reading poetry. She was encouraged to write songs which although may not have been performed, Pam enjoyed the challenge. Pam was cast as the third witch in the school production of Macbeth, and she thoroughly enjoyed this. At the age of fifteen, it was time to start thinking about leaving school and getting a job.

Pam was first offered a job cleaning and cooking for a local family along with light domestic duties, but she turned this down. She wanted more from life – excitement, travel. She had seen three of her brothers return from National Service with stories of adventure, having experienced different countries and cultures and she wanted to find what ventures were waiting for her outside of village life.

Image right - Pam in a school photograph in the early Fifties

Pam’s mum encouraged her to sit a Civil Service Exam and having passed this, Pam attained a job as a clerical assistant at the Central Ordnance Depot in Didcot. This was a great opportunity and although it seemed that the job became boring for her, Pam was offered further education through the Civil Service and attended a day release course. So, at the age of sixteen, Pam passed GCE O-levels in English Language and English Literature.

Pam saw an advertisement to join the WRAF and remembering her brothers’ thrilling tales, she decided at eighteen to join the WRAF.

Initially there was a lot of PE, marching, cleaning of uniform and equipment, classroom studies, but at the end of six weeks at the passingout parade she became Aircraftwoman Ayres and sent to Brampton Park. There she trained as a Plotter of Aerial Photography and at the age of nineteen Pam was excited to be posted to work in Singapore.

It was at RAF Seletar that Pam started performing at folk clubs. She helped out with a few sketches, but her country dialect limited her roles. There was little in the way of published material that suited her accent, so she decided to try to write her own humorous poems. Her first poem, ‘Foolish Brother Luke’ was well received. Alas after a fun-fueled and action-packed fourteen months in Singapore, due to cost-cutting, a decision was made to send the two WRAF Plotters back to England.

Image below - Pam being presented with a ribboned blank at RAF Brampton

Pam worked for four years with the WRAF and tried a couple of other clerical jobs. She enjoyed going to the theatre and saw a variety of performances and comedians. Her life struggled through. In 1971 she attended the Norwich Folk Festival, Lacock and Bromyard and thoroughly enjoyed all three. The music, songs, lyrics were all fun and Pam was desperate to know how she could be a successful performer. The solution was to start in folk clubs.

Pam joined in variety evenings, firstly singing along with her guitar, and then interspersing with a couple of short humorous poems. When audiences showed their appreciation of the poems in their laughter and reactions, Pam was encouraged to write more – in fact, she would write new material every evening after work.

At one of the clubs, Pam was approached and asked to book her for another club as a guest performer. She was delighted! This was the first of several bookings. People were asking for copies of her poems so eventually she managed to get eight printed in a book and would sell them after her show and subsequently in bookshops.

A performance at a fundraising show in the town hall at Bampton had the audience in hysterics and Pam was asked if she would like to read a poem on BBC Radio Oxford! Life was beginning to turn a good corner for Pam –she loved performing, she was earning money through those pop-up performances and from selling her books. Now she had the chance to broadcast on BBC radio. Pam chose to read ‘The Battery Hen’ which was so well received that it won ‘Pick of the Week’ and sacks of fan mail.

It wasn’t long until the BBC asked Pam for more of her poems and her books were selling fast.

In 1975 a suggestion was put to Pam that she should apply for ‘Opportunity Knocks’. This well-established television talent show had spring-boarded the likes of Russ Abbott, Tom O’Connor, Les Dawson, and Mary Hopkin but Pam pondered, would it help her or just humiliate her? Her audition choice was her poem ‘Oh I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth’ to which the judges laughed and enjoyed so much that they confirmed she had a place on the show.

Two days of rehearsals followed and then finally the filming went ahead with Pam opting for her poem ‘Pam Ayres and the Embarrassing Experience with the Parrot.’ The ‘Clapometer’ was a device that measured the studio audience’s applause, and this put Pam in second place. That was nothing to be ashamed about! But there were still the postal votes to consider which would take a few days after being shown on television. Pam was thrilled to receive a phone call from the producers confirming that she had won!

Two more appearances followed on Opportunity Knocks and then Pam found an agent who took over all the bookings, published her book on a much larger scale and handled all the negotiations. However, to start with things didn’t go quite as hoped and the poems weren’t going down that well with audiences at clubs. A breakthrough happened when she was booked for a television commercial. Pam enjoyed the experience and how well she was looked after and also the fee! Other TV possibilities were looming, so Pam handed in her notice at work and began a new career.

Pam has since published six books of poems, toured in a one-woman stage show, hosted her own TV show, and performed for the Queen. She performs regularly on cruise ships, radio, numerous TV appearances and has even performed at The Glastonbury Festival! Pam was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2004.

Pam’s autobiography ‘The Necessary Aptitude’ refers to the number of times in her life that she was told that she “did not have the necessary aptitude.”

I believe that Pam Ayres has finally shown them all that she certainly has!

OH, I WISH I'D LOOKED AFTER ME TEETH

By Pam Ayres

Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth, And spotted the perils beneath, All the toffees I chewed, And the sweet sticky food, Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth.

I wish I'd been that much more willin' When I had more tooth there than fillin' To pass up gobstoppers, From respect to me choppers And to buy something else with me shillin'.

When I think of the lollies I licked, And the liquorice allsorts I picked, Sherbet dabs, big and little, All that hard peanut brittle, My conscience gets horribly pricked.

My Mother, she told me no end, "If you got a tooth, you got a friend"

I was young then, and careless, My toothbrush was hairless, I never had much time to spend.

Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right, I flashed it about late at night, But up-and-down brushin' And pokin' and fussin' Didn't seem worth the time... I could bite!

If I'd known I was paving the way, To cavities, caps and decay, The murder of fillin's Injections and drillin's I'd have thrown all me sherbet away.

So I lay in the old dentist's chair, And I gaze up his nose in despair, And his drill it do whine, In these molars of mine, "Two amalgum," he'll say, "for in there."

How I laughed at my Mother's false teeth, As they foamed in the waters beneath, But now comes the reckonin' It's me they are beckonin' Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth.