Kelsey in Panto!

Our very own Kelsey is currently appearing in the ‘Kidnap in Pantoland’ at the Wharf Theatre. She plays Sleeping Beauty and is one of the 3 princesses kidnapped in the show.

Without giving too much away, I’m delighted to say that eventually the princesses are all rescued, and so both Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were able to pose for photos with a few of us Rotarians after the show.

burst

Many congratulations to Kelsey who was fantastic … even when asleep!

Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal reaches it’s target

A £175,000 pledge from Swindon and Wiltshire Rotary clubs recently took the Brighter Futures appeal to raise cash to buy equipment for a new radiotherapy unit at Great Western Hospital, to it’s £2.9m target.

This is fantastic news, and Devizes Rotary can be proud that we did our bit to help reach the target by helping to organise the Singing for Life Concert last year which raised over £3,000 – click HERE for details.

 

Wiltshire Young Musician Competition 2018

Clive Harland, President of Devizes Rotary Devizes Rotary, recently presented the Rotary Trophy to Mathew Powell, the winner of the Young Musician of Wiltshire Competition.

Below is a write-up about the event from Michael Johnson, Director of West Wiltshire Music Limited:

Matthew Powell, a 17 year old Trumpeter from Calne, became the third winner of the Young Musician of Wiltshire Competition, held before a packed audience in the Devizes Town Assembly Room last Saturday evening.

The competition was part of the Devizes Eisteddfod’s final promotion of 2018 which also featured notable performances from the festival together with presentations by The Mayor of Devizes to the Eisteddfod’s principal winners.

Six competitors took part in the competition which featured outstanding young performers from a wide area. In second place was flautist Madeleine Longbotham, 16, from Devizes and third, Eliza Munday, 16, a violinist from Exeter.

This was the first time the competition has been held since 2015 and it will now become an annual event. The adjudicator was the distinguished musician, examiner and performer Sharon Gould from Salisbury.

Matthew Powell, who in addition to the Young Musician of Wiltshire Trophy (kindly donated by the Devizes Rotary Club) also received a £250 bursary for future music tuition, provided by Devizes Solicitors, Wansbroughs.

Wiltshire Musician of the Year trophy presented by Devizes Rotary President Clive Harland

An article about the event also appeared in the Gazette and Herald. Click here for details.

Devizes Rotary Tree at the 2018 Christmas Tree Festival

 

 

Once again Devizes Rotary are sponsoring a tree at the Devizes Christmas Tree Festival which opened on December 8th with a party in the Church. President Clive Harland and Secretary Geoff Collins decorated the Rotary tree which will be on display for the duration of the festival at St Johns Church Devizes.

The tree certainly stands out as it has been placed alongside the Pulpit. It depicts the work that Rotarians do on a voluntary basis in and around Devizes for the Community, with all the dangly bits on the tree depict the charitable organisations that they have been working with recently.

 

Paella Party for Imagine Cruising

On Saturday 11th August we held a Paella Party for some employees of Imagine Cruising plus their family and friends.

The party was one of the two which were won in an auction held at The Springfields Academy where all proceeds were donated to the school.

All was going well in preparation for the event when we met up at Colin’s lockup in Bromham to load up the cars. However things became somewhat fraught when we realised that the address we’d been given was not recognised by our satnav devices as the house was a new one at the Tadpole Garden Village near Swindon.

This was further complicated by the fact that we didn’t have a telephone number for the contact person!

Nevertheless, we did manage to get there in the end (although not before some references to “it’s a bit like being part of Dad’s Army!” had been made) and, under the expert guidance of head chef Colin, we were again able to put on a great meal which was very much appreciated by all involved.

Thanks to the Imagine Cruising folks for their hospitality, and also to my granddaughter Molly for keeping us older blokes in order!

 

Rotary SuperChoir 2018

Another fantastic Devizes Rotary SuperChoir event took place at Dauntsey’s School on 11th July. It was the fourth annual event since SuperChoir was launched by composer and musician Simon May, and this year 150 children from 6 local primary schools took part. A selection of ‘photos from the event are shown below.

Before the Performance

 

During the Performance