A Snapshot of our Social Media

On Saturday 10th December 2011, exactly five years ago today, Nicola Chastney (nee Steedman) and myself launched The Wight Strollers' Facebook page to the public with a barrage of old pantomime pictures and our very first public Facebook post, which was about none other than our Penguin Parade around the Island.

It went something like this...

Why not pop along to Newport or Ryde tomorrow and revisit the fun of the carnival with The Wight Strollers!
We'll be getting off our penguin bus in St James' Square at 10am, and waddling our way through Newport before riding to Ryde and performing at Tesco and The Busy Bee!
10am - St. James' Square
10:30 - HMV and the High Street
11am - Cineworld
11:25am - M&S
11:45am - Morrison's
12:10pm - Iceland
12:45pm - Sainsbury's
1:45pm - Tesco
2:15pm The Busy Bee
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We will be singing, dancing and waddling our little flippers off to promote our 2012 production of Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, so come along and join the fun!
See you there! :-)

We've come a long, long way since then, and gained a lot of 'likes' along the way - 1,080, to be exact!

In February 2013, we were celebrating reaching 2,919 people with our Facebook page - in July 2016, at the height of Joseph, our page reached over 10,000 people with a single post. Wow!

This very blog launched on Monday 17th September 2012, and, to date, has been viewed 21,949 times. The most popular post ever published is 'Notes from the Narrator', with a whopping 875 views so far!

In fact, our top ten blog posts are a proper mix - take a look below and see what the fuss is about!*

10. Springtime With The Strollers - 327 views
9. Introducing...Aladdin! - 345 views
8. Aladdin 2015: The Feedback, Part 1 - 386 views
7. Pretty As A Princess - 395 views
6. Wonderful Workshops - 422 views
5. He's Just A Dreamer... - 454 views
4. Not Just For Kids: Pantomimes Are For Everyone! - 478 views
3. Honest As Coconuts: Banter With Benjamin - 567 views
2. Such A Dazzling Show Of Many Colours! - 623 views
1. Notes From The Narrator... - 875 views

*N/B: These figures are correct at the time of writing, on December 10th 2017...we're hoping they're about to shoot up even more!

Our Twitter channel (@WightStrollers) was launched on January 25th 2013, just before we revamped our website, and our current Twitter tally is 588 and counting!

A few years on, we introduced an e-mail address - wightstrollers@gmail.com - and then finally joined Instagram earlier this year, on January 13th, which currently stands at 260 followers, and in February we created a YouTube channel, thus completing our social media profile...for now!

Originally comprised of just two people, it's a small team that runs our social media channels now, led by Em Scotcher (yours truly) and Allan Gregory, with admins Nicola Chastney and Sarah Scotcher on standby to support the madness!

The e-mail account, blog and website, meanwhile, are all run by me - which is no small task, but it's certainly one that's good fun!

Our social media team are all volunteers, just like the rest of our company, and we've been honoured on more than one occasion to have people send us messages thinking we're a professional team!

Since The Wight Strollers' first public page appeared on social media, we've moved from text-only posts and rehearsal notices to pictures, collages, videos and homemade memes to promote our shows, and it's all thanks to our fabulous team, and - of course - our members and followers for jumping on board with whatever we ask them to share!

We're immensely proud of how far our online presence has come since 2011, and we're grateful to everyone who has taken the time to like, follow, watch, comment, share, read or post on any of our pages.

Please keep the love coming, and ask your friends and family to give us a like, a follow or a share as we approach the launch of our tickets for Jack and the Beanstalk, which will be performed in February 2017 at Medina Theatre.

Today's the Day!

This is it! Our opening performance of Robinson Crusoe is just hours away and we're so excited that we simply have to give you a sneak peek of our costumes...

With over 120 costumes, more than 40 cast members, a live three-piece band and an array of colourful sets, this is one production that you won't want to miss.

So much work has gone into this show over the last five months, and with last night's final dress rehearsal came our first mini-audience - needless to say, we were fairly nervous!

They loved it. The feedback was unanimously positive, a real boost for our cast, and everyone went home happy.

As you can see, we're not going to give too much away, but we can give you a few cryptic spoilers. 

In the style of BBC's Sherlock, here are three teaser words to give you some clues:

1. Party

2. Crane

3. Disguise

Make of those what you will!

If you're coming to see our production, please do let us know what you think, either by leaving a comment on our blog or by giving us a visit on Facebook or Twitter.

Finally, to all members of The Wight Strollers: break a leg! This is where the hard work truly pays off, with the laughter, the cheering and the buzz of a full theatre.

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There are still tickets available for all performances of Robinson Crusoe and you can buy them on the door by visiting Medina Box Office up to one hour before the start of each show - we'll see you at the theatre!

An Interview with a Castaway...

Costumes are finished, dances are polished, lines are learned and it's exactly one week until Robinson Crusoe opens at Medina Theatre on the Isle of Wight!

In the run-up to the show, we thought it would be great to do some interviews with the cast, starting with Robinson Crusoe himself, also known as Patrick Barry...

So, Patch, when did you first come into contact with the world of pantomime?

My earliest memory of live theatre is two pantomimes, the first being Pinocchio and the second Snow White.I was so young I can barely remember either performance but I do remember the emotion both evoked. I have no idea if the performances were amateur or professional, whether the actors and actresses performing in them were famous or not, but they conjured a magical energy out of their audience.

I was so desperate for Snow White not to be poisoned, I remember screaming at the top of my voice "Don't eat the apple!" - my mum insists the the theatre was silent at that point, but then the suspense broke and all the children shouted it. Yet such are the rules of panto that our pleas went unheard, or at the very least ignored - Snow White, after all, knew she had a Prince to kiss!

As for Pinocchio? Pure magic. To this day I can't explain how Pinocchio's nose grow to such an impossible length...


What is it that, in your opinion, makes pantomime so special?

For me, reminiscing about the child I was, it has to be about forging a child's first memory of live theatre. For the adult I am now, it is about families spending quality time together, where, for a few hours, all those worries about the real world can be left outside and everyone can have a good shout, boo and cheer!


And what about The Wight Strollers? What makes them so special?

Well, I love panto. I like watching it and I love being in it. And with The Wight Strollers, it seems a little more magic can be wrought by everyone, because this pantomime enables us all - the cast, backstage crew; production department and perhaps most important, the audience - to help those in need on the Isle of Wight live a little bit easier for a little bit longer... and all we need do to help is have fun.


You've taken on the role of Robinson Crusoe - the title role in only your second pantomime with us! How are you feeling about it, one week away from opening night?

Robinson Crusoe, like Sleeping Beauty last year, will see me embracing my twin fears of singing and dancing. Before the performance I shall be quaking in my proverbial boots, petrified I shall place a note or foot wrong... but I know all that fear will be worth it the moment a little voice in the audience shouts out something so sincere, but so unexpected, that their comments and interplay with the characters on stage is a real part of the show.

Thanks, Patch! A great interview - and good luck with the show, we're sure you'll be fantastic, as always!

Don't forget, you can buy your tickets for Robinson Crusoe by phoning Medina Theatre Box Office on 01983 527020 or by visiting their website.

Sleeping Beauty: The Debrief, Part One!

Huge apologies for the radio silence, everyone! We've been busy, busy, busy since our pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, finished in February. Normal service will now be resumed!

Sleeping Beauty was a massive success - we packed Medina Theatre, selling out four of the five performances, with ticket sales overall up on last year's pantomime. The lead-up was...a little stressful. Two days before the show, we found ourselves without a drummer and the call to arms went up. We had to find help, and we were on borrowed time.

Nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming response we received that day. Nothing makes you feel so loved as when people rise to help you in a crisis!

So thank-you to everyone who sent out messages on Facebook and Twitter, and to everyone who got in touch with us to hand over names of potential drummers, and to everyone who offered their services in any way, but particularly to the following we must extend a huge thank-you:

The Isle of Wight County Press - Never have I known such a supportive working environment. Not only did they allow me to spend my afternoon drummer-hunting, my colleagues also used their personal Twitter and Facebook accounts to join the appeal, for which I know the Strollers were all grateful.

Rob da Bank - With over 50,000 followers, and hundreds of people requesting retweets, he was under no obligation to help us. But help us he did, by sending out a message to all those thousands of followers and prompting a flood of help and no small amount of sympathy for our plight...thanks, Rob!


The cast and crew of Sleeping Beauty, their families and friends - Some of our own, and those that knew them, leapt into action the moment the call went up and came up with a number of names and contacts to try. This, I realise, is no mean feat - many of our members work full time, so for them to use their lunch breaks, tea breaks, and working contacts to help us meant a lot.

And finally, one thank-you that cannot be overlooked...

Simon Keates. Our saviour. The man with the sticks, who knows how to use them! As I climbed into my car, my head thunking onto the steering wheel, all but giving up on finding a drummer that could commit at such short notice, my phone rang.

"I hear you're looking for a drummer," said the mysterious voice on the other end. "I think I can help you."

And help us he did! Simon stepped in at the eleventh hour, and gave us better bashing, crashing and tinkles that we could ever have hoped for. Thank-you, Simon, truly, and we're thrilled to be welcoming you back as our drummer for 2013/14.

The show itself ran like a dream and, as the curtain fell each night, we were inundated with excellent feedback; it was so lovely, in fact, that we'd like to share some of it!

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"Thank-you for a brilliant afternoon's entertainment, and see you next year!"
Caroline Seaward, 6th Newport Cubs

"Excellent show. Well done, everyone. Not one thing on my snagging list! We all thoroughly enjoyed it."
Geraldine Tulloch

"More than worth going to see. Excellent."
Terry Adams

"My first ever panto...it was great, and great to see the money raised going to great causes. Well done, The Wight Strollers."
Gray - Wight Time


"Fabulous show, well done Strollers!"
Bayliss and Booth

"Brilliant show last night, well done to all the cast and everyone involved. We had a really enjoyable night."
Jeff Ritchie

"Another wonderful show...loved it! Well done!"
Ann Potts

"Brilliant. Never stopped laughing! Thank-you, Strollers, for making me laugh so much."
Debbie Egan

"Saw the evening show, superb in every aspect of the production. Haven't laughed like that for a while."
Gareth Hayles

"Layla's Trust went to see The Wight Strollers yesterday at the Medina Theatre, and had a fabulous time! Thanks to all the players, production team, volunteers and everyone behind the scenes that put on a magnificent show."
Layla's Trust

"It was fab. My little boy loved it. Sat through the whole thing, joined in with the clapping and booing, loved the bits he could dance to. Wonder if he was your youngest audience member. Well done. Great show as usual."
Vikki Roberts

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With such incredible feedback pouring in from the audiences, with many saying it was our best pantomime yet, there was one question on the lips of all the cast: what would the review be like...?

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End of Part One.