Springtime with the Strollers

Firstly, we'd like to apologise for being AWOL on the blog for a while - but we're back, after a busy couple of months, with lots of exciting things to tell you!

Back in April, we not only began rehearsals for Joseph, in collaboration with St Peter's Church, Shorwell, but we also had our AGM, where each year we give money away to our chosen charities.

This year, we were thrilled to match last year's total and give away £6,500 to our charities; after such a huge rise in the price of the theatre, we had to work especially hard this year to ensure that we sold out, in order for our charities not to take the hit. And we did it! We sold a whopping 2,049 tickets over our five shows, so thank-you to every single person who bought a ticket or helped us to promote Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

As a result, at our AGM on Wednesday 20th April, we were able to donate £500 to Saturday Club for the Deaf, £1,500 to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, £2,000 to the Martin Poynter Trust and £2,500 to Isle of Wight Scope.

A wonderful result and a huge final congratulations to Team Snow White on all the hard work that went into putting on such a successful pantomime.

Also on the agenda for the meeting was committee nominations and the election of a director for our 2017 pantomime.

Geoff Cox - our Vice-President - made the difficult decision to stand down from committee after many years of dedicated service. A hugely valued member of the Strollers family, his presence will certainly be missed at meetings. We are, however, delighted to welcome Nick Weightman (last seen strutting his stuff with a hoover, next to be seen sporting a glorious Technicolor dreamcoat!) onto the team.

There were two nominations for our 2017 director: Sarah Scotcher and Grumbly the Dwarf. The company unanimously voted Grumbly, until we found out that Smiley had filled in the nomination form on Grumbly's behalf, as a practical joke!

With no other choice, we were forced to vote again and Sarah came out on top - congratulations, Sarah!

We also raised £52 at the AGM with our games of Bingo and Family Fortunes - there's never a dull moment at a Strollers meeting!

Following on from this fantastic meeting, with Joseph rehearsals going swimmingly and our coffee morning raising £203 towards show costs, we leapt into May with a spring in our step.

Our next fundraiser was a Barn Dance at Shorwell Parish Hall, which raised a huge £285 towards Joseph.

A huge thanks to Geoff and June Cox for calling so brilliantly, to Tony Scotcher for paying for the hire of the hall, to Shorwell Social Club for running the bar, and to everyone who attended and made it such a brilliant evening!

As we continue into May, we're busier than ever and working towards a summer of music, fun and laughter...and, of course, our much-anticipated carnival entry, the theme of which will be...revealed at our first carnival outing! Watch this space!

In the meantime, we'll see you at Medina Theatre this July and please do keep an eye on the blog, as well as on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for all the latest news and updates.