Auction Extravaganza A Huge Success!

It's a rare thing for The Wight Strollers to be collectively speechless, but that's exactly what we are...

Following our Charity Auction at Shorwell Parish Hall on Saturday 28th May, we are over the moon to be able to announce that we have raised a whopping £7,157!

This total far exceeded our expectations and we're still reeling - what can we say that quite covers it? Not much! But there are a few thank-yous that must be said...

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to Tim and Sue Smith for their exceptionally hard work in the months leading up to the auction - this simply would not have happened without them, and we consider ourselves lucky indeed to count them members of our company.

Tim and Sue - thank-you so much, we cannot express enough how grateful we are to you both.

We would also like to thank all those members of our company who assisted with approaching local businesses, donated items or promises themselves, spread the word about the auction, and helped to set up and keep the evening running smoothly from running the viewings to running the bar.

We couldn't have done it without you all!

A massive thank-you goes to all the wonderful individuals and Island businesses who so generously donated vouchers and goods, and we have listed them all here as they appear in our catalogue, because they deserve a major shout-out - we were blown away by the level of support we received:

- The Essex, Godshill
- Three Buoys, Ryde
- Yates Brewery
- Leslie's Service Station, Northwood
- Louise Aitken - Massage Therapist
- Paul Corbett
- Jean Corbett
- Pauline Watson
- Jo Hogan (and Hercules!)
- The Cow Shed
- Island Food Services
- Isle Jump Trampoline Park, Lake
- Anna Hadden, Unique Holistic & Beauty
- Amazon World, Nr. Arreton
- Hong Kong Express, Newport
- Cineworld
- Red Funnel
- Superbowl, Ryde
- Gossips Cafe, Yarmouth
- Mr Sid Brown
- Judith Day
- John Woodford
- Watersedge Beach Cafe, Gurnard
- The Barber Cube, Newport
- Burrs Restaurant, Newport
- IOW Steam Railway, Havenstreet
- Mrs J Mew
- Tapnell Farm Park, Freshwater
- Busy Bee Garden Centre, Ryde
- Mike Squibb
- Bonny
- Besty and Spinky's Cafe Bar, Ventnor
- The Body Shop, Newport
- Isle of Wight Tours, Lake
- New Holmwood Restaurant, Cowes
- TLC Beauty Lounge, Freshwater
- Fitness at Gurnard, Cowes
- Royal Retreat Beauty Salon, East Cowes
- Jireh House, Yarmouth
- Bartletts Green Farm, Ryde
- Jo & Paul Richardson
- The Model Village, Godshill
- Mrs S Lambert
- Donald Keene
- Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood Auction Rooms, Exeter
- Field Cafe, Niton
- Christine Smyth Acupuncture, Cowes/Ryde
- The Old Barracks, Puckpool
- Eldridges Solicitors, Freshwater
- Westridge Gold Centre, Ryde
- Wight Karting, Ryde
- Yelfs Hotel, Ryde
- Leslie's Motors, Cowes
- Karen Cassford
- Alan Vince
- The Griffin, Godshill
- Appley Manor Inn, Ryde
- The Captain's Table, Ryde
- Izzi Rudd & Emily Scotcher
- Blackevedesgins, Ryde
- Reynolds & Read Ltd.
- Summer Lilly's Florist, Newport
- Double Take
- Hungry Bear, The Lavender Farm, Newport
- The Duck Restaurant, Ryde
- Vikki Colenutt
- Julie Russell
- JR Zone, Newport
- Wight Gold Coins
- Angela Sowden - Artist
- Kwiksnip Beauty, Ryde
- Nicola Steedman
- Trumour Feeds
- The Sun Inn, Hulverstone
- Asda
- Tesco
- ADA Meze Restaurant, Carisbrooke
- Shannon Crouch
- Brian Atkinson
- Isle of Wight Council (1Leisure)
- Scotcher & Co, Newport
- Off The Rails, Yarmouth
- Take Two, Newport
- Eldridges Solicitors, Newport
- Pete Attrill Garden Services
- The Wheatsheaf, Newport
- Ken Page
- Over the Garden Wall Emporium
- HRD Auction Rooms, Brading
- Seabreeze Cottages, Brighstone (David & Leslie Kast)
- West Wight Valeting, Freshwater
- Sainsbury's, Newport
- Julian Occomore
- The Blacksmith's Arms, Newport
- The Isle of Wight Ambulance Training & Community Response Service
- Andy & Kim Ball
- Stag Lane Motors, Newport
- Baywatch on the Beach, St Helen's
- Hover Travel, Ryde
- Ashey Road Garage, Ryde
- Stan & Caroline Brading and Bill & Linda Wakefield
- Debbie Fitzgeorge & Geraldine Hanley
- Thread the Needle, Dave Kennett
- Wight Ironing Services
- Rachel Roscoe
- I&J Cantelo
- Ainsley Bennett Photography
- The Owl & Monkey Haven, Newport
- R. Hunt Ltd. Agricultural Engineers, Rookley
- The Orchards Holiday Park, Newbridge
- Medina Valley Centre, Newport
- Blackgang Chine
- Southern Vectis
- Isle of Wight Studio Glass, Arreton
- Mike Edmundson
- Jane Dunn
- Pauline Watson

And last, but certainly by no means least, we want to thank every single person who attended and bid on lots - a charity auction only works if everyone enters into the spirit of the evening and it's safe to say that we had an absolute blast of a night with a room packed - it was standing-room only! - from start to finish.

And a final special mention to Steve Staff, the winner of our mystery lot - two tickets to Priscilla: Queen of the Desert - The Musical and a unique (and highly collectible!) prop from our pantomime...the Storyteller's popcorn!

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To support The Wight Strollers and their chosen charities for Summer 2018, book your tickets to Priscilla: Queen of the Desert - The Musical by visiting the Medina Theatre website, or by calling 01983 823884, or by popping up to the box office in person.

It's jam-packed with floor-fillers, such as 'I Will Survive', 'Hot Stuff', 'It's Raining Men', 'True Colours', 'Colour My World' and 'Boogie Wonderland'.

Trust us...you won't want to miss it!

Cinderella's Magic Continues With Charity Donations

What a whirlwind few months it's been for The Wight Strollers - in the best possible way!

Our production of Cinderella was almost sold out, but for a few tickets on the first Saturday night, and the feedback that came in was nothing short of glowing from curtain up to curtain down. Our cast and crew worked their socks off, our audiences were warm and appreciative, and the reviews from Sardines and IW Theatre were fantastic.

As most of you will know, The Wight Strollers give away the proceeds of each show to Island charities and good causes - since 1981, we have raised over £215,000 and we're showing no signs of slowing up!

This year, at our AGM on Wednesday 18th April, we donated another £7,245 and we couldn't be more proud of everyone who helped us to raise this sum, be it on stage, backstage or by buying a ticket to see our magical pantomime.

We gave £2,500 to our main charity for Cinderella, KissyPuppy, who have undertaken their biggest Island project to date, a refurbishment of Oak House costing a total of £1.5million, to which KissyPuppy have pledged £300,000 in support.

"Thank-you so much to all of The Wight Strollers for this donation." said Aaron Rolf upon receiving the cheque. "We've done so much since we started KissyPuppy, but this is our largest project to date. The Mountbatten Hospice is the first adult hospice in the country to take on people under 18, and we want to make sure that continues long into the future."

We also donated £1,300 to Medina House School to assist with the transportation of their specialist equipment to enable their students to compete in the annual Rock Challenge event on the mainland.

"Medina House's travel costs are considerably higher than most other schools," said Elisa Jones, a member of the Strollers' committee, who nominated the school as a recipient.

"They need to take hoists and wheelchairs and all sorts of other equipment just to get the enable the children to get to the challenge and compete. This donation is amazing, and it should help them to participate for at least the next couple of years."

£1,000 was given to the Isle of Wight Fire Brigade Benevolent Fund, and representative Kev Ellis sincerely thanked the Strollers and said that the money would go towards the organisation's continuing work to support firefighters both past and present in times of need, whether that need be financial, medical or otherwise.

We also gave £500 to Wild Bird Aid, a charity run by just two people to care for sick and injured birds.

Vicky-Marie Hogan, one of the founders of the charity, attended the AGM to receive the cheque and said: "We rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured birds - last year we took in 1,000 and we currently have 200 in our care, including 25 permanently disabled birds. This charity is run by just the two of us, and this money will get us a good way through the nesting season, so thank-you."

£500 to Newchurch Cubs and Beavers, who - as Lewey Way, a member of the Newchurch group, said - are very much in need of some new camping equipment as the summer approaches!

And last, but by no means least, we have donated our seventh Public Access Defibrillator to the Isle of Wight.

This particular defibrillator is set to be sited at St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School following a letter to the company from the parents of one of the pupils there who suffers with a serious heart condition. PADs are so important - defibrillation within the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest can improve a patient's chances of survival from being less than 7% to up to 74%.

Thank-you so much to all the charity representatives who attended our AGM, and thank-you again to everyone who supported Cinderella in any way. It's moments like this that often remind our hard-working team exactly why they do what they do, and why they give so much of their time and talents to ensuring that our shows are a success.

Everything we do is done with our chosen charities for each show in mind. All the hard work that goes into our productions both on and off stage, all the fundraising we do to ensure we can continue to keep our donation levels high even as production costs continue to rise, and every community event we attend from carnivals to school fairs, it's all done so that we can  stay true to the ethos of The Wight Strollers: raising as much money for local charities as we can, whilst having as much fun as possible!

With that in mind, prepare for a shameless plug!

We have a Charity Auction coming up this Saturday 28th April at Shorwell Parish Hall, starting at 7pm - entry is by catalogue (£1) and there are over 275 lots, including meal vouchers, entrance passes to Island attractions, promises of cakes and meals made by our members, beauty vouchers, antique furniture, collectible film posters and scripts, gold and silver jewellery and even a date with our very own miniature horse, Hercules!

Viewing is from 5-8pm on Friday 27th, and from 10am-1pm and 6-7pm on Saturday 28th, so you can come and have a look at what's on offer before attending the auction in the evening, where refreshments will be available and the one and only Tim Smith will be banging the gavel!

The auction is to help fundraise towards our summer donation to the chosen charities that will benefit from Priscilla: Queen of the Desert - The Musical. 

These are Breakout Youth IW, Break the Cycle CIC, the Wessex Cancer Trust IW Branch and we will also be donating our eighth Public Access Defibrillator.

All worthy causes, so please do make sure you attend the auction, keep an eye out for other fundraising activity and book your tickets for Prsicilla: Queen of the Desert - The Musical by phoning 01983 823884 or by visiting the Medina Theatre website or by popping up to the Box Office in person...we'll see you in Oz!

A Quick Catch-Up!

Firstly, our apologies for the radio silence - things have been rather bonkers behind the scenes of late!

However, to make up for it, we have a bumper edition of news and updates, starting with Jack and the Beanstalk...

We were blessed with an entirely sold out pantomime run, a first in Strollers history! Normally, for reasons unknown, the first Saturday night is slow to sell and never quite makes it to full - but not this year!

Our cast and crew were chuffed with the result, and as such it's meant we've been able to give another fantastic set of donations to Island charities and good causes.

At our AGM in April, we donated £2,500 to The Bus Shelter IOW, £2,300 to the 1st Newport Scouts, £1,000 to the Isle of Wight Society for the Blind, and we purchased our sixth Public Access Defibrillator for the Isle of Wight - wow!

We also had a our committee elections at the AGM, with our chairman, Mike Sutcliffe, standing down after 12 years of service and our treasurer, Brian Whitewood, standing down after 9 years.

"Every year I report that we have had a pretty successful 12 months," said Mike in his final chairman's report. "I can't do that this time round because the last year hasn't been pretty successful - it's been ruddy amazing."

He went on to praise the work of the cast, crew and committee, and the loyalty of our audience members old and new in helping us to continue to play to sell-out houses.

"I always end my report with the same words, because I can't think of better ones," he finished. "The fact that we have staged two amazing productions and that we can donate so much to our good causes...is down to all of you, who give so freely of your money, your time and your various special talents. So, on behalf of our audiences, our charities, the committee and myself, I sincerely thank you all."

Both Mike and Brian have been absolutely incredible and there aren't words enough to thank them for everything they've done for the Strollers. It's safe to say they will be missed on the committee, but their successors are worthy ones and the new committee is looking forward to continuing the wonderful work done under the guidance of its predecessors.

Taking the reins from Mike is Gerry Tulloch, one of the founding Strollers and a former member of the Nesta Meech School of Dance, from which the company originated.

From dancing to directing,  performing performing to creating the most spectacular costumes (including last year's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!), Gerry is part of the very fibre of The Wight Strollers and the company could not be in safer hands.

Joining her on committee is Leslie Kast as Treasurer, along with the confirmed director of our next two productions, Sarah Scotcher, with Judith Day reprising her role as Secretary.

Mike Squibb and Emily Scotcher (yours truly!) were both reelected, whilst Nicola Steedman, Aly Keele-Toms and David Kast also continue to serve their terms on committee, and the company also elected two new members in Elisa Jones and Andrew Wilson-Jenner.

In more Strollers news, we will once again be appearing at the Island's carnivals this summer; although our theme, as always, is top secret for now, we can promise that it's going to get the crowds buzzing!

We have also been able to announce our next two productions, our February 2018 pantomime and our July 2018 musical.

On February 10th, 11th and 17th, we will be returning to Medina Theatre to perform Cinderella, one of the best-loved pantomimes and a firm favourite with many of the cast. The script is underway, the casting process has started, and the production team are starting to put together ideas to make this our most magical pantomime yet!

Following that, on July 6th, 7th and 8th 2018, we will be performing our second musical when we tackle the fabulous Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It's colourful, it's fast-paced, it's funny and it's packed with floor-fillers like 'I Will Survive', 'Go West', 'It's Raining Men', 'Hot Stuff' and 'What's Love Got To Do With It?' - it's one you won't want to miss!

Phew! It looks like we're in for our biggest and most bonkers year yet, if all that is anything to go by!

We'll be back again soon with carnival updates, pantomime news and a few sneaky hints at how our planning for Priscilla is going...

...It's good to be back!

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