BASINGSTOKE VARIETY SHOW
Sat, 1 Oct 2022
Success at the AnvilSaturday 1st October 2022 was the date of Basingstoke Mayor, Cllr Paul Miller’s Variety Show in aid of The Pink Place / The Blue Place Cancer Charity and Tough Enough to Care, a mental health charity. We were privileged to be part of that huge show. Not only were we glad to support the charities but it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our abilities and talent.
As part of a cast of around 15 acts totalling 360+ performers, we were second on the bill after the opening act and compére’s welcome. Dressed in our very smart black outfits with pastel multicoloured rose corsages, we performed to a sell out crowd. We opened with Seize the Day from Disney’s Newsies, followed by Feel Good, a modern Gospel song. In the second half our rendition of Cold Play’s Viva La Vida was loudly applauded as we sang confidently and with feeling under Rob Elliott’s excellent direction. Our terrific accompanist Jonathan Hedgecock did us proud together with the House Band who provided a professional sound backing. Incidentally Jonathan became part of the band overnight when one of the keyboard players was taken ill!
In the finale we joined all the other acts in singing the choruses of The Climb (Miley Cyrus) and September (Earth Wind and Fire) There was tumultuous applause for all the amazing performances.
It was a long, tiring day full of rehearsals and performances but it was an amazing experience singing in front of such a large capacity crowd. The organisers did a great job running the show and we managed to see a small portion of the acts. There is so much talent, energy and enthusiasm for performing arts in our area! Maybe some young singers who heard us will want to join us in the future.
After this experience, we feel we can hold our heads up high as we move forward in our new phase of development, with great hopes for the future.
