By James Ford-Bannister and David Young
Wow! We have been awarded the Queen‘s Award for Voluntary Service! (See article elsewhere in this edition.) Everyone involved in any aspect of Riverside is justifiably proud and so grateful to those people who have gone before and made this honour possible. One of those stalwarts over the years has been Peter Smith who has recently moved to the New Forest. Peter, one of our key volunteers, has been there from the start. As a member of Shepperton Players in the late seventies he joined our team of volunteer builders to help create the Arts Centre we see today. Together with his wife Amanda, whom he met in Shepperton Players, Peter has also been involved in Riverside Youth Theatre as a Committee Member and more recently with Zodiac Musical Society. He will be sadly missed having been Bar Chairman for the last twenty years, and a very helpful volunteer covering building maintenance tasks and erection of the raked seating. We wish Peter and Amanda well in their new home.
We always need unpaid volunteers for all sorts of roles, from building maintenance, to administrators, to bar staff. In particular we are looking for someone to act as Booking Secretary, also for a Membership Secretary. We also always need help in running our bar during public events. Contact riversideartscentre@gmail.com for details of all these jobs.
A reminder that the Annual General Meetings of the Riverside Arts Centre and the Riverside Arts Centre Club will both take place on Friday July 17th. Whether these will be physical or remote meetings remains to be seen. Information from riversideartscentre@gmail.com
So, what is happening at Riverside right now? Although many groups are staying active via electronic means, the building is still deathly quiet. It may be that some smaller non-performance related activities will be allowed to resume in July but with Government advice and regulations changing rapidly it is impossible to speculate. Just keep an eye on our website www.riversidearts.co.uk or those of our individual groups for the latest information. Incidentally, we will shortly be releasing a new version of this website.
Just a few items to highlight.
On Sunday 12th July at 7.30pm, our jazz musicians are putting on a Riverside Arts Jazz Livestream Trio Concert featuring Gareth Lockrane – music with a movie theme. Details at www.moodindigoevents.co.uk
Saturday 18th, Riverside Players of Sunbury will be presenting a public “Zoom“ reading of another new play, “Edward, Mrs Simpson, and Freda“ by local playwright Geoff Buckingham. See article elsewhere about this play with its local historical interest. Information from riversideplayersofSunbury@gmail.com
On Saturday 25th July at 5pm one of our resident music tutors, Colleen Muriel, is hosting a Music Sharing Event on Zoom.
Inspired by her online music students, this event is open to everyone who would like to play or sing a song for others. Details of how to watch or even participate colleenmuriel@hotmail.com
Our Fitness guru, Nick Hampshire, has just completed a charity “Home Fitathon” doing an 8 hour workout at home and has raised just over £1,750 so far for Brain Tumour Research. Nick did this in memory of his father, David, with many people from Sunbury and elsewhere joining him online. You too can join him online for his regular keep-fit sessions.
All of our groups are endeavouring to keep their individual activities alive during this unique period, whether by streaming, zooming, emailing or just picking up the phone to keep in touch with their colleagues. If you are interested in any of the activities shown on our “RIVERSIDE presents…” diary page, whether for now or when we return to normality, use the contact information shown or in case of difficulty call 07796 531427