By David Young
Christmas is a time of anticipation for the joy of Christ-mas and the new start offered by the New Year; but this December can we look for-ward with any great certainty ? more Covid ? more re-strictions ? Who knows ! What we do know is that the Riverside Arts Centre is poised to open up in full the mo-ment it is correct and safe to do so. We admit we do have a bit of a cash problem and have had to dig deep into our emergency funds as our income has been decimated by about £20,000 in this cal-endar year, but we aim to be a part of Sunbury’s future as much as we have been part of its culture for the past 40 years. We have launched a Go-FundMe appeal and through this and some pri-vate donations we are over half way to our target of £5000. You can see details via the front page of our website and any contributions you can make would be greatly appreciated.
As Riverside is completely volunteer-run, we are ineligible for many of the government support schemes. Those volunteers are led by a disparate team, not all arty, one foot in the grave, boring intellectuals as some might imagine. They come from a wide range of experience and interests with for example our Chairman, James Ford Ban-nister, a 30 year old who has been part of the Riverside acting scene for about half of his life, but as a relaxation from his role of providing lighting installations to the entertainment indus-try, loves officiating in American Football games and also riding motorcycles. At the other end of the age range we have Eric Champion who has been here since the inception of the Arts Centre and brings a wealth of knowledge. A technical manager with EMI prior to his retirement, not surprisingly his main interest is the theatre, both professional and amateur, as well the restoration of old buildings. Carole Dow got involved in 1982 when her daughter joined the newly formed Riverside Youth Theatre. With Carole’s interests in backstage work, calligraphy and painting be-ing a welcome relief from her daily routine of social work she stayed with RYT until this year. She brings invaluable experience especially of young people to our committee as Secretary. Nesli Bennett, an engineer by profession, is our newest recruit, and has taken on the Room Hire role. Having lived locally for years and enjoyed many events at Riverside plus participating in the Book Circle and taking music lessons here, she decided to join our management team. Christine Norgate, another long standing volunteer from the early days now edits our quarterly news-sheet, the Centre. Over the years she and husband Peter have acted, made scenery, organised events, acted as labourers, ran the website, ran the light-ing and stage managed. They bring a wealth of experience to our committee. Our treasurer Lydia Fowles, an accountant by profession, is another of our younger committee members. Employed at Comic Relief, loves running and travelling, lived on a narrow boat and just fancied volunteering in the local community. A varied bunch; with all sorts of knowledge, interests, and experience. Why not join them ?
Congratulations to Riverside Youth Theatre and Riverside Players. At the recent Spelthorne and Runnymede Drama Festival which was held on line, both groups strongly supported the event and between them gained 9 awards and 13 other nominations.
The only live events envisaged in the near future are the Jazz concert on December 20th and the Riverside Players variety show on 14th 15th and 16th January. But there are so many groups just waiting for the green light so that they can enter-tain, educate, amuse, or train you in the interest of your choice.
Watch this space !
Riverside Arts Centre. 57/59 Thames Street, Lower Sunbury TW16 5QF www.riversidearts.co.uk info 07796 531427