Around 100 people attended which was a little disappointing seeing over 400 invitations were sent out but it didn’t damper my spirit. I had my duties so nothing else mattered. I kicked off with my opening speech around 6 which was a little later than I had planned. I welcomed the volunteers and touched on the Halifax Fires a few weeks ago and thanked the Mayor and his team, and the emergency services for their hard work which was met by a round of applause from the attendees. Following this Mayor Peter Kelly shared a few words of wisdom and said that he appreciates the work that people do and that people like them make what the community is today.

We went on to display a video of last years marathon. This was followed by speeches from Rod McCulloch & Gerry Walsh the founders and organisers. Included was speeches from the volunteer coordinators Amy, Jackie,  and Isabelle. It was nice to meet some of the volunteers. Most of what happened after this was general ‘mingling’ and enjoying a wonderful selection off food… of which 20% is now in our fridge.

I was also very pleased to introduce twitter to the mixer. It was just something to glance up at from time to time while passing through to speak to the volunteers. Yes! I took them into the 21st century and they liked it! Most of the Blue Nose committee had no idea that people were discussing Blue Nose online. So maybe we will see an official Twitter account appearing for them soon. (Though a personal note, Twitter next time choose a better time for maitnenece. sigh)

I think that seeing this was the first pre-mixer it went rather well. Amy has already asked if i will be ‘hands on’ with next year and i hope that from what everyone has learnt this year we and the committee can improve on years to come. I didn’t have much input on this year as i only agreed to do this several weeks ago but still i gladly offer my time for the good of the community.

Well i look forward to see you at the Marathon this weekend. I will be stationed at the Volunteer Lounge at the World Trade Centre and i am sure i will make my way out on to the route when i get chance. Oh and one other reminder. The Marathon after Party is taking place at the World Trade Convention Centre on Sunday May 17th starting at 7PM. Its set to be a fantastic evening so I hope you will all join us. Until then..

I hope to see you on the route.

All of the Pre-Mixer photographs can be found on Tara MacPhee’s blog.
CLICK HERE FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS

This really is one of those technial term titles, So i will try to explain it a little. As of today April 26th 2009 the photographs and video’s of the Pride of Central Somerset are available to everyone. As you may remember it was only a few weeks ago i was posting about how you can buy the download for the photographs and feature length DVD but there is a signifcant difference.

Today we have made them available for general public documentation meaning that its just for ‘reference to’. The images that you can buy in the download are full quality whereas the public versions have a smal resolution and are only 72dpi plus there are a limited number of umages compare to the download. In the case of the videos its a similar story. We are slowly but surely making the videos of the award presentations available but they are in low quality for the same purpose as i mentioned for the photographs but parts of the ceremony are only available on the DVD. You can view the photographs by visting my flickr account. The videos can be viewed on my official youtube account. Details about POCS 2010 will be announced later this year.

All rights reserved. The photographs are the property of the Pride of Central Somertset ~ alexmaine.com and were repectively taken by Tara MacPhee.

Last tuesday i atteneded the Pantomime at Strode Theatre, it was a last minute decision to go. I have been to a number of theatre productions ran by Strode Productions so i must say my expectations were high. Well where do i begin. The first thing i noticed was the costumes and i must say this year they were rather good, normally alot of the panotomimes you go to are a bit “bish, bash, bosh” but this was nothing like that. Some of the charcters this year were fantasic, especially one that stands out in my mind. Len Sweales who played Mrs Crusoe was superb, his enthusiasm really made the night! Along side Len there were a number of other talented people. Christian Hughes who played Man Friday played his part well, who ever came up with the “potter, harry” joke, congratulations because it even made me laugh. In certain places technical issues spoilt the performance. Most of the time you couldnt hear the group singers due to lack of microphones but i was lucky enough to be near the front. 

I was very taken by the underwater scene that was very cleverly done with neo coloured paper that reflected from the stage lights. The half monty scene was quite amusing too, more for the ladies though i think. When i went, there were quite a few empty seats which was unusual to see, seems like the credit crunch it tightning everyones belt. Its an awful shame because they missed out on a nice eveing. I could write a ton more but sadly im snowed under with tons of stuff so i will stop there. Congratulations to everyone who took part, you guys did a good job, special congratulations to Eric Lukins keep up the good work!

Tonight i had the pleasure of attending the Wells City Band Christmas Concert directed by David Greenway, i arrived just after 7 and already people were scurrying through to the town hall at Wells. On the dot at 7:30 the concert began, opening with Stars and Stripes Forever to commemorate the turning point for America with there new president Barack Obama, i must say that i was pleasantly surprised to see that the band had more members which really helped there performance go with a blast.

Not only that it was great to see there new uniform, a very smart blazer with the logo sown in and a emerald green tie. We also had the pleasure of seeing the training section of the band and apparently they had only been practising for several months and only playing for about a year so it was very reassuring to see the youngsters because it shows that wells city band will be around even when i am withdrawing my pension.

My favourite arrangement of the night was “One Voice” so congratulations to the band for pulling that piece off nicely. It was very refreshing and i hope to hear that again some time soon. I also had a number of chances to make good use of my “whisper singing ability” with the christmas carols, but luckily enough the people with good voices made up for my howling.

It was also an evening to give thanks to the people who had helped the band to grow and supported them for years, sadly i didn’t catch everyone’s names who were awarded for there services so my apologies.  The awards were presented by the Mayor of Wells, Cllr. Christina Bolastero. She was given the chance to see how instruments that had been donated to the band had been used over the past year by some of the younger members of the band.

Well 10 approached and the crowd yelled for an encore and so they got one with an arrangement of We wish you a Merry Christmas. I would like to say a special thanks to Jane Hill for keeping me informed with the bands plans and reserving me some seats. Myself and Tara thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It set the beginning of Christmas for me. Congratulations to David as his work with the band has really paid off. I really hope that the Wells City Band will be performing at the Pride of Central Somerset, because without them i don’t think it would be quite the same.

For those of you who want to know more about the band you can visit there website here. Plus if you like the photos above you can download the high resolution images in this zipped folder which you can download here. … Oh and before i forget, i like my new Wells City Band pen.

> There is no age restriction for the auditions, if you are 15 or under you should have an adult accompany you to the audition.

> Your audition should be no more than 10 minutes in length. You will only perform to judges during the competition. No audiences.

> You should make sure you have the date of the event free which is Friday 6th March, performers are required to be at the Town Hall at 2PM.

> Application for auditions cost 5 pounds per act, this is a non refundable payment. This payment will cover the cost of the hiring of the hall for the auditions. (This payment should be made on arrival of your audition.)

> You are expected to bring anything you need with you. We will provide a CD player. Any other equipment should be brought by you and is your responsibility.

> Out of all of the performers we can only put through so many. The exact number wont be known until after the auditions. They will then be cut down to the final 2 who will get to perform at the Pride of Central Somerset and attend a free advertsing photoshoot.

Wishing you all the best of luck . To book your audition please complete this form, email me if you require any more details. im@srv.cc

Sadly i was in Canada last carnival so i wanted to make the most of this year and that i did. I took my partner and my younger sisters to look at the floats in the morning. Picture here to the right is the entry from the Masqueraders CC called Jester Choo Choo, in the day time it looked good and at nite time it blew me away. It was incredible. You can find the results of Glastonbury Carnival here. Between me and my partner we took over 500 photographs yesterday and we intend to get a lot of them printed. I will pop a fair number up on my facebook. A special thanks to all that made the carnival what it was last night. 

It was superb, a five star performance!