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!

Banter With Buttons...

Michael Mullin has been with The Wight Strollers for over four years now, and in that time he's been lucky enough to take on a range of roles, from Judah in Joseph to Jack in last year's Jack and the Beanstalk. 

This year, Michael is playing Buttons, the head servant at Hardup Hall - well, actually, he's the only servant at Hardup Hall! Best friend to Cinderella, confidante to the Baron and loved by all the villagers, Buttons is a long-standing favourite with pantomime audiences all over the country, and we have a feeling Michael's Buttons will be up there with the best of them!

So what is it that makes Buttons so loveable?
"What makes him so lovable? He's the real hero of the story! He's lovely, he's adorable, he's funny...and he should get the girl! It's not fair!"

O...kay...I think I've touched a nerve there! We'll move on! What are your two favourite moments of the show so far? 
"I love the little scene between me and Cinderella where we're sitting on a table and Buttons is convinced she loves him. As for my favourite scene that I'm not in, it would probably have to be the scene where she turns into a princess. That's a really key moment, too."

You've been with the company now since September 2013...
"Has it been that long?"

It has been that long! What's been your most memorable moment with The Wight Strollers so far?
"My most memorable moment would probably be the very first time I was on stage with the company as Man Friday, in my little loin cloth, facing off with Sarah Scotcher for the first time!"

That's a baptism of fire!
"It was, absolutely. I've never forgotten it - and I probably never will!"

Before Robinson Crusoe, you were a relative newcomer to pantomime but you'd performed in many other genres, and have done since, too. What makes pantomime different?
"It's totally insane! Everything about it is just geared towards having fun - the people on stage are having fun, the audience is having fun, and it's just unique in that it's totally focused on achieving that. There's no other aim except for everyone to enjoy themselves."

Cinderella is certainly going to be a lot of fun - and it's a firm favourite in the panto world, as a story. But what's your personal favourite of all the pantomimes?
"Oh, it has to be Mother Goose. I've never actually seen it, but I just think a pantomime based around a goose sounds great!"

That's got to be the most unusual answer I've ever had to that one! Turning back to Cinderella, why should people come and see the show?
"It's what I said before, about pantos just being unadulterated fun. That's just the feeling in all of The Wight Strollers' shows, they turn that idea up to eleven every single time and it's just rad. You'll have a good time whether you pay attention to what's going on in the story or not - the atmosphere is just brilliant."

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Catch Michael as Buttons in Cinderella, this February Half Term at Medina Theatre. Tickets are still available and can be purchased from the Medina Theatre website, by phoning 01983 823884 or by visiting the Box Office in person.

Cinderella's Chosen Charities

As anyone who has ever seen a Wight Strollers production will know, we donate our proceeds to local charities and good causes, with every single penny staying on the Island to help our community.

Since 1981 we have raised well over £200,000 and have helped hundreds of Island charities, good causes, community organisations and individuals.

From purchasing numerous Public Access Defibrillators to replacing Scouting equipment lost in a fire, we consider every single application for funds that we receive with the utmost care, and our committee have now chosen four more thoroughly deserving causes to benefit from our Cinderella proceeds.

This year we will be donating our proceeds to Wild Bird Aid, the Newchurch Beavers & Cubs, the Fire Brigade Benevolent Fund (IOW Branch), Kissy Puppy and St George's School and Medina House School to assist with the specialist equipment required to transport their students to the Global Rock Competition.

We will also be purchasing our seventh - that's right, seventh! - Public Access Defibrillator for the Island, which it is hoped will be hosted by St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School in Carisbrooke.

We hope you'll all agree that these are four very worthy recipients of our proceeds, and we look forward to presenting them with donations at our AGM in April.

In the meantime, to help us to help these wonderful causes, all you need to do is book a ticket to come and see Cinderella on February 10th, 11th or 17th at Medina Theatre, and spend an afternoon or evening laughing, crying, shouting, booing, cheering, applauding and generally having a wonderful time at a magical show!

What could be easier?

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Tickets for Cinderella are available from the Medina Theatre website, by phoning 01983 823884 or by visiting the box office in person, and are £9 per adult and £8 per under 14. 

Utterly Charming...

Chesney Checkley-Hill has been with The Wight Strollers since September 2014, his first production being Aladdin in February 2015, in which he was part of the chorus...and one of the Genie's cross-dressing backing dancers!

He's gone from strength to strength within the company, and in 2016 took his first role as Benjamin in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat before playing Humphrey, the hapless Royal aide, in Jack and the Beanstalk last year.

From Royal servant to fully-fledged Royal, this year he's taking on the role of arguably the best-known fairytale princes: Prince Charming...

So let's get stuck in with asking you how you felt when you were offered the role?
"Well, I was overwhelmed at first and then it sunk in and I was like 'Wow, I get to play the prince!' - it was a bit of a goal for me! And it's Prince Charming!"

He is rather considered the 'ultimate' Prince, I'll give you that! You've got a real mix of romance, song, dance and comedy to enjoy, but what's your favourite moment to perform in the show?
"Without spoiling too much, my favourite moment that I'm in is definitely the 'breakdown' scene that happens between the characters of Dandini and Prince Charming - it's a really fabulous scene, it's funny but it's also quite sweet."

And what about a favourite moment that Prince Charming doesn't appear in?
"I don't know, there are just so many to choose from! Can I just say all of it? I love all of it."

Normally I wouldn't allow that as an answer...but, just this once, I'll take it! What about your most memorable moment with the company as a whole?
"Being Benjamin in Joseph [and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat] - it was my first named part with the Strollers, and it was incredible."

How would you describe Prince Charming? What do you think are his best qualities - and what's his worst quality?
"His best quality, I guess, is that he's determined to find the one he loves, someone who loves him for who he is and not just because he's a prince. His worst quality is that he's a bit stupid - he forgets to ask Cinderella for her name...twice! It's like the lights are on, but nobody's home! [laughs] That's why he keeps Dandini around - Dandini does a lot of the thinking for him!"

I can't disagree with that...and not just because I'm Dandini! But Prince Charming is, thankfully, charming enough to make up for it - except for his chat-up lines! 
"What are you saying? I think his chat-up lines are amazing!"

They're really not! But what about you? Do you have any favourite chat-up lines in your arsenal?
"Yes, I do!"

I'm listening...
"Do you believe in love at first sight? ...Or do you want me to walk by again?"

...Moving swiftly on! How would you describe rehearsals with the Strollers?
"Fantastically superbly amazing!"

Well, that's pretty good then! As for the show itself, why should people come and see Cinderella?
"If they didn't, they'd be doing themselves a great disservice, it is such an amazing show already. We just have this amazing cast, amazing chorus, it's just a phenomenal show - everyone has to see it, without a doubt."

Without a doubt, Cinderella is a really popular pantomime story - what's your favourite pantomime story and why?
"Without sounding too biased, I would have to say that it's actually Cinderella. It's the amazing characters, the great story, and it's the one I grew up with - it was the first pantomime I saw, and it was the Strollers I saw doing it, so it's got a special place in my heart."

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Catch Ches at his most Charming by booking your tickets to see Cinderella at Medina Theatre on February 10th, 11th and 17th - tickets are available by phoning 01983 823884, in person at the box office or by visiting the Medina Theatre website.