Tenbury Wells being further away than anything else ever,

Last night saw the first Tenbury Wells Regal Chuckle Night. Three comedians, Carl Donnally, Andre Vincent & Michael Smiley, performed and the show was hosted by Tiernan Douieb, who today commented on his blog today that

last night's show being unexpectedly lovely despite our dressing room being in a toilet and Tenbury Wells being further away than anything else ever,

I wasn't quite sure what to expect having not been to any live comedy events since working with the likes of Jim Davidson, Jasper Carrot and my personal favourite Mike Harding in the early 1980's.

Well, it wasn't very long until the audience of over 100 were rolling with laughter and had tears in their eyes. All the comedians sets were observational comedy, with among others, tales of their inward journeys to Tenbury and their futile planning of their onward journeys.

It is great to see the Regal being used for such a variety of live events, but we must resist anything in the current renovation plans that are retrograde steps and reduce the ability to host live shows, and encourage any plans that will enable the facilities to be improved with such minor necessities as dressing rooms etc.

If we are not careful we could end up with a beautifully restored White Elephant that cannot host live shows, and cannot show films because the projector is too old.

Have we seen the last Car Boot Sale?

The people of Tenbury Wells may have seen the last of the regular Bank Holiday car boot sales on the historic Burgage site.

The Town Council's decision to remove the fence around the Children's play ground and not replace it after the rebuilding project has finished, may have unwittingly, reduced the scope to hire the Burgage for other events. Less than 2% of existing and new play areas are unfenced.

A risk assessment (the details of which are possibly to be revealed on Monday night) is thought to have included the need to install temporary fencing between the playground and access road for any event where there is a requirement for vehicles to enter the Burgage.

The type of fencing that will be required for events.

The cost of this installation is between £300 & £500, making the hire uneconomic for most events.

This challenge follows quick on the heals of the proposed renovation to the Regal Cinema, which if accepted in full, will severely reduce the scope for the venue to be used for anything other than films, again hitting Council revenues.

Tenbury Advertiser

Panto wows full houses

If you missed this years TADS Panto' then you missed a real treat.

Tenbury is extremely lucky to have both an excellent venue in the Regal, and a troop of talented actors to perform.

We a doubly lucky that so many of these talented performers are still at school, so will hopefully be available to entertain us for years to come.

Tenbury's Jack & the Beanstalk, was a truly local production with even the script written locally.

Every performance was well received by a rumbustious audience who all seemed to have a thoroughly good time.

I hate to single out individual performances with such a strong cast, but again this year, Hannah Wragg delivered a strong performance this time as Chuckles, (and bolstered the signing of some of the weaker singers by singing from the wings) and Julia Bailey as Gelda the (non speaking) Golden Goose, who gave a memorable comic performance whenever she appeared on stage, and finally India Morris, as this years evil character, Zarabonda the Witch.

Well done all, and hopefully you will be able to perform again next year, even if the Regal is not available due to renovations.

Jack & the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk opens at the Tenbury Regal tomorrow.

This classic tale is retold, with some noticeable performances by the local Tenbury Amateur Dramatics Society.

Watch out for another classic evil performance from the wicked witch, and an excellent comic performance from the Golden Goose.

National Flood Forum

It appears that the Worcester based National Flood Forum is likely to close due to lack of funding.

Whilst there is obviously a limit to how many organisations can be Government funded, I would imagine that the help and advice given by the Flood Forum is far more cost effective than many Government Departments.

You are urged to sign the No 10 Petition to express you wish for the forum to be maintained from the public purse.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make funding available for the National Flood Forum to enable them to continue the invaluable work they have been doing to help the nation deal with increased levels of flooding, and the problems associated with climate change.

The deadline for the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/floodfunds is Sunday, 21st February.

Malvern Hills District Council Budget Consultation

Yesterday, MHDC held their annual Tenbury Roadshow, to an almost empty hall.

Tenbury Business's had been invited by an email that said.

We have a vision of a district, which has first class services and facilities, is clean, safe, healthy and prosperous and has vibrant and active communities.

As a valued member of our business community we would really like to hear your views on how we propose to spend your money in 2010/11 towards making that vision a reality.

Only two people turned up. One a Town Councillor who also runs a small business and is linked to two others, and me!

This did give us a good opportunity to discuss at length various local issues, but none that is really worth expanding on at this point.

It is a shame that despite the obvious effort of the District Council to include Tenbury in their consultations, that so few people get involved. I can only assume that either everyone is too busy, or they are entirely happy with how Malvern runs the District.

Zebra, down but not out.

The long awaited Zebra crossing promised in November 2008 as part of the redevelopment of the toilet site, is still a possibility. The cost at providing the crossing has been estimated at £35,000 and the money originally earmarked for the project is no longer available, but the plans and technical design is due to be completed soon and will be held over until money can be found to complete it.