Reminiscence activities with Crawley WRVS Heritage Plus

Ken plays the blues

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive

Ron Sylvia and Hazel share a joke

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive

Rosina laughs at Ken's harmonica solo

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive

The music hall reminiscence activities with Crawley WRVS Heritage Plus are proving popular and inclusive. There are now 13 participants in each activity, and this number appears to be growing through word of mouth promotion and partnership working alongside the Spice of Life theatre group run by the over 55s. At the last session, there were 20 people and a pianist. The participants have regularly stated their enthusiasm for the project and are committed to following up these six weeks with rehearsals and shows in the late summer and autumn. The shows will comprise a mixture of the memories and life experiences of the music hall group participants, as well as original songs written by the over 55s from the Living Archive group in Milton Keynes (which Roger Kitchen has agreed to send), and sketches, songs and monologues written by the Crawley WRVS music group themselves.

Sequence dancing and comedy sketches

At this half way stage, we have now written the script and created a running order for costumes, songs and props which we have now begun to collect. We have identified skills that the participants have, and the kind of roles they would like to play in a variety show. These skills include tap dancing, singing, sequence dancing, comedy sketches, and wardrobe skills. As part of the activities, the participants have written new words to existing songs, writing their own sketches, writing poems and songs based on their lives. We had the first song run through with Crawley WRVS participants and Spice of Life on July 3rd at Northgate Community centre, with a pianist. The group have made amazing progress and worked really hard to help pull this concept together, which is a testament to how enthusiastic the group is about the project.

Filming on the 16th

Those soloists at Spice of Life, who haven't already attended Crawley WRVS sessions, will be filmed by a professional cameraman on Saturday 16th August, in costume, performing pieces from their repertoire, so that this film can be incorporated into the show on 4th September.

Les Hull, an actor who has just finished starring in a show at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, about the life of Max Miller, will now produce the show as a volunteer. He will attend the last three rehearsals to help bring it all together.

We can't wait till the show!