Press coverage and other news . . .

Good coverage of the Mayor's Fundraiser in this week's Mersea Courier. There's a full write-up on page 4 (with colour photo featuring Ellie, John and Barry) and then a centre-page double spread of Chrissie's lovely monochrome shots from the evening (and a bit of a 'spot the hand' quiz, but no prizes).

All good publicity for the Session, the Coast Inn and the Mayor's charity fundraising initiative. We also have a new regular slot for the Session on the 'clubs' page, towards the back of the paper, which will give people who don't use the internet an opportunity to read about what's going on each month.

And there's also an ad for the Christmas Ceilidh! Which reminds me!!! Please buy your tickets for this SOON (from the MICA or at the Session this Thursday and next). We really need to sell as many tickets as we can in order to make a profit on this one, so please galvanise your family, friends and neighbours and support this festive community event ('by the community, for the community') if you possibly can. It'll be a very reasonably priced evening out, amongst a friendly crowd, and the perfect antidote to Strictly Come Dancing!

Finally, it's Mersea Lights Up this Friday (3rd Dec) at the MICA at 6.30 pm. Father Christmas will be arriving in his sledge, accompanied by a torchlit procession of children from the school. The Mayor will be switching on the lights. And Greg will be accompanying the community carol singing on his fantastic organ-effect midi accordion (which has to be heard to be believed!). There will be charity stalls, mulled wine and mince pies, too. So do come along and join in.

CHRISTMAS CEILIDH

Get your tickets for the fabulous Christmas Ceilidh now!

If you enjoyed the Regatta Song and Dance  back in the distant warm days of summer, then you'll LOVE Mersea's Christmas Ceilidh on Saturday 11th December.

And if you didn't catch the singing and dancing in Mersea Week, then come along and see what you missed!

The Regatta Ceilidh Band (aka the Session's very own Liz, Greg, Tom, Rick and Adrian) will be providing the foot-stomping music, with John Leyland calling. And Ellie Scrivener will be offering a 'musical interlude' while everyone eats, drinks and gets their breath back for the second half of the evening's dancing.

Ticket price includes a hot supper and mince pies. There will be a bar and a raffle too. And we're hoping that Father Christmas might even put in an appearance. Altogether a festive, fun and family-friendly evening's entertainment at a very reasonable price.

All proceeds will go towards making next year's Regatta Song and Dance even bigger and better, with more singing and more dancing, as well as the popular 18th-century pirates, plus children's activities, stalls for Mersea artists, craftspeople and charities, and nautically-themed sideshows.

Tickets £6 adult, £3 children or £15 family (2+2) include a delicious hot supper and mince pies, are available at the MICA, or from Juliet or Chrissie Westgate.

Please tell your families and friends - and BOOK NOW TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!

Mayor's Fundraiser photos II

Here are photos taken by Chrissie Westgate at the Mayor's Fundraiser. More in Gallery II.

(To order high-quality prints of any of these photos, ring Chrissie on 01206 384315 - what a great Christmas present idea!)

 

Mayor's Fundraiser photos I

Here are photos taken on 11 November by Juliet Young. Lots more in Gallery II .

Mayor's Fundraiser . . . .

. . . . raised a total of . . . ..

£616 !

Mayor's Fundraiser: a resounding success!

Another Message from your MC:  To last night's performers: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Was there ever a night quite like it? Flawless performances from start to finish, platinum quality entertainment, everyone playing at the top of their game, singing and playing their socks off for two very good causes, job done! It is such an honour to play with such a brilliant bunch of super-talented musos, we really did make heavenly music last night. Greg

Looks like the evening raised in excess of £500 for the Mayor's charities, so huge thanks to all performers and the lovely paying audience, and for donations and raffle prizes given.

Lots of photos coming in already. A few are up on the Facebook page by way of a preview. All the rest will be posted here and in Gallery II over the next few days.  Meanwhile, here's one of the 'official' ones by Chrissie:

Mayor's Fundraiser - a message from your MC

Sorry about the late notice, but that pesky work life has got in the way of my musical activities!

On Thursday, it would be great if the musicians/singers can arrive about 7.30pm, so that you can be seated and watered before kicking off at 8pm. We are trying to keep the 'session feel' but also managing the evening so that we can get the maximum number of performances in.

I am arranging the seating/layout with John and Marion on Thursday morning, and we'll organise a seating plan so every musician will have an allocated place. There will be limited amping up, as we can't hook up so many instruments/voices, but there will be a vocal mic and a single instrument channel if the performer prefers it. I do have a list of songs/tunes and will let each performer know a couple of songs in advance of when they're on. There will be a raffle during the evening and another break, and we should wrap up before midnight.

So, no worries, I'm sure everyone will enjoy the evening, and let's hope we raise as much money as possible for John's chosen charities!  Greg

(NB audience tickets for the Mayor's Session are now SOLD OUT, and owing to strictly limited numbers (for safety and fire etc reasons) admission on the door on the night without a ticket will not be possible.)

Thursday 4.11.10

Photos by Juliet Y and Brian. More on the Gallery II page.