Emerging from the Pandemic

Now I guess we all have something of the feeling of the Mole at the beginning of The Wind in the Willows as we become exasperated with our underground Covid existence and scrabble up the tunnel into the sunlight of "real" life. Perhaps surprisingly, the view there is much as it was eighteen months ago, and yet somehow we feel timid about rushing back into our previous busy-ness. Can we say, "This is fine! This is better than whitewashing!"?

Well, perhaps for the sake of our sanity we must say yes to meeting together and singing again - but with caution. Be assured that Woodside Hall is as Covid-secure as we can make it; that ventilation, sanitiser, handwashing facilities and social distancing are all in place (we even have smart new, comfortable chairs) – and come and join us as we embark on rehearsals on Thursday evenings for All Together Now (in November) and, on Tuesday evenings, Christmas at Woodside (in December, strangely enough!)

We re-christened The Dell with a reduced, concert version, of Pirates of Penzance, ably directed by Cathy Coulthard and accompanied by John Edwards. Our performance on 24th July as part of the Hitchin Festival marked the opening of The Dell as a performance space for the first time in more than 20 years, and we did it in some style.

Young Thespians had a very successful week at the beginning of August workshopping Moana Jr. Claire Bailes and her team had 29 young people participating. The public performance on Friday evening was a sell-out and revealed some very considerable talent. In February half-term they will be performing Matilda at Woodside Hall.