Friday 6 July (8pm)

Comedy sketches: ‘Going for Gold!’ presented by Geoff Buckingham and Carmen Souchet
This year’s festival opened on 6th July with a cheerful evening of comedy sketches, written and compered by Geoff Buckingham, produced by Carmen Souchet and featuring some of Shepperton Players and Manor Players best performers.

Especially enjoyable was a performance by Robert Hardy sitting alone in a comfortable armchair with drinks and receiving telephone calls with hilarious results. It was not until near the end that the audience came to understand that he was not actually master of the house, but the disgruntled butler and, by the close of the piece, he had landed his master in deep water.

A hilarious gem of the evening was Catherine Black singing ‘Tell me the Truth about Love’ and then ‘A Word on my Ear’ as performed by a tone deaf singer, which required real effort from her accompanist, husband Richard.

 

Saturday 7 July (8pm)

The Tony Kinsey Concert
This memorable evening featured two classical works by Tony Kinsey, one of Britain's finest jazz drummers and composers, as well as Dvorak's 'American' String Quartet, performed by the Quartet Pro Musica, consisting of Patrick Halling (violin), Keith Lewis (violin), Richard Cookson (viola) and Myrtle Bruce-Mitford (cello). 

It opened with Kinsey's Second String Quartet, in four movements, a work of stature, complexity and vitality, which was followed by his splendid Quintet for Strings and Harmonica, for which the virtuoso harmonica player Philip Achille joined the Quartet Pro Musica. 

Both works demonstrated the inventiveness and freshness of Kinsey's musical idiom, which carry great harmonic and textural interest, and avoids the clichés that might otherwise be so tempting when engaging with such an established genre. The Dvorak Quartet was performed with great spirit and style, and the stamina and fortitude of the Quartet Pro Musica was remarkable throughout.

Sunday 8 July
(8pm)

Wines from Six Continents with Richard Black
Those unable to attend Richard Black’s latest wine tasting missed a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Right from the start Richard invites one to be part of the experience and it was a pleasure to share his knowledge as he took us across six continents demonstrating five white and five red wines. A Chardonnay from the Lebanon and a sweet sparkling Muscat from Italy, at only £6.75, were both a revelation.

We were led through the art of wine tasting from the look, the nose and finally the taste, and took part in a simple quiz to guess the continent, country, grape and approximate price of each wine, which all added to the enjoyment. The evening was rounded off with a simple buffet.

Richard does these tastings for charity, and I recommend that all wine lovers attend one of his events at the next opportunity.

Monday 9 July (8pm)

Painting demonstration: Still Life with Flowers in Oil Paint with Freda Anderson
Introducing her Still Life with Flowers, Freda Anderson gave us a history of still life painting which is, perhaps, the ‘poor relation’ to portrait and landscape painting. She also brought along a range of still life pictures and portraits which displayed her artistic talents.

Freda demonstrated how the still life painting evolves, shared her thoughts on the composition of the painting, where to start, which items to paint first and why, the addition of colour, and how to improve the painting and why and how this should be done.

Freda was pleased to sell another painting and donated the proceeds to Cancer Research. A supremely talented artist and demonstrator and we were very lucky to have Freda’s contribution to the arts festival.

Thursday 12 July (10.30am - 12 noon)

Tour of Shepperton Studios
The anticipation and excitement felt by those embarking on Shepperton Studios’ first tour was well founded. The group gathered in the Orangery, a vast pillared area built onto the “Old House” by Norman Loudon in the 1930s, when he fulfilled his dream of creating a film studio. David Godfrey, Director of International Operations, gave an informative and enjoyable talk on the history of Shepperton Studios and the present-day interests of the Pinewood Group, now with facilities in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany and Malaysia, making it the largest studio group in the world.

The visit included a foot tour of the site, refreshments, and the opportunity to enjoy and peruse books and memorabilia associated with studios and see Pinewood’s most up to date show reel in the Korda Theatre. Guests saw how original stages and workshops now blend with modern day facilities to provide a first class package for film directors and production companies.

Thursday 12 July (8pm)

Rehearsed reading: ‘Don’t Call Me Granny!’ by Jan Etherington
The audience watched a rehearsed play reading of Jan Etherington’s new comedy about her adjusting to her new status of grandmother. It was Jan’s first ‘solo’ piece, written without writing partner, husband, Gavin Petrie, and if she was nervous of its reception she needn’t have worried. With such an excellent script the audience had little choice but to laugh, from start to finish.

The ‘west end cast’ cast comprised Sue Holderness, David Robb, Emily Woodward, Kevin Sacre, and Camilla Dallerup. Directed by Mark Piper, husband of Sue Holderness, the reading was so expertly delivered that no one would have guessed that the cast met and rehearsed the play for the first time that morning. Following the interval, there was a lively question and answer session with the cast and Jan.

Friday 13 July (8pm)  

Scott Willcox Big Band
Sunbury Cricket Club was again this year used as the venue for one of the Festival Events – a fantastic evening’s entertainment by the Scott Willcox Big Band. Seventeen musicians, most of them full time professionals, took to the stage and played to a packed audience of around 100 people.

The pieces ranged from the familiar to the innovative and involved an orchestral approach to jazz which lost none of the humanity and earthiness of jazz. Many of the pieces were composed by Scott himself and the more familiar pieces all adhered to Scott’s more evolved arrangements than the originals. A wonderful evening of inventive big band sound!

Saturday 14 July (8pm)

An Evening in Old Russia with Bibs Ekkel and his Balalaika Band
This was a wonderful evening’s entertainment from Shepperton-based Bibs Ekkel and his talented band, masters of more than just  the balalaika family. We heard a seven-stringed guitar - the domra, the garmoshka – accordion, on which Bibs played a beautiful version of “Danny Boy” and of course the wooden spoons! The music ranged from the sultry and evocative “Moscow Nights” and “Moonshine”, to traditional Russian marches and folk songs, all played with gusto and enjoyment. Bibs’ humorous and interesting introductions added to the enjoyment and his love of the craft was evident in an impromptu balalaika lesson.

A moving moment came when Bibs played “You’ll never walk alone” on his primo balalaika, with two guitars as accompaniment, demonstrating the true range of its sound, with the tremolo enhancing the emotion of the piece. The evening ended with a fantastic rousing finale culminating in “Kalinka”, a demonstration of the band’s true virtuosity.

Sunday 15 July (12.30 for 1pm)

Celebrity luncheon with actress Phyllida Law
Phyllida Law gave a scintillating and fascinating account of her life on the screen and stage to a full house at the final event of the festival. Born in Glasgow, Phyllida trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and in her long career has performed in repertory theatre, film and television to great acclaim and her zest for life and willingness to take on new challenges was in evidence throughout her speech. Her reminiscences about playing in ill-equipped provincial theatres in her early days greatly amused the audience and she enjoyed telling us of a recent birthday gift from her daughters of flying lessons and told us that, only the day before, she had zoomed along a road on the back of a motorbike holding onto a brain surgeon! Her natural charm, wit and warmth were greatly appreciated by all. The luncheon prepared and served by members of the SSAA committee and their supporters was also appreciated.