Wow what a busy weekend we’ve just had, and an awesome one at that! First off was the return of the annual SMP race night! In the past race night has proven to be a fantastic occasion, both in terms of fun had by attendees and money raised for the group, and this one didn’t disappoint! We had over 50 people through the door, raising £150 for the group, add that to the money taken on bets, money from the raffle and from the treasure map, we were getting close to £500 at the last count, which is a great help to the group! Special thank yous to Mike Benyon for organising all of the races and running the bookies on the night along with Lisa, thank you to Lisa. Thank you also to the social sub committee for organising the night, to Warren and his team of crazy animals for the SMP special race, to auntie Mel for selling raffle tickets (nobody does it better) and to chunk for lending us the projector. Thank you to everyone else that played a part in organising the night and of course to everyone that attended and made the night such a success!

Next up on our bumper weekend was the Enfield Parade of Light which SMP were asked to be part of again this year (Thank you Kathy). We done the parade last year and it was such a success that we decided to invest a bit more money in it this year. So we hired van (I would have told you where from but they refused to give us a discount, so no mentions for them), and it was expertly decorated by Mr Adrian Gee OBE (OK, he’s not an OBE yet but h e should be), a massive thank you to Adrian who took our van from looking like a gypsy rag and bone van to this:

This year we also decided to utilise the talent SMP have and had our resident Disney parade expert Marian Lynch OBE and Choreographer extraordinaire Debbie Petrou MBE (as above , it’s only a matter of time, massive thank you to Debbie and Marian) put together a dance for the cast to do when walking with the parade. They looked awesome, and if you don’t believe me you can see for yourself here:

The only shame was that the float behind us had a big enough sound system to power a heavy metal gig, which meant our little boom box became a little obsolete. However, not being the kind of people to be outdone we just danced along to their music! Huge thank you to Trev and Jan Hunt for organising the van and driving it all the way round! The parade was a great success, lots of flyers were handed out, and as I walked through the door after a long weekend, took my shoes off and put my feet up, an email popped into the SMP inbox: “1 x Family Ticket purchased for Beauty and the Beast” – Awesome!

If you haven’t yet, you can get your tickets from our online box office or by calling 0844 414 2731.

The ‘relaxed performance’ pilot scheme will be aimed at families with children that have an autistic condition, sensory and communication disorders or a learning disability.

It will begin at the Churchill Theatre Bromley for its production of Peter Pan on December 5, starring Jennifer Ellison.

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News

Rehearsals for our next pantomime, Beauty and the Beast, are in full swing and tickets are already starting to sell fast with virtually a quarter of the tickets sold. If you are coming to see the show or have family and friends that you know are planning to come but haven’t booked their tickets yet, please go to our online box office or call 0844 414 2731 to book yours today. We promise you won’t be dissapointed.

Announcements

After a fantastic reception last year, we have been invited back to the Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre in March 2013. We are planning to take 2 or 3 plays, so if you would like to be involved in any capacity please speak to Warren McWilliams, Ben Hewis or email contact@smptheatre.co.uk.

Get involved

To celebrate the release of STEPS: The Ultimate Tour Live on DVD and Blu-ray, there will be a Steps Dance-a-thon – Guinness World Record attempt on Wednesday 31 October 2012 at Sainsbury’s, Stadium Way, Crayford, Dartford, DA1 4HW at 3:30pm. This will be an attempt to gain a Guinness World Record title for the largest number of people dancing (180,000) to their hit Tragedy. More information can be found at www.stepsofficial.co.uk

Thanks for reading the first ever blog post. If there is anything you would like anything to be included in the blog post or would like to be an SMP guest blogger then get in touch by emailing contact@smptheatre.co.uk

Much love

Ben