The Christmas entertainment promised by the Arts Club last Friday reached new heights of fun and laughter. This was produced by a small group of five intrepid members under the leadership of Mary Smith and egged on by an enthusiastic audience. To create a seasonal mood, Pauline Allen played a selection of well-known Christmas carols and songs, with the audience soon plucking up courage to join in. Having set the scene, everyone eagerly waited for the show to begin. It was now introduced by Mary Smith, ultimately responsible for what was to come. What followed was a previously unknown interpretation of Charles Dickens's classic, 'A Christmas Carol'. Nick Hockenhull was certainly a miserly Scrooge who treated his poor clerk Bob Cratchit (Lew Day) very badly, and poor Mrs. Cratchit (Christopher Lunn) and Tiny Tim (John Bevan) suffered greatly from the penny-pinching Scrooge. However, help was at hand in the shape of the ghost of Jacob Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas to Come, all the characters played by John Beynon in a very ghost- like mask and a voluminous white gown. After much vying on stage for the best actor of the year award, the goodies and the baddies came to terms and as in every good pantomime, it all came right in the end. Scrooge reluctantly parted with a small amount of cash, while the Cratchits had a delicious Christmas dinner provided for them, in spite of the turkey (or goose) looking well past its sell-by date! When members of the audience had wiped a tear from their eyes and recovered their composure, everyone retired to enjoy a delicious buffet beautifully prepared by Ros Oak and Rosanne Phillips. The next meeting will be on January 12, when Nick Hockenhull will present 'A Miscellany of Music'. Non-members are welcome at £2.
