Thoughts on our heritage

Last night was the AGM of Belper Musical Theatre and once again it was lovely to see the mix of our acting and non-acting members, coming together to hear reports on last year and to plan for the year ahead. As is often the case for me, the most thought provoking part of the evening was with the Any Other Business right at the end of the meeting - thankfully it wasn't long so not too many had dropped off!
One of our longer lasting members, Pat, shared with us the fellowship of some of our other members who like to keep in touch with what is happening, but can't get along to the meetings. As one of the newer members, it brought it home to me again that BMT is very much a family, and one which cares for everyone who joins.
Since the other thing that was raised in AOB (by me) is that this BMT blog is open to all members for them to share their thoughts with a wider audience (not that wide it seems) then I thought that it could be rather nice to set up a section on here specifically to share our heritage. Some of you will already have noticed that we have a page which lists all the shows that have been performed by BMT. Why not have a look at it now, and if you have a story to share about one of them, then please get in touch with me and let's add it.
And if you are a member, or have been a member, and would like to share your memories of your time in the company, then again please do get in touch. I am sure that others would enjoy reading them and it would bring back to life their own recollections of the same time.
I hope that I hear from you soon.

Before I sign off from this instalment however, I would also like to say well done to our new life members.

Firstly Linda Furnival, who was made a life member at the Annual General Meeting, voted on by all of those members present and by standing ovation.

And then last night we welcomed three more highly deserving life members:

Jen Lewis, producer of Copacabana and a rather cracking singer, and Sarah Stone, showgirl extraordinaire and wonderful with bringing humour and colour to all her roles. Both Jen and Sarah have done so much for BMT, both in full view and behind the scenes to keep everything up and running.

And Terry Bailey, our musical director, who deserves our recognition for all of his hard work and effort in helping us become the rather fantastic choral group that we are.

In a year that sees the closure of the Derby Opera Company, after 125 years of providing pleasure to the people of Derby and surrounding areas, it's worth remembering that Amateur groups such as ours only work and survive because of the members who volunteer to help out and keep them running. Offering life membership is the way that we can recognise the ongoing hard work that some have put in and say a big public thank you.

Well done to our four newest life members.

(I just need to check and see if I have a page listing our life members now)