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Our special anniversary year, when we are celebrating ten years since the refurbished Memorial Hall was opened, has so far been one of mixed fortunes for those of us who work to support and develop our community hall. This year, so far, we have continued to put on some of our traditional attractions including the popular Night Owl Dances and our very successful Anniversary coffee day and book sale. In addition we have been extremely pleased with two new ventures. The first was the wonderful “Big Sunday Lunch” which was over-subscribed and provided superb food and wonderful entertainment for many local young families. It also raised a magnificent £502 for Hall funds. Our grateful thanks are due to Joy Andrews, her family and her friends for organising this event. We are hoping to stage a similar event during the late autumn of this year. The second venture that we were proud to host was the magnificent “Youth Art Festival”. This was organised by fifteen year old Ruby d’Alquen assisted by her sister, Glory, and supported by the newly formed Pickering Town Youth Council. The art on show was superb and those visiting could not believe that the exhibitors were all school age. It is really gratifying to see young families and young people making full use of the Hall and enjoying themselves. At the time of writing, preparations are underway for possibly the most prestigious of our celebrations. This is the week long Tenth Anniversary Art Exhibition during Spring Bank Holiday. Angie McCall, a very well known and highly acclaimed Yorkshire artist, came out of retirement to organise this event. The Hall is already indebted to Angie in so many ways as she and her husband, Bill, were the driving forces behind its magnificent refurbishment. We are very conscious of our good fortune in that she agreed to help us once again and thank Angie for all her hard work in staging a wonderful exhibition reflecting such a wide range of styles through the work of acclaimed local artists. I said at the beginning of this article that this has been a mixed year. Not all has gone well for us, despite some magical moments. All who have worked for the Hall were tremendously sad to learn of the untimely death of Sheila Otterburn, who has been such a wonderful support over so many years. Anyone who has attended any of our fund raising events will know that Sheila was renowned for her ready smile, fantastic organising ability, patient intelligence and superb baking. Even when she was in the throes of her final illness, Sheila continued to make an invaluable contribution to our team. She will be very sadly missed and is irreplaceable. Our love and sympathy are extended to Geoff, who himself has done so much to support the Hall, and to his family. Although autumn seems a long time ahead, preparations are already underway for our Wartime Weekend celebrations. On the Saturday evening we have again managed to secure the services of the very popular concert party “Miscellany”. They will be presenting a brand new show this year and anyone wanting tickets is advised to contact us or the Tourist Information Office as soon as possible as, for the past two years, tickets for this event have been sold out by mid September. Such is the quality of the entertainment that we already have quite a long waiting list of those wanting tickets as soon as they are printed. Our annual general meeting will be held on 22nd June at 7.30pm at the Hall and we do hope that as many of you as possible will come along and give your ideas. If you are able to support us in any way, please contact the Hall any weekday morning between 9am and noon, (telephone 01751 477522) or ring 01751 477913 and speak with our secretary, Mal Danks.
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