Luke LucasThe Birchington Guild of Players would like to congratulate Luke Lucas on his progress as far as the judges house in X Factor and wish him well in the future.
Luke was one of our Junior members for several years, but he made a real name for himself with the Guild when he played the part of Humpty Dumpty in our 2008 pantomime.

Geoff Kirk Retires from the Guild Saturday evenings performance of Alladin marked the end of a long association of Geoff Kirk with the Birchington Guild of Players. Geoff has been a leading light of the Guild for many years, first performing with us as a last minute stand in. Although reading from the book, he carried off impeccably.
Since then he has taken the male lead in plays, been the Dame in many of our Pantos as well as helping set buildng and scenery painting.
In 2005, Geoff received the Marlowe Sheild from the Kent Drama Association for his part in 'On Golden Pond'. He has alos been nominated for other awards in the KDA festival.
Geoff was Chairman of the Guild from 2000 to 2007.

100th Birthday Party The guild celebrated the one hundredth birthday of Vida at the The Centre. Vida has been a member of the Guild for many a long year and her regular attendance at the guild's productions are much appreciated. A special birthday cake was presented to her by John Hutchinson. Courtesy of songsmith, Edwina Pegg, a specially written song was performed celebrating her time with Guild.

AGM 2008: Not a very good turn out for the Annual General Meeting and for those of you who were not there it was agreed as follows.
Officers elected:
Chairman: Richard Taylor
Vice-Chair: Helen Page
Treasurer: Ray Marsh
Secretary: Sarah Horner

Committee members elected:
For three years: Lynn Dey, Julie Francis and Andrew Taylor.
For one year: Jason Dey.

It was also agreed that as from the 1st September the subscriptions would be increased as follows:
Individual member£12. 00
Family membership£18. 00
Senior Citizen and Junior£6. 00
Therefore, it would pay you to make sure you pay before the 1st September and Vanessa will be pleased to receive your subs.

KDA Awards 2008: The Birchington Guild of Players won the Timber Woods Memorial Shield for 'Initiative in Stage Presentation' at a Gala awards ceremony held at the Whitstable Playhouse Theatre. Alison Sheekey, pictured here collected the award on behalf of the Guild. The adjudicator made particular note to the effort made to create the feeling of a real townswomen's guild event with market stalls, the audience sitting around tables, and "extremely good" home made cakes. Congratulations to the Director, Ruth Childs, and to all those who worked hard to make this evening such a success.

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: Perhaps the longest play title in history, but this very funny play was this years entry for the Kent Drama Festival. Judging has now finshed and this years nominations have been announced. Birchington is one of three societies in line for the Timber Wood Memorial Shield for 'Initiative in Stage Presentation'. Congratulations to all those who helped in staging this play and a special thanks to Thanet Village Market for their assistance in providing the correct atmosphere.

Evening of Comedy: The October production was directed by Peggy Mann. She chose two one act comedies to present; 'Cut in the Rates' by Alan Ayckbourn and 'Waiting at the Church' by L. du Garde Peach. Although the plays were quite short, the added attraction sitting at tables with food provided attracted some very favourable reactions. Thank you to Wendy and her team for organising the food and to the Vicar and PCC of All Saints Church for the loan of suitable furniture and props.

AGM 2007: The well attended AGM saw Geoff Kirk and Ruth Childs stand down as Chairman and Secretary respectively.   Both individuals have been tireless in their support of the Guild and in the work they have done for the committee over a number of years.   The guild members offered their apprectiation to both retiring officers.   Richard Taylor was elected Chairman, unopposed and Sarah Horner takes over as Secretary.   Helen Page takes over responsibilty of Vice Chairman.   Ray Marsh failed in his bid to hand over the Job of treasurer to any willing volunteer!   Peggy Mann is re-elected to the committee and MarcHamilton joins as a new member.

Agnes of God: This play written by John Pielmeier was the Guild's entry to the Kent Drama Festival for 2007.   Despite playing to small audiences, the play was very well received by the Festival adjudicator and went on to be nominated for three awards:   Best Young Player (Anna Sampson),  Best Technical Achievement and Best Lighting.  At the Awards Ceromony, held in Tenterden, the Guild won the Geoff Goodwin Cup for Best Lighting.  Congratulations to Betty Cleminson for directing the play and to the cast and crew for their efforts.

New Web Site: To those of you who may have come across offensive images on the old guild website at "www.birchingtonguild.com", the Guild would like to apologise. Ownership of this domain name appears to have been transferred to an offshore company which acquires dormant domain names for resale. How this has happened is not clear. This new site will become the regular home of the Guild. Please return to it frequently for all the Guild news and details of forthcoming productions.