Show goes on for Ashington Music Society

Posted by The Journal on Mar 27, 09 10:58 AM in Clubs/Societies

A school has helped members of a popular Northumberland operatic society to fulfil the old showbiz adage that the show must go on.

Last year Ashington Music Society feared the final curtain was about to come down after 90 years of performing its annual shows in the town, when it was left without a venue in which to stage them.

The society was left in the lurch after being told it could no longer use the main hall in the town's Northumberland College building, which it had used for many years.

Members feared it could be the end of their musical shows, which began in the 1920s with a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore.

But now the society is looking forward to performing the hit musical Calamity Jane for five nights from Tuesday April 14, after St Benedict's Middle School in Ashington stepped in to save the day as a replacement venue.

Evelyn Wilson, who chairs the music society, said members were delighted and relieved that a local musical tradition was not coming to an end.

"If we had not been able to find a new venue we would have been faced with becoming a concert party, which is not what we wanted.

"The real thrill for our members is getting up on stage, singing and dancing their hearts out to entertain our audiences, and we would have been devastated if we had not been able to do that.''

The society has secured a £7,000 grant from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust to help stage this year's show. Tickets for the show, which begins at 7.15pm each night, cost £7 for adults and £4 for children. They are available by calling (01670) 813189.

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