The monthly Coffee Morning of Sarum U3A was held in its usual venue of St Francis Church Hall on Wednesday 19 October. Despite the heavy rain a large number of members met to socialise and hear the morning's speaker, Derek Jones, well known for his connections with the Studio Theatre, give a talk entitled “The play's the thing”. The morning's business started with information about various activities: - the New Year Party; a talk of interest to the group who had been studying the work of the local C17 poet George Herbert; arrangements for the Christmas dinner for the Walkers/Strollers; a Health Care Trust survey designed to improve hospital care; a 3 Continents Aid buffet/sale on 11 November and the fact that the Chairman's tenure of office is due to end in March. Members then settled down to a most entertaining talk by Derek Jones. He described with great wit both his own and other actors' experiences in many areas of acting. A continuous flow of funny stories and amusing incidents kept his audience well entertained. He started with his own early hopes, which an agent dashed, of a professional career, described his involvement through his time in the army and finally his participation in the Studio Theatre not only as an actor and director but also as a fund raiser for the new building at present nearing completion. He talked about the highs (being recognised and congratulated on performances) and lows (having bad reviews) felt by all actors and also the challenges they face such as having to learn lines or having to ad lib when things do not go according to the script or lines get forgotten. His examples were sprinkled with anecdotes from his own experience and also about members of the theatrical fraternity with household names (Lawrence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Ken Tynan etc.). He finished by recalling, watching as a child, visitors arriving for holidays in his seaside home town of Barry and recited the vignette entitled “The Way to the Sea” which encapsulated those memories. His talk and the delivery of his finale were acclaimed with loud applause from an audience who had been given a most enjoyable morning. Derek Jones answered questions from the audience and up-dated members on the progress of the construction of the new Studio Theatre that would be opening in May. George Cork gave the vote of thanks. The next Coffee Morning will be on 16 November (10.00 for 10.30) when Peter Allanson will speak on “A Quick look around Europe”. New members are always welcome. |
