COMMUNITY NEWS
Auckland Welsh Choir
If Christmas is about family and children, then the Auckland Welsh Choir Christmas Concert is a perfect start. Featuring the angelic voice of eight- year-old boy soprano, Lukas Maher, as well as four separate ensembles from One Tree Hill College, the choir’s first ever festive Christmas concert will present a great line-up of top talent. With focus on fundraising for Kidz-first hospital, it will showcase outstanding young musicians in combination with the seasoned singers of Côr Cymreig Auckland, who present their usual polished solo and choral performance.
Christmas Concert Showcase
Well-loved music abounds, accompanied by piano or organ, or sung a cappella. In a thoroughly seasonal timbre, some of the city’s finest young brass players will provide backings and fanfares in true mediaeval style for traditional carols. The beautiful contemporary music of John Rutter will take a well-deserved place alongside other popular classics, such as a superb choral and orchestral arrangement of O Holy Night. We are delighted to welcome Terence Maskell in his role as director of the Male Voice Chorale and Mixed Voice Chamber Choir of
One Tree Hill College. Our conductor, Diana Williams-Rhodes expects this to be a concert the whole family will enjoy, so get your tickets early and enjoy the best of the festive season while you contribute to this very worthy cause for kids. Tickets are available on iticket.co.nz, and there will be door sales as well. For further information email secawc@gmail.com. Alternatively, phone Anne on 021 132 4073. Diana Rhodes (Music Director)
Friends of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Our Friday mornings in the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall seem to be getting better and better. In early October, we were entertained magnificently by two members of the Orchestra and a third player, who form a group known as “Ace Brass Trio”. They light-heartedly talked about their instruments and their musical careers, and played superbly, showing us how gentle and lyrical trumpet, horn and trombone can be. This was followed by the most interesting interview with Henning Kraggerud, who had played the Bruch violin concerto with the orchestra the previous night. As he never goes anywhere without his violin, crafted in the mid-1700s, he was able and willing to play for us. Our first Friday in November was equally
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memorable, although somewhat sadder, as we farewelled Eckerhard Steir who has been the musical director for the Orchestra for seven years. As well as being an extremely talented classical musician maestro, Steir is a brilliant jazz pianist and we were given a glimpse into this side of his life. Our final morning for this year will be on Wednesday 25 November at 10.30am. We are hoping this will be quite spectacular and I think that people living in the area will find they may know some of the people who will be performing for us. If you would like to be part of these mornings, become a ‘friend’ and help us to support our orchestra. You may attend any of these meetings as a visitor for the small fee of $15.00, which includes a finger food lunch. However,
if you are a member, you will receive a programme each six months which will give you the dates and details of each meeting. The door fee for members is only $12 and includes lunch. For more information ring Bryce Bartley on 580 1964. We look forward to meeting you on 25 November and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a musical next year.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Ellerslie Combined Probus Club Your Probus Club has had some very enjoyable events during the last three month, one of the highlights being the fact that we have attracted even more new members. This is very encouraging for our committee and makes us feel we are doing something right. Keep on bringing your friends along, so they can experience a Friday morning in the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall at 10.00 am, or an outing. We are happy to see them at a couple of meetings before we ask them to join. That way they can be sure that Probus is for them, before actually joining and paying the subscription, which is only $15 per year, plus a one off joining fee of $10. For those of you who are reading about Probus for the first time, we meet on the third Friday of each month, from February to November, at the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall at 10.00 am. On the fourth Friday of
each month we usually go out to gardens, museums, tenpin bowling, factories and many other different places. The cost and timing of these days varies and mostly include lunch before we return to Ellerslie, between 2 and 3 pm. If you are newly retired, or new to the area, this is a very easy way to meet your neighbours. Our last meeting for 2015 was on 20 November when we had a very pleasant early Christmas lunch. Our next meeting will be on 22 January when we will have an informal lunch. The venue has not been decided yet, but if you are thinking of joining Probus and would like to meet us in January, ring Rona on 579 7605. In the meantime, we wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a bright new year to follow when at least some of your hopes will come to fruition.
Ellerslie Rotary Club New School Reading Programme a Great Success
Ellerslie Theatrical Society We have just concluded our final successful production on stage for 2015. The ‘Playboy of the Western World’ by J. M. Synge was well received by our audience. We will end our successful year with a float in the Ellerslie Christmas Parade on 6 December. Now is not too early to be thinking of Christmas presents, or even birthday presents, for friends and family who have birthdays between now and March 2016. We have created a gift package consisting of one ticket for each of the four plays we will produce this year, together with one glass of wine, beer, or soft drink of your choice, for half price on each of the four nights your friends attend. The cost of this gift is $88. The full price would be $124 which means that one night of good theatre will be free. You could even give yourself a present! Seats can be booked now for the whole year, or as each play comes up, by ringing Rona on 525 3336. The first play of the year, 10 to 19 March 2016, will be ‘The End of the Golden Weather’, written by Bruce Mason and adapted by Raymond Hawthorne. It will be directed by Julian Harrison. Each play we present requires a set. Sometimes simple with few components, but often we need to build walls, doors and windows. Naturally some of these components are used many times, which saves the considerable cost of buying new materials for each set. This is how you may be able to help. We need to store these items when they are not actually on stage. Do you, or perhaps your friends, have an unused garage or shed, preferably water-tight, that we could use for this purpose? Again, please ring the Theatre if you can help on 525 3336. In the meantime, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and look forward to your support for our upcoming productions in 2016. Don’t forget to visit our website www.ellerslietheatre.co.nz.
Stanhope Road School reading help programme Members of Ellerslie Rotary Club with a little free time on their hands, in the middle of the week, have taken on a new community project – reading and being read to by the young pupils at Stanhope Road School. And it’s proving very rewarding for both the pupils and their tutors. The Rotary Club has a strong commitment to supporting the local community and this includes working where we can with a couple of local schools. At Stanhope Road School we already fund a minibus, which is used to transport children on trips. Then, the principal
contacted us to discuss the possibility of taking part of a reading programme. Club members jumped at the opportunity and now a group comes to the school every Wednesday in term time. Club President, Grant Hunter, says that it’s a small but significant way that we can give to the community and fulfils our goal to “Feel good doing good”. If you would like to learn more about the work of the Ellerslie Rotary Club and how you could become a member, please contact Annabel Lush on 021 738 990 or a.lush@xtra.co.nz
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