CADS newsletters

A final reminder (as if you needed it) that this month sees the return of the ever popular Royston Town Pantomime – this year, it’s 1001 Arabian Nights (and a Matinee) by Damian Trasler, David Lovesy and Steve Clark, directed by Kathy Wholley with musical director Louise Atkins.

Banners advertising the pantomime should be going up at Tesco and the Town Hall any minute now, so keep an eye out for those; a brief article appeared in the Crow before Christmas; a colourful advertisement (designed by our own James Baxter) should be appearing in the January issue of the Listing magazine; and there will be the customary display in the town library in the run-up to the show.

For more information in general or to check on the progress of the show, keep checking the website, or you can ring Kathy on 01763 223805. Performances take place at Greneway School on Friday 22 January at 7.30 p.m., Saturday 23 January at 2.00 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., Friday 29 January at 7.30 p.m., and Saturday 30 January at 2.00 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. Tickets (which are selling fast, particularly for the matinees and the last night) cost £7 each (concessions: £5) and are available from the Box Office on 01763 242906. Buy now to avoid disappointment!

CADS makes two annual awards, usually in January, either at the last performance of the pantomime or at a suitable club event. Full details can be found by clicking here and a list of previous winners is also available here.

Nominations can be made for either award by anyone from the local area, so please forward your suggestions (to any one of the committee, or to Sally Rowe, please at sal2612@yahoo.co.uk), together with a few words about why you feel your nominee makes a suitable candidate. The committee will then vote on who should receive each award. The closing date for nominations this year is Friday 22 January. Look out, too, for articles in local papers or ask a member of the committee for more information.

As many of you know, for some years now the group has rented from North Herts District Council a lock-up garage in Beverley Close, Royston, where we store bulkier bits of scenery or large props such as items of furniture. Recently, however, we have been hit by a double whammy – the Council have suddenly woken up to the fact that the rent for the garage hasn’t been reassessed since 1968, and initially proposed a 900% increase (subsequently renegotiated to a mere 250% after a lot of special pleading); and the Valuation Office Agency have also woken up to the fact that we have managed to escape paying any rates on the premises, for which they have now demanded nearly £1,000 to be paid forthwith!

Needless to say, the combination of these two charges, coupled with the fact that the lock-up isn’t exactly structurally sound at present anyway, mean that the facility really isn’t worth that much to the group and we have handed in our notice to quit in six months time. We’ve also applied for rate relief as a “small business” (we could probably avoid the whole amount if we were a registered charity or a sports club – bizarrely, other local clubs don’t seem to be eligible), and are still awaiting the outcome of that application, but whatever the result, we shall be vacating the building some time in the Spring.

Enquiries are being made into possible alternative storage facilities, but if anyone out there knows of any suitable venue (preferably free or at least cheap to hire and ideally within easy reach of Greneway School), the committee would be grateful for any suggestions. Advance notice, too, that we’d also be grateful for any volunteers when we come to clear out the lock-up – more information on this when we’ve identified a suitable date after the pantomime and an appropriate alternative location.

If anyone wants us to put information in the next newsletter, or you would like something discussed at the next committee meeting, please contact Michael Young on michaelyoung@hewitsons.com or call 01763 223805. Deadline for sending stuff for inclusion in the newsletter (e-mail preferred) is 22 December. Don’t forget, if you need to contact the club we have an e-mail address you can use - cads_royston@yahoo.co.uk - or you can use our Contact page to send us a message.