Dancers, singers, musicians and magicians were among the hundreds of young performers at the annual Maidenhead’s Got Talent showcase on Friday 27th April.
 
The annual event, organised by all of Maidenhead’s Rotary clubs, saw performers aged six to 22 appearing in a matinee and evening show at Taplow Court, in Cliveden Road.  The event featured pupils from five of the area’s primary schools, solo artists and a number of performance academies.
 
The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for performers in schools and local groups to get experience of being on stage and performing to a large audience.  There’s lots of talent in Maidenhead and it’s something we should be proud of.
 
Theatre students from BCA performed for the first time, pulling off a rendition of the Cell Block Tango from Chicago and it was absolutely fantastic to have them join us for the first time.
 
Other performances included Britpop from the Magic Potty Band and a song from Big Fish the Musical by Redroofs School for the Performing Arts.
 
Both shows were compered by Britain’s Got Talent finalist and Theatre Royal Windsor performer Kevin Cruise who did a fantastic job keeping the crowd going and really kept it all together.
 
Just over £6,000 was raised from the event, which will go towards all of the town’s Rotary clubs’'
charitable activities and we couldn’t be happier!
 
A massive thank you to all club members who gave up their time to help at this event,  without you we simply could not run it!

Not many people know this in our Rotary club but I’m a qualified sound engineer. I have completed a BSc (Hons) in Audio and Music Technology (got a 2:1 n all!), and a Masters in Sound Design for Moving Image.  How I became a project manager from these qualifications is a LONG story!
 
Anyhoo – in the last 15 years I’ve also been lucky to volunteer with some brilliantly talented amateur dramatic societies in Ickenham, Chesham and Maidenhead.
 
This is how I met Matt Loughman (or “Herman” to me!).  Matt and I have worked together on many productions, and it’s always a pleasure to have him part of the team. In the last few years, Matt’s daughter Sophie, and Thomas have sparked a wonderful relationship as they’re of similar ages. Add to this Joseph and Madison – we now have more in common than just being techies!
 
When Matt agreed to be Stage Manager for Maidenhead’s Got Talent (he still maintains he was volunteered rather than volunteering!) I was very excited at the prospect of working on this project. I had taken a break while Marthe & I got used to handling two little people, but 2018’s event seemed the right point to step back onto the saddle.
 
So, there we were, Friday 27th April – months of preparation, several conversations around kit from Henley Theatre Services  - it all came down to this…
 
The two of us setting up on stage – Matt on lights, me on sound. First issue for me – trying to get noise out the desk. (I’ll keep this basic!) Turns out the flashy digital desk hadn’t been pre-configured as I’d requested. These things happen, and once I’d worked that out – we were ready to ROCK!
 
And ROCK we did! A fair few choirs, soloists, singer songwriters, a magician, and dance crews from across the borough. Maidenhead most certainly has talent!
 
The best thing about this event is that it’s not a competition. Rotary runs Youth Makes Music for the competitor in us, this is a pure showcase of local talent.  Two performances of Maidenhead’s Got Talent, our wonderful compere Kevin Cruise, talented magician Patrick Ashe.
 
It was a long day, but really good fun. I’m President next year, if we do it again you won’t see me in the VIP area – I’ll be backstage as I was this year…in the thick of it!

​My Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) experience was something I will never forget it was a week in which I pushed myself in ways I never usually would during my work and day-to-day life. In terms of leadership it has developed my confidence so noticeably, and in terms of friendships I have made some new friends for life, whom I would never have crossed paths with had it not been for the course.
 
The beginning of the week consisted of classroom based leadership skills in teams, followed by group activities in the evenings, all building towards our skills days where I took part in canoeing and orienteering (because I was too scared of the ones with heights at this point!).  Once we learnt how to master these skills we would then put these to the test during our final 30 hour challenge in which we would be teaching the rest of our group with no assistance from
professionals!

Little did I know we would be mastering all the skills learnt by each member of the group including mining and abseiling (my two biggest fears!). Despite being so nervous and at times wanting to give up my group got me through the tasks and the way in which these strangers were supporting me to help me through is something I will never forget. If it wasn't for the team I was in I wouldn't have got through it quite so well I'm sure of it!
 
I cannot thank the Rotary Club enough for providing me with this opportunity and for allowing me to develop these skills and my confidence which I would potentially never have accessed had it not been for the course. The team at Rhos-Y-Gwaliau were also amazing and provided us with everything we could possibly need to get the full potential out of the week.
 
As a 21 year old in full time work it is easy to believe opportunities are not out there, and not being at school feeling I am too old to take part in such a week.  I feel it is so important that young people like me get this opportunity and the RYLA course continues to give others the amazing time I've had.
 
Thank you so much Rotary!
Amy Tough