Morganstown Village Hall 50th Birthday
The Village Hall committee wanted a very special event to celebrate their 50th Birthday and this they manage to achieve by putting on a showcase concert to celebrate this wonderful occasion. It was master-minded by committee member Maggie Roberts and involved many of the regular organisations that hire the hall.
The Village Hall Chairman, Derek Bateman, welcomed some very special guests, including our local Cardiff County Councillor, Rod McKerlick, and the Chair of Radyr and Morganstown Community Council, David Silver. Other invited guests were Olive Samuels and Tommy Sutton, founder members of the Village Hall, and Cllr David Suthers and Marion Drake. Derek mentioned that holding a concert this evening was very appropriate as 50 years ago to this very day a concert was held in the evening to mark the opening of the Village Hall. Derek thanked the people who back in 1945 proposed the idea of a village hall. He also thanked the many people who, throughout the 50 years had worked so hard for the hall both on and off the committee. Derek said two people deserved a special mention, one was the late John Foley who worked quietly and tirelessly in many capacities for very many years. The other is Maggie Roberts who has been on the committee for twenty five years this year in several different roles.
Before the concert began, Maggie, who compered the first half of the show, invited Garry Newbould, Chair of R & M Association, to receive a cheque for £405.58, presented by some of the children of Nicola’s Dance School, being the proceeds of a concert they held in the Hall in June. Nicola has donated these proceeds to this year’s Festival Charity, Dan y Bryn Cheshire Home.
The hall was filled to capacity to see the Concert open with a selection of routines performed by dancers aged from 3 to 20, all pupils of Nicola’s Dance school. This was followed by a monologue and two hilarious sketches by members of the Drama Society, our chairman, Derek, having been roped into them. There was an amazing display by the Aikido group which brought gasps from the audience, a wonderful recital by a group from City of Cardiff (Melin Griffith) Brass Band and a demonstration by brave ladies all beginners, from Carol and Sarah’s Line Dancing Club, MVH’s newest user group.
During the interval, a draw took place for a bottle of Champagne, donated by Asda Stores, Coryton and won by a very happy member of the audience.
The second half of the concert featured the Radyr Parish Music Group, with Musical Director, Tessa Davies, accompanied by Leigh Bracegirdle and compered by Brian Willis. They performed music from the 1950’s with choral pieces, several solos and audience participation in the form of sing-a-longs, performed with gusto.
Morganstown Village Hall Committee would like to thank all participants, on or off the stage with a special thanks to Allan and Ben who ran the Bar as well as performing on stage. Thanks also to Chris Dale for his unexpected role as sound engineer.
WELL DONE ALL…A SPECTACULAR EVENING……HERE’S TO THE NEXT 50 YEARS!