"The Chestnut Grove Comedy evening was a FANTASTIC success! Ian and I were invited along to open the proceedings with a short presentation about Pageant, so we arrived early to make sure that we could set up on the school computer OK as well as arranging some prizes that we were donating for the raffle and a table with Pageant literature.

The school drama hall had been chosen for the evening's entertainment and a large room opposite (mainly used as a gymnasium, we thought) was doing duty as the 'ante-room', with a bar at one end and a cup-cake stall at the other. The beer had been sponsored by Belleville Brewing Company and 200 beautiful cupcakes had been donated by Lola's Cupcakes.

During the interval all the beer, most of the wine and nearly all the cupcakes were consumed by the enthusiastic gathering and the raffle was held - our Gambian offerings went down well, with one of them, a caftan, immediately being modelled with much hilarity by a male member of the audience.

In the second half Arthur introduced Elliot Steel, Jo Ostrowska and, finally, Kevin Day - all received with great enthusiasm. Dominic wound the proceedings up and was clearly delighted at how the whole evening had gone - he said that the school had never done anything like this before, so he had been unsure of how much support they would get. He need not have worried - I do not have the final numbers, but the estimated audience was in the region of 170, very nearly the capacity of the hall.

Huge thanks go to: