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To entertain the West Wimbledon Opera Club, we turn our attention to the second oldest profession.  Our observations on singers and actors, successful and otherwise, raised funds for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

We played to a capacity audience, and were delighted to welcome four representatives from Hearing Dogs - Ken, Beryl, Douglas, and Diana - the latter brought along her hearing dog.  Pepe, a tiny Papillion, was rather mystified by what he was expected to do with this noise called Applause, but soon worked out that it could safely be ignored as a human eccentricity, and he didn't need to keep telling Diana that it was happening!

We were delighted to receive a lovely thank you letter from Ken (see the Thanks page for his comments); he also mentioned that "your generous audience put just over £34 in the collection box that was on the table at the door".  In addition, the West Wimbledon Opera Club has now sent a donation of £300 to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Here is also a kind note by Beryl Allen in the Christmas update from the Croydon & District Branch of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People:

One highlight of the year was when Ken & I were invited to a charity concert presented by Chimes Musical Theatre in association with the West Wimbledon Opera Club... We were only too delighted to accept their invitation and Douglas, Diana and Pepe agreed to join us, but we had no idea what was in store.  We arrived to find front row seats reserved for us and Diana explained that any applause would set Pepe barking.  When Pepe did bark it was accepted by the performers with good humour that this was her way of showing her appreciation!

The concert started and we were immediately transported to a magical musical land.  The singing was of such a high professional standard that we were speechless with admiration, the same could not be said of Pepe who barked her appreciation after each item.  The evening flew by and we all felt enriched by the music and singing, a most enjoyable evening.  The icing on the cake was over £300 raised in aid of our Charity.

A wonderful time was had by all.  The photos below aren't the best, but this is because I brought the digital camera from the green room (cool) into the performing space (very warm) - and everything acquired a soft-focus look... (click on a photo for the full version)