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Startime ’09 – Charity variety show to be held at the Towngate Theatre, Sunday 8 November 2009 featuring 60’s/70’s band Wheelz, Mushroom Theatre Company, Old Hat and many more.

Startime ’09 is a charity variety show comprising top line local acts, all of whom have donated their services free to raise funds for St. Lukes Hospice.

St. Lukes Hospice, based in Basildon, provides specialist care for people who have an advanced disease, as well as those who love and care for them, in a warm, caring and friendly environment.

The concert is being organised in cooperation with local Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill.

Wheelz are back!! It only seems like five minutes since this collection of musicians decided to form a band and have some fun playing charity gigs and raising funds for deserving causes. In fact it’s been 3 years, and they have been in constant demand, playing their 60’s/70’s music to a wide variety of audiences and venues in and around the local area.

The bands ethos is to have fun, encourage the audience to have fun whilst raising as much money as possible for charity. All the profits made from all their performances are donated to charity. ‘What a better way of raising money than to do something you really enjoy and entertaining people’ says bassman Paul Wellman.

This year they were invited back to perform at the Concert in the Park in Southend where they proved to be a big hit in getting the 4000 strong audience in the right atmosphere prior to the spectacular Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra’s proms performance.

The Mushroom Theatre Company, formed 2004 and based in Essex - this lively bunch of young people are equally at home performing to today’s charts as they are with songs from the last five decades.

Founder Penni Bubb, a former dance and drama teacher and her team believe that the social and therapeutic benefits performing arts should be enjoyed by all without the pressure of exams and tests, and provide an environment where special needs and disabilities are no barrier to pursuing dreams.

Their shows have been sell outs and performances at local events are in demand.

Also appearing will be the fantastic duo Old Hat, cabaret artists Eclipse, Becs Davies-Riand, magical Richard Graham and Mr Boogie woogey Tony Williams

The night promises to be an extravaganza of music and fun. The show commences at 7pm and Tickets are £10, available from the Basildon Theatre Box office, 01268-465465

Stargate poster

The Dictionary 4 Life Project

The Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill have recently taken part in this new strategy being rolled out nationally amongst Rotary clubs.

Shockingly it is believed that 5.2 million adults in the UK are ‘functionally illiterate’ and are unlikely to be able to help their children with homework. This is defined not as the ability to read and write but as’ whether a person is able to understand and employ printed information in daily life, at home, at work and in the community.’

Rotary aims to provide The Dictionary 4 Life to as many year six pupils as possible in Britain and will target 10 to 12 year olds internationally.

The idea is that they will become a valued possession that the child can keep for life. It may help promote literacy and the enjoyment of searching for spellings or meanings of words. This will improve confidence in the learner which is in fact one of the core goals of education.

Given as a leaving present to year six students, the books will stay with them throughout their secondary school education and can even be used by other family members.

The dictionaries themselves are beautifully printed in a bright colourful cover and a space inside to record the child’s name and date it was presented.

Between 2007 to 2008 over 50,000 were donated by local Rotary groups.

This summer Rotarians from Rayleigh Mill Rotary club visited eight local schools to present these keepsakes. They included:

Downhall, Glebe, Grovewood, Our Lady of Ransom, Rayleigh Primary, St Nicholas, Edward Francis and Wyburns. In total over 500 dictionaries were handed out.

Carl Watson, publicity officer said that hopefully it is a project that will be adopted for the future. The children were very pleased to receive them and were most impressed with quality of the books.