THE Imperial Charity held their annual Variety Show on Sunday 13th January at the Paragon Hall, Westbury.
Organisers said, “It was as if some magic fairy dust had been sprinkled over the Paragon Hall.
“Elvis put in an appearance, together with Louise Armstrong and a host of other special guests. The capacity audience was treated to an afternoon of top class entertainment and a buffet which was a veritable feast.
“The entertainment consisted of Phil Lowens who, in addition to compering the show, had the hall in stitches with his take on Pavorotti and the famous Titanic scene. The main star of the show was Phil Dumas, a fantastic comic ventriloquist whose impersonation of the voices of Elvis and Louise Armstrong through his Dummy was superb. He had such a large range of “guests” that he kept the audience enthralled. Music was provided by Vanessa, our resident Country and Western singer, who is always a firm favourite with the audience.
“The ladies who produce the buffet, particularly Judy Fogarty who coordinates the whole thing, surpassed themselves this year with a fantastic spread. It was greatly enhanced by all the wonderful homemade cakes that were donated to the charity by a number of exceedingly generous men and women of Westbury. It was a cake fest to behold. The buffet has become as much of a feature of the afternoon as the entertainment.
“Bob Summerfield, the charity manager, said it was so gratifying to see a capacity crowd with so many new faces coming for the first time, enjoying themselves. He went on to say that without the hardwork and dedication of the staff, but most especially the volunteers, afternoons like this would not be possible.
“On the subject of volunteers, Bob said the High Street shop is always on the look out for anyone who might have an hour or two to spare, to help out with all the donations that they receive daily. Should anyone be interested in volunteering, if they visit the shop they will be made very welcome.
“The charity measured the success of the afternoon by the astonishing amount that people donated at the end of the afternoon, which broke all previous records. All the funds raised will of course be spent within the local community for the benefit of all.”
Above: Left to right; Julie-Anne Cox, Linda Cwiklinski, Paulette Suttle, Pauline Smith, Judy Fogarty and Eileen Summerfield.
