The artist comes

The talented Hellen Berascola came round yesterday and is back tomorrow to paint our new light-weight book for Teshta the Monkey, the show we are taking to Morocco. Aoife and I made the book the previous weekend, here is Aoife showing the finished product.

I have more pictures on Facebook of the painting but here is one to whet your appetite for the beautiful backdrop Hellen has given the woods.

When she is finished I will put up pictures of both pages for all to see.

Aldenham Park – The debrief

We had a great time at Aldenham Country Park last Thursday. We had a great audience for the first show, we had to put out extra seating for them! The second show had fewer people but they were all really noisy to make up for their lack of numbers. I have been reviewing some of the footage we got and I am very excited about putting it all together! Big thanks to our actors Bryony Tebbutt, James Gribble, Ben Lawson and Kyle Pocock.

Also thanks to the Hexagon, Dinrino Theatre Services, Dan Bryan, Mike Gribble, Daddy Pocock and Mr Daddy for the lending of equipment that made everything possible. I sadly managed to get no decent photos of the day but I will post some less decent ones when I get a chance to edit them.

Thanks everyone so much

Monkey hugs

Aldenham Country Park here we come!

Costumes checked, set checked, cast learning lines… all we need now is a couple of great audiences to make the filming a success! Equipment has been generously donated by Dinrino Theatre Services to make sure we get great audio for our video. Really looking forward to it.

If anyone is in North London and fancies a trip out to Aldenham Country Park on Thursday the 4th at 12 and 2 (Stanmore is the nearest tube stop) then we would welcome noisy audiences. It is free to see the show.

Monkey hugs

Cast confirmed for April

We are happy to announce our new cast for two shows in April at Aldenham Country Park on the 4th. Bryony Tebbutt and Ben Lawson will be reprising their roles as the multi-part male and female characters and we are welcoming Kyle Pocock and James Gribble into the cast as the Roloway and Local Man respectively. Rehearsals start next month and look out for the upcoming video output!

Monkey Hugs

Back to work

We have been making lists, planning events and generally bracing ourselves for the next few months today. I bought the last few bits and pieces we need to make the new set, we counted and bagged up all the money raised from last week, we started voting on the winner of the colouring-in competition and all seems to be going well. See my blog for some of the ethical thoughts I had today about re-using.

I will add a teaser of one of our colouring-in entrants and the first of my countdown to Morocco, in seven and a half weeks we will be flying out to Tangiers! *gulp*

Here is a little poem!

Dear unknown and possibly unreal Creator,
Have you seen what we’re doing to your beloved Mother Nature?
You’d think you’d be angry or upset or something,
Instead of just sitting there all smug, doing nothing.
I mean we’ve poisoned the earth, the land, sea and sky,
Chopped down the trees which keep us alive,
Used up the coal and the gas and the oil,
Ripped up the goodness from each grain of soil,
We’ve made millions of species extinct or endangered,
Made members of our own race feel like strangers,
We hunt living creatures solely for sport,
Take babes from their mothers so they can be bought
and kept in a house like some sort of pet,
Murder innocent animals who pose us no threat,
We tear down the jungles and forests aware
that we’re making animals homeless and starving and scared.

I mean how many faceless companies profit,
From this barbaric cruelty, this endless deposit
of death and destruction and the rape of the land?
All simply for money, or power or thirst to expand.

So why won’t you help us or stop us, god please?
We can’t do it without you, we are down on our knees,
Begging you help us, save us from ourselves,
’cause this beautiful planet is going to hell.

No answer? Nothing. No response to our prayers?
I’m beginning to think that you’re not even there.
Maybe I need to stop asking you why,
Look for answers down here instead of on high,
If I care so much about this planet’s survival,
I should do something myself and stop being idle.
Hoping and wishing can’t fix what’s been done,
You can’t win a race if you’re too frightened to run.
But what can I do when I am so small?
Surely my efforts will achieve nothing at all?
That’s just an excuse, it’s not even true,
I know plenty of people who do what they do,
And it does make a difference, even if small,
It’s much better than doing nothing at all.

So God, whether you’re there or whether you’re not,
I’m going to learn to use what I’ve got, And try to make this world a bit better,
One day at a time, just a tiny bit better.

And to anyone reading this, why not do the same?
You can’t save the world but you can make a change.
So let’s stop waiting and wishing for someone to save us,
Let’s do it ourselves, let’s get courageous.
So the next time you feel like you are too little,
Remember one pebble, can make one hell of a ripple.

A brilliant week – Thank you everyone

Last week we did three different events that brought funds into MASC. We did an after-school session of Monkey Biscuits at Alto Lounge in Caversham. Children decorated biscuits, masks and entered the colouring-in competition which we ran all week.

On Sunday we had two different things. Firstly MASC was the charity that had the collection after Meeting for Worship at Reading Quaker Meeting House. We raised a whopping £315.93! That is not including GiftAid which we will be claiming where we can. An enormous thank you to not only those who were so generous with their money after Meeting but all the wonderful people who came up to me and had kind words of support and encouragement. I felt so privileged to be supported like that.

In the evening we had a pub quiz at the Alto Lounge where we had 77 participants, which is one of the highest they have ever had for a pub quiz. The questions may have been a little hard but I think most people had a good time. A particular thank you goes to the people who came to support and amongst those the people who came from Reading Meeting to take part. As always, I am humbled by the kind and generous things that people have done for me and MASC.

These three things resulted in us taking over £400 for MASC last week, which will help us get to Morocco!

Much monkey love to all

Speak up for the rainforest

The Sumatran Orangutan Society are asking people to write to their MP to prevent the government giving subsidies to bioliquids for fuel since it is predominantly palm oil and to grow it in the necessary quantities will endanger even further critically endangered species like orangutans, leopards, Roloway monkeys, insects, plants, and lots of other good things! You just need to find your MP and use the template letter to ask them to help.

Please do, we can have power when we all stand together to stop this ‘greenwashing’ where we replace the harmful fossil fuels with far more planetarily destructive bioliquids.

Empowered monkey hugs

And we’re off!

We went to scope out the pub quiz at the Alto Lounge on Sunday and enjoyed listening to the quiz and seeing how many people were there enjoying the fun. We saw this on the wall so we know the competition is begun.

Kyle, Aoife and I have been through all the pens and pencils to check they are all working and sharp. I amazed myself with this amazingly long sharpening! I was really impressed, small things I guess.

Really looking forward to tomorrow. Off for late-night baking now.

Hope to see people tomorrow between 4 and 6 at the Alto Lounge in Caversham for Monkey Biscuits and masks

Monkey hugs

Amendment – 27th of February Wednesday

I put the wrong date in the last post. It is the 27th of Feb!