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funday2004review.txt

21st June 2004

Gornal Community Funday Review


The annual Gornal Community Fun Day went off as planned last Saturday (19th June), despite intermittently appalling weather that inevitably affected visitor numbers.

Although the sun made valiant if sporadic attempts to break through ominously grey clouds, the event was blighted by occasionally violent showers and heavy winds. The first of these occurred at around 11.00am and blew down several stalls, including our brand spanking new (B&Q £14.99) Yampy gazebo.

The timing and ferocity of this brief storm was enough to give some potential attendees the impression that no carnival could possibly take place in such weather, because the ensuing festival atmosphere was subdued in comparison to previous spectacularly successful years. Thanks are due to the Dudley Hospital Radio Roadshow gang who, reliable and enthusiastic as ever, kept everyone's spirits up - even though the rain put paid to one of their P.A. speakers.

Gemz
photo
A surprise and most welcome member of the Hospital Radio team was our friend Heather Loat, Chief Reporter of the Dudley News, who helped to present the show as well as conducting an interview with Karl Reynolds, Gornal's 'Knight of Hearts'. Karl appeared on a huge horse decked out in a full suit of armour, in order to publicise his forthcoming attempt to ride from Berwick to London in aid of the Emily Hart appeal. I'm often asked what 'yampy' actually means, and sometimes a good example of a word is worth a hundred dictionary definitions. Now Karl, he's yampy.

A disappointing number of planned attractions 'cried off', for a variety of reasons and with various degrees of notice to the organisers; you know you're in trouble when even the Police Dog Display Team fails to turn up! This made us appreciate all the more the performance of Sedgley Morris Men, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary and arrived in good time to entertain the public with a traditional and unnervingly wickermanlike demonstration of their art.

Local girl group GEMZ impressed everyone with an assured performance that belied their ages (Beth is 13, Heather 12 and Ellie just 11). All three have lead vocal capability, so they are able to switch singing roles effectively depending on the type of song. This flexibility was perfectly illustrated in their final number, a confident rendition of Amazing Grace a cappella. Shivering in the blustery wind in their parkas, with unfamiliar equipment including a dodgy P.A. and no monitor, their clarity and tone was indeed amazing. Well done Gemz!

Emma Jayne
photo
Later in the afternoon, award winning artist EMMA JAYNE treated us to a powerful and confident selection of songs from her second album, Moving On Up (see www.emmajayne.me.uk. She is a regular star performer on the entertainment circuit, including the Old Bulls Head, Miners Arms and Dudley Arms, and anyone who has seen her whip up a jam-packed pub crowd to a frenzy would have been somewhat frustrated to see Emma competing with the Bouncy Castle and a Sack Race for the somewhat sparse audience that remained towards the end of proceedings. Nevertheless, she belted the songs out in her usual professional and accomplished manner, attracting one new fan at least in the form of a press photographer present - so look out for her in the local newspapers over the next few days. Happy Birthday to Emma Jayne by the way, just eighteen this month.

All in all a rather quiet Fun Day this year, in contrast to the sparkling atmosphere and glorious weather of twelve months ago. Food for thought for the organising Committee, which next meets in September to gauge the success of the day and hopefully begin planning for 2005.

newsdesk@yampy.co.uk. -->

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