Your webmaster came twice, and enjoyed every minute of it! The music went really well, set and costumes looked magnificent, and there was both humour and “poetry in it”. As always, there was good support from the pit, the stage team, and sound and lighting crew.

	We were so pleased that Claire Porterfield had recovered sufficiently from her illness to be able to appear on stage, but she didn’t have a singing voice, so the very demanding role of Mabel was sung by Fiona Main, who managed all those high notes sitting in the pit.
Their lip sync was so good that the audience would have had no idea there were two Mabels had Mike not made an announcement before the show. Well done, both of you. And a very special thank you to Fiona for giving up her week to help us out.

You produced a splendid show, which was wonderful entertainment and attracted many favourable comments. If you, or people you know, would like to contribute reviews or memories of the show for some archive pages we’ll be creating, please email Martin. Two reviews are already on-line.

Not only was our Production Manager busy trying to keep everything together – and the cake-bearing boat on course! – but Mike also found time during the second performance to record some of the elements of the show that the punters didn’t see. The images are in the order they were taken, and obviously not all pin sharp – after all, Peter did ask for movement! – but they give a flavour of what was happening on and off the set.

Those of us who aren’t on stage or otherwise part of the team putting on Pirates this week would like to wish everyone involved a very happy show. This may be the sixth time that Society members have “poured the pirate sherry”, “climbed over rocky mountains” and advanced “with cat-like tread” at Carnegie, but we know that this year our audience will be offered something just that little bit different!

As our Honorary President, Frances McCafferty, puts it in her message in the programme: “I know we are all in for a great treat from the rollicking band of pirates to the patriotic policemen and I look forward to that wonderful moment where all conflict stops momentarily for the singing of “Hail Poetry” – no heart can be left unmoved by it, certainly not the Pirate King’s.

“I wish everyone involved in the production a successful run of performances and invite the audience to sit back and enjoy what I am sure will be a wonderful show.”

This year the BBC Scotland Watchnight programme on Christmas Eve is coming from Dunfermline Abbey. A number of our members took part in the recording, and you’ll hear some lovely high notes from our contributors to the descant team! Tune in to BBC1 at 11:20pm on 24 December. If you can’t wait until then, you can play at “Spot the G&S member” in this clip: you’ll see more than just George and Mike!

[If you don’t live in Scotland, use Freesat Channel 960, Sky Channel 951, or listen on-line at http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/]

At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society held on Wednesday 13 November there was almost unanimous acceptance of the Management Committee proposal that our 2015 production should be The Gondoliers, so we’ll be off to Venice and Barataria in a year’s time!

The “elegant feast of Victorian entertainment” that the Society had advertised for the Carnegie Hall on 6 September turned out to be much more than that. It was great fun, and much appreciated by the audience! Rae Lamond’s selection of material included some items that will have been new to almost everyone there, and she managed to present our heroes in the best possible light, as creators of fine music and witty words.

As we anticipated from her production of Princess Ida last year, Rae also did an amazing job in keeping the cast on their toes, and creating an ever-changing picture on stage. Didn’t you just love their “Eagle high”! All credit to the chorus members, who must have spent the summer sweating to learn new music and moves, and will have been grateful for the security that Eddie and Kate provided from the pit.

Too many great performances to mention individuals, but anyone seeing the Society for the first time would have been amazed at the strength in depth displayed had they known how many people were playing parts other than their usual roles, and how many of the solo performers grace our chorus line.

You can see what you missed by downloading the programme at this link.

During the run of Patience we acknowledged the signal contribution made to the Society by two of our “more experienced” members. Colin Stubbs was awarded a NODA 50 year Gold Bar, and Robin Ozog was presented with a suitable momento of his 100th show!

NODA awards were also presented to other members of the Society, as recorded at this link.