Equity North & West Yorks Variety Branch February 2012 Newsletter
24 January 2012
Equity North and West Yorkshire Variety Branch
invites you to our
Branch Meetings & Open Mic Nights
3rd Wednesday every month (except January), 8.00pm
Low Moor Club, 161 Huddersfield Rd, Bradford, BD12 0TQ
Buses 363, 625, 627.
Members and Friends share your talents and bring backing tracks
Open To All
Dates of Next Meeting and Open Mic Nights:
Wednesday 15 February; Wednesday 21 March, Wednesday 19 April, Wednesday 16 May, Wednesday 20 June
The February Meeting will have a speaker and will decide on our Branch’s Resolution to Equity’s 2012 National Conference. Please bring your proposals! See below for more information.
Please Support your Equity Branch so that Equity can Support You
Your Chance to Shape Equity’s National Policies
Every Equity Branch has the right to submit a Resolution to Equity’s Annual Representative Conference (ARC). For 2012, the Branch needs to decide on its resolution at the Branch Meeting on Wed 15 February. It is VITAL that at least 10 Branch members attend this meeting, otherwise the Branch will not be able to submit a resolution.
The Branch is also entitled to submit one Amendment to one other ARC resolution. The Branch needs to decide on any amendment at the Branch Meeting on Wed 19 April. Again, there needs to be at least 10 Branch members at this meeting, otherwise the Branch will not be able to submit an amendment. A copy of the Resolutions that have been submitted to the ARC will be available at the April meeting and we will do what we can to publicise their availability elsewhere nearer the time. Please check the Branch website at http://tinyurl.com/equitynwyv for updates.
Yvonne Joseph to speak at Feb Meeting
Yvonne Joseph, the Northern Area’s representative on Equity’s National Council, will speak on “What for and Why Equity?” on Wed 15 February. Yvonne also chairs Equity’s Northern Area Committee and is Secretary of Manchester and District Variety Branch.
We are sorry to report that due to work commitments, Equity President Malcolm Sinclair was unable to come and speak at our meeting in November. We will arrange another date for Malcolm to address our Branch.
Equity’s national General Secretary Christine Payne has also expressed a wish to speak at a future Branch Meeting. It is heartening that such national figures within Equity want to come and speak at our meetings and we hope that members who don’t come to Branch meetings so often will take the opportunity to find our more about what Equity is doing nationally.
Sir Jimmy Savile
Area Organiser Nigel Jones writes: Members will have been saddened to learn of the death of Sir Jimmy Savile last November. He had been a member of Equity for 49 years and a member of this branch since its inception in 1968. He was equally well known for his eccentric TV persona which was so ideally suited to Top of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix, and for his charity work and unpaid stints at Leeds General Infirmary. He was never an Equity activist but he participated in Equity’s democracy by voting in Council elections and nominating candidates. Equity was represented at the requiem mass in Leeds.
Although I had never met Jimmy, I was pleased to attend his burial in Scarborough on November 10 on Equity’s behalf and witness the extraordinary 45 degree interment of his gold coffin. The reception afterwards was remarkable for its ‘ordinariness’ in the nicest sense. There were no ‘celebs’ (as there had been in Leeds the day before); just his family and friends including his pensioners breakfast club in Leeds and a number of hospital porters. A sad occasion but also an inspiring one.
Equity Northern Area AGM
takes place on Wednesday 29 February, 2pm at Hull Truck Theatre, 50 Ferensway, Hull (less than ¼ mile from Hull Railway Station). All Branch Members welcome.
Keeping in Touch with You – a Reminder
Your Equity branch, is gearing up to send out news updates to you, our members, by e-mail. If you haven’t filled in the Member’s Contact Information form that came with the September Newsletter, please do so now and send your up to date contact details to the Branch Secretary at 16 Birkhill Crescent, Birkenshaw, West Yorkshire, BD11 2LJ, as soon as possible. If you need a further copy of the form, it can be downloaded from: http://tinyurl.com/equitynwyv1
From the Secretary, Valerie Jean Mann:
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR MEMBERS
We had a very good evening at our Christmas Social which included supper. Although a little low on people attending we ended up watching a great show with contributions from Brenda Martine and her husband Colin, Janie Voltaire, Barry Morrow, Roy Atkinson, Pete Keal, Sting Wray, and Paul Harper. I would like to say a very big thank you to every one who contributed.
One of our main aims this year is to get more members attending Branch Meetings so from Weds 15th February 2012 these will be held every 3rd Wednesday of the month at
Low Moor W.M.C. Huddersfield Road, Bradford, BD12 OTQ - Committee meeting 7.30pm, Branch Meeting 8.00pm, Open Mic 9.00pm (bring your own Discs!). This will give you chance to meet people in the same profession as yourself and try out a few new numbers or tell a few jokes in front of an audience. It will also give you a chance to find out things at first hand that may concern you, e.g. the new legislation on Radio Microphones.
I have invited Yvonne Joseph the Northern Area Councillor for Equity to be our guest speaker on Weds 15th Feb 2012. She is a very amusing and informative person. Come along and listen and ask questions. Hope to see you at our meetings.
