Some exciting news.. we will be running a guitar workshop during the Picnic at Grandview Gardens next Sunday…

The year is nearly through, but there is still one more OCT event to come.. The lovely Jo and Wayne Lindsay at Grandview Gardens have given us the use of their magnificent grounds for a community picnic to be held on Sunday 28th November 2010.

Well, OCToberFest II was a very worthy sequel – once again it was wonderful to see people make such an effort with their costume, and to see the beer ‘tent’ packed to the rafters (this tent had rafters ok?). Having vowed that I would not add to the pressure by playing again at this one, it was with some surprise that I stepped out as the opening act, but fortunately I could call upon the magnificent vocal talents of Kay Mercer and between us we cobbled together a set and had great fun doing so – thanks so much Kay for answering the call, and getting into the spirit of it all! It’s a very different crowd at that end of the evening I can tell you.. it didn’t take long for the wheels to get lubricated though and from the moment that biermesiter Lawrence Maloney led his Kaikorai Metropolitan Brass band out to the stage the beer kept flowing and the fun with it.. the band are great and they don’t just add to the Bavarian atmosphere, they MAKE the Bavarian atmosphere – thanks to all of you! As I had nominated myself as one of the courtesy minibus drivers, it really was a case of beer, beer everywhere but not a drop to drink but it did enable me to get a true sense of how extremely hard everyone was working behind the scenes – Peter and Raylene on the door meeting and greeting, Christina gave blood sweat and tears over the sausages, Tim and Donna manning the tills, and managing the non beery beverage sales.. I don’t need to tell anyone how hard Tom and Vicki of Crafty Beers behind the bar and all our wonderful fraulines, Susan, Julie, Hana, Su and Trich and our token beer waiter Nick worked as I’m sure that was apparent to all – what a team they were bringing emergency thirst relief from start to finish. There was also something very reassuring about having Julia Stiles back with us and looking so well and vibrant – what could possibly go wrong with all that wonderful positive energy around – and indeed, nothing did go wrong – it was wonderful to see you Julia and there is always a place in Outram for you (and a job to be done..) The final band to take the stage were Bluestone – a real kick ass blues band.. some of you may have recognised the extremely talented harmonica player and lead singer Clive Copeman from his turn on stage with us last year – well he enjoyed it so much that he vowed to come back with a band that could actually play – and these boys certainly could – anyone who could stand and even some who couldn’t were up and dancing – even I found myself skipping the light fantastic with my accountant of all people – I fully expect it to appear on my next bill mind It was a perfect way to round off a perfect evening, and it was a happy, if tired and emotional crowd who left Bavaria and headed for Outram, Mosgiel, Dunedin and beyond.. Thanks to all who helped out but also to all who supported us by buying tickets and coming along and having fun. Events like this would not be possible without help from our sponsors, OCToberFest II was sponsored by the lovely people at I-JAB aluminium balustrades and joinery and Crafty Beers and we are greatly appeciative – please be sure to support them whenever you get the chance. I’ll upload a picture or two and maybe even a video shortly…

Just a quick note to say keep your eyes open for details of OCToberFest II ticket release – I expect the tickets to be out on sale early in August, and there is a special early bird offer so it pays to get in early!

So, Cine-Fest was drawn to a close last night with the screening of Sunshine Cleaning. Thanks to everyone who supported the event by defying the bitter cold and attending the screenings – hopefully we succeeded in our aim to bring something a little different to Outram – I say this, but of course to many in the community, not so very long ago this was the norm rather than something different – I have been regaled with wonderful stories of how the hall used to double as a cinema with excited children purchasing lollies from a vendor with the tray round his neck – happy days, and I hope we managed to recreate a little of that magic over the last 4 days, adding our echoes to the history of the hall. Certainly some of the stories of old have given me food for thought for some other touches we can add. Thanks also to Outram Church and Maungatua Parish for allowing us to use the hall for our cinematic shenanigans.. The OCT were pleased to be able to support Outram Public Library, and those attending the screenings on Tuesday morning or afternoon may have recognised some familiar faces from the library as the library volunteers manned the desks and food counters for us, raising much needed funds for library to ensure it, and they, can continue to provide the invaluable service to the people of Outram. Bear with me for another couple of “thank-you”s please.. I can’t let the opportunity pass to reach out and thank the team of willing helpers who did such a sterling job making everything run smoothly, from collecting equipment, setting up the hall, through manning the screenings, to clearing it all away again. Thanks also to Lisa Chatfield for persistently contacting distributors and soliciting permission to screen the movies, and to the distributors themselves, Magna Pacific, Sony Pictures, Madman Theatrical NZ, Cloud South Films, Rialto Distribution and NHNZ to whom we’re also grateful for the loan of the projector. Events like Cine-Fest would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, and so my final thanks go out to Out Of The Attic, Heather’s Home Sewing Service, Dave Callon and Rose Cottage Junior Reporters, don’t forget to send in your reviews – we have some Hoyts vouchers to give away to the writers of the winning entries, as well as publication in the next West Of The Taieri. What did you think of Cine-Fest? Leave us a comment tell us what was good, what not so good, what you’d like to see next time perhaps – maybe even ideas for other events we could run – I’m thinking of perhaps having a movie making competition next time maybe, with one session being all the movies being shown and judged? Be great to hear your ideas too… already had one comment that we could perhaps move it to the May school holidays to be a little warmer (well, hopefully) so perhaps that’s a good idea – warmer can only be a good thing