Another successful production has come and gone. The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson contained moving, intelligent and witty performances from a superb cast, and received fabulous comments from the audiences who came to see it. The audience numbers were a little disappointing but the timing of our usual April slot was changed this year and this may have caught people unawares; the play is also not well-known so maybe we should have done more to let people know what it was about. However, those people who did turn up were well entertained, and gave us great feedback.

Superb performances I hear from my scouts by the divine Emily and the lovely Andrea, I wish I had been there now. Alas, the moving of the time slot coincided with my May pilgrimage to the sun so guess which decision won. Having said that the weather in Tenerife left a little bit to be desired especially in the evenings with a chilly breeze blowing over the island on most evenings. Global warming………..yeah right.

For anyone not having ventured into the Euro zone since the collapse of our fine currency be prepared for shock. The visitor numbers on Tenerife are way down with people not spending like they used to and so the old credit crunch has really affected the restaurants and bars over there. The holiday cost a lot more than last year. I can hear you weeping as I write this.

I also missed the drama group AGM but as I am no longer standing for the committee it’s not so important I guess. I hope to be kept fully up to date on all aspects of group life so I can maintain this incisive and informative blog to the benefit of all my readers interested in the life of a village drama group.

So now we look towards the ODN festival held during the first week in June. I’ve said before many times this is a great night out at the Unicorn theatre in Abingdon. There are usually three or four plays put on a night by local amateur groups followed by a crit from the adjudicator, very entertaining and excellent value I have to say. So endeth the commercial this week.

Now after a week of revelations from the House of Frauds in Westminster you will be interested no doubt in how the system works regarding the spending of public money. So here’s the story of the broken fence at number ten Downing Street.

Three contractors are bidding to fix the broken fence. All three go with a No.10 official to examine the fence. The first contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run to about £500: - £200 for materials, £200 for my crew and £100 profit for me."

The second contractor also does some measuring and figuring, and then says, "I can do this job for £600: £250 for materials, £250 for my crew and £100 profit for me."

The third contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the No. 10 official and whispers, "£1500."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The contractor whispers back, "£500 for me, £500 for you, and we hire the first contractor to fix the fence."

"Done!" replies the government official.

And that, my friends, is how the system works.