I write this at the end of an Easter weekend when the sun has shone and not a drop of rain has fallen. The only discordant note being from us Brits moaning that we have not be able to curse the typical bank holi-day weather. Spring has certainly sprung for us in the beautiful country in which we live, although let us not ever forget that the clouds are getting even blacker over the Ukraine.
How lucky we are to live where we do. To be able to enjoy the wonder of the spring flowers, the blossoming trees, our parks and gardens, the historic buildings, the walks, Old Father Thames, the outdoor sporting possibilities and even a ride on the Sunbury to Walton ferry in the glorious summer that is to come.
But maybe the summer heat will be too much for you, so seek relief in the Riverside Arts Centre where you can relax to the cool jazz of Terence Collie and his jazzmen or for those of a more classical bent, listen to Simone Tavioni on piano and Ezgi Sarikciogiu (violin) at a coffee and cake concert. And coming somewhere between those two musical genres, the youngsters of Riverside Youth Theatre will be staging “Into the Woods’ the Stephen Sondheim musical.
Perhaps though you fancy refreshing your mind or your body in air-conditioned comfort. You could exercise your chuckle muscle at a comedy evening; stimulate the old grey cells at a literary or poetry gath-ering; put on your thinking cap at a speed quiz or dig out your brushes for one of our art groups; we have something for every palette (joke !). For the less sedentary, why not attend a keep-fit class or try one of the various dance possibilities. And then there is yoga, which combines both the mind and the physical. But what about Pilates, of which I know nothing other than that it is always spelt with a capital letter ? Devel-oped by Joseph Pilates in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century it does ap-parently have some similarities to yoga, but for a proper explanation you shouldspeak to one of the leaders of our groups, as listed in the “Riverside presents…” on page 59 where you will also find contact details for all of our activities.
A consistent remark by first-time visitors to Riverside is that they “never knew such a place existed”; even from local residents. This will soon be rectified as through the efforts of our local County Councillor, Bud-dhi Weerasinghe, we have been awarded money from Surrey County Council’s Community fund to enable us to have a small painted projecting sign in keeping with the area and the building’s conservation status. We are now awaiting approval from the Borough Planning Officer so the sign can be installed, but soon you will have no excuse not to visit us for entertainment, education or exercise.