Happy New Year to all of you.
I hope 2023 will bring more happiness to the world, but I won’t hold my breath. Getting rid of Putin could be a great start.
Can I congratulate the hotels, coffee shops, bars, restaurants and stores - in fact, all the retail outlets for all of their hard work throughout the year.
How they kept going with a lack of staff - train strikes, illnesses, covid, flu, bugs, the list is endless. We never think about what goes on behind the scenes, we just take it for granted that they will be open.
One other establishment affected by absenteeism - theatres. This year all our theatres have excelled themselves with pantos and shows.
READ MORE: 'Thank you for being there with me for so many years'
When you sit in the audience you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, to put that show together. The understudies have had their work cut out this year.
Even other members of staff have had to go on stage to keep the show going. The St Helen’s Theatre have broken box office records this year with their spectacular show but they had a big problem on their opening night.
Cinderella goes from rags to riches and is transported in a glass coach to the ball. St Helen’s had bought theirs from the Royal Ballet and it was beautiful.
At the final rehearsal before opening, the wheel fell off. Cinderella without a coach is unthinkable.
Luckily the theatre company have a spare coach stored down the East Lancs road.
There was chaos getting it there, but when it was cleaned and dressed, they had just 30 minutes to spare. It looked resplendent.
While this was going on, down at the Epstein Theatre another splendid show with Goldilocks and the three bears had a problem with frozen pipes. No water, no toilet, no show?
Super hero Barry Joseph, the father of the family who runs the theatres, closed the bar and put porterloos in rather than sacrifice the shows.
The staff cleaned them after each show, and the audience were delighted with the cleanliness of the convenience!
There’s no business like show business - bring on 2023!
