Bridgwater College’s McMillan Theatre welcomed over 400 people through its doors for ‘An Evening with Mary Berry’.
The Bake Off queen herself, Mary Berry, took to the stage in aid of Glastonbury and Street’s Rotary International. Emma Britton from BBC Somerset’s Breakfast Show hosted the evening’s entertainment injecting fun and laughter throughout.
The first half saw Mary address the audience with stories from her childhood through to her career today, reflecting upon her life journey, while after the interval Mary was presented with questions from the audience. Questions ranged from, what does Paul Hollywood smell like, to who inspired her to cook and what her biggest cake disaster has been. The final question of the evening was “what was her favourite berry?”, to which she responded “my family”! Eden Hunt, aged 10 from Glastonbury was over the moon when her question was read out, she asked Mary what her favourite cake was, Mary responded saying lemon drizzle.
A number of local organisations sponsored the event with White Financial Services of Taunton being the main sponsor, and others included SDS Ltd, Somerlap, Refresco Gerber and Medi-Pak.
Dan White, Managing Director of White Financial Services in Taunton said,
“I would like to congratulate Bridgwater College and The McMillan Theatre for hosting such a fantastic evening with Mary Berry. Huge credit needs to go to everyone associated with the event. I can speak with confidence when I say we were all in awe of Mary’s elegance and warming personality, which entertained us right from the start. The McMillan Theatre is a very impressive venue and I am very proud to have sponsored such a successful event.”
The Bridgwater College Show Choir and McMillan Youth Choir opened and closed the show with some superb singing both on stage and in the aisles. Mary Berry was even spotted dancing backstage through the performances!
Wendy Stirling from Bridgwater said,
“I was overwhelmed by the professionalism of all the performances. The quality of music these youngsters produced was absolutely stunning. What impressed me even more was the age range of the Show Choir and little ones belting out the songs. I will definitely return to watch the choirs again. It was simply lovely, a wonderful night.”
The evening was held in aid of The Rotary International, Glastonbury and Street and all monies raised will contribute to the eradication of Polio worldwide. Paul Lambert, President of the Glastonbury and Street Rotary Club, concluded the evening with a speech delivered to the audience highlighting details and statistics about the disease itself and intentions of the Rotary. Paul also presented Mary and Emma each with a bouquet of beautiful flowers, thanking them for providing the local community with such a memorable evening and The McMillan Theatre for hosting the event.
The McMillan Theatre would like to thank Laurie’s Furniture, Bridgwater for their donation of two Henley Classic Chairs for Mary and Emma to sit on during the evening. Mary also commented on how comfortable the chairs were.
If you would like further information about The McMillan Theatre or would like to purchase tickets for future performances, please visit the website or call 01278 556677. The McMillan Theatre will also be opening its doors to the public on Saturday 31 October between the hours of 10am and 3pm for the public to view the amazing facility.
