Props, car boots and eBay

Director him has just sent through a list of the props for Mort to set man, previous producer, producer and director her. For this show, officially set man is doing props. In reality he will be assisted by previous producer. The two of them make an impressive double act. This is why director him has written "I have included you in this email as your wealth of knowledge could be useful for any ideas you have" in his email to us all.
Given that we are an amateur group with a limited budget for each show (I'll talk about charities and sponsorship some other time) we try to do everything on the cheap. Set man and previous producer have developed a skill for finding items for next to nothing. Sometimes this is on the web (I know previous producer has already been looking for hourglasses) and more often it is by trawling the car boot sales of southern England. Anywhere within about a 30 mile radius of Colnbrook village (outside London) is a possible target for the two of them. Hockey sticks and tennis racquets for Moby Dick - The Musical were the start of it and it has progressed alarmingly from there.
The value of these items is, of course, whatever a buyer will pay. That is why after shows previous producer has often managed to make a tidy profit for the group selling items on to other people via eBay. It's time-consuming, involving late nights in front of a lap top, but proves financially useful as it ultimately increases the cash in our coffers and bumps up the amount we can give to charity.

Thought for the day: "Charity begins at home." Old proverb. For your interest, the idea can be found in the Bible but not the words. In the 14th Century John Wycliffe wrote: 'Charity should begin at himself.' It was actually 500 years later when good old Charlie Dickens said that 'Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.' Read this blog for long enough and you will learn a lot, mark my words.