Kangaroo Valley Voice - Lazyfish Technology

July 2008 Kangaroo Valley Voice Page 23Battle of the Bands a show stopperTalent Quest WinnersA great gasp went up in the packed hall this yearwhen Kyash Nutter burst on the stage to dance‘Wild Strawberries’ with his brother Zane.Bright, outrageous and larger than life, it cameas no surprise to see the duo take out first placein the Junior Talent Quest.Indy Nutter earned second place with someheartfelt singing, and Cailin McCloud, IsabellaMoore and Lauren Barnes showed that theywere learning fast with this, their variouslysecond and third trysts at the event, with thirdprize for their rendition of ‘The New Girl inTown’.Haydn Martin won the FYRE EncouragementAward on guitar.We decided to add a Youth category to theTalent Quest this year, which was highlysuccessful with several band entrants alsoentering the Talent Quest individually on theday.It made for particularly memorableentertainment to see kids as young as five up onstage right through to older youth!As one band parent observed, ‘everyone was awinner at this event’!Youth first prize went to guitarist Joe Knott withsecond prize to Tim Waters and third to ChelseaCook.The FYRE Encouragement Award went toDyami Kirwan and Molly Mather from theValley.WILDFYRERegional Battle of the BandsThis year we were very pleased to have entrantsfrom every Council area in the wider Illawarra,with prizes spread across the region.The standard was exceptionally high!First prize went to Highlands band, UnderwaterTaxi, who can look forward to recording theiralbum at Studio 313 in Nowra, having thealbum designed with Morf Design andlaunching their CD at The Tea Club.Second and third prizes were for recording timeat Nowra Youth Centre music studios and thesewent to went to Kiama band, The PolaroidPeople and Entourage from The Shoalhavenrespectively.The FYRE Encouragement Award went toBennie James and The Hesitant Few fromWollongong/Shellharbour.Talent DevelopmentDrama class in actionWatching the progress of our youth herein the Valley at the Talent Quests wehold at the Show and at WILDFYRE,this year I could really see how ourworkshop program fits hand in glovewith the performance opportunities wecreate with FYRE.Our drama classes with Sarah Butlerhave been well attended, with moreworkshops being offered next term overthree days to more targeted age groups.There will also be classes offered overthe July school holidays – watch yourschool newsletters for details or contactSarah direct on 4465 2632 orsarahjbutler@bigpond.com to register yourinterest.Please note – friends from out of town are verywelcome to join in!We certainly hope that WILDFYRE next yearwill include some street theatre with our localyouth!Our Guitar Clinic continues on a fortnightlybasis on Sundays with two classes – beginnersat 3pm and intermediate at 3:45pm at theSchool Hall.Call Josh on 4465 1877 to register your interest– they are free!We hope to see more of you on stage soon!Thank youFinally, we would like to thank the youth whoran the day. Ben Winch, rising from his sickbed, cycling across town and hosting the TalentQuest with Brooke Pritchard deserves somespecial mention.For his efforts he won the FYRE WoW! Awardthis year.We also thank our adult volunteers, some whohelped out even though they don’t have childrenliving in the Valley, just because they saw thevalue of the event.Thanks to the Kangaroo Valley P & C Incvolunteers who handled the excellent cateringonce again, and thanks to FYRE parents thathelped.We also thank our sponsors – Harcourts, MusicCentral and Kangaroo Valley Earthmovingwho sponsored the Talent Quest; Studio 313,Morf Design, Nowra Youth Centre, The TeaClub and Aquatique, who sponsored the Battle;Lazyfish, Space French Polishing and TheFriendly Inn, who sponsored the PinewoodDerby; and Shoalhaven City Council andIndent, who have sponsored all of FYRE’sprojects this year.We would also like to thank Kangaroo ValleyGrocers, who helped us enormously sourcingcatering supplies and Oshun Leye,Gametraders, Roxy Cinema, Shoalhaven CityLanes, Equestworld, Video Ezy and theFriendly Grocer for sponsoring raffle prizesand various awards.We have yet to hear of any all-ages youthfestival anywhere quite like WILDFYRE, butit’s from the Valley, so we remain unsurprised.If you have never seen it, check it out nextyear!Kerrie McLeod for FYRE.