mostly david ephgrave

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane ...

Tonight's special charity Mostly Comedy at the Queen Mother Theatre was a resounding success, proving just how much nicer it is to run the gig in a proper theatre space over a function room. It just so happened that tonight was also the first time we've let slip that, after three and a half years at The Sun, we're moving to pastures new. As it stands, our unofficial/official home will be Hitchin Town Hall - that's certainly where our main shows have been shifted to up to the Summer - although that's not to say we wouldn't happily move to the QMT if we can make our diaries align. Everything about their setup is more conducive to running an event like Mostly, plus we've definitely reached the point where we're tired of having to set up a venue from scratch. While The Sun was integral to the club's growth over the past few years, the nature of the space meant we'd gone back a few steps as regards our pre-and-post-gig workload, so whether we perman...

As of six o’clock tonight, I take over the Hitchin is Yours Twitter account for a week; a stewardship I’m anxious to get right. I’m proud of my hometown. It’s a great place to live, with so much going for it. I've always sold it to my non-Hitchinite friends; so much so, that a lot have gone on to move here. Any town expansion plans are partly my fault. Feel free to picket outside my house. I love its history and architecture. Take St Mary’s Church, for example. The building is beautiful inside and out, and huge for a town of our size. There has been a place of worship on site since the 7 th Century. Much of the present building dates from the 1300s. You wouldn't get that in America. (Don't forget the British Schools Museum too.)  Hitchin is a hive for creative people and a hub for the arts. It boast two theatres, two comedy clubs, a couple of art galleries, a festival for world music and a thriving music scene. This drew...