The following is the text of a press release re a change of headliner for our comedy night.
Organisers of the Comedy and Curry night at Knighton Community Centre on June 25th were initially concerned when they heard that their headline comic Ryan McDonnell could not make the date but then delighted when Comedy Club Express offered a great replacement in the form of experienced TV performer and scriptwriter Joe Rowntree, described by Chortle website as having “Bags of madcap energy and an instant daft allure”. 

Joe will be familiar to fans of Sky One’s crazy multi-award winning science programme, “Brainiac: Science Abuse” as he has featured in all six highly explosive series of the show, as well as presenting the live version of the show which recently completed touring round the UK’s top venues, such as the Hammersmith Apollo.  As well as TV appearances on shows such as Richard and Judy on Channel 4 and the Richard Hammond show on ITV, Joe has toured as support act for, among others, Rhod Gilbert and Stephen K Amos.

As for Joe’s scriptwriting, many TV viewers will be familiar with the put-downs Joe has for years been dreaming up for Anne Robinson on the Weakest Link!  Whether his Honours Degree  in Psychology actually helped him in this role only Joe can say but the organisers of  the Comedy and Curry night on June 25th will be delighted to welcome him to the Knighton Community Centre.  Comedy fans should note that curry suppers can only be guaranteed for advance ticket purchasers and will be served promptly from 7.15 so that the meal can be cleared away and the show started at 8.30.  Tickets are available at Spar Supermarket in Knighton, as well as online through links on  the Centre’s website – and group tables can be booked by phoning 01547 520871.

I reproduce below the Chairperson's appeal that is being sent out prior to the Centre's management committee holding its AGM on June 20th.  Your Community Centre really does need you!

The Annual General Meeting of the Knighton and District Community Centre management committee is due to take place on June 20th at 7.30pm in the Centre’s lounge bar. It is crucial that as many as possible of the regular hirers and users of the Community Centre attend to show their commitment to the Centre, as well as hopefully being willing to participate in the future running of the Centre.

The Committee has been asked by Powys County Council to show that the Centre is viable in the longer term before any investment is made by them to repair the roof.  Part of demonstrating this involves showing evidence of a commitment by the Knighton community to supporting the centre and keeping the facility open.

The reality is that, despite many approaches to users and the local community, either directly or through newspaper articles about our predicament, we currently have only 6 committee members, plus 2 council representatives.  Our current treasurer is due to resign very shortly and of the 6 members mentioned, 3 have been on the committee for over 2 challenging years and are rapidly reaching the stage of “burn out”.

Despite all that, we believe strongly that the Community Centre is a great asset to the town, with considerable potential if refurbishment and development funds were available, and have worked hard to improve the Centre.  New curtains and kitchen equipment have for example been purchased with grants, while expensive and vital, if often invisible, repairs have taken place to comply with regulations.  Of course the smaller scale weekly repairs, often necessitated by vandalism, have cost much time, energy and money.

Many events put on at the Community Centre are of course in aid of charities and local community groups.  In addition, many activities which benefit the local community, from cookery classes to karate to badminton to amateur dramatics, depend on the Centre’s facilities for their continuation.  The Centre is a charity itself with a key role in the life of the town and surrounding area and huge fundraising challenges of its own. 

Given all these challenges, unless more offers of help and support are forthcoming at the AGM on June20th, the future of the Centre is in jeopardy.