In celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Circle Eight proudly presents a special double bill on Thursday May 31st 2012 at The Electric Theatre.  Royal Guildford tells the story of the Royal Family’s involvement with Guildford throughout history and The Mayors of Guildford is presented by Matthew Alexander and the 2011/12 Mayor of Guildford, Terence Patrick.

We are pleased to announce that on Wednesday 25th April 2012 we will be presenting the Premiere of a new documentary titled ‘The Story of Guildford Cathedral’, proceeds in aid of Cathedral funds.  This presentation will be narrated by Matthew Alexander, who will be telling the story of the many delays and triumphs behind the construction and consecration of one of Guildford’s most magnificent buildings.  Tickets £10. (+3% booking fee) available from The Cathedral Box Office – 01483 547870 or online at www.guildford-cathedral.org.

 

Circle Eight is presenting a charity showing of  ’The Life and Times of Lewis Carroll’ on the 29th March at the Guildhall, Guildford.  The film tells the story of the life of this famous children’s author who lived much of his life in Guildford.  This presentation is in aid of The Fountain Centre, which is the chosen charity of the Mayor of Guildford, our Chairman Terence Patrick.

We are pleased to announce a special Charity showing of  ’The Tales of Olde Surrey’ at the Guildhall on the 23rd February 2012.  This performance is  in aid of the Mayor of Guildford’s chosen charity, The Fountain Centre.

 

Circle Eight are proud to announce their new presentation ‘The Mayors of Guildford’ which will be premiered in conjunction with the Send and Ripley History Society on the 27th January 2012.

Our Chairman Terence Patrick, Mayor of Guildford, has created a special programme of events to celebrate Guildford during his mayoral year.  Many of Circle Eight’s productions will be shown, including our new film ’50 Years of Guildford Cathedral’. For details of all the events, please click on the link below.

CELEBRATE GUILDFORD

 

 

A review of the evening by Malcolm Bridger.

Circle Eight’s “Grandad’s Guildford” (a photographic presentation of the history of the town since the 1860s) is certainly a local draw.  A charity performance at Guildford’s Electric Theatre on 16^th July was sold out a week beforehand and many other people were turned away in disappointment.     The performance was in aid of the Fountain Centre, which helps the rehabilitation of cancer patients and is the local charity that Terence Patrick (Circle Eight Chairman) is supporting in his year as Mayor of Guildford.

Matthew Alexander (past Curator of Guildford Museum and now the Town’s Remembrancer) resplendent in top hat and tails fronted the evening, with Terence taking to the stage in the second half to explain the Patrick family’s links with Guildford and their photographic archive of the town over the past 150 years.

Complementing this of course are Circle Eight’s past film productions chronicling the town’s history and legends  -  “Tales of Old Guildford” and “Royal Guildford” and the coming of the railway to the town – “Guildford This is Guildford”.    DVDs of these films were on sale during the interval and after the show and proved very popular.   The whole evening was very well received and made £1,902  for the Fountain Centre.

The projection box boys (John, Bryan and Steve) reported no major hiccups during the show and kept Matthew up to speed – indeed the first half finished early.   I thought Matthew looked a little flushed at the bar in the interval.

Lots of complimentary remarks as people filed out after the show – and healthy DVD sales to boot.  So, a successful evening all round.

GRANDAD’S GUILDFORD in the

DISCOVER GRANDAD’S GUILDFORD with Mayor.

A RARE glimpse of Guildford from the pioneering days of photography will be on show at this year’s Guildford Summer Festival, when the Circle Eight Film Group presents their magic lantern show Grandad’s Guildford for one night only at the Electric Theatre on Saturday July 16, at 8pm.

Narrated by Matthew Alexander, Guildford’s Honory Remembrancer and the former curator of Guildford Museum, Grandad’s Guildford is a collection of Victorian lantern slides, which are rarely seen in public, picturing Guildford’s townsfolk and their way of life at the time of the dawning of photography in the 1860’s right through to the late 1940’s.

What makes this performance of Grandad’s Guildford extra special is that most of  these past images of Guildord were actually photographed and collected by the current Mayor of Guildford’s father, grandfather and great grandfather and the show is being staged in aid of The Fountain Centre – the mayor of Guildford’s chosen charity for his current mayoral year.

Many local events from the town’s past will be featured in the show including Coronations, Jubilees and Carnivals, as well as the all-too-familiar street scenes of Victorian times.

Tickets for this rare chance to see Guildford as it was more than a century ago, cost £10 and are available from the Electric Theatre on 01483 444789.

John Myall reports on our visit to the tunnel opening.

After a very late, but welcome contact from the Press Office of the Highways Authority, Terry Patrick alerted Steve, Jed and I and we valiantly took time off our otherwise hectic activities (well, Jed, anyway) to load up the Circle 8 location shooting kit and present ourselves at Hindhead for the Tunnel Opening Ceremony on 27 July.     It came as a surprise to be invited at all and we’re sure it was the legacy of Mike Orford’s valiant efforts to get us a preview of the tunnel under construction last September.  We were obviously still on their list.  Unfortunately Mike wasn’t around for this noteworthy event but we thank him for preparing the way.

Steve and I travelled down together, leaving early to ensure we arrived as requested at 8:45 sharp.  For some reason the traffic was light and we got there about an hour early and we weren’t the first.  We assembled in a hastily arranged Press Office at the tunnel works compound at the north end, where we met Jed and the press people for all the local and national media.

Most of the press were looking for interviews with the VIPs involved, including two Secretarys of State, Local MPs and the Mayor of Waverley, plus the CEO of Balfour Beatty, the main contractor.  What we wanted was just pictures of the action to add to the section of Tales of the Portsmouth Road that will feature the Tunnel.

We were given a press briefing and I gave Jed a quick run through of the controls on Terry’s HD camera, which Jed was to use for the first time.  I had armed myself with sound equipment and my little still/video camera and Steve had his reporter’s grade DSLR camera to take the main stills.  We were taken by coach along the old Punchbowl curve of the A3 for the very last time, as this piece of road would be closed forever whilst we were at the ceremony – and on through the Hindhead traffic lights.  We continued down the old A3 and turned onto the new road at Hazel Grove, going north to the southern portal of the tunnel by Miss James’ Bridge, where the opening ceremony was to take place.  Here we were all let loose on the carriageways to take our preliminary pictures.

The VIP’s started out from the northern end of the tunnel and were driven through the tunnel itself, before processing out of the southern end at Hazel Grove, where we were waiting for a press-exclusive presentation.  Meanwhile a tidy crowd of locals were watching us from Miss James’ Bridge, perhaps wishing they were closer to the action they had been observing for the last four years, as the road and tunnels were constructed.

There were several speeches, thankfully not too long, which I won’t bore you with but I do have transcripts if you are interested.  The Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond MP, rounded it off and then proceeded with his entourage to the southbound tunnel portal, where a ribbon had been run across the road for the ceremonial cutting.

I was able to get pole position (well, nearly) for this with my little camera, whilst Jed was at the side getting the shots from a different angle.  He got some lovely candid material of the MP asking if anyone had brought any scissors, which were eventually produced.  With this shot and the actual ribbon cutting, we have the iconic images that might well end up in the finished film.

The contractors then removed some of the barriers they had used for the ceremony, away from the southbound carriageway, to clear the road for the oncoming traffic.  The staff at this end then radioed the north end to let the police clear the cones and escort the first vehicles through.  The previous silence in the valley at Tyndall’s Wood came to an end, as a roar was heard in the tunnel getting louder until the two police cars drove out, followed closely by a Vespa scooter*, motorbikes and cars, all hooting, waving and generally taking in the euphoric moment, while the locals on Miss James Bridge gladly waved them on their way, marking an end to any more congestion at Hindhead.

After a few more traffic shots, we all packed up our gear and boarded the coach, as some of the press people had deadlines to meet and had to get away.  We then had an exclusive drive through the – as yet – unopened northbound tunnel back to the site compound.

Now back to work, or at least to spend time collating and compiling all this new material for possible future use.

* on a tunnel web log, ‘Scooter Paul’ had vowed to be the first through and he achieved that, so he announced soon afterwards.

The Members of Circle Eight send their heartiest congratulations to our Chairman Terence, on his election as Mayor of Guildford.  We wish Terence and Angela an interesting and enjoyable year.

Circle Eight’s latest short comedy Unfinished Business won

the Orpington Cup for Comedy at the SERIAC Regional Competition which was held at the Oast Theatre, Tonbridge on March 5th.  It turned out to be a night of double triumph for Circle Eight  as Norman Lilley’s latest animated movie entitled Remembering Ted won the competition’s Patterson Trophy for best animated film.

At this year’s British International Film & Video Festival organised by the IAC Film & Video Institute and staged in Harrogate over the weekend of April 8th/9th/10th, Unfinished Business gained a 3 Star Award, while Remembering Ted was given a 4 Star Award.