This coming September (2023) StageAbility Berkshire will be celebrating its 15 year anniversary!
15 years! How did that happen? I have hardly noticed the weeks, months and years tick by. Everything still feels so fresh and exciting! Long may that continue, hey.
Of course, it hasn’t always been an easy road. It took quite some time to build each of our classes and build a good reputation – an ongoing process. It was certainly a hard slog at the beginning, particularly without the help of social media, which was in its infancy in 2008. I remember posting leaflets through doors in Tilehurst in the freezing cold and my hands going numb! It took about an hour to post 100 leaflets. That seems such effort compared to the numbers we can reach on social media these days.
But the more the classes grew, the easier it was to be able to put on extra activities like holiday camps and shows which form the range of drama activities that StageAbility offers today.
Covid was obviously another ‘bump in the road’. And I know it sounds weird, but I look back on those days of online lessons really fondly. Do you know why? It was the moment I realised how valued our weekly classes were by our students and their families and I was blown away by their loyalty towards us.
Some of the children we have welcomed through our doors at StageAbility have stayed with us for over ten years, which is testament to the variety and the value that our classes deliver. And what a joy it has been watching these children grow into kind, curious, witty and rounded human beings.
Another 15 years will take me to retirement age – eek!! – so I really don’t want to think about that! But it will be interesting to see how things change over the coming years and how many more children we will meet and work with along the way…exciting stuff!
Thank you for your support on StageAbility’s journey so far. We really value each and every one of you.
And if you haven’t experienced the joy of StageAbility yet, check out what’s on offer at https://stageability.class4kids.co.uk or read more about our weekly classes here: https://stageability.co.uk/drama-classes/
Come and join the fun!