By Maureen and Allan Webster
ALTHOUGH the writing was on the wall regarding the future viability of the Millicent and District Community Club, it still came as a huge shock to not only us, but many other Millicent residents, that it happened so suddenly.
Many comments have been received through the media, expressing sadness at the closure of the venue and the cancellation of booked entertainment.
It was disappointing indeed to have to cancel the Col Elliott show and I have since heard from people stating they were going to attend and there had been some bookings from Adelaide, so it would have been a successful night no doubt.
There is no other venue in the area that can compare with the Millicent Community Club as an entertainment venue and over many years it has staged many varying shows, from cabaret to rock bands, country artists, variety and comedy shows.
Many wedding receptions have been held there, as have birthdays, engagements, quiz nights and fundraisers for many different charities and not forgetting eight ball and darts.
We were approached about five years ago and asked if we could bring some entertainment back to the club.
Allan has performed there many times in the past with cabaret bands and, in later years, country bands, so still being in the country music scene our focus became on getting other country artists to visit and entertain at our club.
We think these shows were very successful with good crowds, who all appreciated the entertainment and always gave us their full support.
Our biggest crowd by far was for international artist Charlie Landsborough, who drew a crowd of 180 patrons.
We would just like to thank the club for the use of this venue over the past five years and we were always proud to introduce interstate artists to the venue and our great supporters.
We would also like to thank The South Eastern Times and The Border Watch for all the great media coverage they gave us in the way of articles relating to the artists performing and also Millicent Print, especially Caroline Hammat, for all their help with design and printing of our posters.
A huge thank you to all those who attended and gave us encouragement to continue bringing artists to Millicent, without you all we would not have been able to do so.
It has been commented several times in the last week, it is the “end of an era”.
Who knows what is in store for this building, it may be the start of a new era.
Maureen and Allan Webster,
Millicent
