Summon the courage

Yesterday I spoke of the Beechwood Hall, dreaming of shows that had been held there in the past. I had meant to talk about the play put on by the Pappinbarra Players a few months ago but I didn’t have a photo from the show – the only photo I had was of Em just before she headed off for her debut. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to put it on here so I hung back, but I spoke to her over dinner tonight (lasagne made with our homemade pasta sheets) and got the OK. The play was Jack Hibberd’s Dimboola and it was held not at Beechwood but at our local hall, Hollisdale. Em played a seven year old girl, Astrid, and revelled in the opportunity to indulge her love of the Japanese Sweet Lolita style and dress up.


The play was fantastic – funny, bawdy, drunken and refreshingly un-PC. One of the best things about the play was that it was a local production, put on by people in the valley to entertain their family and friends – a kind of self-sufficient, low carbon miles form of entertainment. There were some very impressive efforts put in by people to make the play happen but none were greater than Darren who initiated, cast, stage managed, produced and directed the play and his wife Kerry who organised and cooked a three course meal for everyone in the audience, three days in a row. Often with her young one strapped to her back. There is talk of the play being dusted off and put on down at Beechwood Hall which would make a great venue, alive once more.

Many of our family and friends got involved in some way and through it our valley grew bigger and closer. And Emma sung a solo, being very brave as she can be sometimes. As I tell Noah, brave means being scared of something and doing it anyway. Good things happen when you summon the courage to be brave. Like Baz Luhrmann says, a life lived in fear is a life half lived.

“I’m grateful that I actually lifted the bricks for Grandad.”
(Confused? Look)