Superstar

This is the wonderful and hugely energetic Mel who set up the choir I sing in as a children's and parents' choir 29 years ago. The children have long since grown up and the parents are now drawing pensions but we sing on. She also initiated choir exchanges with Oxford's twin towns in Grenoble, Bonn, Leiden and (previously) Perm. In 2009 she set up DIY Theatre - a youth musical theatre group which has put on some ambitious and impressive productions and enthused dozens of young people to pursue drama and music.

In her own words: “One of my favourite things in life is to bring people of all ages together to create magical theatrical concerts and productions – the memories that are generated in any project like this last a lifetime, and the friendships that are made greatly enhance our lives!”

She phoned me yesterday, asking if I could take cast photos today for DIY Theatre's production of the Beggar's Opera. It is not possible to say no to Mel, so this afternoon I took well over 200 photos which I am still sorting.

To my embarrassment I got the time wrong and arrived late then, 17 photos in, I found my SD card was full. I always carry spares, but I felt a bit incompetent.

Anyway, the cast were lovely, the production was very good and by the end I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes.