Sunday 28th March saw Bearwood College Theatre, Wokingham, bursting at the seams for the Finale Concert of the 40th annual Woodley Music and Arts Festival. 29 of the most memorable of the (over 1000) performances given during the month long Festival provided the entertainment for the afternoon concert held between 3 and 5pm.

The Wokingham Borough Mayor, Barrie Patman, and the Mayor of Woodley, Kay Gilder, were among the honoured guests who presented the dozens of trophies awarded to the performers. President of the Woodley Festival, Gillian Reid, and sponsors Ann Manning and Rod Buckland, of ManningUK, were also presenting trophies as were the Woodley Festival Patrons, Ron McAllister, Chief Executive of South Hill Park Arts Centre and Colin Singer , a local resident and businessman who was chair of the festival for 10 years from the mid 80's to 90's.

For the 5th consecutive year the Woodley Festival is very grateful indeed to the sponsors of the event, ManningUK, a registered insurance broker based in Henley on Thames. Five years ago, the festival was in financial difficulty and ManningUK came to the rescue and they have supported the Festival ever since. Ann Manning, Managing Director of ManningUK, said: "We are delighted to be associated with the Woodley Festival. The event is simply magical with so much talent and confidence displayed by the young people taking part."

Colin Brown, Co-Chairman of the Woodley Festival, said: "We are fortunate to receive grants from Woodley Town Council and Wokingham Borough Council and to have ManningUK, the insurance brokers in Henley, as sponsors. ManningUK are fantastic, generously giving so much of their time as well as money and resources. They always come along and clearly enjoy the experience as much as anyone!"

Queen Anne's School, Caversham, took part in the Woodley Festival for the first time this year. Suzanne Durham, a drama teacher at Queen Anne's who organised their entry in the Verse and Prose section said, "Our girls thoroughly enjoyed being part of the festival and that we were very impressed by both the venue and the smooth efficiency with which the proceedings ran. The candidates were impressive in the classes we participated in and we all look forward to taking part again next year."

For the organisers of the Woodley Festival the Finale Concert is a wonderful occasion which celebrates the success of the some two thousand young people who take part. Each year it also provides an opportunity for the Festival to support a charity which is in some way connected to someone involved in the Festival. This year the collection at the end of the concert raised over £400 for 'Ataxia UK', a charity raising funds to help care for sufferers and also to invest in research. There are various forms of Ataxia which is a rare disorder of the nervous system. In the UK there are about 15,000 sufferers of which about one third are children. One of those children is a local girl who takes part in the Woodley Festival.

Woodley Festival is such a success thanks to the audience, performers, parents & teachers without whom the Festival could not happen. Despite a hard working committee who enthusiastically give huge amounts of their time free of charge, and despite council grants, and very generous sponsorship, staging the 2010 Festival will have cost around £17,300.

	Finale Concert Dignitaries: (Back row L to R: Colin Singer, Rod Buckland, Ron McAllister, Colin Brown, Barrie Patman. Front row L to R: Gill Reid, Kay Gilder, Ann Manning, Pamela Patman, Jackie Baines.)
	Mayor of Woodley, Kay Gilder, presenting Annika and Sahil Pau the Ellen Goodworth Music Trophy for Best Performance in the Piano Duet Classes
	Wokingham Borough Mayor, Barrie Patman, presenting Anthony Tat (12 years old) the Ronald Hughes Rose Bowl for the Best 18&U Piano Recital and the Wokingham Times Senior Trophy for Most Promising Pianist aged 12 & Over
	Finale Concert Performers with Ann Manning, Managing Director of ManningUK and Sponsor of the Woodley Festival
	Ann Manning presenting Jeavon Crouch Hyde with the ManningUK Perseverance Cup