'With Great Pleasure' an entertainment in words and music, followed by refreshments, 19 August 2010

Thursday 19 August 2010
7.30 pm
The British Ambassador's Residence

Gertrudis Echeñique 96 – Las Condes

  All enquiries: heatherdavies@mi.cl Tel: 334 3247 Cel: 9 922 0402

ESU Chile Charity ‘With Great Pleasure', Thursday 27th May

The second of the two planned Charity With Great Pleasure events took place in Santiago on Thursday 27 th May, three months to the day after the earthquake. The 300-seat auditorium of the Universidad Finis Terrae was host to some 180 people who gathered for an evening of entertainment presented by performers of all ages.

His Excellency Jon Benjamin, British Ambassador and patron of ESU Chile, opened the evening by paying tribute to the founders of our national branch and talking about the project to rebuild the school on Robinson Crusoe Island, which was obliterated by the tidal wave that swept the island in the early hours of that fateful Saturday morning. He thanked ESU Chile for the initiative in staging the entertainment and its precursor in Viña del Mar in April, in order to raise funds for the project.

The entertainment opened with a spirited rendering of Miles Davis' So What? and Horace Silver's Song for my Father by the Ricardo Alvarez jazz quintet and interspersed spoken and musical items as varied as a solo Michael Jackson number Smooth Criminal , consummately rendered by Víctor Ahumada, a display of dancing, both Rock and Roll and Arab belly dancing, by pupils of Caernarfon College, Lennon and McCartney ballads sung by Diego Pérez, accompanied on Guitar by Víctor Vallejos, both of Campus College and an animated recitation of Edward Lear's The Dong With the Luminous Nose by Richard Collingwood-Selby, Chairman of ESU Chile.

Admission to the event was by donation in either cash or kind. The donations of non-perishable foods and household products were channelled through Santiago College 's International Baccalauretae CAS programme, and monetary donations, totalling $1,271,881 are to go towards the rebuilding and equipping of the school mentioned.

It is worthy of note that the combined revenue of the two charity shows amounted to $2,846,881. This is a tremendous achievement, and ESU Chile extends sincere thanks to all who contributed so generously to this worthy cause.

Charity ‘With Great Pleasure' Viña del Mar, Wednesday 7th April

The first of two ‘out of calendar' With Great Pleasure presentations was staged in the auditorium of the Mackay School on the evening of Wednesday 7 th April. For this occasion, the ESU joined forces with the Instituto Chileno-Británico de Cultura to present an evening of entertainment with the aim of contributing to aid and rebuilding in the aftermath of the earthquake.

A small but highly appreciative audience was entertained for close on two hours by musical input from a local professional singing group, Trillium, a jazz quartet from the Mackay Schools, Beatles songs from St Peter's Church and the Ballet Gimnástico from the University of Play Ancha, punctuated by prose and poetry by Edward Lear, Alfred Noyes, J. Marriott Edgar and others.

Admission was by donation in cash or kind, and the even raised donations in food and household products to contribute to the Mackay School's International Baccalaureate CAS programme, as well as an impressive $1,605,000 to be donated to project for the rebuilding of the school on Robinson Crusoe Island, which was obliterated by the tsunami.

David Bamford