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A review from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.
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Louise Cormack is a lovely lady who will definitely leave the world nicer than she found it. Every year she arranges Halloween parties in aid of local charities and brings joy to many people: both those who benefit from the fundraising, and those who have a wonderful time enjoying and supporting the events she runs. This year she did a Kids Halloween Fundraiser from 1-3.30pm and a Halloween Party 18+ from 7.30pm-1am. The three charities supported are: Inspire PTL, Archway and The Thursday Hangout Club in Stonehaven. All most worthy and helping those unfortunate enough to need a helping hand.
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The kids party included various aspects: a fun DJ who was great with children; a baby room with various appropriate toys (many of which Louise had gathered personally from Facebook Marketplace) with some soft play options from VIP Space; sumo suits for giggles from Wandering Hedgehog; Linda’s Face Painting; Nails and Braids by Abs; and entertainer Kids Rock. There were also 3 volunteers dressed as a lion, monkey and elephant who wandered round high fiving the children and posing for photos, especially from the resident photographer James Forbes Photography. On top of this was a raffle with an amazing variety of prizes including cupcakes from Gemma’s Cake Design, amazing Halloween sweetie wreaths and even a family pass for Disney on Ice at P&J Live.
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The children all seemed to be having a super time and had some wonderful costumes including Sonic the Hedgehog and Harley Quinn, the winner of the shiny trophy for best costume went to a big horned Maleficent who was rather spectacular. I should probably declare that I was involved, I was in fact the mischievous monkey who ran amok with the children, got “dragged” onto the dance floor numerous times, and into the photographer’s area! It’s so amazing seeing the reactions from the wee ones as you give them a wave or a high five. One wee boy even asked the lion and I to marry him!
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The evening party focused more grown up things with the bar open and entertainment from: local guitarist Arvind, rock band Kinell and then some 80s tunes from DJ David. There was another fantastic raffle with generous donations including jewellery, restaurant vouchers and even a designer handbag. This time I was helping sell and prepare the raffle, but once it was done, I seemed to make good use of the dance floor!
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Normally I am a music reviewer, hence thinking I could write these events up. Arvind, or Axman as he is on Spotify as, is a local young chap with an electric guitar. He seemed to concentrate on cover songs and jumped from Rammstein to Green Day. I cannot say he filled the dance floor but there was some enthusiastic applause after some of his songs. He is a young lad who could perhaps work on his stage presence and audience engagement, but obviously loves what he does and practices hard.
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He was followed by Kinell who are a rock band, especially loving AC/DC. Their version of Thunder was especially outstanding, and they had the dance floor filled several times during their energetic set, with rapturous applause. I was a little disappointed I was tied to the raffle table but I could clearly hear their whole set, and see the reactions of the audience, and they were great!
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Once Kinell left the stage it was time for the raffle, never a fast operation with drunken adults, but it was amusing seeing excited nuns at winning bottles and Beetlejuice thrilled to get some Brewdog beers and pizza vouchers! Finally, it was time for DJ David and his funky dance tunes (and 1 Westlife special request tune for a lady who turned 40 the next day)! He played a great mix, from Faithless Insomnia to Beautiful Sunday by Daniel Boone (yes okay that’s from 1972 but every disco needs a slosh!) to Baggy Trousers by Madness. It’s all good though because Louise and I were on the dancefloor in full witchy goodness for Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!
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There really were some ace costumes at this party too, from the gorgeous Tinkerbell (with Peter Pan) to the scary clown, there were several nuns, the Sanderson sisters and an awesome Cookie Monster. People really do seem to love the chance to dress up. One lady, who spent most of the night dancing, was in a gorgeous Halloween dress with flouncy underskirt, and obviously really enjoying swirling it on the dance floor!
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All in all, both parties were a huge success with everyone booked at them having a wonderful time. Now we just need to wait for Louise to count up the fundraising total so we can feel even better about enjoying ourselves in the name of such worthy causes!
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Further information: https://www.facebook.com/louiselovesevents
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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.
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