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Featured Member - May 2005

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Our featured member for May is Irene Jones.
Irene was fated to be involved with "show biz" from the start, being born into a musical family in the North of England. Every member of the family either played an instrument or sang, or both. Mother played the piano, Father played harmonica and on Sundays they all sat around the piano and sang.
With this background it's not surprising that Irene made her stage debut at eight, singing "Every Little Piggy Has A Curly Tail".

Although her first choice of instrument was a piano, she later met a man who played guitar in a skiffle group, (remember skiffle?) and took up the guitar. However, guitar wasn't really her thing so she never carried on with it.
After having two sons, Irene emigrated to Australia. Nothing more of a theatrical nature took place until her father died. Irene's mother came to Australia at that point and it was decided they would all join Rockingham Theatre. Her first show with Rockingham was "The Sound of Music" in which she played a nun. She was so good at it that she went on to play a nun many times, including Sister Amnesia in "Nunsense" 1 and 2. You might say she got into the habit, (or you might not!)
She spent the next 20 years with Rockingham, either on stage or as chorus mistress or in the orchestra, finishing with "Les Miserables". After this she "emigrated" again - to Melville Theatre Company this time, to play the gloomy accompanist Mrs Fraser in "Stepping Out" and has since done two more shows for Melville and one for Kwinana.
These days her time is mostly taken up as Director of the Silver Clefs Harmony Chorus in Rockingham. The Silver Clefs are a large group of singers of all ages who entertain at their own concerts and also at luncheons and many different venues around Perth, Fremantle and environs. She still loves music with a passion and hopes to be able to continue bringing enjoyment to others - and herself - for many years to come.
We hope so too Irene! Thank you for your past efforts on behalf of MTC.