From Parish Pump of November 2008

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​‘X’ HITS THE SPOT!

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   Forget Leona Lewis and Leon Jackson, the second annual Filkins ‘X’ factor has turned up yet another artist with star potential.

   Hannah Greenwood from Kencot was the runaway winner of Filkins X factor 2008 with her spine tingling version of the classic Bette Midler song ‘The Rose’. Accompanying herself on the piano, and with no backing track, Hannah’s performance was an almost impossible act to follow but that did not stop the other entrants from having a jolly good go at it.

   Second place went to Emma Keating (now of Filkins) who sang ‘Fever’ accompanied only by the clicking fingers of the audience. Emma had not planned to enter the competition but was overcome by the excitement of the night and bravely stepped forward. Her impromptu, but smoking hot, performance won the hearts of the audience and made her little girl very proud.

   Third place was won by Barbara Bristow singing the Edith Piaf song ‘La Vie En Rose’. Who knew that under that sensible ‘school ma’am’ exterior lurked a sultry French songbird? (Well we might have had some idea about the French bit I suppose). One had only to close one’s eyes to imagine that The Little Sparrow was actually there in the Village Hall with us.

   Technical difficulties initially threatened Daniel Porter’s sterling performance of a classic reggae tune as every time that he hit a high note the microphone squealed and the lights went out. However it all added to the atmosphere and hilarity of the night and our team of technicians (yeah, right) was soon able to sort out the problem. On his second attempt Daniel’s melodious offerings were good enough to secure him fourth place.

   Without a doubt the bravest performance of the night came from Matt 

Simpson. Singing ‘I’ve Got A Brand New Combine Harvester’ (well bits of it anyway), Matt had the audience on their feet in no time (some of them were running for the door) and he clearly has a big future ahead of him, though possibly not in the music industry.

   To add to the entertainment of the night, Show Case performances were given by Bryony Gibbs who sang a stunning version of ‘Warwick Avenue’ (Duffy) and Emily Redman who belted out ‘Breathless’ (The Corrs). As second and third place winners from last year’s show, both girls are now working closely with music impresario David Seaton, one of the judges, and were thus not able to enter the actual competition this year.

The judges this year were David Seaton (Simon Cowell), Mandy Scott (Sharon Osbourne – though she probably looks a bit more like Cheryl Cole.) and Andrew Bushell (Louis Walsh). Whilst Mandy’s musical credentials are limited to her having watched thousands of hours of X Factor and American Idol, and Andrew stepped into the breach at the last minute, David really does have some musical clout and gravitas. With his own management, production and promotion company and the ‘Bees’ Knees’ record label, David works with both established and emerging artists across the UK and Eastern Europe. For more information and to hear both Hannah and Emily you can visit his web site at www.musicbeesknees.com

   It is almost impossible to believe that we have so much young talent is such a small area. Hannah, Bryony and Emily all look to have bright futures ahead of them and hopefully Filkins ‘X’ Factor will have played some part in them receiving the professional help and guidance that they need to really get their musical careers moving.

   This could be you next year. So if you have any musical talent whatsoever, or if you just want to get up on the stage and entertain people, get practicing now. Filkins X factor will be back in 2009 – bigger and better.

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[If I did not want to spare her blushes for the Cheryl Cole bit, I’d be tempted to reveal that this review was written by Mandy Scott. Ed]