Champagne Breakfast and Christmas Market
Thursday, December 12th | 6:30 am - 8:30 am | The Events Centre, Caloundra
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and the SCBWN committee are excited to invite you to our magical Champagne Breakfast and Christmas Market to celebrate the festive season with fellow members and guests.
Special Guest Patrice Tipoki
Set to put you in the best of Christmas Spirits, we have the wonderful Patrice Tipoki - famed for her roles in Les Miserables, The Lion King, Wicked and more - who will give a stunning musical performance as well as talk with us about her career journey.
Patrice has enjoyed a career in the entertainment industry from a young age and has reached incredible heights. She has such a phenomenal story to share about chasing your dreams and the qualities it takes to never give up and we believe it's just the thing the SCBWN membership needs to see out 2019 and be prepared for an outstanding 2020 to see goals and dreams realised.
Her rich history of music and culture stems from her Maori/ Irish background. Growing up in a musical family, performing was what they did. Since then Patrice went on to do her first professional musical when she was 7 (The King & I), to be one of the youngest graduates from the Music Theatre course at WAAPA (Western Academy of Performing Arts) and to play lead roles in some of the most successful musicals in the world. Patrice was asked by Sir Cameron Mackintosh to play Fantine in his new production of Les Miserables. She performed this role around Australia, Singapore, Dubai and on the West End in London. Patrice was also nominated for a Helpmann Award for her portrayal as Fantine. Other musical credits include Nala in Disney’s The Lion King, alternating the role of Elphaba in Wicked, and Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
Patrice also loves recording and has released a few singles including “Christmas All Year Long”, “Son of God” from internationally acclaimed pianist Paul Cardall’s album “A New Creation” and her debut album “A Musical Heart” which was released to rave reviews and topped the iTunes Charts. Patrice was signed to Sony BMG as a part of Girlband who also released the singles “Party Girl” and “Electric”, toured Australia supporting the Rogue Traders and had their own TV show and clothing range.
Patrice was blessed to perform as a soloist with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Her collaboration with Paul Cardall has just been acknowledged by the Gospel Music Association in the US when it was included on his award-winning album, “Christmas” and won Best Instrumental Album.
When Patrice isn’t on tour, she’s based in Queensland, Australia and also loves being a wife and a mother of 4.
Christmas Presents sorted
With such a positive response to last year's Christmas Market, we once again are setting up the SCBWN Christmas Shopping Market! We encourage members to book a stall to sell their Christmas gift ideas and members and guests can get their shopping done while enjoying the morning the festivities and support local businesses.
The Giving Tree
Once again we will have our Giving Tree at the Christmas Breakfast and we encourage all guests of the breakfast to bring along a wrapped and labelled Christmas gift (label to show suggested age range of recipient) that will be distributed through Laurel House to women and children in our region spending the holiday season in crisis shelters.
Last year we were so grateful for the support of our membership which helped us collect enough gifts, approx. 120, to provide each family in crisis with a gift.
Laurel House is a not-for-profit organisation that works with children and adults who have experienced sexual abuse either recently or in the past. They offer free counselling and support at three office locations - Maroochydore, Gympie and Murgon. They also provide education and information to school students and engage in activities to raise awareness within the community about sexual violence and how it affects individuals, families and society.
Note: personal care items are always appreciated as these women often escape to crisis centres without any of their belongings.
