Thursday 04-06-2020 - 14:51

Unexpectedly the last big event of his final year, Adrian Waddelove reflects on his experience presenting Durham's Got Talent.

Three months ago I presented Durham’s Got Talent which, funnily enough, showcased an array of acts from a wonderful group of very talented Durham University students.

Clearly much has happened in the intervening period and it sadly seems that any similar events will not be taking place in the near future for obvious reasons.

I am not sure anyone on that early March evening foresaw what was to come, and as a finalist who should have been graduating in four week times, I obviously did not expect that this would be the final highlight in my Durham scrapbook. It is partly this reflection that led me to write this post.

I must admit I was slightly sceptical of the concept initially, but I was impressed with the amount and quality of social media coverage. My only issue was the fact that the fabulous judges were hyped up and I wasn’t!

However, from the moment I arrived for rehearsals on the Wednesday afternoon I got very excited. This was going to be talent-filled evening.

Having done similar events at school and hosted numerous shows on Purple Radio, Durham’s student radio station, I have a lot of experience of public speaking and I wasn’t fazed to present Durham’s Got Talent. Perhaps the only thing I was slightly concerned about was doing the evening justice given the amount of effort which had gone into staging it – in other words I didn’t want to disappoint or feel like I let anyone down.

I don’t know the official figures, but there was barely a seat to be had in the Fonteyn Ballroom. It also felt as if the audience was clinging onto every word and genuinely following intently which is always nice (they even laughed at most of my jokes!).

Even so I personally thought I took a little time to get warmed up and the second half from a presenting perspective was better than the first. Perhaps this was because some people had consumed alcohol during the half-time break rather than me improving! I was worried at one stage we would finish earlier than planned as we were rushing through the acts but in the end it finished at around 21:50 which was basically perfect much to my relief.

I hope that anyone who was there who is reading this enjoyed it as much as I did. I was blown away by the quality of the talent on display. Some of the acts were outstanding.

I was very proud of my efforts that evening even though I had the easy job compared to the contestants, but hopefully I made it even better for everyone who came to watch.

Being asked to present Durham’s Got Talent was an opportunity I could not refuse and in hindsight, I am very glad that I didn’t. The regret which I would have felt would have been taken some time to get over, especially given it was essentially my final event as a student in Durham.

Given its success I definitely think Durham’s Got Talent should become an annual event (I’m just sorry that I won’t be there to present it again!) but perhaps the SU will find a better person for the job…

But what an event it was. The SU did a wonderful job of staging it and Jemma (one of the SU's Opportunities Coordinators) especially had clearly put a lot of thought into the evening. It was an apt way to bring my time at Durham to a close and the memories of Durham’s Got Talent will stay with me forever.

Photographs taken by David Bernal.