Cill & Snow Van Der Velden as HARPSPEAK - PLUS SONGS

......... GoGoGo Downunder has been the latest labour of love for our local writer Cill Van Der Velden. She has gathered together the expertise of Bob Sutor, well known in indigenous circles and in his own right as an entertainer, along with Kerrie Davies from both Lithgow and Bathurst's Music Conservatoriums, in order that this play be a total experience of words and music for these young students. Bob's didgeridoo interpretations of the animals in the cast and Kerrie's coaching of a large grop pf young percussionests to ehhance the production.......... Originally Cill was asked by local sports person Nancy Haslop to write a 'cultural exchange work' for visiting New Zealand sports students where Nancy heads up the Western Institute of Sport at Bathurst. This was a great success and after relating the event to local Lithgow Primary's Assistant Principal Di Geddes, it was decided to pare down the colloquialisms to suit a younger group of actors with the view to presenting the play to honour NAIDOC week...... - Lithgow Mercury June 4 2009

Cill Van Der Velden and Brian Wilkinson have been busy writing another musical, hot on the heels of their hugely successful 'Angelina's Portrait which played to five packed audiences at the golf Club in October last year........Any profits this year will go to setting up a couple of Youth Music Scholarships for teenagers who show promise but have nomeans of paying for lessons to follow their dreams. - Lithgow Mercury September 1 2007

............ City Boy has been written by locals Cill Van DerVelden and Brian Wilkinson who, within 6 months, have created a completely different show to the one they presented here in October last year. Cill said: It's a little hard to believe, even for us, that we would set about writing another big project so soon, but Brian and I have such a marvellous raport.....
Cill writes the lyrics and dialogue and Brian creates the music. - Lithgow Mercury September 13 2007

...........Well if you were in Las Vegas last week and you thought you saw her you did. Our very own Cil Van Der velden was there at a Poetry Conference and competition, nearly 3,000 other poets attended the conference and Cil came away with an Outstanding Achievement Award. Well done Cill. ..............As well as song lyrics and poetry Cil also writes children's short stories. Her works have been published five times by Nobel House. ....... Folk Club sessions usually see Cil perform one or two of her poems............. she is currently working with a local harpist where they perform together when asked for charitites and other organisations............ - Lithgow Mercury August 3 2006

............. Cil makes a fine contribution to the cultural life of the Lithgow district with her origial poetry, song lyrics, poetry readings and participation in music......
Cil has proved herself as an achiever in a most competitive field of the Arts - Lithgow Mercury October 25 2008

Enthusiastic, entertaining, energetic - words which accurately describe well known local writer and performer Cill Van Der Velden, who was welcomed at the June meeting of The Fellowship of Australian Writers. Cill, an award winning poet and lyricist, precisely illustrated rhyme and meter with her original poetry and lyrics. To demonstrate the effect of music in enhancing poetry, with some of her work she played an autoharp, accompanied by president Ron Lyons on energetic largerphone. Members enjoyed a varied selection of Cills work, which covered a range of topics from the serious to laugh out loud funny.... - Blue Mountains News

....she wrote a ballad after her first time at Tamworth because she wanted to. It reached to top five in the Katherine Music Muster.......Cill's skill with words, expression of feeling and her willingness to stretch the boundaries has made her one of Lithgow's favourite performing poets....... Lithgow Regional Fellowship of Australian Wrtiers are both privileged and thrilled that Cill will be working with us on "Speak Out' - our confidence building workshop for writers. It's going to be a great day, starting at 10,30am and going all the way through to 4.30pm with the lovely Cill, who lives at Wallerawang, giving us both poetry and advice about how, even though she still gets nervous, she overcomes it to share her work. We'll also have Terry Regan the current Australian Bush Poetry Performance Champion.........Cill's commitment to encouraging and supporting local artists, writers and performers is shared..... Cill's commitment to expressing works of political and social significance are reflected in everything she does. - Lithgow Mercury Writers Forum

Wednesday 13th July from 8pm - Flier - Mercantile Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney

....Cill and Brian will be presenting a completely home grown musical planned to debut in Lithgow in October. The pair teamed up to write a musical titled 'Angelina's Portrait which is of a traditional bnt, telling a love story........ Many people will remember Brian as being a member of the The Black Diamonds who had years of success on the Sydney circuit....... Cill's writing success both in poetry and lyrics have geared Cill....... She has also been a finalist in the Lyrics Section for the past few years at Katherine Music Muster in the Northern Territory - Lithgow Mercury May 4 2006

Winner of the Adult Section was Cill Van Der Velden who capped off a year of writing lyrics. Cill's achievements included sucess at both the national and international levels. The lyrics for four of her songs placed her as one of the Top 10 Songwriters at the Australian Songwriters Awards from more than 3,000 entries. Her international accomplishments were in the American Songwriters Competition where her success in the heats earned her great praise from Mike Pinder of Moody Blues. - Lithgow Arts Council