Roadwater Players - Old News Archives

News Archive for 2010

Robin Hood - Panto 2010 Update

This years Panto is now well underway in rehearsals. It is shaping up to be our usual very good show, with all the usual Panto fun, glitz and Razzmatazz. Don't miss it!!

Robin Hood is a home written panto which follows the original story line but has a few new characters and one or two surprises!!! It is full of original songs and will provide plenty of fun for all the family!

Please note the new dates for this show:

Monday 6th - Wednesday 8th December incl.

Friday 10th and Saturday 11th December.

Tickets for this production are available from our usual outlets;

Roadwater stores - 01984 640296

Valiant Soldier - 01984 640223

Washford Post Office - 01984 640349

Tina's Hair Fashions - 01984 632341

Toucan Whole foods (Minehead) - 01643 706101

Any queries regarding this show please contact Allan Prentice on 01984 640294

Phoebe Rees Awards 2010

A very glamorous and merry band of Players attended this years annual SFD Phoebe Rees awards on the 23rd October 2010 at Taunton Racecourse. A good time was had by all despite an unjustified lack of prizes and nominations! Below are a couple of pictures from the evening. Well done to all those who attended and well done to all those involved in 'The Hollow' - it was yet another remarkable production on our tiny stage. It was a credit to our society!

Brenda Mandziej, Bill Tindall, Jennifer Hand and Neil Wilson (glass in hand!!) at this years Phoebe Rees Awards night.

Bill Tindall, Venetia Moore and Allan Prentice strutting their stuff on the red carpet!!

New Page Added to this Site

You will see from your navigation bar that I have added a page to the site titled 'Who's in what'. If anyone has a better name for it let me know and I will change it. Basically this page is for members to let other members know of shows they are working on with other groups. It is always nice to support fellow members in other productions so this will hopefully be a good resource for people to catch some other great entertainment.

Please email me any relevant info for me to include on this page!

AGM 20th July 2010

23 Members attended this years AGM. Subs are due now, so if you want to continue receiving info and newsletters then please contact Bill Tindall, Nancy Marshall or Allan Prentice either by phone or email.

New Committee

Patrick and Simon have stepped down from the committee and received long service certificates from Roadwater Players in recognition of their years on committee. Both have signed up for this years panto in sundry guises.

Jackie Heard and Chris Marshall have replaced them, being the only other nominees.

Allan, Nancy and Bill continue as officers for the next 12 months with Ben L, Brenda and Sarah serving another year also.

News Archive for 2009

SFD Training Days

There is a new Training Page on the SFD website, with details of upcoming training courses which might interest you. In the next few weeks there is a NODA-sponsored 'Tailormade Weekend' in Frome on June 19th/20th and a 'Practical Make-up Course', tutored by Sandra Huxtable, at Puriton Village Hall on Saturday July 3rd. Bookings now being taken.
There is also news about the Original Playwriting Competition which is for writers from anywhere in the Southwest, and a new Masterclass on Pantomime from Ron Roberts.

And in case you haven't seen them yet, there are a good selection of photos taken at the Cinderella Awards evening in May posted on the SFD Cinderella Galleries and a link to Photobox which will enable you to order any that you want hard copies of.

Have a look - www.somersetdrama.org.uk

Cinderella Awards

A small but keen band of Players trundled along to the Westlands Centre in Yeovil for this years Cinderella Trophy Presentation night on 15th May. A lot of hard work and sweat and toil went into this years show, 'Aladdin' and on the night we were duly rewarded with some great awards. Top billing was Allan Prentice, who won the award for the Best Original Script. This was Allan's first effort at writing and it paid off when he scooped this top award. Another winner on the night, although he was present to bathe in his glory, was Benedict Lintott who won the award for Best Male Goodie, following his disturbingly camp portrayal of the Genie!

Also nominated on the night were the following; Best director - Allan Prentice, Best Male Villain - Simon Passmore, Best Original Costume - Sarah Kingsford and Best Brokers Men - Jackie Evans and Oliver Lintott. Oliver was also successful in the category of 'Star of the Future'. Well done to all involved. Anyone wanting to organise a bus for next years extravaganza must come forward so that we can increase the numbers of people attending this event and up our profile!!

The Hollow

Well done to all concerned with this show. It went down very well and despite the disjointed performance schedule it was extremely professionally put on and was well received. Congratulations to Sarah for bringing it all together so seamlessly - and we even made a small profit which is unusual for a Roadwater Spring Play!!

Aladdin DVD

The D.V.D has arrived courtesy of Steve. Steve only had time to do one shoot and this was on the first night ( there is a bit of background noise unfortunately). However, people on stage can be heard quite clearly and although it's not the best D.V.D he has produced (his words, not mine) if you were in the show it is a lovely keepsake. I think he is asking about £6-00 so if you want a copy please let Allan Prentice know a.s.a.p. (Tel 01984 640294)

AGM 2009 - 14th July

This years AGM passed off without any hitches. Sarah Kingsford was elected onto the committee to replace Marilyn Rowe who opted to stand down. Many thanks to Marilyn for her hard work, and congratulations to Sarah. Since the AGM Nancy has been elected as our new rep for the Village Trust Committee and Brenda has been elected to be Vice Chairman of the Players Committee.
Please remember that if not already paid, your subs are now due!!

At the AGM Dennis Evans and Gill White were made Honourary Life Members of the Players, as recognition for their many years of involvement with the Players both on and off the stage. Congratulations to both!!

Spring Play 2010 – As usual we are looking for suggestions/directors for next years Spring Play. Please come forward asap if you are interested. Please contact Allan Prentice.

Panto 2009 - 'Aladdin'

Well this years panto was a roaring success. Well done to Allan and his team for putting on a great show. We had good sized audiences all week, and they were treated to the usual high standard of acting, singing and dancing, not to mention the superb Passmore special effects!

We are still awaiting the adjudication of this show which has been held up for various reasons. As soon as it becomes available we will make sure those that need a copy will get one.

Spring Play 2009 - 'Shakers' and 'Bouncers'

As you'll be aware from the last couple of newsletters the Spring Play this year is in June - and it's two plays. Bouncers and Shakers are award winning plays from the Hull Truck Theatre Company and present slices of life in cocktail bars and nightclubs. The actors take on a range of parts in roles that are challenging. Patrick Daley is directing Bouncers, Bill Tindall is directing Shakers.

Rehearsals are reaching a frenzied climax and both sets of actors are having great fun.
These are adult comedies and, as one might expect contain explicit
language. So come and join us at the village hall between 17 and 20
June.

Skittles Evening

There was the usual good turnout for the annual skittles night, and crackshot Brenda Mandziej finally ended the Daley's domination of this event by winning the killer game! Thanks to all those involved with the organising of this event.

Cinderella Trophy Awards Night

A group of us went to the Cinderella Awards on Saturday 16th May at the Westlands Centre. Janet Grieve, beautifully accompanied by Mo and with Jennifer, Brenda, Nick and Oliver delicately lobbing roses in her direction in the graveyard, treated the 500 or so punters to her uniquely off-tune version of "Some Enchanted Evening". It was received in a most

satisfactory manner. It brought the house down, the host for the evening commented afterwards.

Naturally our entry, the wonderfully different Dracula's Christmas, broke new ground in terms of pantomime and there were, quite simply, not enough categories for some of our eccentric and unusual characters.

We did however receive a number of mentions in the category Stars of the Future:

Astrid Davis, Darcy Allan, Sam Chinn,

Oliver Lintott, Alice Knight and Jim Bassett,

Jenny Bradbury was nominated for Best Principal Boy ( or Macho Man).

Mo Best received a nomination for her music.

But the highlight of our evening was Nick Wilson's nomination in the Best Animal category

and yes - woof woof - he won the trophy. A star of the evening as well as the future.

So CONGRATULATIONS, NICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best wishes one and all and remember we are already looking towards this year's panto.

News Archive for 2008

Dracula's Christmas

Dracula’s Christmas was a huge success for the Players. Put on in the second week of December, it played to good houses every night with the usual sellouts on Friday and Saturday. Well done to all involved. It was well received by the adjudicator and hopefully in due course it will receive some of the recognition it deserved. Well done especially to Katherine Kingsford for her imaginative original script, and of course to Sarah Kingsford who did a fabulous job of direction despite her dodgy hip! The adjudication is available for those that haven’t seen it yet – contact Bill Tindall if this is the case, although we all felt it was pretty uninformative and didn’t tell us much we didn’t know already!!.
During the Panto we raised £393.20 for St Margaret’s Hospice from the proceeds of the raffle. This is as usual a great effort. The Panto itself seems to have made a big profit, but as yet we don’t have an exact figure. This will follow in due course. A DVD of the show has been produced by Steve Eggar, it costs £7 and to get your copy you will need to contact Steve directly.

Gammer Gurton's Needle; May 21st to 24th

Rehearsals for this year’s Spring play are going very well. The standard of performance is as high as ever although the cast have had to work pretty hard on their accents! It will certainly be ready in time for opening night. Many thanks to Patrick Daley who took on the part of the Curate in spite of having a heavy work-load directing “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” at the Regal, with equal thanks to Richard Beavan who has done a great job of “reading in” in Patrick’s absence. Geoff is especially pleased with the very accomplished singing from Allan Prentice, Ben Horrobin, Chris Marshall and Mickie Ritchie in her first acting role with the Players.

Posters are out and tickets are on sale from the usual outlets, so don’t wait – book now!

See the 'Next Up' section for more information.

The Annual Cinderella Awards

The Cinderella Trophy Awards Presentation will take place at 7.30pm on
Saturday May 17th at the Westlands Sports & Social Club in Yeovil

We have an initial allocation of 20 tickets although we could possibly have more if needed. The price, to include a buffet, is £9.00 for adults, £8.00 for SFD members and £7 for under-16’s. Priority will be given to members of the cast and crew but after that it’s first come, first served. At the time of writing we don’t know what nominations we have or whether we will be asked again to contribute to the cabaret.

Last year, you may remember, we had nominations in 17 categories and won 5 major awards, including the Spotlight shield for the best village pantomime, and Oliver won a “Star of the Future” award. We seldom do quite that well but always have a good time whether we win or not.

It is a long way to go but worth the effort. Last year we shared cars and petrol costs and that seemed to work well. If you want tickets please contact Mo Best on mobest@roadwater.freeserve.co.uk or on 01984 641175 as soon as possible as the closing date is May 2nd.

Sleeping Beauty DVD's

We haven’t forgotten about these. A few people have them but Barbara has not been well so they are not all finished. We hope to have them for you soon. In the meantime we send Barbara our best wishes and hope she is better soon.

The Annual Daley Skittles Compo

Our annual Skittles evening was a very enjoyable event. Numbers were down a little on last year but competition was just as furious.

After a two-team match involving everyone and won by goodness knows which side, we played a game of “Killer” – individual players in a knockout competition. There were some admirable performances, not least by the ladies present, but in spite of a sterling, skilful and very sporting effort by Nancy and Chris Marshall, Patrick Daley won – Again!!!

Don’t worry, Daley – there’ll be other years!
Many thanks to Simon for organising the evening and to Mike Twine and his staff for the buffet.

Sefton Parke

Following his move from the local area we have heard from der Schloss Parke and it would appear that Sefton and Li have settled in well. It sounds an absolutely lovely place, straight out of a fairy tale.

Sarah Kingsford hosted a lovely farewell party for them and they enjoyed seeing so many of their friends. We presented Sefton with an engraved tankard as a keepsake from the Players and we gave Li a bunch of her favourite flowers. Alan made a memorable speech! It was sad to say goodbye but they are very happy where they are and no doubt we will see them again.

Sefton’s Swan-song in England was Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” at the Regal with the Barnstormers which he directed. It was very good – congratulations to him and all the cast. Several of us went to see it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Costume Storage

For many years all our costumes and props have been stored in Sarah Kingsford’s cellar; she has kept them in good order and has been extremely tolerant of Players tramping up and down her cellar steps. We have accumulated so much that the space is no longer big enough and Sarah also needs the room for Katherine’s own production equipment.

Having found a suitable replacement store in an old stable building at Huish Barton, and having negotiated a measly rent from the landlord (excluding electricity!) we are now in the process 'doing up' the store. Some of the required carpentry and rails have been installed, but there is still much work to be done, in order for us to move the costumes to the new store from Sarahs cellar. Anyone who can help on Sundays from 10am will be welcomed with open arms!

I think this is an appropriate time and place to thank Sarah for letting us use her house for so long. She has undoubtedly saved the Players a lot of money and hassle. Other local groups are all experiencing problems with storage and it is hoped that, if we can all get our costumes into accessible stores, we will be able to borrow from each other, saving money and hours of sewing.

AGM 2007

This was held on 24th July 2007 downstairs in the hall and was well attended by the membership. There was only one change on the committee, with Nancy Marshall replacing Jackie Evans as the treasurer. As a committee our thanks go out to Jackie for her hard work, dedication and very tidy bookkeeping. The usual refreshments were well received by the members at the table, and without getting out of control they allowed the meeting to flow! One discussion point at the AGM was subscription rates. These have been the same for many years and it was felt it was time they were upped. Thus the motion was passed that subs for adults increase to £5 per annum and for children they should rise to £2. So far the subs have been paid well, but for those of you behind with your installments there does become a time when your supply of newsletters will dry up - don't say you weren't warned!!

Merry Wives of Windsor

A public service announcement from Sefton;

"I expect everyone has heard by now about the tragic weather that accompanied our “Summer” tour with Sefton’s Shakespeare. Sadly we had to abandon the final performance after page 8 by which time the audience and cast (except Mo who was poised with feather duster aloft ready to leap into action ), by that time a sorry sight, fled the stage. One or two stalwart supporters remained in their seats under umbrellas hoping for a break in the clouds but most packed their thermos flasks and trudged off home. We are really sorry that it ended in that way but we had braved the elements earlier in the week and had performed the show successfully if somewhat damply at Sampford Brett and Huish Barton, and on a lovely sunny evening at Fyne Court. The next two performances were forced indoors but were nevertheless well received by the audiences. In spite of everything it was a very enjoyable and funny production with some wonderful performances – a super cast! We had a lot of fun – thank you."

Despite the tragic weather the show was a success in that we made a small a mount of money, and those involved with the production enjoyed themselves. As usual there are things to be learnt from these shows and I can assure you they will be! Unfortunately the Phoebe Rees awards will not be graced with our presence since the adjudicator and the moderator both came to the last night which was a wash out!!

Cinderella Trophy Awards 2007

Cinderella Trophy Awards 2006

Thirteen of us traveled by minibus to Yeovil for this years Cinderella Awards night. Once again we were very successful with some Stars of the Future, two big awards and some other nominations. The awards we received were as follows;

Congratulations to all of the above and all who were involved with what was another very successful Panto from Roadwater.

One Act Play Competition - A Rex for a Regina

'A Rex for a Regina' is the play that Geoff entered into the Original One Act Play Competition. The first leg of the competition took place at the Warehouse Theatre in Ilminster on 25th February. We were up against plays from Taunton Thespians and St Gregory Players. On the night Geoff carried off the trophies for the most original script and the best production, whilst Phaedra Rush won the award for best actress. Following the victory and much celebration, we then went on to the Somerset Fellowship of Drama One Act Play competition, which again took place at Ilminster on 11th March. We faced stiffer competition from the same groups as the previous rounds, but despite a couple of actors being unavailable (and having to make do with a couple of misfits in their places!) we carried off the winnings again. Several trophies were won on the night and we received many complimentary comments.

Having won this second round we went through to the next stage of the competition to represent Somerset, at the Princes Hall in Clevedon. The competition took place on 22nd April. We came up against some stiff competition, and this combined with a 2pm performance, some absentees from the original cast and a small wrinkly audience that looked like they had been hauled in off the seafront for the day meant we were struggling to compete. Some of the opposition was first class, most notably the eventual winners St Ursulas Players from Bristol. They put on a very smooth performance which left the audience physically drained of emotion - well worth seeing. We had a great if very long day, and learnt a great deal from it. Good luck to the winners in the following rounds.

Here is a link to the Western Morning News article following our win at Ilminster:

Phoebe Rees Awards 2005

This years annual awards ceremony was held this year on 21st October 2005 at Bridgwater Rugby Club. We sent a party to this function, and as usual the Players fared very well.

First up Mo Best won the award for 'Best Cameo' for her wonderful portrayal of Rose Mumford in 'Thicker Than Water'. This was a truly deserved award that recognised the fact that Rose still lives on in the village despite her many and varied knock backs! The other award won for 'Thicker Than Water' was that of 'Best Supporting Actor' which was deservedly presented to Patrick Daley for his brilliant portrayal of D.C. Dibble. Both awards were well deserved and our congratulations go out to them both.

An extra mention should be made of two other members who did well at the awards whilst representing some of the 'opposition'. Jenny Thomas won the award for Best Female Youth for her portrayal of Lucy Lime in 'Eclipse' for Minehead Youth Theatre, and Charlotte Best was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Jackie in 'Hayfever' for the Taunton Thesbians.

Congratulations must go to all involved; yet again Roadwater has been seen in a very strong light as a result of everyones hard work. Thanks to Allan and Janet for organising the trip to Bridgwater. There will be some pictures posted on here soon.

SFD AGM at Roadwater - 17th September 2005

Initial reports confirm that this was a very successful evening. The visitors were given a very warm welcome, buffet food was laid on and entertainment provided. Many thanks to the following for their efforts with the entertainment - Roadwater Youth, Sefton Parke, Jennifer Hand, Don Hadfield, Luke Moore, Mo Best & Simon Passmore. If I've missed anyone then please accept my apologies. Thanks to all those who helped set up and clear up.

Open Air Production - 2nd July 2005 - Update

A couple of weeks ago Allan and Ben together with Mary Lintott, handed over the proceeds from the open air production to Michelle Kerrigan who is the Community Fundraising Co-ordinator for the Childrens Hospice South West in this area. It was a lovely summers evening, and we presented her with a cheque for the large sum of £450. This was a marvellous effort, and we hope to repeat the Al Fresco production again in future years. Many thanks for everyones hard work.

Michelle Kerrigan (Childrens Hospice SW) receiving the cheque for £450 from Mary Lintott and Allan Prentice (Herr Chairman)

Open Air Production - 2nd July 2005 - Report

This production was a great success, with many varied acts on show. Prior to the event about 45 tickets had been sold, but the weather was good to us and the total number in attendance reached 100 on the night itself. The picnics on display were nearly as varied as the entertainment on the stage.

A 'large' band was assembled for the evening. The usual 'Old Crotchets' combined their talents with 'The Luke Moore Trio' and the result was a superb spectrum of music! In terms of comedy, we were treated to the usual Tickle and Passmore sketches, Clive endeared himself to the ladies with his standup routine and Jennifer Hand recited some Pam Ayres. Musically, Mo Best had us all in stitches with a Victoria Wood song, Brenda Mandziej sang for us, Janet Grieve sang and Charlotte Best performed a rendition of 'Big Spender'. Other performers included Ben Horrobin, Tad Mandziej (trying to play music on a sheep) and our very successful youth players. A great time was had by all and in doing so we raised £450 for the Childrens Hospice SW - which was remarkable.

Thanks to all who helped make it a success. Allan and Brenda for organising, Gill White for her expertise in managing the rush at the door, Jane Mattravers for selling the raffle tickets, Dave Walder for his technical efforts (superb as usual) and Bob & Mary Lintott for allowing us the use of their garden for the evening.

Cinderella Awards 2005

We all travelled to Yeovil on 21st May 2005 for the annual Cinderella Awards Ceremony. As usual we went there knowing that we had put on a good show for Panto at the OK Corral, but we werent expecting too much success at the awards! How wrong we were. in all we came away with 6 major awards. They were as follows;

A great evening was had by all, and congratulations must go to ALL involved in 'Panto at the OK Corral'. Another brilliant team effort from Roadwater!!!