Bolsover Drama Group

Members of the group ready to set off for the 2008 Sponsored Walk Members of the group will be taking part in a sponsored walk this summer to help raise funds for the group and the upkeep of the Bannister Chapel.  The group organise a sponsored walk every two years, which is open to members of the adult and youth sections, and friends and family of the group. Following on from an enjoyable and successful walk in the summer sunshine from Darley Bridge to Youlgreave and back in 2008 the group will be taking in the picturesque Monsal Dale and surrounding area. This year’s walk will be held on Sunday 29th August, starting at 10.00am at Miller’s Dale Station and takes in the picturesque surroundings of Monsal Dale from Miller’s Dale to Monsal Head via Water-cum-Jolly, returning along the Monsal Trail – a total distance of 12.5km (7¾ miles) including stops at The Monsal Head Hotel and the Angler’s Rest. The walk is open to anyone who would like to take part—adult and youth members, friends a

Co-vice Chairman Chris Peck receives the donation from Warsop Rotary Club's John Benison (left) and Graham Goff (right) Towards the end of 2009 Paula Bargh and Dawn Shearwood helped the Rotary Club of Warsop present a short pantomime as part of their festivities, during which Paula and Dawn helped coach the members during a rehearsal and assisted with providing costumes from the Chapel.  On the evening Paula helped do make up for members taking part while Dawn did sound and lights for the show.  The show was followed by Paula and Dawn performing a few musical numbers. During the production of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ earlier this year the Rotary club approached the group to make a donation in recognition of Dawn and Paula’s assistance. John Benison (left) and Graham Goff from The Rotary Club of Warsop attended a rehearsal for the youth section’s production of ‘High School Musical’ to present a cheque for a £250 donation to the group. We would like to thank the Rotary Club for their

The 2010 Bolsover Drama Group Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 8th July 2010 at The Assembly Rooms. The evening allowed members to review the minutes of the previous year’s meeting, approve the accounts for the year ending 30th April 2010, discuss the committee’s work for the year 2009-10 based upon the group’s Key Activity Report and elect the committee for the 2010-11 year. The posts of Chairperson, Co-vice Chairperson and Minute Secretary were up for re-election along with all members of the committee with the exception of Hazel Simpson, who is co-opted onto the committee to assist the group’s fundraising applications. Kim Sas and Dale Shaw both stepped down for 2010-11 and were thanked for their help and support during their time on the committee. The committee for 2010-11 was agreed as: Chairman Mick Whitehouse Vice-Chairman Steve Sowerby Co-Vice Chairman Chris Peck Secretary Janet Atkinson Treasurer Chris Booth Minute Secretary Lesley Seaston Committee Members Paula Ba

Bolsover Drama Group was honoured to be invited to take part in the celebrations for Palterton School’s centenary at a gala held on Saturday 19th June. Members of the adult and youth sections performed a selection of songs from the youth section’s production of ‘High School Musical’ and the forthcoming musical ‘Carousel’.

Lesley Seaston is presented with a 15 year long-service award at the 2010 Annual Dinner and Dance Bolsover Drama Group held its Annual Dinner and Dance on Saturday 24 th April at the Grassmoor Golf Club Hardwich Suite. As a group we pride ourselves on providing a thriving social community off-stage as well as on-stage, and our annual dinner and dance is one example of the regular events we hold.  Members, friends of the group and honorary members were invited to the evening, along with guests of the group Shearer Thurlby and Ann Simpson. Following a three-course meal long-service awards were presented to Istvan Koszegi and Chris Peck (10 years), Mick Whitehouse and Lesley Seaston (15 years), Steve Sowerby (20 years) and Ken Radmore (25 years), after which the night was concluded with a disco and the chance for members to socialise. We would like to thank all the staff at Grassmoor Golf Club for their hospitality during what proved to be a successful and enjoyable evening

Following nominations for our production of the play ‘Out of Order’ in 2007 and the pantomime ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves’ and the play ‘It Runs in the Family’ in 2008 Bolsover Drama Group are pleased to be nominated once again for the 2009 NODA East Midlands regional awards. We have received nominations for our production of ‘Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates’ for the region 2 pantomime award and ‘Murdered to Death’ for the region 2 play award. The results of the awards will have been announced at the NODA East Midlands AGM cabaret and awards ceremony on 9 th May at Loughborough Town Hall. The chance to be nominated for awards such as these is one benefit we gain from being affiliated to NODA , the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, who also offer advice, information and workshops to amateur dramatics groups throughout the country.

Over the course of two weekends in March members of the group gave up their Saturdays to sort and catalogue the vast number of costumes the group had acquired during its 29 year existence. While a large costume collection can be beneficial to an amateur theatre group, our collection had grown too large for its storage area. After sifting through the costumes we ended up with a number of items that we had forgotten about, which we catalogued for future use, and some which we felt we would never use again or had unfortunately fallen victim to time and damp, which we decided to remove from the Chapel. This event followed on from a similar exercise last summer where old scenery, rubble and weeds were cleared from the chapel and its surrounding area – both activities have allowed us to clear space for work within the chapel, and also allow us to tidy up items we do need to keep. It’s not an easy job as the chapel is in use all year round constructing scenery for the current production, bu