Churcher's College students excel at Godalming Festival 2019

It was another very successful year for Churcher’s College at the Godalming Festival in 2019 with students winning prizes in almost every category including 17 pupils achieving 1st place and three trophies.

Churcher’s College entered over 60 pupils this year at the Festival, including 20 who were performing for the first time. The Festival had around 600 participants this year and offered a wide variety of classes in all the disciplines of the performing arts including Solo Acting, Duo Acting, Group Acting, Devised Acting, Humorous Verse Speaking, Prose Reading, Sight Reading, Storytelling, Religious Text Reading, Musical Theatre, Talks & TV News Reading. Churcher’s College participated with students in almost every section.

Zoe Walker, LAMDA teacher, said: “Churcher’s College has been taking part in the Godalming Festival for 8 years originally starting with 11 entries and growing each year. We are very proud of the student’s achievements, particularly the 20 pupils who had never performed at the Festival before – it takes a lot of nerve to be able to stand up in front of an audience of any size when you are only 11 years old!”

“We look forward to continuing the tradition of the Godalming Festival for future years as it is invaluable for pupils to be able to get up there and perform in front of an audience as it gives them so much confidence and is a fantastic life skill. The pupils who take LAMDA and participate at the Festival also take part in Churcher’s College productions. Hopefully they will continue to perform after school at University level.”

The Churcher’s College LAMDA department includes teachers Zoe Walker, Susie Arnold and Jenny Clarke who prepare their pupils for the Festival and volunteer to be there over a weekend to support their pupils and watch them perform. All parents can watch their children in a friendly family environment and their support is also very important to us. Pupils and teachers obtain feedback from the adjudicators which is very useful for students’ learning and development.

Pupils who obtained a 1st place position or a trophy are listed below:

• Roscoe Davey, Ben Shine and Jackson Wilks won the Thespian Trophy for Outstanding Group Drama for their piece ‘Gents’ with a mark of 89 & a Distinction.
• Henry Plewes and Oliver Fogelin won the Duologue Pro-Art Cup for Duo Acting with their Duologue ‘Of Mice and Men’ with a mark of 87 and a Distinction.
• Holly Pyke won the Tyndale Trophy for Religious Text Reading with a mark of 84.
• Pupils who gained a 1st place with Distinction included the following:
• Duo Acting: Kirsty Foreman and Rachel Newberry, Freya Davey & Amy Gaisford, Alex Fairbrass & Dylan Atkinson, Annabel Bates & Katie Withers.
• Solo Acting with Distinction: Megan Cullen and Harriet Bates.
• Storytelling: Phoebe Batt.