Outstanding LAMDA success for Churcher’s College students at Godalming Festival

It was an outstanding year for Churcher’s College at the Godalming Festival with students winning prizes in almost every category and level, including 27 pupils achieving 1st place and 5 trophies!

Churcher’s College entered over 70 pupils this year to the Godalming Festival, including 30 who were performing for the first time. The Festival had 620 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 Presenting. 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 seven years, originally starting with 11 entries and growing each year. We are very proud of the students’ achievements, in particular the 30 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. It gives them so much confidence and is a fantastic life skill. The pupils who take LAMDA and participate at the Festival generally also usually get involved in Churcher’s College productions. Hopefully they will continue to perform at university level and have the experience to cope with presenting when it comes to their jobs for the future.’

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 two weekends to support their pupils and watch them perform. All parents can watch their children in a friendly family environment; their support is also very important. Pupils and teachers obtain feedback from the adjudicators which is very useful for students learning and development.

The results were outstanding this year with pupils winning 5 Trophies & 27 achieving a 1st Place.

Adam Tutt won the Teresa Mahoney Trophy for Solo Acting Yr 12/13 with a mark of 91 with honours.

Anna Hedges & Maddie Housden won the Hannaford Cup for movement & drama with 90 marks & honours.

Julian Greig & India Wakeland won the Pro Arte Cup for Duo Acting Yr 13 & under with 90 marks & honours.

Two groups came joint 1st, winning the Thespian Trophy for Group Acting with 88 marks & a distinction for their performance of The Twits by Roald Dahl. They included: Ben Shine, Roscoe Davey & Nieve Carson in group 1 & Ben Prodger, William Dean & Louis Oxley in group 2.

Holly Pyke won the Tyndale Trophy for Religious Text Reading with a mark of 86.

Pupils who gained a 1st place included the following: Jack Catto & Alex Fairbrass with a mark of 90 & honours for Duo Acting. Rachel Newberry & Kirsty Foreman, Anna-Blue Renshaw & Emily Sandberg, Jackson Wilks & Millie Cooke-Priest, Lauren Walton & Amelie Hampshire, Hannah Edmondson & Amy Robinson for Duo Acting. Marianna Whistlecroft for Solo Acting, Phoebe Batt for Storytelling & Olivia Bristow for her Talk.