News

This year’s Wayfarers Pantomime, Cinderella, has been crowned Best Panto in Somerset at the annual Somerset Fellowship of Drama Awards. In view of the current lockdown restrictions, the evening’s presentations were made live online, watched by members of 23 societies from across the county. Wayfarers were nominated in 13 different sections: – Junior Group – Comedy Duo – Ben Dunton and Peter Meredith – Dance Troupe – Female Singer – Hannah Carolan – Romantic Duet – Hannah Carolan & Ben…

It is with great sadness we report the passing of the founder of the Wayfarers, Gordon MacDonald, following a long illness. Mac, as he was known, established the Wayfarers in 1962 as a group of entertainers who travelled to different venues with music, song, dance and laughter. In 1969 Mac wrote and produced the first Wayfarers Pantomime and the rest, as they say, is history. There are many with fond memories of Mac and the following is from long standing…

The conclusion of the panto season in Somerset brought together 22 societies of varying sizes to meet at the Rookery Manor Hotel for the annual Somerset Fellowship of Drama Cinderella Awards. During 3 months the 22 pantomimes were split between 6 Adjudicators, with one moderator watching ALL 22 shows. From their collective reports the decisions are reached for a multitude of prizes and Awards. Following on from the success of Aladdin in 2018, Wayfarers once again stand tall in Somerset…

Cinderella Awards Nominations The Somerset Fellowship of Drama Cinderella Awards are coming soon. In a break with tradition, the organisers have given us a heads up on some of the categories we are nominated in for this year’s show, The Snow Queen: Animal – Martin Carpenter  Dame – Nigel McBrayne     Dance Female Singer – Jennifer Holland-Brewer           Linkman – Ben Dunton       Principal Boy – Hannah Carolan   Principal Girl – Anna Howe Villain – Jennifer Holland-Brewer We do expect to be nominated…

Following Aladdin’s success at the Cinderella Awards in 2018, winning the overall Best Pantomime in Somerset and receiving the Rose Bowl in recognition of the fact, Aladdin has now been nominated for the NODA South West, Best Pantomime Award. The presentation night is the 16th March in Plymouth and a table of 12 will be there to cheer the Wayfarers on.

What happens to the bucket collection money? Well, each year we try to support two charities and this year has been no exception. Our audiences very kindly donated £1120.00 across the week, meaning we were able to give the two charities £560 each. While our contribution seems small when the target is £1 Million, the MRI Scanner Appeal team at Musgrove Park Hospital were delighted to receive our cheque from Chairman, Martin Howe, and Treasurer, Keith Smith.   By the…

The Committee were on hand to present a Cheque for £550 to Alan Hall of Children’s Hospice South West, which was half the money collected in the after show bucket collection for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The other half of the collection was presented to Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Service.

Our picture shows Keith Smith, Pam Bishop and Terry Wood presenting a cheque for £550 to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. This is half the amount from the bucket collection, with the other half to be presented to Children’s Hospice South West.

A merry band of Wayfarers travelled to the Somerset Federation of Drama’s Cinderella Awards Evening at the Haynes Motor Museum. 29 Societies across Somerset were to be considered for a raft of awards, with each greeted by loud cheering and shouting from the 220+ gathered together for the evening. While we did not achieve the success we had last year, we did have one win: Best Theatre Stage Management: Garry Stacey & Martin Lock RETAINED the award they won last…