Pantomime groups from Brean and Burnham-On-Sea are this week celebrating after scooping awards at an annual ceremony.
More than 200 people from 21 pantomime Somerset groups gathered in Yeovil for the annual Cinderella Awards at the weekend when the very best actors, actresses and backstage helpers were given a well-deserved pat on the back.
Thirty members of Brean’s Coastline Players went along with 20 members of Burnham District Pantomime Group – and they didn’t leave empty handed.
The Coastline Players were delighted to pick up eight awards. The ‘Stars of The Future’ awards for under 14s went to Coastline’s Laura Probert, Hannah Brown and Emma Parish.
And ‘The Brokermen Awards’ went to Coastline’s Phil Crosland and Judith James; while the award for ‘Best Village Lighting’ was won by Coastline’s Brian Tagg.
The ‘Outstanding Performance Of The Year’ was won by Coastline’s John Robinson, while ‘Link Man Of The Year’ went to Coastline’s Edward James.
The Players also won the ‘Spotlight Shield’ – the top prize for village pantomimes – for the third year running following the successful production of Hickory Dickory Dock, produced by Sally Weston.
“We were very chuffed,” Coastline Players spokesman Phil Crosland told Burnham-On-Sea.com. “There were lots of awards given away on the night so it would be wrong to say we swept the board, but we did do very well indeed!”
The Coastline Players boasts about 50 members, 30 of whom perform front stage during pantomimes while the others help backstage or take part in social events throughout the year.
“The Cinderella Awards are like the ‘mini-Oscars’ of the local pantomime world. They are highly sought-after,” added Phil.
Members of the Burnham District Pantomime Group were celebrating too after picking up awards in the towns categories.
Derek Jones was delighted to pick up the gong for ‘best solo musician’, while the group as a whole won the ‘best special effects’ award.
Interested in joining a local panto group?
The Coastline Players will be holding their first read-through of their next performance – Treasure Island – on June 27th when anyone interested in joining or helping is invited to go along to Brean Village Hall at 7.30pm.
Burnham District Pantomime Society also welcomes new members and meets at Burnham-On-Sea Community Centre on the first Friday of the month at 8pm. All are very welcome.
