A retired schoolteacher and long-standing member of LADOS, Alan seemed the obvious choice to take over from Peggy Brierley when her term of office as President of the society came to an end in September 2011. This is not Alan’s first stint as an official of the society, as he was a committee member for a number of years, and was Chairman in 2005 and again between 2007 and 2010, when he stepped down from committee duties.

Alan has been a stalwart of the local Am.Dram scene for many years as a member of several amateur societies, as well as being part of the ‘Loyne Barber Shop Quartet’ and also singing with a local choir, The St. Lawrence Singers. He has played many memorable roles for LADOS, amongst them, the dual role of Fred Graham/Petruccio in the 1981 production of Kiss Me, Kate, Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks in Annie in 1995, Fagin in Oliver in 1992, George in both the 1995 and 1999 productions of La Cage Aux Folles and a high priest in Jesus Christ Superstar both in 1996 and also the 2002 production staged in the Lancaster Priory.

Way back in September 1970 Audrey joined LADOS and was cast as an Amazon (Guard) in the 1971 production of  ‘The King & I’. Audrey joined the Committee in the early 80’s and was Membership Secretary for many years prior to taking over as Secretary in 2004 – following in the footsteps of Chris (Pom) Riley and Margaret Hartley who she says are tough acts to follow. Audrey feels the choice of ‘Guys & Dolls’ for 2012 is a good one – and she should know- in 1974 she was a ‘Hot Box Girl’ together with fellow committee member Sylvia Rogerson and both ‘moved on’ in 1998 to the Salvation Army. Will they be treading the boards this year – who knows – time will tell………….

Frank joined L.A.D.O.S. in 1977, taking over from his wife, Jean when she took time out to have their youngest son. He has played many cameo roles, usually involving such props. as ladders and fishing rods! He became Treasurer after taking early retirement from working at Heysham Power Station, and has carefully looked after our finances ever since. With his canny, no nonsense approach, he makes sure we don’t get too carried away with our spending! Part of his duties involve ticket booking, and liaison between the Society and the theatre box office which is an involved, and time consuming task.

Jess joined the society in 2007 for our 2008 production of Singin in the Rain, since then Jess has worked for us in a backstage capacity as a Matron and as part of the props team. She was elected to committee in 2009. A keen interest in all things Theatre, Jess is an active member of Lancaster Footlights and by day she is a Personal Care Assistant.

Sylvia has been with the Society since 1968 when she was a mere slip of a girl. She has been involved with many aspects of the amateur theatre both on stage and off. For several years she ran the Society’s publicity campaigns, drawing on her experience as the former Ceremonies Officer at Lancaster University. Sylvia has played many roles for L.A.D.O.S., but perhaps her most challenging role to date, was that of a nun in ‘The Sound of Music’ in 1970, whilst pregnant with son Robert, who is also now a member of L.A.D.O.S.! Sylvia is also a member of Lancaster City Council, and spends several weeks each year at her ‘retreat’ in Spain to recharge her batteries.   Sylvia received her 40 year NODA bar after our 2009 production of Carousel.

Cliff has been a member of LADOS since 1988 when he joined for the 1989 production of ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’…which was quite appropriate, as he married wife, Hazel the week after the show finished! One of Cliff’s hobbies is photography, which comes in handy, as he takes all the publicity and programme photographs for the society. He is also a member of the publicity committee, and is part of the props team, together with daughter, Dawn…just to keep it in the family! In 1992, Cliff was the dog handler during the production of ‘Oliver’, looking after Clemantine who played the part of Bullseye, a role which involved him rolling a dog biscuit on stage at the crucial point each night, to ensure that ‘Clemmie’ didn’t miss her cue! They say everyone has their 15 minutes of fame, and Cliff got his (well, 20 minutes actually!) each night during the run of ‘Guys and Dolls’ in 1998, when Peggy Brierley persuaded him to play the part of the newspaper vendor, omitting to tell him he would be onstage for the opening chorus, plus the whole of Scene 1!

Hazel joined L.A.D.O.S. for the 1978 production of “The Merry Widow” having been talked into becoming part of the props. team. Twenty five years later, she decided that always wearing black and dashing on and off stage almost as much as the cast, was no longer for her, so she retired to the prompt corner to make sure that the cast kept to the script – well, in theory anyway! However, during rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof in 2007, her job was not made any easier, when it was discovered that some of the cast had been given a different version of the script to the one she was working from! Hazel has served on the general committee, on and off since 1984, and has recently been elected as Vice Chairman, in addition to which, she has taken over the role as Membership Secretary.

Jo joined the Society in 1989 for ‘Hello Dolly’ and has been involved with every production since then. Even whilst she was expecting her little boy, Henry and couldn’t go on stage, she worked behind the scenes as part of the props. team. Jo works very hard in contacting other organisations to arrange party bookings, which is not an easy task! As a former buyer for a national mail order wine company, Jo’s considerable talents, and contacts, are put to good use in organising the liquid refreshment for the after show party!

In 2007, we discovered that Jo has a fantastic pair of lungs…as her performance as Fruma Sarah in the ‘dream sequence’ in  Fiddler on the Roof proved!   Her latest triumph was as Dora Bailey in Singin’ in the Rain.

Dawn first helped backstage when she was in her teens, but took a break when she went to University in Ripon, where she met her husband Steven. They set up home in Harrogate after their wedding in 2000 and moved back to Lancaster in 2004. After the birth of their daughter in 2005, Dawn came back to LADOS and joined her dad, Cliff Beckett, as part of the props team in 2006 for Hot Mikado.

Dawn took over her own accountancy business in January 2011, and is a busy working mum with two young children to look after, but has found time to join the LADOS general committee after being elected at the AGM in 2011. To date, her biggest challenge has been negotiating the handcart and bed, backstage, during Fiddler on the Roof, as anyone who has ever been backstage during a performance knows, there isn’t much room around when large props have to be moved and stored!

Suzanne joined us for our 2005 production of Anything Goes as a member of the props team. She continued to work backstage the following year for Hot Mikado and finally graduated onto the Stage for our 2007 production of Fiddler on the Roof. Since then Suzanne has appeared in all our productions and was welcomed onto the Committee in 2009. By day, Suzanne is a solicitor and spends much of her time in court, thankfully on the “right” side of the dock!