Dendy Harris becomes new Chairperson
The Annual General Meeting of the SFD was packed on Saturday afternoon as members and representatives from societies from across Somerset crowded into the village hall meeting room at Ruishton. There was one common goal: to save the Somerset Fellowship of Drama.
Following the previous decision of the committee to wind down activities because of a shortage of volunteers the chair of the SFD, Sam Allen outlined the issues. In essence, although we have strong teams of adjudicators there are some key roles that are vacant or shortly to become vacant and the organisation has only managed to keep going because of committee members taking on two, or even three, jobs.
With a determination from the societies present to find more volunteers, however, it was agreed that there was a real possibility that the organisation could be saved and that it could continue to operate at least most of its competitions. Dendy Harris had put her name forward to chair the organisation and her appointment was unanimously and enthusiastically agreed.
Dendy thanked everyone for placing their trust in her. She added, "We will only succeed in keeping SFD alive, well and looking forward to the future, by working together across Somerset. Amateur dramatics in its various guises, is well & truly alive & kicking in our county. It’s over to all of us to maintain and build on this. I’m looking forward to whatever challenges lie ahead and moving onwards and upwards.”
In stepping down Sam Allen thanked the committee for all their hard work and wished Dendy and the entire team well for the future. He said, “It is great to have Dendy taking over. Her input and enthusiasm will give the SFD a new lease of life.” But he went on to warn: “If Dendy is to succeed, the groups are going to have to follow through on their commitment to find new volunteers for the key roles. If that happens, I predict a bright future for the SFD.”
The committee will now concentrate on the next steps so watch this space for further news.
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