Sylvia Rogerson

President / Chair of Committee / Trustee

I joined LADOS in 1969 and my first show was "Kiss me Kate", Although not a trained dancer I managed to get myself into the dance troupe - we weren't as professional as dancers today. The next year we did "The Vagabond King" and such was my love of the theatre that I did the show whilst pregnant with my third child. I was in a small cameo playing a nun and after that show we started rehearsing for "The Sound of Music", where I played a nun again! Fortunately, I gave birth in the July before the performance in October and became a more respectable looking nun.

After that I played many small roles too numerous to mention, my last being Mrs Harcourt in "Anything Goes". I've loved every minute of being on stage but after Anything Goes in 2005, I decided to put the "9 and 5 sticks" into the make-up box for good and join the committee.

It's hard to portray here the fun and friendships that being in amateur dramatics brings to people. For instance I have been friends with Audrey Tarney for 50 years and we are still friends with others who have left. When you rehearse or on stage all your troubles and worries just melt away for that short time. In the old days the apres show involved a good old sing along in the dressing rooms until the early hours. Some great nights!

In 2019 after 16 years as a City Councillor I stood down and became an Honorary Alderman and that same year I was presented with a medal for 50 years in LADOS - not bad going! As I write this I am Chair of the Committee, I don't think the 'me' of 1969 would have thought I would still be in LADOS, never mind Chair of the committee.

My role now is chairing committee meetings and in show week is to meet and greet and hospitality. Watching the shows each night I can't help wishing I was up there with them!

Audrey Tarney

Secretary / Business Manager / Trustee

I joined LADOS in September 1970 having been persuaded by family friends. My first show was "The King & I" and that was it - a fairly quiet 18 year old found her feet - and her voice! Since that time firm friendships have been formed - we have gone from being frivolous 20 year olds to the Golden Girls - from the partying that used to take place we now enjoy meals out, talking about our grandchildren, ailments, medication and our personal losses. Always there for each other no matter what.

As well as being on stage in the chorus/dancers (pre the almost professionalism of today) I became a Committee member in the early 80's - mainly as I felt the Society was too male led - certainly not the case today. I was Membership Secretary for many years prior to taking over as Secretary/Trustee in 2004, following in the footsteps of Chris (Pom) Riley and Margaret Hartley. I recall Margaret handing me some folders when I was taking over, with the comment, "perhaps you can type these up" - she had gone through all the Minutes since 1891 and written out the important parts. It took years to finally finish typing them with the help of Hazel Beckett (fellow Committee member).

It is important to keep the Society going for future generations. Who would have thought when I first walked through the doors of the Customs House back in 1970, where LADOS were then based, that 50 years on I would still be there as Secretary/Business Manager - meeting people who would change my life in such a positive way. Since the pandemic there have been so many changes and it was good to have the time out from rehearsals and meetings.

After the hiatus brought about by the pandemic, which gave me a much needed break due to personal reasons, LADOS got back to doing shows - we staged ELF at Lancaster Grand in January 2022 and for once I almost celebrated my birthday at the theatre. It was lovely to have my two young granddaughters watching the show and knowing they love musical theatre as much as I do. When we did our sell out production of Sister Act in May 2023 little did we know the King would select our final day for the Coronation, but fortunately we still had sell out shows.

I was delighted to have been given a Special Achievement Award by NODA earlier in 2024, not sure I deserve it just for doing something I enjoy, but it has been gratefully received. NODA was set up in 1899 and came from an idea by a member of LADOS that a group should be set up whereby societies could support each other, this continues to the present day. We were thrilled to have been asked by the then NODA President in 2019 to perform at the Presidential Gala in Southport.

Like Sylvia I sometimes have the urge to get up on stage with the cast but I am not sure the arthritic back will allow for this.

Dawn Naylor

Treasurer

Dawn first helped backstage when she was in her teens, but then took a break whilst she went to University in Ripon. She moved back to Lancaster in 2004, and came back to LADOS in 2005/2006 and joined her dad, Cliff Beckett, as part of the props team 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 she somehow found time to join the LADOS general committee after being elected at the AGM in 2011. Her biggest challenge so far on the props team has been negotiating the handcart and bed, backstage, during Fiddler on the Roof, and as anyone who has ever been backstage during a performance knows, there isn't much room around there when there are large props to be moved and stored!

Dawn took on the daunting task of Treasurer from Frank Dewhurst in the autumn of 2012, little realising she would have a baptism of fire, with not one, but two shows to deal with in 2013, with The Producers in May and Grease in September.

Hazel Beckett

Trustee

Hazel joined LADOS in the autumn of 1977 as part of the props team for the 1978 production of The Merry Widow. She has been involved with props in one way or another for over 41 years, until after the 2019 production of Jesus Christ Superstar when she decided to hang up her Props sweatshirt for the final time, and join her two fellow trustees Front of House, although she has said she will really miss the hustle and bustle of being backstage after so many years.

Following the retirement of David Brierley as a Trustee in 2020, Hazel was asked if she would take on this role, which she agreed to do, and was duly appointed in 2021.

Between 2002 and 2018 Hazel also took on the role of prompt which had its own challenges, especially during rehearsals for the 2007 production of Fiddler on the Roof, when it was discovered that the male lead had been working from a different version of the script to the one which she had been given to use as prompt, with hilarious results!

Hazel was awarded her 45 years Service Bar in 2023.

Cliff Beckett

Committee Member

Cliff joined LADOS as a member of the props team for the 1989 production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers which was quite appropriate, as he married wife Hazel seven days after this production finished its run. He is still involved with the props team, which is currently headed up by his daughter, Dawn Naylor, however, following a heart attack in December 2018 he has taken a step back, and will unfortunately no longer be able to lift and shift the heavier props on and off the stage.

Cliff has been a member of the general committee for a number of years now, and has taken many of the photos of the dress rehearsals which appear on the website.

Cliff was awarded his 30 year service bar in 2018

Matthew Boardman

Committee Member

Matt is relatively new to the am dram scene making his musical debut in 2018 playing Alfie Doolittle in Lancaster Red Rose's production of 'My Fair Lady'. He joined LADOS in 2022 for the production of Elf and has been in every show since. Due to troubles with asthma, he sadly couldn't perform in Elf, however, Matt was to return the same year for the production of 'Calendar Girls the musical' playing Rod. Since then he has portrayed the evil Curtis in 'Sister Act' and Moonface Martin in 'Anything Goes'. Very recently, Matt has landed the iconic role of Willy Wonka in the 2025 production of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

Away from the theatre, Matt works as a primary school teacher in Morecambe and lives with his wife, Gemma and six children (often joking that he has a class at home as well as at school!). In January 2024, following further issues with his asthma, Matt took the decision to improve his fitness by making significant health and lifestyle changes. By September 2024, Matt had lost 70 lbs (5 stone).

Matt says he is raring to go to work alongside some fantastic people and help the committee to strive to make LADOS as successful as possible.

Holly Brown

Committee Member

Holly made her LADOS debut as one of the children in our 2002 production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and was a dancer in "Kiss Me Kate" in 2003. Fast forward 15 years and she choreographed our 2018 production of "Kiss Me, Kate". In fact Holly has been our Choreographer since 2014 and is working her magic once again for "Elf the Musical".

Holly throws herself 100% into any production, and always gets into the thick of the routines right alongside the cast. Even those members with 'two left feet', soon find themselves being able to join in with everyone else in Holly's slick routines. Coming from a dancing background, with a mum who is the 'Read' in the Robinson Read School of Dance, it is no wonder that Holly is such a great dancer, which she has proved in previous LADOS shows such as 'Jesus Christ, Superstar' and 'Kiss Me Kate'. Having danced practically as soon as she could walk, she won many trophies and was offered a place at the prestigious 'Millennium Dance 2000', where she stayed from 2004 to 2007. She returned to the area to get married, and is now mum to two young children, as well as working in the dance school, and she also teaches at Diddi Dance.

Lorraine Marcellini

Committee Member

A life long friend of our Producer Suzanne, Lorraine has recently joined the committee and brings to the table many years experience of musical theatre.

She has played leading roles for both MAODS and Lancaster Footlights, the most memorable being Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady which won her the NODA award for best actress. For several years Lorraine has been involved with LADOS. She helps out back stage as make up artist to the men, making them look as beautiful as possible!

Apart from her love of show business, Lorraine has been successful in family business all of her working life and in her spare time loves to travel the world!

Charlotte McCaffrey

Committee Member

John Savage

Membership Secretary / Committee Member

John first appeared on the stage of Lancaster Grand in December 1962 when a pupil at The Friends' School. On moving to Pilling, he joined the drama group before college and seven years teaching in Ipswich. Returning to Pilling he re-joined the group, recently completing 40 years as actor, director and writer.

Four years ago eldest daughter Claire, got him into musical theatre, firstly appearing with MAODS in 'Evita' then joining LADOS and GMP. Favourite roles in drama include Gerry Evans in 'Dancing at Lughnasa' and Sergeant Plod in 'Inspector Drake and the Black Widow' and in musical theatre Harold Wilson in 'Made in Dagenham' and Baptista in 'Kiss Me, Kate'.

Outside of theatre he chairs Pilling Parish Council and is an active musician playing various instruments, mainly saxophone in a wind band and a dance band.

James Shields

Committee Member

Andrew Thompson

Committee Member

Andrew made his LADOS debut in 2000 playing the part of Gideon in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, after which he left the area to attend University and start a career within the NHS.

In 2017 Andrew returned to LADOS and West Side Story and has been involved with the society since then. He is also an active member of Storth Entertainers and has appeared in many shows with them over the years. Most recently he played the part of Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl which awarded him the NODA North West District 11 Award for Best Comedy Performance. Andrew enjoys the fun of pantomimes and the drama of straight plays but his real passion is musicals.

Andrew welcomes the opportunity to take an active role within the committee and is looking forward to helping shape the LADOS of the future!

Mark Brierley

Webmaster, Photography and Design

Mark is not a Committee Member, but we have to stick the Webmaster somewhere! With strong family connections to LADOS, Mark is the cousin of our current Producer Suzanne, first cousin to our choreographer Holly, nephew of the late David and Peggy Brierley, and brother of Gary who appeared in several productions back in the 1990s. Through his Web & App Development company AGMTEK, Mark has been producing the LADOS website since 2016.

The site was completely redesigned and re-written. The old site only went back as far as 2005 but Mark was determined to draw on the entire history of LADOS. This involved scanning, re-touching and publishing the original programmes from every single production since the inaugural production in 1892. Together with dress rehearsal photos from every production since 1987 as well as others going back even further, where available. With all this additional information, Mark was also able to create a searchable database of every single person credited in a LADOS production.

In 2019 Mark took on a more active role taking the photos at the technical and dress rehearsals which appear on the website. Mark also handles our media and graphics requirements across social and print media and the all important Show Programme.

At the end of July 2023 Mark decided he needed to reboot his fitness and embarked on a total lifestyle change including diet and an intense gym programme. Early on he decided to add an extra goal of running the Great North Run in September 2024. By March 2024 he had lost over 40kg (6st 4lb) of weight. A regular at the Blackpool 5K ParkRun, Mark took part in his first mass participation run in August 2024 (the 7.5K Blackpool Night Run) ahead of his first half marathon - the World's Largest - the Great North Run on 8th September 2024. Running every step of the 21KM (13.1 miles) he completed this in a very respectable 2 hrs 22 mins. He is fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK via his Just Giving - www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024. You can follow his "Road to Newcastle" here at www.gnr2024.co.uk.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", in 2025, will be Mark's seventh production working across media, photos, graphics and programme design.