The Cinderella ball rolls on despite serious setback

Pam Price: SFD Secretary and Cinderella Trophy Competition coordinator

Pam Price, coordinator for the SFD's Cinderella Trophy Competition, and her husband, Roger, have been involved in a serious road traffic accident and are both in hospital with back injuries. It is likely to be some time before they are back in action. We at the SFD wish them both a speedy recovery and look forward to their return to SFD activities.

They both play pivotal roles in the Fellowship. Roger maintains the website and acts as SFD photographer. Pam is the SFD secretary, but most of you will know her from her role coordinating the SFD's annual pantomime competition. Not only does she hold the competition together by acting as the key point of contact for all our member societies, but she also ensures every panto is visited by an adjudicator and the moderator. And then she and Roger together collate all the marks in preparation for the adjudicator's meeting, and ensure societies receive a copy of the adjudication.

On top of all that, Pam plays a key role in organising the awards evening. She works with Moderator Nigel Ford to choose the venue, and then links with all the societies to arrange all the tickets, seating layout, menu choices (including special dietary requirements), and so much more besides. Roger collates and prints all the certificates while Pam gathers the trophies and ensures they are polished and ready for the big night. They are a formidable team. And with the awards evening scheduled for 15 May at the Batch, this is one of the busiest times of their year.

Cinderella Trophy Competition Moderator Nigel Ford

Nigel and his team of adjudicators met on Saturday to decide on all the nominations and winners for this year's competition and Nigel is determined that, despite this serious setback, the awards ceremony will take place as planned. And it has been a bumper year. With almost 30 entries, the standards are higher than ever, Nigel said, "This has been one of the most guarded and top-scoring results in local Pantomime history!" The results of the main competitions are decided by the marks awarded and only Pam and Nigel know who this year's winners are! So this year's awards evening promises to be super-exciting!

But Nigel is asking all the societies to be a little patient with ticket allocations this year. He is working with SFD Chair Dendy Harris to find people to take on the roles normally fulfilled by Pam and Roger, but the loss of such experience is a serious setback and it will take a little time to sort things out. So if you haven't had a response from Pam, bear with us. We're working hard to get everything back on track.

Everyone at the SFD wishes Pam and Roger well and we are hoping for a speedy recovery. And I am sure that every society will join us in our message of support and goodwill.