CALLY FOSTER LLAM MSTSD

Since her first appearance in a festival at the age of five Cally has been committed to the festival movement and has pursued a career as a speech and drama specialist.  She was the principal of her Buckinghamshire based drama studio for more than 20 years, combining that role with travelling  extensively in the UK, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Kuwait, the Emirates, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Australia as an examiner for LAMDA.

Cally also delivers workshops on all aspects of communication and performance.  She is an adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals and Vice Chairman of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama.

Cally believes that performing in festivals not only encourages an appreciation of the arts but also develops the communication and presentation skills so important in today’s world.  Cally is delighted to have been invited to adjudicate the Speech and Drama classes at the 2012 Coventry Speech and Drama Festival and wishes everyone an enjoyable as well as a positive experience.

A meeting of Trustees, Committee and invited guests will take place at The Q7 Club, 7 The Quadrant, Coventry, on Wednesday 22nd February starting at 8.00 p.m.

As no posts are up for election this year, at the meeting we will discuss the 2011 Festival and make plans for the coming year. If you are interested in coming to the meeting but have not had an invite – get in touch with Becky or Jane or – if you just wish to comment please send an email to covfsd@hotmail.co.uk.

The 2011 Festival was held at Bablake Drama Studio, Coundon Road, Coventry, on 19th November.  The Adjudicators were the ever popular David Biddle and Jane Killingbeck, our LEA English Advisor who judged the Public Speaking Class.  We would like to thank both our Adjudicators who made a fantastic contribution to the success of the day.

The Festival Committee would also like to say a huge thank you to all the stewards and helpers who made the day run so smoothly and to all our competitors and their teachers who worked so hard and produced such a wonderful selection of excellent performances.  The standard seems to get better every year!

Special congratulations to all the competitors and audience who sustained their interest throughout the very long Humorous Poem class in the afternoon – you were all fantastic and congratulations to the very worthy winner!  The committee have decided that in future we will try to restrict classes in this age group to one hour max but this will mean that we need to make sure we have dates of birth on the entry forms.

We were thrilled to have so many entries in the Public Speaking class and honoured to have The Shaun Hastie-Fuller Cup presented in memory of Shaun, a former competitor.  He was a keen poet and public speaker and we hope that the award will stimulate more interest in the category – after all, public speaking skills are useful in all aspects of life and are an excellent preparation for a successful future.