News
We are so proud to announce that WCAODS won SIX awards at the NODA District 5 Awards last night, including the prestigious Best Musical!
As usual, this annual celebration of amateur theatre was very well attended and showcased the amazing talent we have in this area.
Our winners were:
Best Musical - "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"
Best Leading Female Character in a Musical - Catherine Hall for "Beautiful: the Carole King Musical"
Best Choreographer of a Musical - Lara Syddall for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"
Youth Ovation Award (in recognition of growing talent in backstage craft) - Hannah Feakin and Bethany Bentham for directing "Disney's High School Musical Jr"
Best Supporting Female Character in a Youth Musical - Niamh Turner for "Disney's High School Musical Jr"
Best Youth Ensemble - for "Disney's High School Musical Jr"
Congratulations to all our winners and nominees and to everyone involved in these fantastic productions.
The WCAODS Annual Dinner has been booked for Saturday, 15th March at Dunscar Golf Club (7pm).
This is the biggest social event of our year, when all our members and friends get to meet up, have a chat, and enjoy a lovely meal and great entertainment. Please bring your friends and family too! We'd love to see you.
The cost is only £30 per person and this year we're re-introducing a dress code of black tie, so it'll be even more swanky! Payment direct to the society's account at 01-30-99 05857945 by the end of February please.
There's a choice of starters, main courses and desserts, so come down to the Hall on a rehearsal night and put your choices on the board (or ask someone to put them on for you).
It's going to be a great do! And the more people we have, the better it will be.
We're very excited to announce that we have two new shows in the pipeline.
Following our current production of "Sister Act" our November show for this year will be "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". This is a thrilling and epic musical based on the Victor Hugo novel with songs from the Disney animated film.
Then in November 2026, we shall be presenting Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", a wonderful, magical family musical based on the Disney film.
Our April 2026 production is yet to be announced but watch this space!
For details, see our Forthcoming Productions page.
WCAODS have once again had a MASSIVE number of nominations for the NODA North West District 5 awards presentation in February. In total, we landed TWENTY-TWO nominations for all our shows in 2024: Little Grimley, Beautiful, High School Musical Jr and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Good luck to all our nominees for February! Here are the nominations in full:
Best Comedy Performance in a Drama | Steve Benson | Last Tango in Little Grimley/Last Panto in Little Grimley |
Best Leading Female Character in a Musical | Catherine Hall | Beautiful |
Best Comedy Performance in a Musical | Joe Connor | Beautiful |
Best Supporting Female Character in a Musical | Vicki Wilson | Beautiful |
Best Supporting Male Character in a Musical | Alan Moss | Beautiful |
Best Youth Production | High School Musical Jr. | |
Best Director of a Youth Production | Hannah Feakin & Bethany Bentham | High School Musical Jr. |
Best Leading Male Character in a Youth Production | Matthew Shallicker | High School Musical Jr. |
Best Leading Female Character in a Youth Production | Clara Bardsley | High School Musical Jr. |
Best Supporting Female Character in a Youth Musical | Ellie Hogg | High School Musical Jr. |
Best Supporting Female Character in a Youth Musical | Niamh Turner | High School Musical Jr. |
Best Youth Ensemble | High School Musical Jr. | |
Best Musical | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | |
Best Director of a Musical | Nora Howcroft | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Musical Director of a Musical | Cath Hilton | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Choreographer of a Musical | Lara Syddall | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Staging of a Musical | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | |
Best Leading Female Character in a Musical | Olivia O'Connell | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Leading Male Character in a Musical | Steve Benson | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Leading Male Character in a Musical | Joshua Clayton-Heal | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Supporting Female Character in a Musical | Lauren Carroll | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Best Ensemble | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
Auditions will be held on Friday, 15th November from 7.30pm at Walmsley Parish Hall.
Audition pieces are on the Sister Act show page.
Amateur theatre in Bolton was celebrated in great style at the Annual BATS Dinner & Awards on Friday 30th August at the Last Drop Village. WCAODS had 15 nominations in various award categories and we were extremely proud that Catherine Hall won the award for Best Actress in a Musical for her outstanding portrayal of Carole King in Beautiful: the Carole King Musical.
Massive congratulations to Catherine and to all the nominees!
We are delighted to have been nominated for no less than 15 awards at the forthcoming BATS Awards Night on 30th August. Every one of our shows - Musicals, Play and Youth Group - have had at least one nominations: an outstanding achievement. Good luck to all our nominees.
The nominations are:
Best Musical | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical | |
Best Comedy | Last Tango in Little Grimley & Last Panto in Little Grimley | |
Best Junior Production | Disney's High School Musical Jr. | |
Best Director of a Musical | Nora Howcroft | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Choreography | Lara Syddall | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Actor in a Musical | Joe Connor | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Actor in a Musical | Joshua Clayton-Heal | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Actress in a Musical | Vicki Wilson | 9 to 5 |
Best Actress in a Musical | Catherine Hall | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical | Olivia O'Connell | 9 to 5 |
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical | Vicki Wilson | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical | Olivia O'Connell | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical | David Wilson | 9 to 5 |
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical | Michael Chesterfield | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
Best Female Junior Performer | Niamh Turner | Disney's High School Musical Jr. |
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