Abergavenny’s amateur theatrical community swept the board at the recent National Operatic and Dramatic Society (Wales and Ireland Region) Awards evening held at the Three Counties Hotel in Hereford.

The region is divided into Districts of which Abergavenny falls into District 3.

The evening started well with Andrew Fowler being awarded Best Youth Performer for his role as Prince Charming in VIG’s production of Into the Woods, which also won the award for Best Technical and Staging.

This was swiftly followed by Alys le Moignan and Patrick Callaghan being jointly awarded Best Performer for their roles in AAODS Sister Act.

AAODS also gained the Best Production Award for the District again for Sister Act.

“Someone who doesn’t ask for any reward but deserves it as much as anyone is Rob Poynter. who he is always there behind the scenes – literally,” said AAODS chairman Jill Murray.

“Rob was nominated by AAODS for the Achievement Award as he helps them, as well as the other local societies, with the staging of their shows and everyone was thrilled that his work was acknowledged and he was presented with the award,” she said.

And so the evening progressed to the Regional Awards for the whole of Wales and Ireland.

AAODS Junior show – Moby Dick, the Musical! was awarded Best Youth Production for Wales and Ireland. This was swiftly followed by Best Performer being awarded to Alys le Moignan for her portrayal of Deloris in Sister Act. Her talent shone through in this show and she is hoping to pursue a career in theatre.

The icing on the cake came when Sister Act was also awarded Best Production in Wales and Ireland.

“It was a clean sweep for the show – and as anyone who saw the performance would agree, worthy winners,” said Jill.

AAODS are delighted to have had their work recognised and would like to thank Jaci Brickley Clark, Sarah Fowler and Rob Jenkins who were responsible for directing their shows and achieving such high standards of production, as well as all the offstage crew who make the show come to life.

AAODS have already performed this year’s show 9 to 5 which has been judged as worthy of nomination for next year’s awards, and their Junior section have just begun rehearsals for their next show Hairspray Jr accompanied by a showcase of their talents.