Chris Armes

Engineering Director for Sun Microsystems Inc., CFAOS Business Manager, phototaker and programme designer. Married to Lucy (also in CFAOS) with two children Edward and Rebecca.

Lucy Armes

Lucy has been in the society for over 10 years. Her favourite show remains Oliver! in which she played the part of Nancy. She is a History teacher.

Jonathan Astill

Jonathan has been performing since he was 4 years old when he played the cow in the school nativity play! Things have moved on since then however and he has taken roles in both plays and musicals. During the 1990s he was a member of the Chinnor Operatic Society (now Chinnor Musical Theatre) in Oxfordshire where he played Nanki-Poo in “Mikado”, Gaylord Ravenal in “Showboat”, Sky Masterson in “Guys & Dolls” and Bill Snibson in “Me & My Girl”. Whilst with Chinnor he also directed “My Fair Lady” and “Carousel”. Jonathan left Oxfordshire in early 2000 and moved to Fleet.

Following a 3 year break due to work commitments “Chess” represented his return to the stage as well as his first show with CFAOS.

Joyce Atlee

Joyce’s interest and involvement with musical theatre began in the North West where ballet and tap classes led to appearances in musicals and pantomime with local amateur groups, taking roles from The Good Fairy to The Wicked Queen, to musicals with the Wilmslow Operatic Society.

After moving south with husband Peter she taught dance and fitness classes for Hampshire Education Authority and was involved in musical productions at the West End Centre and with CAMUS in Camberley. Joyce joined CFAOS in 1982 to choreograph “Most Happy Fella” and has worked on and appeared in numerous shows since then, her favourites being “Crazy For You”, “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” and “42nd Street”, all of which have required the casts to participate in lots of dance numbers in varied styles, which she hopes they have enjoyed.

Alex Balston

After making her stage debut aged 6, Alex has continued performing with various amateur societies and is looking forward to her first show with CFAOS, "Oh What a Lovely War".

Viv Barber

Catherine Baxter

Catharine was a sheaf of corn in "Joseph" at primary school, and has appeared in other shows since. The acting bug starts early!

Mark Baxter

Mark has been involved in theatre from a young age, his latest piece being a chinese convert in “Anything Goes!”.

Matt Benbrook

Now established in a successful career as a software engineer, Matthew finally succumbed to the nagging of his theatrical parents when he appeared in his first show, "Oklahoma!" in 2002. More chorus work followed in "The Mikado" and "Fiddler on the Roof" and since then, there's simply been no holding him back. Matthew went on to play a dancing waiter in "Cabaret" and a slightly camp civil servant in "Chess". Casting clothes as well as caution to the wind, and wearing not much more than his smile he appeared in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and Ben Elton's "Popcorn". A complete contrast followed in the form of Charles, the austere butler in "Me & My Girl" and the half-witted Benny Southstreet in "Guys and Dolls" and then Billy Lawlor in "42nd Street".

Joanne Bonnett

Joanne is always delighted to be performing with CFAOS and thoroughly enjoyed playing the feisty, dramatic Conchita in "Copacabana". Joanne started performing on stage (and off!) very young and has played principal roles in a number of musicals including “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Half A Sixpence”, “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”. After a break of over 10 years, she caught ‘the acting bug’ again when she played Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” with CFAOS followed by Kate/Lilli Vanessi in “Kiss Me Kate” with CAMUS. Joanne is a busy working Mum to Daniel (8) and Adam (5) and, thankfully, her husband Tim continues to support her drama queen tendencies.

Sam Bottle

Sam started dancing at the age of 3 and has been acting since she can’t remember when.  Sam joined CFAOS as one of our dancers in Copacabana.

Felicity Butler

Caroline Canfield

Caroline (‘Carrie’ – to friends and family) has been an active member of the Society since 1968. For many years she studied singing with Rebecca Coulter, and has played numerous young romantic, and soubrette soprano parts, the most recent being Adele in “Die Fledermaus” here at the Princes Hall. As a complete contrast, she feels that the challenging role of the Duchess of Dene in "Me and My Girl" provided a welcome opportunity to develop new (and necessary) skills attributable to a lady of advancing years!

Derek Canfield

Derek having well over 50 years experience of the amateur stage, more than forty of which have been with this Society, needs no introduction to our audiences as one of our resident Musical Directors. Derek is always thrilled to be a member of the production team to work with such talent.

John Canfield

John's first production with the Society was “The Music Man”, at the age of 10. His most challenging role was that of Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar”. Other credits include Clifford Bradshaw in “Cabaret” (his 30th Show with CFAOS), Carl Olsen in “Street Scene” and Ephraim in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. More recently, John enjoyed playing the part of an Aggie American football player in the Society's production of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, so much so that he has just played the same part with another local society.

John is married to Sue (also in the cast) and has 2 young lads, who are perhaps destined to follow the family onto the stage!

Sue Canfield

Sue joined in 1989, enjoys holding alto line in ensembles and being part of the dancing troupe. She is a music teacher and is married to John with 2 musical sons.

Tim Canfield

Tim has been a member of ‘Cody’ from the age of ten, as a pickpocket in Robert & Elizabeth. Since then a varied succession of dancing, singing and acting cameos have been punctuated with lead roles such as Cornelius Hackl in ‘Hello Dolly’, Bobby Child in ‘Crazy for You’, Bill Snibson in ‘Me and My Girl’ and Will Parker in ‘Oklahoma’.

Tim also enjoys designing the website and print artwork for the society, although there’s always that anxious time when faced with a blank sheet of paper for the next show!

James Dance

Mike Davall

Mike has been a Member of the Society for some 35 plus years and Stage Manager for about the last 10. He has tried to retire and hand over the reins to a younger person but just can’t get away. No-one seems to want the job. He did actually ‘retire’ some years ago but in true Sinatra style came back out of retirement after only a brief spell away and once again found himself heading the crew.

The job of Stage Manager is quite a demanding one, designing the sets to fit our stage, the set-up weekend (to make sure that it fits) and running the show. That aside it is very rewarding especially when it all comes together. As Baldrick said ‘I love it when a plan comes together!’ So if there is anyone out there, or within the Crew, who would like to have a go for a show then by all means get in touch.

Rachel Davison

Rachel made her stage debut at six years old and has been singing and dancing in shows ever since. During eleven years of dance classes in her home town of Bradford she appeared in numerous operettas, musicals and variety shows. Rachel has played many diverse roles but her favourite to date remains Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls”. Rachel's first role with CFAOS was as Dora Bailey in "Singin' in the Rain".

Tony Doherty

Tony j oined the society in 1975 and has completed 31 years in the chorus. He was an ‘extra’ at The Redgrave Theatre in many shows.

Eve Earles

Eve joined in 1983 and played numerous roles, danced, worked backstage and assistant Director. "Oh What a Lovely War" marks her last show with us as she is moving to Devon.

Lesley Evans

Paul Findlay

Amy Fletcher

As a shy 16 year old, Amy joined us for “Me & My Girl following in her mum’s footsteps. She is studying art at Farnham College.

Lisa Fletcher

Lisa’s first principal role with the Society was Lady Jaqueline Carstone in "Me and My Girl", and being a Glasgow lass, her biggest challenge was the accent. Lisa has danced in all but two of the shows over the last five years and admits that after “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Cabaret” it will be strange wearing clothes on stage! Moving around over the years Lisa has covered a variety of roles and even fulfilled a lifelong dream of performing in the Edinburgh Fringe. Lisa’s main love is dancing but she has also done her fair share of acting in everything from Farce to Drama, taking part and winning awards in Drama Festivals in Scotland, Ireland, Germany and locally. Other principal musical roles to date are Calamity Jane in “Calamity Jane”, Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”, Erma in “Anything Goes” and several Principal Boys in pantomimes.

Lisa lives in Fleet with her two daughters who are quickly following in mum’s footsteps. Amy has made her debut with the society as a dancer and Nina can’t wait until she is old enough to do the same.

Sophie Fryer

Sophie joined the Society in 1991 and has played many roles within the Society. She really enjoys being the Assistant Director for Sue Sampson and has learnt a great deal during the past few years in this role.

Sue Grosvenor

Sue has been involved with amateur dramatics since the age of 11, when she appeared as the youngest of the Von Trapp children in “The Sound of Music” with CAMUS. She joined CFAOS in 1999 for “Crazy For You”, having spent that summer teaching most of the society how to tap dance, and she has been involved in most productions since. Her real love is choreography and “Singin’ in the Rain” follows “Oklahoma!”, “Cabaret”, “Oliver!” and “South Pacific”.

Sue runs her own business training company “Performance for Business”.

Pam Gutteridge

Pam is a former Bronze medalist at LAMDA (London Academy of Dramatic Art). She has worked in the West End of London and the Provinces for many years on both straight plays and musicals. Most of Pam's experience was as stage manager or sound operator, but managed to appear, understudy, operate sound and stage manage on one particular touring production of Pride and Prejudice!

Pam has worked with CCP (Church Crookham Players) for the past 10 years, mostly directing. She has also worked on ‘Oklahoma’, ‘One more Time’, ‘Children of a Lessor God’ and ‘Oh Calcutta’ amongst many others.

HMS Pinafore is the first musical she has ever appeared in, and enjoyed it greatly.

Ken Hammond

Juliette Hammond

Juliette has been with the Society for 18 years and has appeared in numerous shows as a singer and member of the chorus. She has occasionally stepped out of the chorus to take on minor roles such as Frauline Kost in our 1989 production of “Cabaret” and Kit Kat Girl in our recent production of “Cabaret”. Juliette took a break from 1996 until her welcome return in 2003.

Samantha Hatfield

Mary Heath

Mary's last role for CFAOS was Kathy Seldon in "Singin' in the Rain". She was one of the many hoofers in “42nd Street”; her first attempt at tap dancing. Prior to that she played Laurie in “Oklahoma!” and Florence in our award winning production of “Chess”. If you cast your mind back you might also remember her as a whore dressed in leather chaps and not a lot else in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. She has enjoyed taking part as chorus in several of our shows and Eleven years ago played Julie Jordan in our award winning production of “Carousel”. Mary's most recent role was Alexandra Spofford in the Surrey Premiere of “Witches of Eastwick”for GTG. She has played various roles in operetta and musicals at other societies, including; Mabel in “The Pirates of Penzance”, Aline in “The Sorcerer”, Ida in “Princess Ida”, Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”, Esmeralda in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and Frasquita in “Carmen”. Off stage, Mary is a proud mother of four, a busy housewife and an admin clerk at a local school.

Callum Higgins

Vanessa Higgins

This is Vanessa's 14th year with the Society, both on stage and off. She is looking forward to this, her 11th show.

Graham Hix

Graham’s inkling for music started when his parents found him pretending to play the piano on the table in front of the radio set, aged six. Piano lessons quickly followed and a love of show music developed. Teen years, spent playing for local musical theatre and dance bands in W.Dorset, led to a career in sound engineering at London Weekend TV. Graham specialised in light entertainment music mixing working with everyone from Bette Midler & Sammy Davis to Carl Davis & Leonard Bernstein - not forgetting Cilla Black and Dame Edna (Barry Humphries).
Locally he spent 12 years playing and arranging with In Harmony and is currently in his 24th year as Musical Director of Court Moor Palace of Varieties. He was introduced to CFAOS in 2003, playing for Chess, and has since played pit keyboards/rehearsal piano for  4 other shows, a favourite being Copacabana which was an interesting exercise in switching keyboards to various loudspeakers on the stage.
Graham is really looking forward to being M.D. for Annie Get Your Gun , working with such a talented society.

Anna Holmes

Anna joined us for “Copacabana” and she is pleased to be treading the boards again. For "Oh What a Lovely War" she spent the summer months perfecting her German accent!

Steve Howard

Ann-Marie Johnson

Ann-Marie joined the Society in 2001 for Oliver! and is now the Society's Costume Manager as well as a member of the cast.

Roger Johnson

Roger joined the Society in 1998 because of his tap dancing. He is married to Ann-Marie whom he met during “Die Fledermaus”.

Ceri Jones

Ceri was trained at Gloucester Cathedral, where he won a choral scholarship at the age of 9. He was lead soloist on the 1974 “Omnibus” production focused on the history of the cathedral and surrounding area and the choir’s recital tour of the Southern Riviera in the same year. He joined the Canoldir (Midlands) Male Voice choir at the age of 17 as a Baritone and has since sung in many choirs around the country, including the Hallé, as well as operas such as “Billy Budd” with the RNCM. Ceri has recently branched out into musical theatre, his first role being Lord Battersby in the recent CFAOS production of “Me and My Girl”.

Mike Lehman

Mike joined the society in 1983 for “Annie Get Your Gun” (having previously been a member of a group singing sacred and secular music), and since then has in the main been in the tenor line of the chorus. He does however, have happy memories of jogging round the stage as Mercury in the 1985 and 1997 productions of “Opheus In The Underworld”.

Mike has in the past been active on the main and social committees, holding the post of Publicity Manager for a year. He is very proud to be a member of such a talented and caring society.

Emma Loader

David Main

David has been involved in amateur dramatics since the 1970s, during which time he gained the best actor award at the 1984 Woking Drama Festival and a couple of firsts at local singing festivals. He has also written and directed two shows for a local society. David joined CFAOS in the 1980s playing many major and minor roles, most recently as the Governor in CFAOS' 2002 production of “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas”. In the 60s David played drums professionally supporting several pop stars of the day. He has also played drums with local vocal charity group In Harmony which he has now joined as a singer.

More recently David has been working semi-professionally as comedy/vocal entertainer and is (hint, hint) available for bookings.

Graham McCarron

Graham has appeared in many shows during his career, but actually started off as a Redcoat at Butlins, which led to many appearances including “No No Nanette” and “The Student Prince” at the Pavilion Theatre Bournemouth and “Jack and the Beanstalk” at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford. His career then did a turn around and took him abroad to be Entertainments Manager at many resorts whilst touring different clubs with his own cabaret act. His TV appearances include “Jingle Jangle” with Norman Wisdom. Local shows, including “The Boyfriend”, “Old Time Music Hall”, “Dames at Sea” and “Cinderella” which inspired the desire to encourage new artists in the area by opening a stage school that covers every aspect of the training required to enter show business. He was asked to direct “Annie” for CAMUS following his success with “Stepping Out” and his “One Man Show”.

Graham’s debut show for CFAOS was in the lead role of Don Lockwood in "Copacabana".

Eric McLoughlin

Eric joined the Society in 1986 soon after arriving in the UK from his native Dublin. Since then, he has appeared in most of our productions although more often as a member of our chorus. On occasions, he has achieved the best of both worlds, participating in most of the chorus numbers and also playing principal roles, such as a wonderfully comic turn as Don Lockwood’s voice coach in "Singin' in the Rain".

Following many years shrewdly looking after our finances, Eric is now the society's Chairman.

Brian McMahon

A late developer, Brian joined the society for “Carmen”, and since then has cornered the market in tramps, bald-headed walk-ons and soldiers with shiny boots and loud voices!

Jane Mumford

Jane has been performing with the society for 22 years. She loves singing, dancing, her three children and husband Philip.

Philip Mumford

Philip has been seen in many principal roles with CFAOS, from Tony/Stephen in “Copacabana”, Sky in “Guys and Dolls”, the title roles in “Orpheus in the Underworld” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” through to Curly in “Oklahoma!” and many others. Among his favourite roles are those from shows written in more of a ‘pop’ style from the last 20-30 years such as “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Chess”. Philip is married to Jane, one of the Honorary Secretaries and they have three children.

Clare Nisbet

Gary Oxenham

Gary has been in over 60 shows in amateur theatre, since starting as an adult 20 years ago. Gary did musical shows as a child (from the age of 9, as the North Wind, and as Pte. Godfrey in “Dads Army”!), and was involved in Boys/Girls Brigade variety shows in Bristol (his home city) for 9 years, singing many solos and gaining lots of theatrical experience. Gary has performed in all the major theatres in Bristol, including one of the largest in the country, the 2000-seat Bristol Hippodrome, on several occasions.

Gary has performed in many different shows, from “Godspell” to “Sweet Charity”, through “Andy Capp the Musical” to “Orpheus in the Underworld“! His favourite roles include Kipps (“Half a Sixpence”), Billy (“Anything Goes”), Harold Hill (“Music Man”), Joe (“Charlie Girl”), Peter (“Jesus Christ Superstar”), Frank (“7 Brides for 7 Brothers”), Anthony (“Sweeney Todd”), Chino (“West Side Story”), Molokov (“Chess”) and Donald Duck, Gary’s first straight acting role (in the Red Theatre Company’s recent production of “Blue Remembered Hills”). In a previous production (“Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”) Gary had his first official outing as Dance Captain, a role he thoroughly enjoyed! He was also responsible for the creation and design of the society’s original website; an achievement considering he had no experience in this field prior to starting it!

Gary is married to Deborah, works as a Composites Project Engineer and supports Arsenal FC!

Kirsty Parsons

Lucy Paynter

Giga Phillips

Giga has appeared in a variety of operatic, drama and panto productions since joining this society in 1985. She has portrayed many roles; favourites include Golde “Fiddler on the Roof”, Ruth “Pirates of Penzance”, Mrs Sowerberry “Oliver”, Beggar Woman “Lorca's Blood Wedding”, Fairy Godmother “Cinderella”, Wicked Queen “Snow White”, Prince of Arragon “The Merchant of Venice”, The Fool “King Lear” and Doatsey Mae in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. Recently she appeared as Janet in NFRC's “David Copperfield”. As Musical Director (pantomime) and Assistant Director (musicals), she has enjoyed theatre production for local groups.

Jim Prescott

Jim started acting with the RAE drama group in 1966 with principle roles in drama and comedy, and their resident Dame in pantomime. He joined the society in 1974 and has appeared in some 48 shows either backstage or treading the boards. He first appeared on stage in “Robert and Elizabeth” playing three minor roles. His first principle role was Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” (his favourite). This was followed by Billis in “South Pacific”, Hines in “Pyjama Game”, Captain Andy in “Showboat”, Jigger in “Carousel”, Andrew Carnes in “Oklahoma!”, Sigismund Smith in “White Horse Inn” and Nicely Nicely in “Guys & Dolls”. Jim has become the society's Herman, having played Herman in “Rose Marie”, “Most Happy Fellow” and “Sweet Charity”. Jim's most recent role was Sam Silver in "Copacabana", a bit of a challenge after spending the previous five years as backstage crew, who are always bound to give lots of support!

Sue Prior

John Pridmore

John acted in 25 productions at the West End Centre. He is the guitarist and Musical Director for the group ‘In Harmony’, and the Deputy Musical Director for CFAOS.

Sue Sampson

Sue comes from a theatrical family. Her Mum and Dad met in Dagenham repertory Company and her Granny was a talented actress. She has been acting, singing, directing and choreographing for far more years than she cares to count! She has played many principal roles – Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun”, Mary Magdalene in “Superstar”, Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!”, Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” and Babe in the “Pajama Game”. She has choreographed “Sweet Charity”, “Fiddler” and “The King and I” amongst others. Sue has directed for many societies, including Farnborough, Basingstoke, Godalming, Woking and Andover. Sue has won NODA awards for her productions of “Carousel”, “Chess” and “Sweeney Todd”.

Sue trained at the Laban Art of Movement centre and Trent Park College as well as Miss Phillips’s Saturday morning dancing lessons. She is Head of Drama at Gordons School. She lists her hobbies as eating, sleeping and decorating her new house.

Martin Sampson

By Martin’s reckoning (he is an Accountant), “Copacabana” marked his 30th show for CFAOS, including six as a member of our illustrious stage crew and 13 in either the lead or major role. After joining the society for “Desert Song” back in 1986, Martin’s first lead was as Sid Sorokin in “Pyjama Game”, where he played opposite Sue, who has been everpresent in his life since. Martin has been privileged to portray a wide variety of characters. His favourites for CFAOS include Fred Graham/Petruchio in “Kiss Me Kate”, the Pirate King in “The Pirates of Penzance”, Billy Bigelow in “Carousel”, the eponymous role in “Sweeney Todd”, Adam Pontipee in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, Jud Fry in “Oklahoma!”, and most recently Julian Marsh in “42nd Street”.

Martin is also a keen bowler for Ottershaw and Surrey, and in 2005 reached the semi-final stage at the National Championships.

Mark Siddall

During his years at university in Durham, all his spare time was spent in musicals. Previous productions include Anything Goes (Billy), Sweet Charity (Oscar), West Side Story (Baby John), Me and My Girl (Parchester) and Fiddler on the Roof (Motel). A keen pianist and songwriter, he has also directed productions of Ruddigore and Into the Woods.

Sue Sillett

Tina Stevens

Tina has been dancing since the age of 4. She trained in Kent and London and has taught extensively throughout the Home Counties.

Larissa Street

Larissa hasn't been in the business long and was usually more likely to be found in the orchestra pit as a violinist rather than on stage. Although she lives in Farnborough, she is originally from Nottingham, where she studied music for many years. She currently works as a buyer in Farnham and it was through a friend that she was introduced to Farnham Amateur Operatic Society a year ago where she learnt her trade in “Oklahoma” and “Mikado”. Her first show with CFAOS was “Chess” and she enjoyed it so much that she decided to audition for “Cabaret”. Fraulien Kost was Larissa’s first principal role and, while very excited about it, she was also a little concerned about type casting, her last role was playing one of Mona's girls in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. Is someone trying to tell her something?

Nicky Sully

Nicky joined the society in 1993 for “Sweet Charity”. She was delighted to play the role of Minnie Fay in “Hello Dolly” in 1994.

Paul Tapley

Danni Taylor

Danni discovered her passion for theatre at age five when her parents took her to The Prince Regent Theatre to satisfy her inner drama queen. Whilst there she enjoyed being a part of a variety of musicals and pantomimes, as well as playing Abigail in “Pudsey the Musical” for BBC1’s Children In Need. Since then she has taken every opportunity to perform in and out of school taking on a number of lead roles and singing in venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Saddler’s Wells and Her Majesty’s Theatre. Having later trained at Stagecoach, Farnborough, Danni is now teaching Dance there! She also moonlights as a lifeguard!

Danni made her CFAOS debut when she joined us as Diane Lorimer, one of the tapping belles in “42nd Street”. She has since been thrilled to play Josephine in “HMS Pinafore”, with such a talented cast and enjoyed the vocal challenge! After achieving five A-levels including Music and Performance Studies, she is currently studying for a Foundation Degree in Small Scale Theatre Practice with Guildford College and Guildford School of Acting.

Lynda Taylor

"Oh What a Lovely War" marked Lynda's 25 years 'on stage' with the Society. When 'off stage' she's also one of our Secretaries.

Haydn Thomas

With his wife June, Haydn joined the Society in 1960 and has performed onstage as chorus member, dancer and principal in nearly 70 of our productions. One of his favourite roles being Arthur in “Camelot”. Backstage,
from time to time, he has acted as prompt and member of the stagecrew, make-up and propsmaking teams. Our Business Manager for 19 years and Costume Manager for 12 years, Haydn retires as our Chairman for the last 15 years.

June Thomas

Principal, Singer, Chorus, Prompt, Stagecrew, Director etc. Been there, done that! Doing it again! Still enjoying it!

Siân Thomas

Siân started ballet classes at the age of two, and continued with all forms of dance except tap well into her teens until dancing in the Society’s shows took over. So recent shows, such as “42nd Street” have proved a great challenge as so much tap is involved. Regular audience members will have seen Siân in a wide variety of dance and lead principal roles throughout the years.

Siân is a second generation member of Cody Farnborough. Both her parents have been members for more than 40 years. Her mother June is the producer of this show and her father Haydn, is the Chairman of CFAOS. A tough act to follow! She grew up being babysat at rehearsals by members of the dance team while her parents were working onstage. So she has always felt a very strong connection with dancing in the theatre, and she says she has been extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to follow in her babysitters’ footsteps.

Paul Tickner

Paul’s debut in a speaking part actually treading the boards was as the on-stage director Roscoe Dexter in our production of "Singin' in the Rain". The more observant of you may have spotted him pretending to be a tap dancer in “42nd Street”.

Paul has a varied musical background in over 30 years as a professional musician. From fronting a hairy rock band in the 1970s to conducting orchestras and wind bands he has encompassed just about every form of modern music. Paul studied conducting at the Royal Military Academy of Music in London and has been  Musical Director for several productions with Woking Amateur Operatic Society. He now shares the position of Musical Director with our other resident Director, Derek Canfield.

Rob Tickner

Rob’s first show with CFAOS was "Singin in the Rain", playing the part of Cosmo Brown, and he was eager to give a worthy performance of such a challenging part within a large and talented society. Rob has played many roles with other societies over the previous few years, the last being Francis Fryer in “Calamity Jane”. These performances, as well as lessons at Guildford School of Acting on a Saturday, have helped Rob gain experience with his singing, dancing and acting.

April Timpson

April joined CFAOS for the production of 42nd Street. Her first love is dance but she always enjoyed performing in musicals. She is a qualified dance teacher.

Arie Van Nieuwenhuijzen

Vanessa Van Nieuwenhuijzen

Annie Veneti

Annie’s most recent performance with CFAOS has been playing the part of Lola in "Copacabana". Annie has always loved performing and says it was the best decision she made joining the Society as she has gained such a wide variety of experience in the two years of being a member and made loads of great friends. Past experience includes solo singer at Guildford Cathedral, dancer in “Young Performers 2000” at Her Majesty’s Theatre London, “Oklahoma!”, Peggy Sawyer in “42nd Street” and “Singin’ in the Rain” with CFAOS plus “Jesus Christ Superstar” with FAOS. Annie would like to thank everyone that has given her lifts to rehearsals.

Charlotte Walker

When not performing, Charlotte leads a busy life as a head hunter in London and is a mother to her daughter Lily.

Ron Walker

Ron joined the Society in 1973 for our first production of “Kismet” and has appeared in all but six of the Society’s productions since — over fifty shows! His first principal role was as Lun Tha in “The King and I” and other roles have included Benny Southstreet in “Guys ’n’ Dolls”, Emile de Becque in “South Pacific”, Mr. Perkins in “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” and his memorable role as Fagin in “Oliver!” and the spoil sport reporter Melvyn P. Thorpe in our production of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". Despite his considerable experience, he considers the role of the EMCEE in "Cabaret" as his greatest challenge to date.

Ron and his wife Charlotte, also a member of the Society, are the proud parents of Lily, who is already developing theatrical tendencies.

Sarah Ward

Sarah's life has always been dedicated to the performing arts. From an early age, she gained skills in dance, singing and acting.

Christine White

2006 saw Christine gain her NODA medal for 25 years in the business! Christine joined our Society in 1988, having been a member of Camus Productions since 1978. Her first love is dancing and she can usually be found high kicking in the dance team. However, she has occasionally taken principal roles in several shows including Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the rain", Lian in “Gigi”, Arletta in “Gypsy Baron”, Kate in “Kiss Me Kate”, Carrie in “Carousel”, Ida in “Die Fledermaus” and Liza in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. Christine is a member of the publicity team. She lives in Holybourne with her husband, Darren and son, Kieran.

Darren White

Darren has spent many years 'treading the boards with CFAOS', more latterly taking on a dual role as our Front of House Manager.

Pippa Winslow

Pippa was delighted to be make her debut as Dorethy Brock in "42nd Street" with this "talented and fun loving group". Since moving to the UK in 2001 she has performed with societies in Farnham, Woking and Guildford. Some of her favourite roles include Carmen in “Carmen, The Musical”, Nickie in “Sweet Charity” and Katisha in “The Mikado”. While living in the USA, Pippa has performed in many mediums from plays to opera and everything in between including her dramatic interpretation of a melting female snowman in Disneyland’s “Christmas on Parade”.

Steve Woolford

Steve's principal roles for CFAOS include Sir Douglas Haig in "Oh What a Lovely War", Sir John Tremayne in “Me & My Girl”, Molokov in “Chess”, Sheriff Dodd in “Best Little Whorehouse”, and Mr Bumble in “Oliver”. Steve has also performed with other societies over the past 18 years appearing in many roles including Daddy Warbucks in “Annie” and Carr-Gomm in “The Elephant Man”.

In the real world Steve works for NatWest as a Business Manager for the Guildford area.

Richard Young

Richard was quite late in discovering the stage and then realised just how much fun it can be. His first few years were spent in chorus roles with Reading Operatic Society in shows ranging from “HMS Pinafore” to “The Boyfriend”, though most of the shows had a more operatic bias. He had a great time there but after moving house to Camberley had to start looking for a new society and was delighted to discover that CFAOS were preparing to do “Chess” - a longstanding favourite of his. He had a great time in the chorus and then when “Cabaret” came round was thankful to find that the show didn't require too much chorus work, as he got married in July getting back from honeymoon just six weeks before the show. Show week flew by and he had his first taste of solo singing as 'the tenor'. Richard had always fancied playing Gerald ever since he first saw “Me and My Girl” and was delighted to be given the chance to play the part with CFAOS - well dash it, he couldn't be any bally happier.