TRUSTEES
AMANDA ANDERSON
I joined BOS in 2015 and have been the Treasurer for the last four years, having taken on the role at the 2016 AGM. I’ve had several roles in BOS productions, most notably playing Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act and surviving a falling glitterball! I also perform with Bicester Choral & Operatic Society and was one of their trustees during my time as their Chairman. For many years, I was a research scientist in the ‘real world’, but I have recently taken on the role of Facilities Manager and Safety Officer for one of the divisions in Oxford University.
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BEN COLEMAN
I first became part of the society in 2008 when I joined YOBOS for their production of Hot Mikado. Around the same time, I also joined BOS for their production of The Boy Friend. Since then, I have been part of numerous shows with BOS both as a performer (Spamalot, Pirates of Penzance, Priscilla, Crazy for You etc.) and as a production team member (Sister Act, The Witches of Eastwick, Priscilla, Ghost etc.) and became part of the Exec Committee in 2014. I took over director responsibilities of YOBOS in 2013 and directed four productions with the group - Seussical, 13 the Musical, Grease and Legally Blonde. During that four-year period, YOBOS won the NODA Flame Award twice and I won the Louise English NODA Award 'for a young person under 30 who has made an outstanding contribution to his/her Society'. In 2017, I stepped down as director for YOBOS and took on the role of Production Manager as well as Mentor for the new team. Last year, I became Youth Officer, a new role for the Society which not only oversees YOBOS, but also all the young members within BOS and YOBOS. I also stepped back into the directors chair for YOBOS' production of In the Heights. Outside of the Society I am a Drama Teacher and the Chair of Trustees (and founder member) for Avocet Theatre Company. I am honoured to be a trustee for our new charity - especially as we approach 60 years of the society - and will be the liaison between the youth section of our society and the Trustees.
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SHARON SMITH
I first joined BOS in Feb 2011 for Sweet Charity and was soon persuaded to become the Company Secretary a role I am still in. I love being in the Chorus but also loved getting my teeth into Felicia in the Witches of Eastwick; although my all-time favourite has got to be playing Mother Superior in Sister Act. I love all aspects of performing but then discovered that I seem to have a knack for Props and seem to be fast becoming the go to prop person. I currently work for Cherwell District Council in the finance division and have been with the Council for 20 years. I am looking forward to being a Trustee for the Society and helping to organise our 60-year celebrations.
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LES PRATT
You may know me from various recent get-ins and get-outs, where I’ve been “only too pleased” (forced at knifepoint) to help my husband Will Dyson (Social Secretary) hump scenery and props from store to van to auditorium and back again – the standard lot of a theatre widow. When I’m not lifting heavy things or helping Will learn his lines, though, I mostly hide in cupboards making sweet radio. I have been a producer for BBC Radio 3 for more than twenty years now, working on programmes such as The Early Music Show and Sound of Cinema as well as recording and broadcasting live orchestral concerts, operas and chamber music from all over the UK. I’m usually based out of MediaCity in Salford, but under the current lockdown restrictions, I’m more often found producing the Saturday Breakfast show in my onesie from our home between Edgehill & Tysoe, ably aided and abetted by Darwin the Weimaraner and Walter the cat. Prior to moving down to the Banbury area in 2015, I had spent the previous thirteen years living in Manchester, where I ran a biennial charity cycling event – Mission Malawi – for ten years, which raised more than £500,000 for people living with HIV in Malawi and Mozambique. I was also a founding trustee for Manchester Pride when the organisation became a charity in 2006, and stayed on the board for nine years. I also helped to set up an annual calendar of LGBT cultural events for Manchester Pride – Superbia - and curated many events myself: chamber music concerts, photography exhibitions, performance readings and small theatre productions, including a new comedy play in 2011 called Fetish Knights, which I produced, and which went on to have two further outings at The Lowry in Salford Quays. I’m delighted to be asked to become a trustee of BOS, and am excited to see how we can make the society grow in its new guise as a charity.