AMATEUR dramatics director and adjudicator Hilary May was awarded the prestigious Sybil Thorndike Trophy at the Somerset Fellowship of Drama’s (SFD) annual meeting on Saturday.

Hilary writes reviews for the Free Press, which she started when she was involved with David Beach at the Williton Players.

She got on board the SFD as an adjudicator for the Phoebe Rees Competition and then became an adjudicator for the David Beach Competition for musicals.

She sits on the SFD committee as a member representative.

But her work at the SFD has not been her most important contribution to amateur theatre.

She became a founding member of Barnstormers in Minehead, is actively involved with the Regal Theatre and, in recent years, she has been involved in an advisory capacity with Fusion Young Performers from Minehead.

Following a diagnosis of cancer, she became the face of Hope for Tomorrow, a charity dedicated to bring cancer treatment closer to people’s homes. She became an ambassador for the charity in 2014.

Hilary is also a member of the parish church in Alcombe and she helped to run the West Somerset Stroke Club.

Buy this week’s Free Press (October 5) for the full report.