1st Birthday Bash

Bank Holiday Party Time
by David Chriscole
 
Manchester ADP 1st Anniversary Bash

There are some events in a calendar that really can’t (or shouldn’t) be ignored. If you miss it, it’ll never happen again, and in years to come you’ll be kicking yourself. This was true of the 1st anniversary bash for Manchester ADP on 29th August 2016, and despite suffering from an annoyingly painful throat, I wasn’t going to be stopped from attending!

​As usual, we were gathered at The Kings Arms, Salford to celebrate an incredible year. Lisa Connor, owner of The Kings Arms, very kindly laid on some free wine for us too, which went down a treat.
 
Pity that Lisa could not join in the fun however, but she is just about to give birth, so was taking some rest.

The bar staff of course were their usual friendly and devoted selves, looking after the throng of bodies, keeping us all well watered.

On the whole, I think we took over the entire building. Having set up tables in the bar for the bring-and-share buffet (a genius idea by the way), we quickly overflowed to the Snug and beer garden.

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Not only this, the seating had been removed from the theatre
upstairs for some announcements, speeches and special
presentations from ADP. I don’t know about anyone else,
​but it felt rather eerie in the theatre with no seats, how odd it looked.

​                                                                                                                  MC's Hannah Ellis and Diana Atkins

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It’s All About The Numbers
 
Amongst the announcements, we learned that over the course of the year Manchester ADP has racked up some pretty amazing statistics:
 
18 shows, 57 new scripts, 35
writers, 99 actors and 14
directors
 
Not only this, but there were still 47 scripts waiting to be performed and a whopping 109 actors who have yet to appear on stage. Incredible.

​The Shape Of Things To Come
 
We were also privy to a sneaky little taster of ADP’s next development, simply going under the banner (or a working title) of:
 
ADP Audio
 
Marie Crook, a BBC director, has come on board with the project, and ADP has the support of Salford University's studios and students too. Not much in the way of detail as it’s still a work in progress, but this will be a ‘soft-launch’ programme, so keep your ears to the speaker to learn more in the coming months.

The Awards Ceremony Part 1
 We saw some fun awards handed out to pay tribute to various members of ADP, for all sorts of reasons (please excuse if the titles aren't 100% accurate).


David Chriscole receiving an ADP award.
(Image: Sophie Coward)

​Home-made brownies made by Hannah Ellis, and a certificate were handed out for these genuinely difficult to get but tongue in cheek awards.
 
•          Absolute Legend - Lisa Connor
•          Most Tireless Appraiser - Gray Littlewood
•          Most Loyal Audience Member & Hard Working Appraiser - Dave Jones
•          Best Photographer In The Whole Wide World - Mark Russell
•          Volunteer Award - Laura Duncalf
•          Up And Coming Volunteer - Naomi Albans
•          FOH/Bouncer You Don't Mess With - Andrew Ruddy
•          Most Loyal Audience Member & Supportive Human Being - David Chriscole
 
Gracious thanks were also given to Tech Guru Andrew Glassford in his absence, for his hard work and dedication to Manchester ADP.

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Awards Ceremony Part 2

No awards ceremony would be complete without some form of prize-giving, other than gorgeous brownies of course.
 
To mark the next set of awards Manchester ADP were sponsored by Casting Networks UK, who have very kindly given ‘pro’ subscriptions for their platform to each of the actors below.
 Many congratulations to everyone!

•          The Actor Team Award (“Doe” script R&D weekend, dir. Craig Sanders) - Emily Grogan, Kizzy    Watson, Mary Hooton, Hilly Barber, Louise Wilson and Rianna Windust.
•          The Most Exploited Actor Award - Joel Parry
•          Most Useful Actor To Know & All Round Legend - Sophie Coward
•          Most Supportive Actor & Absolute Legend - Sean Chriscole

Random Poetry
 
The night before our bash I decided that I’d try my hand at a little poetry to add to the 1st birthday card I was taking along. Well I’m certainly not going to win any awards for this, but it was fun having this read out to everyone. Here it is once again for those that missed it.
 
THANK YOU ADP
by David Chriscole © 2016
 
Just when I thought, the world was shite
Along came three angels, and put me right
Diana flew from London's glitter, putting Manc-land in its place to shiver
Hannah comes from land down-under, she stops our meetings from making blunder
Lisa gives us room to breathe, why on earth would we want to leave
Without these girls the friends we see, we'd probably never get to see
We bow as-well to those that bring, the doors, the light AND Twitter!
Unsung heroes also work, to bring delights unto our stage
To those unseen we give our thanks, and blessing on you always
So now we stand and raise our glass, and here we do our cheering
ONE YEAR TODAY! you've done the deed, and killed off any doubters

Night Off For Resident Photographer

Usually at Manchester ADP events, our resident photographer Mark Russell is to be seen lurking and snapping away, capturing some pretty awesome candid shots.
 
On this night however, Mark was given the night off, and the task of capturing the atmosphere fell to ADP’s very own Social Media butterfly, Sophie Coward.
 
What a super job she’s done too. Here are a few of my favourites, and you’ll find more over on the Unofficial Sophie Facebook Page.

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