Sisters at a top independent girls boarding school have celebrated double success at one of the country’s most prestigious drama festivals.
Amy-Jane Bramwell and younger sister Lea-Anne, students at Howells School, Denbigh, gained first and second prizes at the Chester Drama Festival this month.
The girls, from Pensarn, near Abergele, have competed regularly at the event but this was their first major successes.
Amy-Jane gained a first and a second while Lea-Anne took a second place. Both are pupils of drama teacher Mrs Wendy Grey Lloyd at Howells School.
Amy-Jane won for her recitation of two poems by outstanding women separated by five centuries, Tudor Queen Elizabeth I and acclaimed black American author Maya Angelou.
She opened with ‘When I Was Fair and Young’ by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and queen from 1558 to 1603 and followed with ‘Phenomenal Woman’ by Maya Angelou.
Amy-Jane said: “It was wonderful to win and especially as my sister had done so well too.
“I like both poems but especially the one by Maya Angelou though Elizabeth I was a pretty phenomenal woman. She was very intelligent and very talented.
“We also had another phenomenal woman, Mrs Grey Lloyd, to teach us and she’s brilliant.”
Amy-Jane then followed that with a solo drama, performing Liverpool playwright Willy Russell’s ‘Our Day Out’ for which she received a second place with a distinction.
Earlier younger sister Lea-Anne had taken second place with a distinction in her solo recitation for ‘The Sound Collector’ by Merseybeat poet Roger McGough.
She said: “I love poetry and drama and I know this poem off by heart. I love the different sounds in it, the pouring, whistling sounds and the description in it.”
Despite their success parents Jason and Catherine Bramwell have no fears of putting their daughters on the stage though both have appeared in several school productions – Lea-Anne loves horse riding and enjoys Mathematics while Amy-Jane wants to study A-levels in Chemistry, Biology and Physics at Howells School and would like to be a pharmacist.
She said: “It was great to have our mum and dad there to see us on stage and we enjoyed it too.
“I used to get nervous but I’ve done it so much now that it doesn’t faze me anymore.”
Howells School Drama teacher Wendy Grey Lloyd said: “I was thrilled for them. The school said they needed a teacher for two sisters so I thought I’d come in and have a look and they’ve been wonderful.
“They’re both very talented and this wasn’t like any examination because you’re competing against other girls and boys who are also very good and to do as well as they have and have the medals to show for it is great.”
