Banbury Cross Players have become the first-ever amateur theatre group to win the prestigious Lighthorne Drama Festival twice.

Their piece, “Goodbye Charles” by Gabriel Benjamin Davis, directed by Phil Wintle, was given a score of 86 out of 100 by Tristan Marshall of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators.

He told the sell-out, and relaunched Festival’s packed hall, ”It was a masterclass in directing.”

A score of 80 is considered to meet GoDA’s benchmark of excellence. In all, seven of the 12 competing groups met that standard – a Lighthorne record, by one.

Second by one point were the Stourbridge Theatre Company with “The Act of Living” by Robert Scott, and a highly-commended third were Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society with “Pigeon Syndrome”, written and directed by Benjamin Keyser.

The win means that BCP have now been invited to compete in the National Drama Festival, to be held from July 31 to August 3 at Artrix in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, where they will come up against other festival-winners from across the United Kingdom.

“Goodbye Charles”, a light-hearted comedy, tells the story of Jill, a woman forlorn, who sets out on an increasingly strange journey to find her missing husband. Five actors between them take on the play’s eight roles,  One, Ian Nutt, plays three different characters, slickly moving between roles with a change of jacket, accent and posture.

Banbury Cross were the first top-class local amateur theatre group to sign up to enter the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays when it launched in June 2013.

They won our now nationally-recognised Festival six years later with “Contractions” by Mike Bartlett, directed by Chrissie Garrett. That play also went on to the National Finals.

The Lighthorne Festival offers a cash prize of £1,000 – the biggest in UK amateur theatre. Under Festival rules, the payout must be split 50/50 between the winning group and a registered charity of their choice.

The winners also receive a theirs-to-keep glass trophy engraved with details of their production.

After receiving the glassware on stage from adjudicator Tristan, BCP director Phil Wintle nominated two local charities – Homeless Oxfordshire and Asylum Welcome.

The Lighthorne Festival was suspended in 2024 due to unforeseen circumstances but returned this year to a full complement of 12 different one-act plays performed by a dozen different groups from across central England, which sold out on each of its four nights.

After the disappointment of last year, it was great to be back and with a bang.

Banbury were worthy winners and brilliantly directed. And it is so appropriate that one of our founder members should return to triumph, again.