Tony Carpenter
President
Tony was a Councillor with Chelmsford Borough Council for some 25 years and throughout most of this time was Chairman of the committee responsible for entertainment within the Borough. During his period as Chairman of the committee The Chancellor Hall was erected and opened, the then General Assembly Hall was converted to a full time theatre, The Civic Theatre, where both professional and amateur productions take place, and The Cramphorn Theatre was opened. On leaving the Council in 1983 Tony was invited to be a member of Chelmsford Young Generation committee, a position he has held ever since. He was mainly involved in Stage Crew work and in 1985 he also joined CAODS as a Stage Crew member which he carried out until 2007, when Peggy Welham retired and he was asked to take on his current work with them as cast prompt. In 1989 he was elected as Chairman of Young Gen, which except for one year, is a position he still fulfils. His main position, apart from Chairman, is as production manager for Young Gen’s two theatre productions each year. This involves an overall liaison with all aspects of the shows.
Yvette Faris
Props
Yvette Faris assists Young Gen’s Props Department, helping to gather together or make any props required for each show. She has been a member of the society since 1973, first as an acting member until the age of 18, and as a non-acting member ever since. She joined the Committee in 2010, a year after her son started doing shows with Young Gen.
Jimmy Hooper
Production Assistant
Jimmy re-joined Young Gen back in 2012 as Director’s Assistant for the hugely successful production of ‘Les Miserables’ and subsequently joined the committee. He originally joined Young Gen in 1989 performing in shows from ‘Sweet Charity’ to ‘West Side Story’. He went on to perform in many shows with Chelmsford, Southend and Brentwood, his favourites being ‘Beauty & The Beast’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’.
Jimmy directed Young Gen’s Something To Sing and Dance About (November 2014 Civic Theatre), Into The Woods at The Cramphorn Theatre in April 2016 and 13 The Musical (April 2017) at the Cramphorn Theatre.
Dawn Lawton
Stage Manager
Dawn’s family first became involved with Young Gen for the production of Oliver! in 2000. Dawn offered to help with props and joined the committee the following year. She has now served for over ten years, taking on the role of Joint Secretary with Jan Toland in recent years. Dawn ran the props department for many years but has now taken on the role of Stage Manager for Young Gen productions. Dawn said, “It’s an honour to be part of the ‘Young Gen family’ and very rewarding to see our young people grow into confident, talented young adults”.
