The Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama (STSD) held their annual conference in Malvern earlier this month.

The STSD is the UK’s professional membership organisation for qualified and trainee teachers of Speech and Drama, supporting and representing members around the world.

Founded in 1914, they were formed to encourage and promote the highest standards of teaching within the Speech and Drama field, to connect teachers of communication, performance and life skills, and to act as a voice of the profession.

Malvern mayor Clive Hooper welcomed delegates at the opening reception given in St Edmund's Hall at Malvern College.

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Cllr Hooper said he was delighted that the STSD had chosen Malvern for its conference, and felt that it was a very appropriate location to choose.

“Malvern has many connections with the fields of drama, literature and the performing arts,” he said.

“The long list starts with William Langland (author of The Vision of Piers Plowman); in later times, there has been Dickens, Tennyson, and of course Elgar, as well as the Dymock poets Abercrombie (educated at Malvern College) and Gibson.

“CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien (both good friends of George Sayers, Head of English at the College) were also frequent visitors to the town.”

Cllr Hooper said it was almost exactly 94 years ago to the day since the first Malvern Drama Festival opened in the Winter Gardens (now Malvern Theatres), with the premiere of GB Shaw’s The Apple Cart.

“It was the collaboration between Sir Barry Jackson (founder of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre) and Shaw that led to 19 productions of Shaw's plays by 1965, six of which were premieres,” he said.

Cllr Hooper told delegates that a new and exciting phase in the life of Malvern Theatres was now opening with the recent completion of a £2.25m extension to improve workshop and educational facilities, and a further £20m announced earlier this year from the government's Levelling-Up Fund to create a world-class cultural centre and widen the access to creative arts and extend learning opportunities.