WHEN Amy Cockett makes her director’s debut with the Wensleydale Music and Theatre Group’s Christmas pantomime she will have big shoes to fill.

For it was her father-in-law, the late John Cockett, who revived the former Hawes Operatic Society nearly 60 years ago and directed it for 30 years.

Amy, who is married to his younger son, played the gaoler’s daughter in the 2015 pantomime, Wind in the Willows, while nine months pregnant.

With similar timing this year, Dick Whittington and The Caribbean Pirates under her direction will open in late November – and she has another baby due a few weeks later.

The company won the National Operatic and Drama Association north region’s Performance Award 2016 for Wind in the Willows despite it being staged entirely by torchlight during a power cut on the night storm Desmond hit.

Amy played Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (2014) and the title role in last year's Cinderella.

At a recent Hopper’s sale, the group raised more than £500 towards costs of the pantomime, which will be staged in the Market House, Hawes, at 7.30pm from Tuesday, November 28, to Friday, December 1, with a 2pm matinee on Sunday, December 3.

The first read-through is at 7.30pm on Tuesday, September 5, at the GTec building on Hawes industrial estate, with casting later that week. Anyone interested in taking part or helping backstage is welcome to attend. See the company’s Facebook page for details.