Following our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held on Sunday 11th October 2026, we write to confirm that Rebecca Vines was voted in as the new Chair of our Board of Trustees. Rebecca takes over from Deborah Ward who was stepping down from the role at this year's AGM.
Within BIFF, Rebecca is an active speech & drama adjudicator and involved in running a BIFF member festival. Rebecca also previously held the position of Speech & Drama Chair of the Adjudicators' Council. Outside of BIFF, Rebecca is a busy teacher, examiner, director and writer. You can read Rebecca's full biography on our online directory here. We hope you will warmly welcome Rebecca to the role and we look forward to sharing her first message to the membership in our next newsletter.
We also hope you will join us in sincerely thanking Deborah for her enormous commitment, energy and service to the Board of Trustees, and the wider organisation, during her tenure. Joining the board in 2015, Deborah later took on the position of Vice Chair in 2020 and Chair in 2023.