Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society in Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom | Dramatic Society

In 1897, St Mary's Church in Cowes, United Kingdom had a Restoration Fund to raise money for necessary work on its foundations. It was decided to hold a concert. That performance proved so popular that it was decided to be a little more ambitious and to stage a musical play.and that's how the Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society came into being. Later, when it began to stage dramatic plays in addition to musicals its title was expanded to the one more usually referred to today as the Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, United Kingdom.

In 1998 the Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society celebrated its Centenary and that auspicious occasion was marked by the preparation of a book charting the history and every performance of the Society. There are very few amateur operatic and dramatic societies who can boast of a history as long and as varied as Cowes Operatic and Dramatic Society. In 1906 the Society performed the musical Dorothy before Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Beatrice (who became the Society's Patron), the King of Spain and the Royal Court attendants. King Alfonso was to have been accompanied by Princess Ena of Battenburg , to whom he was bethrowed, but she was indisposed. Quite a coup for a quiet village amateur group.