Our Golden Jubilee was celebrated on 27th April 2024 in Kirdford Village Hall with an exhibition of 50 years of productions, followed by a supper and “Party Pieces” in the evening.
“Minute by Minute”
(A Party Piece written and performed by Amanda Gillett)
Mrs Bath reported that KP was formed on 27th February, 1974 at a meeting held in Sorrel House, the site of the old, old school in Kirdford. Due to such enthusiasm, a play, ‘Sailor Beware’ was selected to be performed that May. ‘Despite a small stage, lack of dressing rooms (tent and caravan used), with huge support from the village which made it ‘a most enjoyable and memorable experience’, the minutes report.
Just one night in KVH it would appear, on reflection, there should have been three nights and one for OAPS? Maybe fire precautions would be addressed? We needed a permanent ‘sound effects man’! It would be difficult to follow up such a success and Mrs Bath warned of the dangers of becoming a ‘social club’!!
Mr Eaton-Jones, who was duly elected chairman at the first open meeting of the group on 26th June 1974, where 26, soon to be members attended; had received a glowing letter of thanks from Mr Bristow as we apparently did one performance in Northchapel.
We need ‘permanent performance space’ and Kirdford Growers (now Bramley Close) canteen was proposed, Sir Peter Mursell would be asked. Willie Austen was appointed ‘Sound Effects man’!
Mr Sulten proposed a series of lectures, and a committee member would be asked to attend KVH committee meetings!
Mr Testro was asked to produce Blyth Sprit for three nights in December 1974. In September 1974 a ‘settee’ is mentioned as ‘not suitable’ so Mike (first sign of a Christian name) would sell it! Kim Puttick would start a scrap book. Sybil, Kim, Mike …Christain names now appear! The settee hasn’t sold. Extraordinary meeting called. KVH dates not available and play abandoned! April/May dates proposed. February 1975, settee finally sells for £5. Sunday, 9th February, Jack White and Sue Duffield first appear.
‘Old Time Music Hall’ as a money raiser proposed. AGM held on March 5th 1975. KVH fails the fire check for a Theatre License and subs are 50p a year. OTM Hall raises £74.31 and we donate £65 towards KVH upgrade. In July, ‘Present Laughter’ was proposed for October. September was our first theatre trip, we went to Christ Hospital to see The Captain of Köpenick. Sheila Baker and Judy Peacock do the ‘teas’ and the play, directed by Kim makes a profit of £34. Mention of people failing to pay their subs!
1976 – ‘posters should be displayed earlier’. ‘Breath of Spring’ was the first of three productions in 1976. Theatre trip to Guildford to watch a professional production of Present Laughter but we thought ours was better!
AGM – 9th March, 1976, nine people present! Barns Green Drama Festival mentioned. Winslow Boy made a loss of £13.63! Trailer play discussed and reports of the after-show party costing rather a lot! Adam and Eve made a profit of £22 which was given to the Recreation Ground and church bells.
Eaton-Jones’s are moving, Kim Puttick (from the old, old, old Post Office) became chairman. Ifold Players first mentioned, who were very dynamic and helpful to us with encouragement and loan of equipment.
Reg Thompson and Robin Stepney were singled out for a special mention although not having the ‘correct hardboard’ they could have free tickets for both families at all future productions.
1978 mentions ‘Club Room’ at the Stag, fireproofing flats, Old Vicarage stables mentioned as a possible storage and rehearsal room. KVHMC says ‘no’ to special rates, hiring of hall stays at 80p an hour. Dr Timpson audits our accounts. We decide against having patrons and decline the offer of Bea Gaisman’s barn for rehearsals as it has no heating. Subscriptions are now £1 a year – 50% increase! These years were prolific with three or four productions a year.
1979 – rehearsals were held upstairs at the Foresters. Kim loans her paraffin heaters! Sue Duffield becomes Honorary Secretary as Philippa Micklem starts a trend by moving to Australia. We put on our first pantomime; Jack and the Beanstalk. Delighted we have four members of the original cast here: the giant (Philip), Jill – the principal girl (Kim), half the cow (Sally) and Jack- the principal boy (Mandy)!
1980 – Health and Safety gets a foot in the door with our first Public Liability insurance costing £20 a year. Kim helps push through improvements to KVH and Mandy starts her 43 years as Secretary in 1981 which is the same year we won Barns Green Drama Festival with Gosforth’s Fete.
Upstairs rehearsals at the Foresters became difficult due to B&B and noise (not sure if that was us or the bar) Checking out the Bush at Plaistow – pubs do seem to feature rather a lot! Kim has a plan to record ‘Antigone’ and so starts years of fun and heartache.
1982 –Subscriptions were £2. Black Comedy proposed and abandoned. Tennis Tournament and Jumble Sale were held. Has anyone found the cat costume? Christmas Party hosted by Sally Marsh in Plaistow. Jan Jeffery joins and the committee accepts that the cat costume is lost!
1986 – Christmas Bazaar raised £60.44 with just eight stalls. Are we now a Social Club constantly raising funds? Just one production in 1986, Snow White, which was Julia and Terry’s first production.
1987 had three productions as pantomime in January and December with Tomb with a View in between. Terry became Treasurer and his first introduction to ‘the books’ had three different totals. Luckily the one showing the highest amount was our bank account.
1989 – we have a letter sent from Plaistow complaining about Dick Miller’s poster for Two and Two Make Sex! We enter a familiar occurrence where we take three months to organise the buying of a tea urn and it doesn’t arrive until 1990. Try to be more professional starts a pace – ‘no walking across the stage’.
1991 sees our first Youth Production thanks to Jean Miller and Gemma Stockwell. A separate youth section is discussed in 1992 but we don’t have enough available adults to supervise. Subs increase to £2.50.
1993 and Charles Chatwin writes Peter Pippens Piglet. A resounding and technical pantomime with magic mirrors – maybe Julia’s first cat role and Mandy and Dorrie’s tap routine being lauded by Petworth Fair Committee who offer a gig.
Storage of flats, props and costumes are always a problem for any group and we’re no different. Parts of KVH have been used plus the Osmaston’s house, Eric Morrish’s house, Mandy’s garage, Sue’s cellar, Sally’s garage. Scenery was moved from Sally’s in Plaistow to a workshop at Kirdford Growers. Our container was then purchased and thanks to HP it was moved from the Growers to Bill and Pat Shere’s farm about 30 years ago.
1994 sees our very first interval wine sales (happens to coincide with Vic becoming a member) and our 20th anniversary. Subs double to become £5.00!
1995 – our second youth production, Adrain Mole. Mummers were resurrected by Vic Coleman from Iford Players days and £175 was raised.
1996 and KVHMC allow us to move into the ‘Office’.
1997 we perform a Passion Play on Palm Sunday in Petworth and produce our third Youth Production; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. TMS our source of much technical hirings start a characteristic trait of forgetting to bill us! The County Drama Association is dissolved but Lodge Hill struggles on despite funding cuts.
1998 and the first mention of having a mobile phone handy at all times plus our most wonderful production of The Constant Wife.
1999 – our Silver Anniversary celebrated with an exhibition, really great party, which was followed by a Richard Green disco.
2000 sees us move seamlessly into wedding catering for Sara and then Max Coleman’s weddings, followed by spoof weddings with outrageous goings on to raise money for Winterton Hall and KVH. For Kirdford Carnival we enter a trailer play of Pyramus and Thisbe where we nearly come full circle from our original trailer play. Richard Bairstow becomes our excellent Treasurer, a post he still holds today.
2001 – Our most successful production of Steaming, produced by Terry, very nearly didn’t happen: the committee vote was 4 for and three against! Ian thanked him for coping with the language in a sensitive manner which did not cause offence.
2002 – Rather a difficult AGM, the last to be held in a pub and the fabulous production of Little Voice. We started our theatre trips to London in the Community Minibus and our flag arrived!
2003 – we donate 50% towards the cost of the cushions for the hall and all of the cost of the fabric for the replacement curtains! Gazebo for wine sales was first discussed.
2004 – our stage curtains arrived! Subscriptions double and are now £10.
2005 – another fundraiser for KVH, a Medieval Banquet raising £1140.
2006 – after much discussion, we started to repaint the container.
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 we are still repainting the container! Finished repainting it in 2015 but then the roof needed to be repaired!
Friends of KP launched in 2008
2016 – we decorated the village hall kitchen, loos and entrance lobby. Rudes performed on the Recreation Ground. The repair to our container roof has now been completed!
2017 – another painting session of the container was being discussed once again and the roof is still leaking! Invited to participate as part of PetFringe. Our rather precarious scaffold tower was replaced with a Zarges ladder. PTC asked us to take part in the Petworth Christmas event performing a live nativity.
2018 – we refurbished the backroom of KVH. Not the Royal Wedding was much enjoyed by the village as well as making over £900 for the village hall.
The minutes over the past years include not only visits to the library to select scripts and details of the productions but also amazing after show parties, wonderful skiing trips, workshops, theatre trips, concerts and picnics in Petworth Park, barbecues and Christmas parties.
During Covid we continued to meet using Zoom, (some having greater success than others) by holding regular quiz evenings as well as play readings.
Things have not always been straight forward. We have had some very difficult moments and some productions which were not of our usual standard. However, over the last few years we have managed to get ourselves back on track!
Kirdford Players has accomplished so much and generously given back to the community. Most importantly, we have shared a tremendous amount of enjoyment, laughter, kindness and friendship. We should be proud of our achievements. I have always believed being a member is not ‘what can KP give to me?’ but ‘what can I give to KP?’
Thank you for all the happy memories and may we share many more!
Amanda Gillett – 27th April 2024
KIRDFORD PLAYERS 