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Christ Church Cinderhill Stage Society in 1986
Chairman: Philip Jarvis - Cinderhill
Secretary: Howard Davies - Aspley
The Christ Church Cinderhill Stage Society was formed in 1964 due to the enthusiasm of the Vicar of the day, the Reverend Cyril Miles, together with Harry Constantine and Mick Johnson. The regular weekly meetings and the productions have always been held in the Christ Church Cinderhill church hall on Nuthall Road, Nottingham, but, in the early days, the performances were on a stage formed of beer-crates. The facilities improved over the years, progressing through a period when a trestle stage had to be erected on the eve of a production and struck immediately afterwards, until in 1975 a permanent proscenium-arch stage was built. The Society now enjoys excellent facilities, with the use of the stage 51 weeks in the year, and with a comprehensive permanent bank of lanterns. Plans are in hand to replace the elderly cast-iron dimmers with a micro-chip control-system and to provide a removable apron for the stage.
The Society normally stages two productions a year, a three-act play in May and a pantomime around Christmas-time, but it is hoped to increase the scope of productions to include an extra play each year. In addition to performing, the Society's small but spirited membership, which usually numbers abmJt twenty, enjoys a calendar of social activities. Visits are frequently made to view other Society's productions and many of the members attend NANDA and other drama-orientated courses.
With its production of "The Joker" by Pat Trevor, the Society had the privilege of staging the play's English premiere and of having the author travel from his home in Scotland to attend a performance. This play also provided the medium through which the then-Chairman, Barbara Bates, was able to win the Constance Radford Rose Bowl for the best actress at the 1980 NANDA One Act Play Festival.
The Society meets each Tuesday at 1.45 pm at the church hall on Nuthall Road, between its junctions with Broxtowe Lane and Bells lane. New members are always welcome.
Past plays have included
"Reluctant Heroes"
"Chase Me Comrade"
"Absurd Person Singular"
"The Anniversary", which was staged to celebrate the Society's 21st birthday.
The pantomimes have been
"Aladdin", which in the 1981/82 season was the earliest pantomime to be produced in Nottingham, being staged in the first week of November
"Cinderella"
"The Queen of Hearts"
"The Sleeping Beauty"
"Puss in Boots".