Write-Ups Over the Years...
In 1908 the Twentieth Century was in its infancy and the two World Wars were away in the future. Edward VII sat proudly on the Throne of Great Britain and ruled over a vast British Empire. The Prime Minister was Asquith, the Liberals formed the Government and the Labour Party had not yet seen the light of day.
Beer was 1½p a pint, smoking was considered a social grace with cigarettes being 1p for twenty, and a motor car could be bought for £25. The local music halls were approaching their heyday and television was pure science fiction.
Throughout the Black Country the foundries were alive with sweat and toil, and a holiday dream was a train ride to Weston-Super-Mare. But in Cradley Heath something stirred - a small group of enthusiastic theatre lovers got together to produce a concert, mainly for their own amusement but also to let the public join in if they wished. They chose HMS Pinafore and intended to perform as soon as possible after sufficient rehearsals which would enable them to reach an acceptable standard. In the event, this took longer than expected and it was not until the turn of the year that it was deemed “good enough to set before an audience”.
The Society was christened CRADLEY HEATH, OLD HILL AND DISTRICT AMATEUR OPERATIC SOCIETY. The main problem in 1908 was that they were very short of money [Where have we heard that before?] and each of these founder members had to dig into their pockets and purses to pay for things which would require “cash up front” as the saying is nowadays. That very first performance ran for four nights at the old Empire Theatre in Cradley Heath. It's interesting to note that the site of this first venue is now a Tesco supermarket. To the great surprise of the public, but not to the players of course, this first venture was a success. Not only was morale running high, but there were a few shillings left to put into the bank.
The Society followed this first venture with two more Gilbert and Sullivan productions - The Gondoliers and The Mikado. At this time the Committee decided that the Society had served the almost compulsory apprenticeship on G&S, and was now ready to take on…
Well, the rest is history and this is just the start.
The late Stan Saunders Hon.
Treasurer for Cradley Heath Amateur Operatic Society
1979 - 1992
