Haslemere Thespians celebrated their 80th anniversary with a wonderful dinner evening of entertainment and laughter at the Haslemere Hall earlier this summer.

The hall and annexe were beautifully decorated in a summer theme – green and white foliage was in abundance, and the main hall was adorned with bay and olive trees, while each table and across the stage was decorated with eucalyptus leaves.

In the annexe, was a history of the Thespians, with pictures of plays and pantomimes dating from the 1930s up to the current year, as well as the room being dressed with props and memorabilia.

It provided a wonderful place to go and talk to friends, old and new, to reminisce about shared experiences and to look through the photo albums.

During the evening there was a photo reel projected onto the back wall of the stage, with more than 200 photos of shows; a real highlight which caused many whoops and cheers every time someone recognised a familiar face!

Entertainment came in the shape of an improv group called The Maydays who had plenty of material to work with and were extremely clever with their sketches, weaving seemingly random topics about the Thespians, and individuals, into some hilarious moments!

There was then a short film, put together by Peter Chaplin, of peoples’ memories of the Thespians down through the years.

It featured an eclectic mix of youngsters from their Next Generation theatre group, through to some of their slightly older members, all of whom shared what the Thespians meant to them.

The theme which emerged was that of a warm and friendly society that felt like a family; supportive, encouraging and just really good fun to be a part of.

More than 90 people attended the evening, and were treated to a dinner of slow-cooked pork in cider with celeriac, apple and white cabbage coleslaw and roasted new potatoes with a rosemary and garlic leafy green salad.

Dessert was a ‘build your own’ Eton mess, served on each table in a wooden crate and containing summer berries, raspberry coulee, whipped cream and broken meringue.

Jenny Manville, the outgoing chairman, thanked all those who had worked so hard to put the evening together, including the committee, and particularly, Linnet Bird, Kim Seymour and Sally Waghorn, as well as the event company, Malt and Marble, who organised the catering, with it’s director Tim Manville also taking on the role of Master of Ceremonies.

Finally the evening was rounded off by The Thamesmen, who played two sets of popular music for everyone to dance to.

In her speech, Jenny referred to a newspaper article from The Herald dated 1938. It reported on the Thespians 21st party, their ‘coming of age’ where her grandfather, Charles Stephens, the society’s founder and first chairman, had given a speech.

In it he talked about how proud he was the society he started “as a tiny seedling, had grown into such a sturdy and luxuriant tree…”

Jenny thanked all those present for continuing to uphold her grandfather’s passion and vision for a society that was at its heart, creative, vibrant, challenging, fun and inclusive; in short a family.

The overwhelming feeling from all those who attended was that it was a wonderful celebration of the Thespians, with something for everyone, and an evening that no-one would forget.

Their next productions will be the Free From Show – Sketches Without Taste, from September 28-30, which is also a supper evening,

Aladdin is set to be the annual panto in January, while Twelfth Night, will be pefromed in the spring.

Jenny Manville