Hardingstone Players Celebrate 50 Years

Hardingstone Players Celebrate 50 Years

Hardingstone Players, a small village society based on the edge of Northampton, began its life 50 years ago, when four villagers had an ambition to put on a pantomime.  Rehearsals started at the village hall in the autumn of 1974, and Aladdin was the very first production, in February 1975. 

The society grew from strength to strength over the next couple of decades, and in the 1980s and 90s produced a play, a musical and a cabaret evening most years.  These days, however, we are a much smaller society, but we still meet every week at Hardingstone Village Hall.  We pride ourselves on producing good quality light entertainment on a small budget.

We decided to celebrate our 50th birthday with a Golden Gala Dinner Party; we were delighted to welcome former society members, who came armed with photo albums and plenty of memories to share. 

Seven of our current members have been part of the society for over 20 years.  Our Regional Representative, Caroline Jervis, was delighted to join us to present four 20-year badges (to Iain and Hilary Hodge, Simon Wolfenden and Rachel Dobb), a 25-year badge to Alison Roberts, and a 30-year badge to our Chair, Rhiannon George.  The final award was to Richard Wenham, who was presented with his 50-year award.  Richard has been lighting our productions since that first Aladdin in 1975, and it was a pleasure to be able to thank and celebrate him at this event.

We may no longer be able to produce wonderful musicals with a large cast, music and dancing, BUT we are good at what we do, we will continue to do our very best to entertain people for years to come and are looking forward to our 125th production in February 2025!