History
The Stagelights is a small theatre group which first came about in 2001 after John Hicks and Ralph Tilton were talking. Ralph pointed out that there was no theatre group in Longwell Green anymore, as the previous group had disbanded. John thought it was a good idea and so posted some adverts up for anyone who would like to start up a new club.
The very first meeting was held at Longwell Green Community Centre on the 31st January 2002, about 15 people attended and it was decided that we should have a go at forming a club.
At the next meeting, 2 weeks later, about 30 people attended, a committee was chosen, a name was decided on and the club was formed. the next thing was to choose a logo for the club and after a few various designs had been put forward the current logo was finally decided upon.
We decided that our first production should be a real good one and as it was a centenary year for Rogers & Hammerstein, we would do a tribute to them, and so the Stagelights was born.
For the next 4 months rehearsals were held, costume ladies were coerced into joining us and cast members were cajoled and badgered. Backstage crew were set to create credible scenery and the whole show was very successfully produced & performed in September of 2002. A roaring success.
Since then The Stagelights have very successfully presented a range of productions including 1 Full length play, 4 Pantomimes, 3 Variety Shows, 2 One act plays and numerous small one night shows as well as 2 smaller productions performed entirely by the junior section of the club. (please see Past Productions for more details).
Over the last 4 years we have been very lucky in being given 4 very useful grants which have meant a great deal to the continuance and improvement of the productions we are able to deliver.
We received our first grant for £250.00 from Oldland Parish Council in 2004 to help us to purchase some much needed back drops
Our second grant was for £5,000 from the National Lottery which was to buy sound equipment.
Grant number 3 was £500 from The Co-op society for the purchase of a set of drums and finally we were granted another £500 from the Oldland Parish council for the purchase of a very tall ladder for lighting and stagework and a glitter curtain.
We are extremely grateful to the above mentioned organizations who have been very generous in their donations.