Early activities in the church hall 1924 to 1939

Apart from ‘Gwynne versus Gwynne, the dates are not yet available but if produced at one per year in the autumn, this list would complete to 1938. By autumn 1939, the war was into its beginning but enough was going on for the Players and the some of the other church activities perhaps to be in black out. The outbreak of the war in 1939 saw the Government order the immediate closure of all theatres, cinemas, dance halls and place of public entertainment. There were significant adjustments to the church’s  activities with alteration to service times and blackout provision.

If this was the first performance, there is little evidence of preparation within the minutes of the Church meetings. 

From a document entitled ‘Building Souvenir’ from March 1948, are some statistics that reflect the activity of the church in November 1926. The church membership stood at 104 with attendance at communion  being 44 and at church meetings 44. The average church service attendance was 40. There were 200 members of Sunday School (average attendance being 178), served by 20 teachers.The Choir was 30 strong with Bright Hour being supported  by up to 53 members. In the report, no mention is made of the Players strength in numbers. It was noted that there was no school room.

Scanning through the minute book for 1927 to 1934 reveals much of the business within the church. In January 1932, reports  were received from various groups. The Choir, Sunday School, Women’s Bright Hour, Junior Christian Endeavour and the Men’s Club. Later in the year,  The Choir were well established performers. In 1927, they planned to give a concert entitled “At Home” with the funds being shared between the choir and the church funds.

Dates were set and confirmed for a Harvest Festival (25th September) and a jumble sale (1^st October) but there are no dates set for a play, especially an inaugural play. 

Quite a substantial production was organised for 1924. It involved a pianoforte duet, a descriptive song, a recital and a performance of a one act play. The play was a one act play entitled “New  Year’s Eve” and the programme also included a sketch called “”Complications of the Coffee Room”.

Searching through the minute book  4, reveals that at the meeting held on 12^th February, 1935, the Men’s Club asked for a dance to be held on the 28^th February. Another request, but later in the year by the Men’s Club was for a tennis match to be played on the 23rs October, 1935. The meeting of 6^th November took reports from Auxilliaries, Church Sunday School, the Choir, Bright Hour and the ‘dancing and sporting’ Men’s Club. Further to the autumn discussions were proposals to explore the possibilities of organising a Recreation Club and the number of instruments for dances  but nothing about the Players.