Our “50th Celebration”  was on 27th & 28th of October.

Last month HDS celebrated its 50th anniversary by holding a gala evening in Holt Village Hall. The event paid tribute to the many forms of dramatic art that have been performed by the Society over 50 years and saw the return of several players from those 5 decades. We were delighted to see they had lost none of their acting ability nor stage presence.

Organising the show was a monumental task, begun over a year ago and calling upon the goodwill of many people in Holt to make it a success. Altogether there were almost 50 individuals involved both on and off stage undertaking tasks such as publicity; technical support; visual displays; decorating the hall; rehearsing the choir; providing costumes and props; making delicious canapes, and stage management. And that was just the crew! There were also the performers, actors and musicians, who provided high quality entertainment over two performances.

The performances were entertainingly hosted by Jon Monie, star of the annual pantomime at Bath's Theatre Royal, and it is to him that we owe our heartfelt thanks. As MC he made each evening highly amusing, slick and professional.

We were also fortunate to have Holt's own Poet Laureate, Al Brunker, pen a poem and recite it for us in celebration of HDS 50th anniversary. It is reproduced below for your enjoyment. Finally we would like to thank Harry at Holt Superstore for, once again, so willingly take on the task of selling the tickets for the show.

Jill Siddall and Kate Palmer

PS: An excellent professional recording of that memorable evening is now available on DVD for people to buy at £5 a copy. It includes all those photographs as well as all the acts and songs and of course the brilliant Jon Monie. If you would like a copy please contact Kate (cash with orders please) and I will order you as many copies as you would like.