Let’s do the show right here!

The handsome male line up in full song

In the period just after the war the only entertainment available to most people was the ‘wireless’. But in Blackham we were fortunate to have Mrs Moth, an accomplished pianist and enthusiastic stager of shows. Mrs Moth created many shows which included singing, dancing, comedy sketches, monologues and any other skill a local performer could bring to the stage of the village hall to entertain fellow villagers. Big chorus numbers were a bit tricky on the tiny village hall stage and the ‘dressing rooms’ (the doctor’s surgery) were a bit cramped, but the shows went down well and eventually some of them were taken to neighbouring villages like Fordcombe. We would love to have your memories of these shows either as a cast member or in the audience.

Since this page was first created with two rather grainy photos of a show called Boomps-A-Daisy culled from the Kent & Sussex Courier, Michael Gibbons, whose family lived at Colestock Crossroads, has been in touch with two photographic prints. We have been able to identify some of the people in the cast photo (above), can you fill in the blanks. Back row: Paul Crowhurst, unknown, Janet Osmond, John King, Tony Gibbons, Mrs Moth, John Hopkins, Pam Moth, Billy Mitchell, unknown. Front row: Sam Coomber, Susan King, unknown, Gillian Baugh, Geraldine Bashford, Jim Moth.

Blackham’s ‘Tiller Girls’ with on the back left May Crowhurst, who for some reason wasn’t in the complete cast photo but was one of the leading singers in the shows