In the beginning …….
There had always been a tradition of amateur dramatics in Newdigate.
As far back as 1907 the matriarch of the village, Mrs. Janson, produced a play called ‘At Ye Sign of Ye Sugar Hearte’ to raise funds for renewing the pews in St. Peter’s Church and in 1917 she staged a pageant in which all the school children dressed up in costumes of the Newdigate family from the time of Edward I up to George V. This was to raise money for the Dorking Farmers’ Red Cross Fund.
During the 1950s and 1960s there were a number of productions but this all came to a complete end when the stage was removed from the Village Hall in 1989.
Cinderella in the 1950s
The Newdigate branch of the British Legion stage a play
The Newdigate Players in the 1950s
A chance discussion, during the summer of 2013 in the Ali Raj restaurant, between Annette and Barry Jordan and Tina and John Callcut sowed the seeds of a theatrical group in Newdigate. They had been to see a pantomime at Ockley and thought “we could do that!” and “we could raise money for the new cricket pavilion and scout hut”.
In 2013 some members of the fledgling society entered the Heart of the Community grant scheme and were awarded the handsome sum of £1,000. These pictures were taken at the presentation on the 28th November 2013 at Nutfield Priory and show Annette & Barry Jordan, Maxine & Phill Marlow and Tina Callcut.
Thus, the Newdigate Theatrical Society was born …. or as it is more popularly known NEWTS.
