History of the St Neots Players

A Brief History:

The St Neots Players were originally formed in the late 1920's as a play-reading group. Meeting in members' homes for readings, rehearsals and social gatherings their first ever production a home-grown piece and was ironically entitled "Lost in Time".

In the early days of the group it was decided that a committee should be formed and upon its formation regular meetings were held and minutes were taken and recorded. Sadly, in the 1980's, all minutes were destroyed when the then secretary's thatched cottage caught fire and the loft contents; where the said treasured documents were stored; were completely destroyed. Of course these documents can never be replaced but the St Neots Player's history was able to live on through local knowledge and by member's whose fond memories could be triggered off and captured with the help of a little fine wine and an evening at the local!

The players used to perform the annual Shakespeare, Pantomime and any other mid-season productions at the Kings Head Hotel in the "Stables Theatre". However, disaster struck again and in 1974-75 a society split occurred and for a short time, the plays stopped. Fortunately, this rift was relatively short lived and the group reformed and were soon back on track.

It is interesting to note that although the Players have suffered set backs they remain the only Amateur Theatre Group in St Neots to date whilst many others have fallen by the wayside. Today the group is still formed, as it was originally, from local people who all give up their own time to do something that they all enjoy. There are so many aspects to any Amateur Theatre Group and people join from all walks of life getting involved in anything from acting, directing, costumes and props, lighting and sound and set design, construction and stage management, not to mention the thankless task of publicity and front of house, the list is endless but at the end of the day it is all good clean fun.

The St Neots Players.