Published in Windlesora 11 (1992)
© WLHG
In 1946 a small group met in Grove Road, Windsor and the Parish Players was formed. This is their story, dedicated to all those who took part with such joy and in memory of my husband, Douglas Brown, who was a founder member and the last chairman.
The Parish Players started with a meeting of friends from the Parish and All Saints Churches at which it was decided to try to perform one secular and two religious plays each year.
The secretary over many years was Mary Watkins, and I am indebted to her for the excellent notes she kept which have helped me to write these memories. Mary, her sister Dorothy and Joyce Kimber were among the founder members, and the first producer was the curate, Revd Anthony Treasure. The Vicar of Windsor, Canon Creed Meredith gave his blessing to the venture by becoming the first President, and his successors were President in turn.
The first secular play was ‘Down the Garden Path’ by Ireland Wood. The local press, who always attended the shows, gave a good report and the audiences enjoyed themselves. The money collected was donated to the church.
Religious plays, whether Nativity or Passion, were always performed in one of the two churches, with choir and organ if required. Rehearsals of all plays were great fun, and the general happiness of the Parish Players was possibly because auditions were never held for parts. Plays were chosen by the number of people available at that time. This sometimes meant a change of gender but no-one ever needed to take two parts in one play.
I well remember a nativity play ‘The Magic Winds’ as this was my introduction to the Parish Players and the beginning of many happy years. Here I met my husband, and my first memory of him is when I saw him kneeling in the Church porch and blowing a small charcoal burner to get the incense going for me. I then proceeded up the aisle as a King, swinging the censor.
Over the years the programme included play readings, discussions and theatre visits, sometimes with a meal out, but we always enjoyed ourselves. In the early days we had no hall of our own, so we performed our plays at the Windsor County Boys School or the Conservative Hall. It was not until 1951 that the Parish Hall in Grove Road was refurbished and we finally had our own stage
and cupboards to keep our props. In that year we did a fast moving comedy, ‘Acacia Avenue’ by Mabel and Denis Constanduros. Some people thought it was an unwise choice because of the
language, and the vicar had to preach a sermon to sooth ruffled feelings.
In 1955 we produced ‘The Price of Admission’ at the Royal Albert Institute for the Bible Society Exhibition. Much of the praise we received was due to the work of Mr. Sykes and Mr. Ayers who had erected a gauze curtain and installed special lighting. The overseas scenes were shown behind this curtain and the scenes at the gates of heaven were in front of the curtain and these visual effects were most impressive.
We never had understudies. If we felt ill on the night of a production we usually carried on, but in 1959 we were to perform “The Man who came to Dinner’ by Moss Hart and George Kaufman when Harry Cook who was due to take the main part was too ill to attend. Our producer, Ann Buttrum, persuaded her husband, Dudley, a professional actor, to read the part for us. Most of this role was played in a wheelchair and the book was hidden in the folds of a blanket over his knees. Dudley carried the play, which had a cast of over twenty and it was a great success.
Under Ann Buttrum’s direction we performed ‘Random Harvest’ by James Hilton in 1960. We had several new members and we got an excellent review from the Windsor and Eton Express which said “The play was faultlessly cast . .” and “Not the least striking sign of The Player’s competance was the way they aged before our eyes, and gave convincing character studies . . ”. Dudley Buttrum produced ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne Du Maurier in 1961. This was another ambitious undertaking which again had an excellent review.
While we were involved in these more ambitious projects we did not neglect our religious plays. The Passion play in 1961 was ‘Caesar’s Friend’ which was produced in All Saint’s Church. This was followed by the light comedy ‘Relative Values’ by Noel Coward, directed by Ann Buttrum.
To celebrate the hundredth anniversary of All Saints Church in 1965 we produced ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw. The producer and leading man was John Onley, a college lecturer in English. We painted a new backdrop and our leading lady was a new young member, Drusilla Barnes, who acted superbly.
During the next few years we continued our religious and secular plays but we did not seem to achieve quite the same enthusiasm of the previous few years.
But by 1972 many new members had joined and it was decided to put on a pantomime, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Our new producer David Bartle was very ambitious and our photographs were published in the programme with a short history of each of us. While working all night on the scenery, someone cut a hole in the ceiling to accommodate the beanstalk. Hands were held up in horror until a small attic was built round the hole, and the beanstalk could grow. However, the actual production was very impressive, and especially pleasing to me was that one very shy young member, who had always refused to take a part, was able to be the back half of the cow ‘Ermintrude’, with me in front. We were completely hidden by the cow costume.
After this only a few more plays were produced. It seemed the Parish Players had lost their flare. However one more remarkable production was still to come. It was on 30th January 1977, the anniversary of the death of King Charles I. Kathleen Shawcross researched, wrote and produced a re-enactment of what people were saying and thinking in those days. This was performed in the Parish Church with banners, weapons and costumes supplied by the Sealed Knot (a band of people who re-enact the Civil War).
We also mounted a tableau for the Septcentenery procession through the town, in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh. Our float was ‘Archery on the Acre’ and we wore medieval costumes.
Our last production was “The Bishop’s Candlesticks’ in 1977. Although attempts were made to rekindle the flame, the spark had gone out. The death of my husband in 1989 was the final curtain call. However, the Parish Players was never officially wound up. The constitution and some money is there for anyone who wants to start it all up again.
Elizabeth Brown
the procession at the funeral of Charles I.
The actor playing a coffin bearer is David Crisfield.
Windsor Local History Group 