Shropshire theatre group on stage for a decade
Hitting the high notes in front of a packed audience is no easy job, especially when you're as young as 11.
But one Shropshire amateur dramatics group has been doing it for 10 years and is celebrating a decade of showbusiness with a special production.
Cockshutt Amateur Dramatic Society has about 30 members who take to the stage, or help behind the scenes, three times a year.
With performers joining the crew from 11 years old, the society puts on a whole variety of productions catering for any age of audience in the village near Ellesmere.
Jim Davies, stage manager for the group, said: "It all started really when one of the movers and shakers in the village knocked on my door 10 years ago and asked if we wanted to help start up the society.
"Years ago, my wife and I met in an amateur dramatics group, so they must have known we were into that – I've no idea how. Since then it has just been a gradual but continual success story."
The group began without any money or funding, and so performances generally created the magic of the theatre using ordinary items as props.
Mr Davies, of The Briars, in Cockshutt, said:
"To begin with they put on little plays and different small performances in the year, just using a table and chair really.
"They were well received, but it's quite different to what we do now."
Based in Cockshutt Millennium Hall, members join the society on a regular basis, and the group likes to encourage children from Cockshutt Church of England primary school to take part in performances too.
"We always like to pinch good talent from the school," said Mr Davies. "If we've got a scene that needs dancers, they always help out and lend a hand."
The group has received continued support from local organisations that have helped fund the theatre society's expansion including the installation of a £7,500 lighting rig at the hall.
In celebration of their 10th anniversary, the society is rehearsingThrough the Looking Glass, based on Lewis Carroll's classic tale of Alice in Wonderland.
The story features a lion and unicorn fight, a train to nowhere and Humpty's story as he searches for romance.
