AN IMMACULATE programme from a Barnsley Amateur Operatic Society performance in 1954 has been unearthed by a member of the audience.
Betty Wooffindin, 84, was looking through some belongings when she stumbled upon the programme for The New Moon which was performed in March 1954 at the Theatre Royal on Wellington Street.
The producer was Maisie Griffiths, musical director Clifford Lodge and ballet mistress Joyce Tomlinson.
The principal cast included Tom Pickles, Iris Hedgecox, Audrey Stott, Felix Squires, Hugh Wheatley, Ida Millett, Stephen Egarr and George Smith, Albert Parkin and Ralph Porter. All were photographed in the programme in pairs, and there were group photos of the chorus, the dancers, and the leading actors.
There are also photographs of the society’s senior vice presidents Charles Smith and Clifford Hesketh and chairman Mr C F Johnson.
Mrs Wooffindin said: “I just came across it and thought it might be of interest because some of these people are probably still alive.
“It’s survived in quite good condition.
“I went to quite a lot of productions around that time, I don’t remember a great deal about it, but I obviously thought the programme was worth keeping. I’ve not seen it for a very long time but I just came across it.”
