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When you’re young, 60 years seems an unimaginable number. When you’re much older, 60 years is no time at all. So where’s the last 60 gone as far as HADS is concerned?

Who would have thought that a small group of people, brought together by Francis James and Leslie Baxter in 1951 would have grown into the very successful dramatic company which is now Harefield Amateur Dramatic Society?

From the first production – Mr Fothergill – to our most recent – Lark Rise to Candleford – we have seen many changes. It’s very appropriate that one of our members, Dave Twydell, has chronicled our rise to fame in the book of the very same name!

You can perform a lot of plays in 60 years and we have 158 full productions, 21 Anthologies and 7 miscellaneous performances under our belt. Dramas, comedies, musicals, mysteries and magic abounded. There can’t have been any genre we haven’t tried and all with complete success.

Our venues have been varied, too Kicking off at St Mary’s Old School Hall, The British Legion, John Penrose School and various other halls with at least the vestiges of a stage, were soon graced with our presence. Harefield Hospital Concert Hall was one of our most unusual venues, but at least we had the comfort of knowing that if our audiences became sick, they wouldn’t have far to go! The importance of dressing rooms and other facilities became evident in each venue used. From changing in cramped rooms several floors above the stage (with the resultant mad dash to get on in time for the cues) and no toilets to a proper “green room” and all mod-cons for both the company and audiences has been a real eye-opener.

We’ve staged productions in regular halls as well as on Harefield Village Green, members’ gardens, pubs and art festivals.

Over the years, HADS has been complimented on the quality of our productions. Our actors have gone from strength to strength, finding depths they didn’t know they had – and finding out that they can be persuaded to do things they wouldn’t normally have dreamt of doing! The direction of our plays is second to none and our scenery would grace any London stage (or so we are told).

Sound and lighting have undergone some radical changes over the years, as we have become more professional and proficient in their use. Our current Sound and Light men have brought with them their expertise from their business lives and, boy, does it show!

Storage has presented a huge problem over the years and in common with other amateur drama groups, where to put things is a real headache. Flats, scenery, props, costumes, lighting and sound equipment all need a dry, safe environment with ease of access. The amount of equipment collected over the years has grown and grown and so have the places needed to keep it all. We’ve gone from a small garage belonging to one of our members to a larger building in Harefield Hospital grounds. And that’s complemented by the lofts in several colleagues’ houses!

As people moved away, the members list changed frequently over the years. However, some founder members are still with us and still just as active in our group. Our current president was in at the very beginning and took over from a president who joined only a couple of years later in 1953. Such commitment is hard to find and very refreshing nowadays.

In this, our 60th year, our current director felt it would be appropriate to stage Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford which has been adapted for the stage in two parts. As this required a cast of thousands and mind boggling scenery with music and dancing, it was obvious that we didn’t have enough bodies to undertake such a venture. Nonetheless, nothing ventured, nothing gained is our motto and to that end we enlisted the help of Harefield All Ages Band and Adult Choir, plus the services of a choreographer and musical director – all local people who were keen to lend their expertise. And what a palaver! It was impossible to get such a large cast all together in one go for rehearsals, so the rehearsal schedule read like an Ikea assembly instruction booklet. Put this bit here, that bit there and hopefully at the end it would all come together! And sure enough, it did. And we’re going through it all again for part two in November! Thespians to the core, that’s us……..