Born in the lounge bar of a smoky pub in the early 1960s, the Portchester Players are celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year. Three of its founder members are still involved in the group today and they have witnessed several company marriages, quite a few births and - truth to tell - one or two divorces too! The group is quite family orientated and there are one or two Players families who have produced third Generation Players!

We have been at the same venue, Portchester Community Centre, for most of our forty years and consider ourselves very lucky to have such a good home. We are currently fund-raising to upgrade the facilities (sound, lighting etc etc) both for us and the Community as a whole.

Over the years, the group has tackled pretty much all forms of theatre, but we initially became well known for our Pantos and Music Halls. We still put on a Panto in January every year, but this year's Music Hall is the first for 9 years. The annual programme is generally along the lines of Panto (January), Play (April), Musical (June) Play (October).

We are celebrating our Anniversary with a retrospective programme. Each of the year's productions (we do four a year) is a re-run of an earlier production. This includes a re-visit to our first ever production (On Monday Next) from 1963. We are also running ads in our local paper for past members, so that they can join us in a dinner dance in October.

We have had several members move into the professional world - both front and back stage - and we keep an avuncular eye on their exploits.

We rehearse at the Community Centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30 p.m. We are always on the lookout for new members. Potential actors, dancers (16+) and backstage crew would be given a warm welcome. Email or call 01329 519125 for more details.

Recent productions include Outside Edge, Cinderella, Steel Magnolias, The Hired Man, Murder on the Nile, Silly Cow, Little Shop of Horrors........

Forthcoming productions include On Monday Next, Dick Whittington, Neville's Island, Girlfriends....

The years roll by, people (and audiences!) come and go but we like to think that the Players will soldier on for at least another 40 years. If you have never seen a PP production - why not come along and see us soon?