BROADS and its 40 YEARS OF PANTOMIME

2020's panto marked the 40th anniversary of the foundation of Broads. That first production in 1980 was ‘Cinderella’ and it took place in what was then called the Athletic Club, now the Birchmeadow Centre.

The idea for the group came in 1979 when Mike and Diane Kaiser offered to put on a panto at Dark Lane School to raise funds for the PTA. That production was ‘Aladdin’ and some members of staff took part including the Head, Philip Spearman, who starred as Wishee Washee. Many of today’s parents will remember being taught by him.

We had such a good time that we decided to form a regular drama group that would feature straight plays too. Over the years, we have performed in many pubs, halls and gardens and for several years at the cricket club. Finally, in the mid-90’s, the council bought the Birchmeadow Centre and invited us to join them in that project which has now become one of the best performance spaces for miles around.

Before Broads, there had been two groups active in the town – the Victoria Players at the Victoria Hall and Broseley’s famous female entertainment group, the Amethysts, who appeared all over Shropshire as well as in town. To this day, we have always had members of those earlier groups as part of Broads.

BroADS has been making people laugh and cry with all kinds of drama.

We have performed in churches, gardens, pubs, and in the streets of Broseley - you name it, we've probably been there. We've taken part in festivals all over the country and won awards. Our home is in the Birchmeadow Centre in Broseley - more here .

In the course of the year we put on at least two plays , often three, ... one in the Spring, and another in the Autumn. We also put on smaller events, like 'indoor picnics' and collections of entertaining readings. Of course, whatever other productions we put on, we never miss our annual pantomime.

We look forward to another 40 years and always welcome new faces.