PBGS 50 Years Singing #1: How PBGS started!

Peter Jenkyns, Ruddigore 1983

As this is PBGS’s 50th Anniversary we will be posting some snippets about our history throughout the year, so look out for our ‘PBGS 50 Years Singing’ Specials! So – how did our Society start? PBGS was founded in 1971 by Peter Jenkyns, lecturer at what was then the Putteridge Bury Teacher Training College just outside Luton, and June Pickard who was studying to become a teacher there. Peter was an accomplished singer, composer of children's vocal music and MD - even sought after by the D'Oyly Carte as a patter baritone - and June was an experienced performer and producer who had trained at the Royal College of Music. The first PBGS members were all students who were part of the Department known as 'Music Main' and their very first production was that perennial favourite, The Pirates of Penzance. Above is Peter, in a great photo taken by The Luton News in 1983 to promote Ruddigore, and below a programme from our 1973 Gondoliers and a photo from our 1976 production of The Yeomen of the Guard!

 

Photo of Peter Jenkyns © The Luton News

50th Anniversary merchandise survey

 

To celebrate PBGS's 50th Anniversary we will be producing a few items with our 50th Anniversary logo on them. The choice of merchandise is wide (shirts, water bottles, bags...), so to help us narrow the field and create the items you really want we have created a short survey. If you are interested please help us by taking a few moments to complete the survey:

 

It's our 50th Anniversary!

Our 1992 21st Anniversary Concert

Welcome to PBGS's 50th Anniversary Year! It's not going to be quite the year we were hoping for, but watch this space as there are plans afoot. In the meantime, here is a nostalgic look back at our 21st and 40th celebrations (somehow we missed 30)!

In 1992 we celebrated with a special concert and a meal. I've posted the programme so you can see what we sung - we certainly covered the whole repertoire! In 2011, for our 40th, we took The G&S Sketch Show, written by our current Chairwoman, Paula Fraser, to the International G&S Festival in Buxton, performing at the Pavillion Theatre as part of the Festival Fringe. It was a great afternoon and very well received, if somewhat hectic! We also performed it in Hitchin with special guests and a dinner. 

Hopefully, although our current celebratory plans have had to change, we will still be able to bring you a staged production of The Yeomen of the Guard next October (we have all our collective fingers crossed). And before then we will have a surprise for you!

We miss seeing you all in the theatre. As a group of dedicated G&S and Musical Theatre fans, we can't wait to entertain you once again.
 

21st Anniversary programme

 

 

At Buxton in 2011 for the G&S Sketch Show

Pavillion Theatre, Buxton

 

Merry Christmas from PBGS

 

 

Merry Christmas from all of us at PBGS!

It's been a strange year with no shows to present to you and we were especially disappointed to have to withdraw our wonderful double-bill of Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer at our Tech rehearsal. We've missed getting together to rehearse and sing the music we love. 

Despite all the difficulties we are still here, still ready to perform and there are still things to celebrate as next year is our 50th Anniversary! We hope to have some news soon, as we plan how to mark this very special year with, hopefully, an anniversary production of Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece, The Yeomen of the Guard, in October.

We've missed seeing you all and thank you for your continued support. You can keep up with our news and see some nostalgic photos of past productions on our Facebook page. In the meantime we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a much better, music filled 2021!

N-OVAtion award for Manda Fraser and our Iolanthe costumes

Wonderful news - our very talented wardrobe mistress (and performer!), Manda Fraser, has won this year's N-OVAtion award for 'Most Exciting & Colourful Costumes' for her work in Iolanthe. All the fairy costumes were designed and made by Manda, and all of you who saw the show were blown away by how beautiful they looked. We are thrilled that all that hard work and inspiration has been recognised. Aren't they stunning? Thank you Manda!

Important Show Announcement

It is with great sadness that PBGS has had to make the decision to cancel our re-scheduled performance of Trial by Jury/The Sorcerer on 7-10 October 2020. Due to the ongoing uncertainty around live theatrical performances, and to ensure the safety of our cast, crew and audiences, we feel that this is the best course of action for all involved. We would like to thank our audiences for their continued support and apologise for any disappointment.

We look forward to the future and hope to be able to bring you a special year of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the society in 2021.

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Our Double Bill production of Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer will now take place on the 7th-10th October at the Queen Mother Theatre, Hichin. It was difficult for all of us to get so close to our first night before having to cancel, but we are looking forward to rehearsing it again once things start to return to normal, and polishing our show up nice and bright and shiny for you once more.

We look forward to performing for you again and thank you all for your patience and support. Watch this space for future booking details!

Trial and Sorcerer postponed until October 2020

IMPORTANT COVID-19 UPDATE

It is with regret that we at PBGS have to announce that this week's production of Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer is postponed until October 2020 following government advice and the closure of West End Theatres.

We feel that this is the best course of action to ensure the health and safety of our audience and company. 

The QMT will contact ticket holders in the near future to discuss rebooking for October or refunds.

Thank you for your support in difficult times.

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Socerer rehearsal photos

The Sorcerer can cast magical spells.

Some great Sorcerer rehearsal shots from our roving photographer and 'Reverend Vicar', Stephen Hoath. Our very funny production is directed by Richard Fraser, and the village of Ploverleigh, where the action takes place, may look strangely familiar to our audiences! The Sorcerer is showing in a Double Bill with Trial by Jury, and Director Graham Breeze has given us a modern day celebrity trial complete with a Press Corp and general mayhem!

Our G&S productions are always hugely popular and tickets are selling fast, so be sure to secure the nights you want by booking now using the button below.

Everyone loves a country dance.

Lady Sangazure is hopelessly in love with Sir Marmaduke

PBGS photoshoot

We had a lot of fun dressing up for our usual pre-show photoshoot. A passing cyclist nearly fell off his bike seeing a load of people in Victorian evening dress standing outside a cottage, but then you never know what goes on in villages, as our hilarious production of The Sorcerer illustrates. There is more than English Breakfast in that pot of tea! Then we donned our legal garb for our production of Trial by Jury. As you can see above, once you put those robes on things get pretty serious...

Many thanks to our 'Reverend Vicar' Stephen Hoath for stepping in to take the pictures at short notice and to our 'Counsel/Lady Sangazure' for letting us take over her lovely home!

Book early by clicking on the button below to ensure you get the seats you want, as all our G&S operettas are very popular!

Rehearsal Photos!

Rehearsals are coming along well for our Trial/Sorcerer Double Bill. It's always hard rehearsing two separate shows (or in the case of the last time we mixed shorter shows up... three!!!). One month you are in the village of Ploverleigh being dosed with a magic potion, the next you are in a court room trying to decide who is the guilty party in a breach of Promise of Marriage. In both cases you are caught up in typical G&S romantic mayhem. And taking of mayhem, that's our Jury above, not behaving as soberly as you would hope in a Court of Law.

Expect several digs at journalistic bias in our modern day Trial by Jury, as a celebrity case comes to court, and some very unexpected surprises in The Sorcerer - Ploverleigh might seem strangely familiar...

Great G&S music and comedy and the usual outstanding performances that you expect from PBGS. Be sure to book your tickets early by clicking on the link below!

Box Office is Open!

The Box Office is now open for tickets for our March Gilbert and Sullivan Double Bill, Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer.

Trial by Jury depicts the hilarious court case of a jilted bride and an undoubted cad brought before a learned but unpredictable judge. Will the Defendant have a fair trial? Will the jury be unbiased? Will the Plaintiff find true love or settle for the most unlikely of suitors?

On the same theme of mis-matched love, in The Sorcerer Alexis and Aline, an engaged couple, have instructed J.W. Wells, a 'dealer in magic and spells' to create a magic potion which will make the entire village fall in love.  They hope that everyone will be as happy as they are, but disaster strikes when the village wakes up and falls in love with the first person they see, mixing old and young and posh and poor. Chaos reigns.

Only the sorcerer can break the spell...

Book early by clicking on the button below to ensure you get the seats you want, as all our G&S operettas are very popular!

PBGS shows praised in the Luton News Review of the Year

Well this is a nice Christmas Present! Both of PBGS's 2019 shows feature in Nova Horley's review of the year's highlights for the Luton News:

"Musical of the Year must go to Dunstable Musical Theatre Company for their production of “Cats”.... My runners up are “Swing, Swing, Swing” from St Andrew’s Players, a musical memory of the Andrews Sisters written by Richard Cowling, and “Iolanthe” from Putteridge Bury G&S Society, colourful and well-crafted productions both musically and visually."

"Best Ensemble in a Play or Musical goes to St Andrew’s Players for “Swing, Swing, Swing”... followed by “Cats” from DMTC and “The Grand Duke” from PBGS. Very diverse productions, but ones that I felt created a real feel of what was intended by the writers."

"Best Musical Director must be Graham Thomson in the little known G&S “The Grand Duke” from PBGS, very good musically, first class dynamics and ensemble participation."

Well done everyone! What a lovely tribute to a year of hard work and dedication and a large dose of fun. You can read Nova's full review here.

Remembering Mick Trundle

Mick in our 2003 production of Pirates of Penzance

PBGS is sad to hear of the passing of Honorary Life Member Mick Trundle. Mick performed with the Society throughout the late Eighties, Nineties and Noughties until retiring from performing. While ostensibly a dairy farmer from Meppershall, we all knew that Mick was really the Sergeant of Police, not only playing the role twice with PBGS in 1993 and 2003, but also performing his party piece, 'A Policeman's Lot' at numerous concerts. In Mick's case, his lot was indeed a happy one as he loved singing and acting, not only with us but in the Meppershall Panto. He also loved to make people laugh, had a joke for just about every occasion and could spin a yarn as long as your arm.

A big man with a big heart who will be sadly missed by all of us who remember him. Our thoughts are with his wife, Penny, also an Honorary Life Member.

For those of you who want to come to his funeral, there will be a Celebration of Life Service at Meppershall Parish Church at 11.30am on Thursday 19th December. I'm sure there will be plenty of singing!

Trial and Sorcerer Cast

We have a cast (mostly!) for Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer. Congratulations to everyone on a wonderful set of auditions. As you can see, there is some double casting giving a few of us a chance to really flex those acting muscles!

Trial by Jury

Judge - Jo Bigg

Counsel - Melanie Roberts

Plaintiff - Claire Moore

Defendant - To be confirmed

Usher - Sue Wookey
Foreman of the Jury - Jon Newham

Bridesmaids - To be confirmed

The Sorcerer

Constance - Claire Moore

Aline - Bryony Reynolds

Lady Sangazure - Melanie Roberts

Mrs Partlett - Sue Wookey

Sir Marmaduke - David Crew

Notary/Lawyer - Robert Johns

Alexis - Tim Sell

John Wellington Wells - To be confirmed

Dr Daly - Stephen Hoath  

Trial and Sorcerer Auditions

Rehearsals have just started for our next show - a Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer double bill. Our MD is Stuart Elliott and our two directors are Graham Breeze (Trial) and Richard Fraser (Sorcerer).

Please contact paulafras@aol.com if you would like to audition (we need to know this no later than Tuesday 5th). If you intend to audition you will need to pay a membership fee beforehand if you are not already paid up.

Auditions are open and friendly - you will find everyone very supportive - and will be at 3pm on 10th November at Streatley Village Hall. See our Contact Us page for directions. Click on the links below for all the audition materials you need - character profiles, voice, libretto audition pieces and music audition pieces:

Trial Audition Information
Sorcerer Audition Information

Please also contact us if you need more information or would like join us for this production in the chorus. We also always need help behind the scenes or backstage. There are many different ways to take part! 

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