As a newly appointed Chairman of the Players, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a little note to you all and talk about future plans for the group.

What a year it has been ! Theatres and cinemas closed, and all of us learning how to cope with lockdown. Not being able to meet friends and family, not being able to go to the pub, but of course all for a very good reason. I do hope none of you have suffered from COVID and you and your families have been able to stay safe. As I am now saying to people…’well, I’ve got this far…..’

But do you sense some optimism in the air? The latest period of lockdown and the wonderful and impressive rollout of the vaccination programme which already seems to be having an impression is giving us all hope for better times to come.

So it is for the Players. Throughout the past year your committee has stayed in touch and made sure the group somehow survived. Of course, we have been unable to meet or put on productions, but we are still here! The recent ‘virtual’ AGM went well and it was good to see old friends and faces and gave us hope for the future. You may be aware that The Players were due to celebrate their 50^th Anniversary this year, but of course we were unable to fulfil any plans we had. But we’re not going to let a little thing like a global pandemic stop us now!

First of all I must thank the retiring Chairman, Jenny, for all her work over, believe it or not, the past four years. Her enthusiasm and commitment and the warmth of her personality has meant that we were able to present a number of productions over that period. Lots of fun, lots of new people involved – a lot of work – has kept drama alive in Bovey Tracey. Let’s be honest, who could say ‘No’ if Jenny asked you to help out! Since our eviction from the Town Hall it’s been a difficult time for the Players and Jenny’s drive and efficiency has been so important.

We now have a new committee, being myself, Jenny Connelly, Dave Cartwright, Pam Meadows, Terry Nickels, Mark Godwin and Chris Towle. My thanks to them all for standing, and we now all have to work hard to put The Players back on the map!

So, what of the future? Providing all goes well and we don’t get lockdown again and places continue to re-open, we would hope to be able to put on a production of Blackadder at The Dolphin in October.  In addition we will be pursuing the possibility of performing some old fashioned street theatre with a ‘Mummers’ play which can be done anywhere, and by anyone! Someone has also suggested a ‘flash mob’ to present in the town which would need lots of mad people who don’t mind making a fool of themselves – which sounds a lot of fun.

We will need lots of love and support from our membership to make things happen so do get in touch if you would like to get involved. The Bovey Players have been around for 50 years, let’s start the next 50 years with a bang!

All the best,

Nigel Gillingham.