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The Society was formed in 1982 following the disbanding of the ‘Wiggin Panto Group’. This group was formed in 1963 (at the request of the management of the
company of Wiggin Alloys Ltd) when the only professional theatre in Hereford - The Kemble Theatre - was closed.
They performed their first panto in February 1964, to the employee’s children on two consecutive Saturday matinees, and the Saturday evenings for the mums and dads. Such was the success of this venture, in
front of an estimated audience of 700 per performance, that the group was asked to do it again the following year. This was the start of it all. Year by year the number of performances increased until 1969 when the
group were doing 14 performances to sell-out audiences; This continued until 1979-80 when it was reduced to 11 performances for its last two years. Unfortunately the facilities provided by the Company were no longer
available and, after the 1981 production of ‘Dick Whittington’, the group was disbanded. Between 1964 and 1981 it was estimated that the panto group entertained 140,000 people. The old group, during its lifetime, gave over £5,000 to local good causes.
A few months later a small number of the group met to decide what to do with the costumes, scenery etc. the strong feeling of the meeting was that they would like to carry on the tradition of the Wiggin Panto Group.
Thus H.A.P.S. was born.
The first year was taken up in constructing the constitution, setting up the new society and making membership available to anyone in the county - hence the name.
Many people have joined and stayed a while, then moved on (for whatever reason). Many have stayed and helped to develop the society into what it is today -i.e. a society of approximately 100-120 people (mainly
families) with dad helping backstage, mum helping ‘front of house’ or even in the chorus and children forming the juniors. The Society continues the tradition of donating money annually to local good
causes.
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