In the beginning
In 1935, a local group of movie enthusiasts set up their own film-making club in Ledbury. Dorothy Tow (LADS’ President for many years) recalls that “about half a dozen of them started this ciné society and it really did very well. They got quite a good membership and they made lots of films, but of course they couldn’t accommodate all their members so once a year they decided they would do a play”. And so, in 1938, the Ledbury Amateur Ciné and Dramatic Society was born.
LACDS first public performance was Tilly of Bloomsbury on Thursday 13 April 1939 at the Church Room which, according to a review in the Ledbury Reporter, was “filled by an enthusiastic audience.” The review continues “without any flattery the performance did infinite credit to the players” and “the comedy ran smoothly throughout its hilarious course without a dull moment. The audience was rocked with laughter caused by the many genuinely hilarious situations.”
Cast of Tilly of Bloomsbury April 1939
When war came, film-making stopped, but revues and concerts continued throughout the duration at various venues around the town.
LACDS’ first play after the War was While Parents Sleep in the Drill Hall (formerly on the site of the Co-op in New Street) with proceeds earmarked for the proposed Ledbury War Memorial Fund. Used by the Home Guard for training, it wasn’t the most suitable of venues, though, and Barbara Hooper recalls having to use the adjoining skittle alley as a dressing room, and then having to run between the two buildings to reach the stage.
As a result, LACDS tried various alternative venues to put on its plays. Between 1946 and 1948 a number of plays were performed in the Church Room on Market Street.
LACDS member Charlotte Ballard staged a number of plays at her home, Abbey House, in the Homend, to raise money for children in the East End of London. Miss Ballard later produced a number of LADS plays in the Camp Theatre.
One member recalls: ‘She was a stickler for grammar, too. You had to get it right, you know – nothing slipshod with Miss Ballard. I remember once one of our members, Mr. Postan, had to do a little love scene on the settee with this young lady and she was watching and she [said] “No, no, Mr. Postan, you don’t make love like that! Let me show you!” And she was a spinster lady! She was great, yes, but no slipshod grammar!’
However, this nomadic existence was not ideal and LACDS wanted a more permanent place to perform.
Abbey House Gardens
Charlotte Ballard
The Camp Theatre 1948 – 1956
During the war, Ledbury hosted a prisoner-of-war camp, which was located behind Mabel’s Furlong on the site of what is now the John Masefield School. During their stay there, a group of Italian POWs created a theatre using a Nissen Hut. Once the war ended, the Ministry of Defence relinquished the site – and LACDS grabbed the opportunity for a new home.
The Camp Theatre
However, it was far from ideal. There were no toilets and only one heater located backstage. In cold weather although the actors were warm, the audience were freezing.
Seating was another issue as initially the audience had to sit on concrete slabs and the tin roof meant that whenever it rained the audience struggled to hear what was being said.
Although film making materials were expensive and in relatively short supply, LACDS members still continued the tradition until the early 1950s when the Cine part of the Society was dropped and LACDS became LADS in 1951.
LADS performed at the Camp Theatre until the spring of 1956 when the site was demolished to build new housing and the school. The final production at the Camp Theatre was Young Wives’ Tales in May 1956.
Young Wives’ Tales May 1956
LADS didn’t hang around and within a week of their final production at the Camp Theatre, they had agreed to lease the Church Room as their new theatre.
The Church Room has variously been described as “a dilapidated shack” and “a much-loved tin hut”. Clearly it was not a place of beauty or elegance. But at least it was a venue.
The Church Room was built in 1910 as a mission hall by the Church Army. By 1956 they were barely using the building so agreed to lease it to LADS. The lease came with some restrictions including no performances on a Sunday and full responsibility for all maintenance.
There were only outside toilets, no raked floor or fixed seating and the building still had a tin roof so when it rained the audience couldn’t hear the actors! This was however part of the charm of the theatre and many older members have very fond memories of the old building.
Inside the Church Room
In making the move to the Church Room, LADS had brought with them the seating and raked flooring which had been used in the Camp Theatre, but all of this had to be stored in the shed behind the Room. It was then installed for each production, and taken out again after the last performance.
This difficult and time-consuming task was to persist for eight long years, before the Church Room Trustees finally relented and allowed LADs to install permanent seating.
Over the years the theatre was gradually improved and it was re-named the Church Room Theatre and then later The Market Theatre.
The Market Theatre
One of the most significant developments during the 1970s was formation of a Junior Drama Group. Instigated by chairman Mary Winfield, some 40 children between the ages of 7 and 14 came to the theatre for weekly sessions on a Saturday morning.
The Junior’s first stage performance was Toad of Toad Hall in January 1975. By the early 1980s the idea of a Christmas play involving children had morphed into pantomime and a Ledbury tradition had begun.
Toad of Toad Hall 1975
By the mid-1980s, although backstage facilities had improved slightly since the early days in the Church Room, they were still far from ideal. There was just a single large dressing room across the back of the stage – but with a “modesty cupboard”. This was little more than broom-cupboard size and had only a curtain but no door if the ladies wished to use it when changing costumes. The toilet for the cast and crew remained outside – there was still nothing for the public.
In May 1986 a fire, started accidentally by a group of children, destroyed a large part of the back of the theatre. As a result, LADS was once again homeless.
LADS members were a resilient bunch and, within days of the fire, Chairman Anne Lucas vowed that, “although a unique part of Ledbury had been destroyed, LADS would rise like a phoenix from the ashes”.
However, having lived hand-to-mouth over the years, LADS had no financial assets to fall back on and it turned out that the building was seriously under-insured. The initial estimate of the re-building cost was around £30,000 of which the insurer agreed to pay £20,000. This still left a shortfall of £10,000 to be found locally.
Over the next two years LADS embarked on a series of fund-raising initiatives, as well as continuing to perform at other, temporary locations around the town. By 1988 £19,000 had been raised which enabled the restoration to be carried out. However, because of rising costs, not everything desirable had been done – full stage wiring needed to be completed and the auditorium walls were still uninsulated.
The theatre re-opened in November 1988 with the comedy Outside Edge, just in time for LADS’ 50th anniversary.
Outside Edge 1988
Although no one realised it at the time, this refurbished and slightly extended theatre was only to be in place for some eleven years before it, too, would be totally demolished and a brand new replacement building put in place.
The idea of building a new theatre on the existing site first started in 1995, but it took some time to come to fruition. LADS negotiated with the Church Room trustees for several years and eventually bought the land from them along and also some additional adjoining land from Elgar Housing meaning they could build a larger theatre.
They then had to raise considerable funds to cover all of the costs, so they applied for numerous grants and LADS members raised funds with a huge variety of activities. The SAS donated the parquet flooring for the foyer from their Officers mess in Hereford, Ledbury British Legion sponsored the four windows in the foyer, Brintons Carpets gave us the auditorium carpet at cost price and the Town Council gave us a short-term loan of £20,000 to ensure everything was completed on time.
The new Market Theatre was officially opened on 19 January 2000, with LADS’ first production (Cinderella) starting two days later. This is believed to be the first theatre to be opened in the new millennium anywhere in the world.
Cinderella 2000
Since then LADS has gone from strength to strength with a membership of over one hundred. The number and variety of its own productions has also increased and they continue to attract large and receptive audiences. LADS have also enjoyed a lot of recent success in the Herefordshire County Drama Festival (HCDF)
Not only is the new theatre the home of LADS and their productions each year, but also to live music, dance companies, films, live screenings from the National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet and many other local community events.
Preparations are currently underway for an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the new theatre.
1935 Ledbury Amateur Cine Society formed
1938 Society becomes “Ledbury Amateur Cine and Dramatic Society” (LACDS)
1939 LACDS first public performance – Tilly of Bloomsbury on 13 April at the Church Room
1948 The Camp Theatre in Mabel’s Furlong becomes home of LACDS
1951 “LACDS” becomes “LADS”
1956 Lease taken on the Church Room in Market Street, and the Church Room Theatre becomes new home of LADS
1974 “Junior section” formed
1975 First Christmas play/pantomime performed
1976 LADS becomes an unincorporated charity
1981 Church Room Theatre is now known as The Market Theatre
1983 New lighting gantry installed
1986 In June, a major fire destroys much of the theatre
1988 After huge fund raising, theatre renovated and re-opens for business in Autumn
1995 Plans for a new theatre proposed and a grant obtained from “Malvern Millions“
1997 Lottery funding application turned down, so plans scaled down. However, a huge fund-raising effort enables new theatre to be built during 1999;
1999 Patron Richard Briers CBE formally accepts the keys to the building in November from Turnkey Construction Ltd
2000 Official opening of new theatre by Mayor of Ledbury, Cllr Spencer Lane in January
2002 themarkettheatre.com website starts
2003 Films regularly screened after LADS buys its own equipment
2009 Film Club starts
2011 Godspell is first LADS musical
2012 Tickets sold online for the first time
2013 Live screenings start
2017 The Studio rehearsal space is built
2018 LADS becomes “LADS Ltd” when the Society becomes an incorporated charity