In the Summer of 1982 my mother and father shared a vision.

The vision they had was to start their very own community drama group.

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To begin with the group started it's life as a play-reading circle with about 5 regular attending  members.

 By the end 0f '82' the group had grown in size and was now big enough to form an actual Drama group.  With that in hand and everybody's support and approval from the current group and community association, the foundations for the new group were set out, and the journey to success began.

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In January 1983  "The Freemantle Players" opened their doors to the general community from whence it gained some new members including an experienced lighting technician.

They started rehearsals straight away and in March put on their very first public show.

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It was the groups goal to put on 4 stage productions a year to correspond with the 4 seasons, which would be affordable for the general publics enjoyment , including those who had fallen on  hard times.  The ticket prices back then ranged from 50p to £1.50.

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"The Freemantle players" continued to run at the community centre until 1987, when they were sadly forced out of their current hall.  During this period of time the groups future was rocky, but soon after a new home was found, and they became the New independent group under the name "The Box Tree theatre company"

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The Box Tree theatre company had time to make up if they were to grace the public with their spring time performance.

 Luckily for the group, the rocky period had given my parents the chance to work on their very own play "A Vision of conspiracy" and they were able to perform on schedule.

 The play was greatly received by their public.

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The group continued for a further 3 years with great success, and also had it's very own children's section "The Box Tree Buds" ran by my mother.

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Sadly in July 1990 tragedy struck the group when my mother Mary Cox lost her battle with cancer. She was 42 years old.  This had a huge impact on the group, and in December 1990 the group folded forever!  But not without doing one last performance dedicated to my mothers memory "The cricket on the Hearth."  a play My mum had always wanted to do, and had already adapted for the group to perform that Christmas.  I remember it being a very surreal experience, and one I will never forget.

 

The Freemantle Players and The Box Tree Theatre Company put on a grand total of 20+ plays in their time, ranging from family classics "A Christmas Carol" to thrillers "The knights do walk", to comedies "Mother- in -law must go!" (written by my father and inspired by mother and grandmas relationship)and many, many more.

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It is now my goal to restart the group in my parent's memory, bringing them back to life so to speak. The one difference being that this group will be a performance group instead of just drama, but many of the principals will be the same.

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