And over the past 50+ years, Hethersett pantomime has been a staple and important part of the New Year calendar. That is until this year.
For the virus has achieved something nothing else has managed to do - stop the pantomime in its tracks.
Hethersett Pantomime began in 1970 in the old church hall in Henstead Road and moved to what was the newly built village hall in 1996. That meant 2020 saw the 51st consecutive production. Then came the virus to wipe out production 52. Hopefully the panto will be back in 2022.
Over the years the productions have raised a six figure sum for various organisations and local charities.
The first 40 shows were written and produced by Duncan Pigg before Lloyd Parfitt took over in 2010. Over the years, numerous traditional pantomimes have been featured including Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and many more.
The pantomime has an interesting beginning. On January 20th, 1966, almost 50 handicapped people from the Forehoe and Henstead District were guests at a party given by Mrs Hagg to celebrate her birthday.
Bingo and games were enjoyed and guests were entertained by "a most amusing pantomime" which subsequently sparked the idea of a regular village panto.
For much of its time the pantomime has been written and produced by Mrs Hagg's son Duncan Pigg who took up the story a few years ago.
"The panto was supported by my mother. She was aware of a committee in the Forehoe and Henstead District Council which helped the handicapped. January 17th was her birthday and she wanted to give them a party. We played party games and sung to them. They preferred to listen and watch rather than join in. We got a bit more ambitious and put on an ad lib panto where the cast did the words. One or two people said 'why don't you put on a performance for the public?"
And that's what they did in 1970.
Over the years hundreds of people have been involved in putting the panto on with an army of volunteers working behind the scenes.
* * *
I am still receiving a large number of messages of appreciation for what I am trying to do during lockdown. Basically that is sharing my thoughts and blogs.
After yesterday's blog, I received a lovely message of thanks. I won't embarrass the person by naming them but they know who they are. They finished by saying they wish they had my motivation.
Motivation is a strange thing as it comes from within. There's a huge difference between motivation in normal times and motivation during lockdown. Strangely I find motivation easier to come by during lockdown. That's because lockdown is allowing me to do the things I have been wanting to do but wouldn't normally have the time to do and also do things I have been putting off for some time. And I'm still suffering a modicum of stress because I still can't get them all done.
Some of the things I have been achieving are regulars like the Hethersett Herald which I produce monthly and the magazine of the Norfolk Family History Society which I produce four times a year. Others are one-offs but substantial projects such as turning my blogs into a book for charity, publishing another book on Le Paradis massacre and also the joy of trying to find a novel I wrote back in the 1970s. It's a light piece about a young journalist in a seaside town but I'm looking forward to re-visiting it and re-writing sections (that's if I can find it). I just hope I can get it all done before the end of lockdown, although of course I would happily shelve most of it to get back to normality and be able to visit people, eat at restaurants and go on holiday.
Here is my reply to that Facebook message:
"I won't pretend that at times it isn't difficult but you just have to keep going. Try to set yourself some goals for the day. It doesn't matter how small they are and make them things you enjoy doing whether that's walking or baking or reading. I know it sounds silly but your aim could be to read 50 pages of a novel or to even watch a documentary on television or complete a crossword puzzle or spend an hour doing a jigsaw. You may not feel this is beneficial but you will still have a warm glow when you actually achieve those things."
At times I worry that I am not really qualified to dispatch all this homespun philosophy but then I remember that many years ago I gained a diploma in life coaching and a diploma in sports psychology from Newcastle University. I never expected to use the experience I gained from that studying but I guess that I am now finding some use for it.
* * *
Regular readers of the blog will know of my obsession for figures and maths.
Recently my grandson asked me if I knew which there are more of - grains of sand in the world or stars in the universe (at least I think that's how he put it). I answered correctly that it's stars in the universe. It's one of those questions where the answer is the most unlikely thing.
Just picture how many grains of sand there are in all the deserts and beaches in the world - a monumental amount. But it has been estimated that there are 10,000 stars for every grain of stand. That is almost beyond comprehension.
Then I started to think about that age old question featuring a chess board. If you put one grain of sand or rice on the first square, two on the second, four on the third etc, doubling up on each subsequent square. How many grains would you have on the 64th and final square.
I started working it out (no use of calculators as it doesn't help the mental process). The figure on the 64th square by my reckoning would be:
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 or a helluva lot of rice/sand
The same maths is employed when calculating the number of ancestors you have. So go back 64 generations and you technically have that ridiculous number of 64x grandparents. Mind boggling or what. The fascinating thing is that as your ancestors double each generation, the further back you go the less people there were in the world. There are explanations for this, but not ones I can understand.
* * *
Tuned in yesterday morning to the first day of the first cricket test between Sri Lanka and England. There were bright blue skies and the pitch is right by the sea. It looked idyllic. I believe it was 28 degrees and high humidity.
But it was good to see live cricket even if it was coming from the other side of the world. I have just got tickets for the second day of the Oval test in September against India. I'm wondering if things will be significantly normal by then to be able to go.
David "Bumble" Lloyd is my favourite sports commentator. He is such a character. He was reporting on the test match but not from Sri Lanka and sunshine but from the rain and snow of Manchester. He must have been watching on monitors. Bumble loves to bring everything down to a fun level and started talking about the bin men being due and the postman likely to knock on the door to deliver a parcel he was expecting. He even brought the repair of his thermostat into the commentary and the odd jobs he was planning to do around the house once the cricket had finished.
As far as cricket goes, I am wondering whether we will get any local cricket this year. The usual start of the season for Hethersett and Tas Valley is under three months away but it is unlikely to be able to get underway until some time after that, if at all.