History of Saundersfoot Footlights

More than thirty years ago, Saundersfoot Junior Choir was formed by a group of people who included Michael Self, Jill and Trevor Lewis, Phyllis Williams as Musical Director and Dave John who is the present President.

The choir performed at charity concerts throughout the village during the year and there were also Easter productions of the musicals ‘Oliver’, ‘The King and I’ and ‘The Sound of Music’.
In 1980, as members left, other people became involved, including the Baker family, and Beryl Thomas (McKeon). The choir continued to entertain with charity concerts and musical productions at Easter. These included ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Annie get your Gun’ and ‘West Side Story’. During the 1980s, the name was changed to Saundersfoot Musical Youth.

There was another big change in 1996, when David Owen became Production Director. It was decided to rename the group as Saundersfoot Footlights, and to move the production from Easter to the Spring Bank holiday week and to introduce a December pantomime.

Also, joining the group at this time, were Helen Wright  and Clive Raymond, as (respectively)  Production Director &  Musical Director.

Since 1996, with two shows a year, Saundersfoot Footlights has staged a great variety of productions, such as - ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘South Pacific’,  ‘Copacabana’  and ‘Anything Goes’. Pantomimes including ‘Ali Baba’, ‘The Babes in the Wood' and ‘Sleeping Beauty’, all performed in the Regency Hall, Saundersfoot. (See productions list elsewhere on this site for a full list of shows.) The two most recent productions (2012) - 'Guys & Dolls' & 'Scrooge - The Panto' - Dai Jones moved into the Directors chair.

Over the years, a great number of people have been involved with the group, providing family entertainment for local residents and visitors to the village. Some families have had two, and in some cases three, generations involved as performers or behind the scenes as time has passed. These include Keith Williams, Chairman, who also designs and paints the scenery, Jo Morris, Secretary and Carolyn Elms who designs and supervises the costumes making.

The committee of Saundersfoot Footlights would like to express their thanks to each & everyone of the volunteers over the years, from Scenery and Costumes, to the Band, Choreography to Make-Up, to Sound & Lighting, from Props to Publicity, Front of House to Refreshments, and of course to everyone that has ‘trodden the boards’, that has helped make each production possible.

To everyone that has seen a show - Thank you for supporting us.