25 years of Rochdale Infirmary Players

Date published: 19/03/2006

Former thespians from Rochdale Infirmary are being invited to attend a special anniversary dinner in recognition of 25 years of Rochdale Infirmary Players.

The NHS staff who once swapped walking the wards for a life of treading the boards are celebrating a special anniversary this year.

Founded in 1981 by consultant Dr David Lewis, A&E administration manager Ann Rhodes and catering manager Tony Horsfield, the group regularly puts on around four fundraising events per year, managing to raise on average £2,000 for wards and departments within the Infirmary.

This is on top of the £4,000 which they also have to find to fund their annual pantomime, which relies heavily on local sponsorship.

Ann said: “Made up of staff from consultants to porters, catering staff to medical secretaries, the Rochdale Infirmary Players is celebrating its 25th anniversary year and the call is out to hear from former members of the group so that they can share their stories and memorabilia of the greasepaint and costumes.”

Fundraising was the initial impetus for the formation of the amateur dramatics group.  Dr Lewis was approached by a local mum who was selling football cards in order to raise £2,000 for a piece of hospital equipment which would help to heal ununited fractures.

Her 13-year-old son was suffering from an ununited fracture of the tibia and fibula and had spent a large amount of his young life in and out of hospital.

Dr Lewis had been an amateur dramatic enthusiast whilst working in Bradford and had been involved in a one-night hospital review.  He therefore wondered about doing the same kind of thing at Rochdale and charging for admission, so that money could be raised for a new machine.

Assisted by Ann Rhodes, who organised an audition night for staff, the pair were “blown away” by the interest generated in the project.

Dr Lewis had also been bitten by the enthusiasm bug and instead of writing a hospital review script, he had moved on to a full pantomime production.

After five months of rehearsals, ‘Cinderella’ was staged as a four night show at the end of January 1982.

Ann said: “It was soon the last Wednesday in January and this was it.  The audience were already starting to arrive and already we did not have enough chairs set out in the hall.  By Saturday night we had filled the hall to full capacity and the caretaker was bringing in extra chairs.

“We could not believe it and on the last performance on Saturday night Dr Lewis presented a cheque to the mother for £2,000 to buy the vital piece of equipment which were the proceeds of the ticket money for the four performances we had done.  There was not a dry eye in the house.”

After the success of the initial run of shows it was decided that a pantomime should be staged every year with all monies raised, donated to fund vital equipment for use within Rochdale Infirmary or Birch Hill Hospital.

To date, a fantastic £35,000 has been raised and donated to appeals including the Rochdale Hospice Appeal, the Silver Heart Appeal and Macmillan nurses.

With a core group of six to eight members, there are still three of the originals left in the company - Dr Lewis, Ann Rhodes and Tony Horsfield, or namely the producer/writer, show co-ordinator and technical/stage director.

Celebrating the achievements of the group and honouring past and present members of the Rochdale Infirmary Players, an anniversary dinner is planned for Friday 28 April at Rochdale Cricket Club.  Starting at 7.30 pm, there will be a three course dinner, disco and cabaret all for £20.  Tickets are available from Ann Rhodes, Margaret Sweetmore or Rochdale’s A&E reception on 01706 517000.