It was on 6 March 1957 that a few enthusiasts called an open meeting in the Murray Community Centre to try to gauge the possible support for forming a Light Opera Club in East Kilbride.
Encouraged by the turnout of 6 Ladies and 11 Gentlemen they drafted a constitution, which was put to another meeting on 3 April. Office Bearers and a Committee were elected and so was formed the East Kilbride Light Opera Club.
Our first venture was a Revue - ‘September Song’ in the Murray School. This played for two nights to capacity audiences. That was it, we were in business.
After much discussion it was agreed that our first full-scale production would be the well known favourite ‘The Desert Song’. We also decided to take the financial gamble of engaging a professional orchestra and ordering our costumes from an established costumier. This production, and the nineteen that followed were in Duncanrig School Hall. Two memories, which stand out about our days in Duncanrig School, are the hard seats and the fact that it invariably snowed during our week.
Our 21st anniversary coincided with the opening of the Village Theatre and to celebrate this we produced two shows in 1978, ‘Paint Your Wagon’ in March and ‘The Sound of Music’ in April. The Village Theatre with its first class facilities, both on-stage and for our audiences has been greatly appreciated (no more sore bums although it still often snows).
Over the past 40 years we have built up a loyal and enthusiastic band of followers some of whom can lay claim to having seen all of our productions from the first ‘Desert Song’ to ‘Annie Get Your Gun’. To these people, and to all of our audiences, which total over 100,000 over the past 40 years, we are indeed grateful. More than 450 talented performers have taken part in our productions. Our overriding aim has always been to entertain. We hope we have succeeded in this and look forward with confidence to our next 40 years because in the words of the song ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’.
Jack Tait (1997)
