Alongside staging shows and events, we like to offer social events to our members, their family and friends. These include after show parties, BBQs, themed parties, annual Christmas and Halloween parties and our Biannual Oscar Awards.

At Irchester Players our ethos is to provide our members with a second family and group of friends, and after a short time with the group members will certainly feel the strength of this ethos.

Tom Spencer

Alison Everitt

Chris Taylor

Nicki Pott

Players first began as a play reading group in the early 1970s. A small group of members decided to move on to acting and set about staging shows and galas for the local community of Irchester and Wollaston – with a regular slot being dedicated to performing for a mother’s group. Between 1974 and 1975 this small group of actors was coached by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and went on to enter into various play competitions, at which a number of titles were won, including a county title in April 1975. Over this period the group was operating mainly from Wollaston Comprehensive School. Then in 1977 the group moved its focus to Irchester and staged its first ever pantomime, Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp.

The founder members of Irchester Players needed funds in order to continue to stage community productions for the public. This resulted in the members staging a range of fundraisers events for the youth of the village, a hairdressing demonstration by a leading stylist, a generation game event and car washing service. This was also an opportunity to gain new members of all ages and backgrounds.

In the 80’s Players performed a number of Old Time Variety shows. These successful shows led to a touring company, which visited local communities to perform snippets of the shows in hospitals, residential homes, schools and other community groups.

When Irchester Village Hall opened, Players had a home and went from strength to strength, performing over 50 shows and events in the venue for the community. In the 1990s, with Players becoming bigger and more active, the time came that the Village Hall could no longer accommodate Irchester Players alongside its other bookings – Players thus became homeless.

The members decided to move to Parsons Hall, Irchester. This community venue needed a lot of work after years of neglect. The members of Irchester Players pulled together to equip the building with electrics and the other infrastructure needed to stage shows. The first production performed at Parsons Hall was Anne of Green Gables, in October 1994. Irchester Players has now performed over 30 shows and events at the Hall, and has invested large amounts time, effort and resources into the venue to maintain the community asset as a place were live theatre can be staged.

Throughout its history, delivering access to live theatre, increasing participation in the performing arts and providing informal training and education for the community has been at the heart of what Irchester Players does. The members were fundamental in raising funds to build Irchester Village Hall and then to equip the stage within this community venue with curtains and lighting. The group’s archives contain numerous letters of thanks from a wide range of community groups that have interacted with Players through seeing the shows it produced, workshops it organised or assistance it has given. The members have also produced a number of community concerts to celebrate milestones for Irchester and Irchester Players; and it is a fixture in Irchester Gala.

In recent times, there has been an increased and renewed focus on community engagement and a push on community cohesion, linking with the local primary school, library, other local clubs (such as the bowls club), Irchester Brownies and the Irchester Historical Society to deliver a wider benefit to the community. Players have also established strong links with Irchester Parish Council and can count the Mayor of Wellingborough as one of our biggest fans. Strong and historic links also exist with Irchester Working Men’s Club.

On 21 April 2018 another historic milestone was reached, with the members voting to change Irchester Players into a Charitable Incorporated Association. Obtaining charitable status is a massive achievement and cements our concentration on public good.