Our society was formed in 1954, when Mr. Eric Hindle and a Mrs. Luveasa, both teachers at Trinity School Preston, started a Gilbert & Sullivan Group within the school. This group prospered and was enlarged to accommodate old pupils and eventually started to put on their productions at the old Preston Polytechnic lecture theatre. The group continued to expand under the sole guidance of Eric Hindle who was by now also the music director.
With the opening of the Guild Hall complex in 1972/73, the group now called “The Gilbert & Sullivan Society” moved their productions to the Charter Theater and also to the Lowther Pavilion at Lytham, St Annes. In 1999 the company moved again this time to the more intimate setting of “The Preston Playhouse” was they have performed ever since, as well as continuing at the “Lowther”.
An interesting story surrounds the name of the group. In 1961, the Gilbert and Sullivan copyright expired and thus the society received a letter from the D’Oyle Carte Trust stating that they could no longer call themselves “The Gilbert & Sullivan Society”, so in true Gilbertian style Mr. Hindle wrote back quoting “Iolanthe” ‘the insertion of a single word will do it’, from henceforth we shall call ourselves “The Preston Gilbert and Sullivan Society”.
The society continued to flourish during the 70’s and 80’s frequently winning N.O.D.A Awards as the years went on. In 1984 the society suffered the great loss of the guide and mentor with the death of Eric Hindle. During the 1980’s after Eric’s death the baton was held by Mr. Jim Thomas, while the society continued to perform the Savoy Operas to the usual high standard.
Since 1991 the baton has been held by Mr. Phil Gibbons, Ms Eileen Guppy, Ms Gill Stretfield and Mr. Nick Parker, while the on stage direction has been in the very able hands of Mr. Tony Shaw now the company president, Ms Susan Hurrell, Mr. Ken Dagger, Mr Kevin Rawcliffe, Ms Carol Lawrance. The current production team is now Ms Merle Gray – Music, and Ms Susan Hurrell & Mrs Janet Dawson – Stage.
The company itself continues to perform to award winning standards with a new generation of singers, all blessed with the same love of Gilbert and Sullivan that Eric Hindle had all those years ago.