PRESTON PARISH CHURCH DRAMA CLUB - Jean Thomson

The club was formed at the end of 1939 as a section of the Church Literary and Debating Society and carried on during the war years when concerts and plays raised funds which were disbursed to various charities including Troops Comforts and POW funds.
On the 31st December 1949, the Literary and Debating Society was wound up and the Drama Section became the Drama Club. rehearsing and giving performances in Preston Church Hall. The original stage was a simple trestle-supported floor with lighting supplied by a bank of floor lights using biscuit tins as shades. It was no mean feat for the players to come on stage as they had to take a big step up onto the platform at their cue and appear as if they had just strolled from the side!
Gradually the stage crew built a more sophisticated stage with a proscenium arch and full lighting and. of course, proper curtains. Dressing rooms were also improvised from anterooms and this seemed very professional and a great luxury.
Over the years, many plays, revues and shows were performed some of the more well-known plays being Ladies in Retirement, Johnny Jouk the Gibbet, The Holly and the Ivy, Blithe Spirit and in 1959, to celebrate the Burns Bi-Centenary, The Other Dear Charmer was produced. The club regularly took part in the Scottish Community Drama Association festivals, reaching the Scottish Finals in Troon in 1958 with The ShetIand Yarn when their well-liked and respected producer, Jim Tupman, was in charge.
The mainstay of the Group, though, was Mrs Margaret McBride (Peggy McKenzie). who was secretary from the Club's inception and largely responsible for holding it together. She was a lady with a big heart and a devoted loyalty to her club.
The Drama Club was a great social group with a Christmas Dance every year. the ladies in ball gowns and the gentlemen in full evening dress and memories of the Grand March in the Church Hall to Bob Brown's Band are something to cherish.
The Drama Club enjoyed many years of local "fame", playing to capacity audiences of 150 in the hall with children sitting in the window ledges - a little bit of magic. However, times change and due to dwindling numbers, the curtain was finally lowered in the early 1970s.



The winners in 1958: Back Row. Alex Grandison. Nessie Taylor. Tibby Hendry, Frank Marshall Front - Alex Rankine, Margaret McBride, Producer Jim Tupman, Jean (Ostler) Thomson