A History of Home-Made Entertainment in Silsden
by Cathy Liddle

One hundred and forty years ago, Silsden watched its first dramatic production when children of the Wesleyan Day School presented “Joseph and His Brothers”, complete with a cast of paper donkeys, to a doting audience of parents and local worthies. Theatricals however did not make an immediate impact on a village been better known for its musical passions.

First evidence of music-making comes in the early 1800s on Sunday afternoons in the Red Lion Inn when singers and instrumentalists performed - for their own pleasure and not for audiences- the great oratorios, including those by Handel and Haydn. Songs of a more ribald nature were sung in the upper room of the canal warehouse, where Blind Jack the fiddler was often in residence.

Two accomplished organisations Silsden Brass Band, formed in the late 1840s, and the Orchestral Society, founded 1898 - were nationally acknowledged for many decades. They were later joined by an explosion of smaller musical outfits of varying ability, ranging from Ambrose Longbottom’s String Band and Harold Kitchen’s Tivoli Dance Band to the Mackamanappy Burlesque Band, Silsden Ragtime Band and the Underground Artillery Jazz Band (largely a group of ex-World War I soldiers who played home-made ‘tommy-talker’ instruments at local galas.)

Theatricals did not arrive for real until 1920 when the first Amateur Musical and Dramatic Society was launched at St. James’ Church with “Pirates of Penzance”, raising money for local hospitals. Soon almost every local organisation began staging “At Home” events, which always included plays and sketches, locally written dialogue and home-made costumes. Soon there was a local production almost every week.

The first of dozens of village pantomimes was offered by the Parish Church in 1934 with “Jack and the Beanstalk”. At this time, the village owned at least four performance stages. Amateur theatre brought out the best in community creativity and offered endless pleasure and enjoyment to enthusiastic audiences of local people. In the 1960s, as television ownership reached every home, the frequency of these productions diminished, although the Methodist Players and the Carmel Players continued to stage annual events, including pantomime and Gilbert and Sullivan.

It is only in recent years, with the loss of community spirit and facilities, that home-grown entertainment of this kind has disappeared entirely. “A Christmas Carol”, performed in December 2008 by the newly formed group Silsden Community Productions, was a reminder of what has gone from our community -and what might be again.

© silsden community productions

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