Archived newsletter
This newsletter is archived. The information contained within the newsletter was correct at the time of publication.
’Tis the season to enjoy the delights of the stage
More than any other time of year, the months around Christmas and New Year (and there’s no denying that’s the period we’re heading into) is perhaps when we most look to the stage for our entertainment.
With Nativities, pantomimes, carol concerts and other festive shows, it’s a feast of live entertainment.
This inspired our latest delve into the County Record Office files, where once again our archivists have unearthed a fascinating selection of photos and memorabilia dating back 140 years. Much relates to Christmas, along with a few highlights of the calendar from other times of years gone by.
The archive images on this page are among more than 6,500 available at the County Record Office. Browse the collection or buy photos.
If you have any further information about any of the images on this page, our archivists would be keen to hear about it. Please email yny@northyorks.gov.uk
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Programmes for the St Peter’s Players, an amateur theatrical company in Norton. The Holly and The Ivy (1950) by Wynyard Browne, is about a vicar who attempts to deal with the various problems of his family as they gather for Christmas. Performed by the St Peter’s Player in 1955. But Once a Year (1948) by Falkland Cary, is about Mrs Meldon entertaining her usual party of guests for the Christmas week – including Aunt Topsey and Uncle Ned, who don’t get on. Performed in 1948 by the St Peter’s Players.
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Programmes for performances at the Futurist Theatre, Scarborough, featuring Ken Dodd and the Startime show of 1974.
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Programmes for performances at the Futurist Theatre, Scarborough, featuring Ken Dodd and the Startime show of 1974.
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Moving away from the festive season, here are Catlins Royal Pierrots posing for the camera following a performance in Scarborough, 1906.
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Reeth’s Christmas Festival poster from 1899.
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A programme for The Rupert Show, part of a collection of theatre programmes from Scarborough theatres.
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A Nativity, with Santa in attendance, in a photo taken by Louisa Kruckenberg. Louisa was an amateur photographer from North Yorkshire who was active in the early twentieth century. Her photographs document rural life in and around her home village of Upper Dunsforth, so it is assumed that is where this photo was taken. But if you know better, please tell us.
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Thelma Hammond’s Ladies’ Orchestra.
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Rowntree and Sons Christmas circular from 1882, advertising a display of Christmas and New Year presents.
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The Spa Band in the 1890s under the direction of Herbert W Turner. The band was employed by the Cliff Bridge Company.