Littlehampton’s LPOS Musical Productions celebrate 70 years

Simon Jones, chairman of LPOS, is spearheading the anniversary celebrations.

“I would say that we are in the best place we have been in for the last 70 years. I know we had a number of shows cancelled because of Covid but we have recovered really well.

“I joined the first show back after Covid. It was word of mouth really. The company needed a Baker for The Baker’s Wife. They didn't have a baker. They definitely had a wife! And I'm a member of the Wellington Wailers sea shanty group and it was just word of mouth and through Morris dancing and other people in LPOS that I came along and I have stuck around ever since. I have been chair for the past two and a half years.

“You always have people saying about companies that it's a lovely company and everyone gets on, but the great thing about this company is that that really is largely true. My wife and I have been part of companies in London where it does all become terribly cliquey and there's lots of politics but with LPOS we really are relatively free of all that. And I think it's because there is a common goal. We have a history that has endured.

“We were founded in 1955 and there were financial difficulties straight away. The venue they had was too small and they just couldn't sell enough tickets to break even because of that. But other companies in the area rallied around to keep LPOS flying and still alive and that was why it was so sad for the company when the pub next to the Windmill burned down and when the Windmill had to close for a while. We were due to put on Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe and the fire was about a month before. We had to put that on hold for a year and we brought it back in April last year. But the point is that it was because of the Windmill when it opened in the 1960s that the company was able to sell enough tickets and have a big enough venue to really start to flourish.”

In between times, of course, the company has survived the pandemic: “The pandemic was very bad. At the time the membership was older, and I think there was a lot more hesitancy about starting back after Covid but really the thing that kept us going was the same community spirit. It's not just about amdram putting on a show. It's a social focus. And I think now after the pandemic we are a lot more balanced as a company (in terms of ages).

“I think we've got 68 members which is excellent. It has not been quite so high for a long time but that's a lot to do with the changing way that people join societies now. Historically people would join a company and would stay steadfastly loyal to that company forever afterwards. But these days people can be a member of multiple societies and just go around following the shows that they want to be in. And I think that makes it so much better. You avoid that pedigree dog syndrome, you avoid interbreeding where you just end up as a very boring repertory company with always the same person playing the romantic lead even though they are 85! I think it's the flexibility and the fluidity that we've got now that makes it so much better and so much easier.”

Inevitably there are difficulties: “And it can be very easy to focus on the negative but it's a positive can-do attitude that I like to instil and I think you move forward by adapting and by changing. That's the way you stay fresh. If you start thinking there's only one way to do things, then you just stop. You never progress. But we keep changing and that keeps us moving.”

As for the 70th anniversary celebrations, the company will be returning to the first piece it did, Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience in June when they will be inviting back past members: “You are only where you are as a company because of every previous chairman and every previous member and all that they have contributed over the years.”

And then in October the company will be putting on Hello Dolly.