Tonbridge panto could be last for Connie

PREPARATIONS for Tonbridge's annual pantomime are gathering pace in the town, but for the woman behind the event it could be the end of an era.

Connie Turner, who has written and produced the Angel Centre pantomime every Christmas for more than 20 years, helping to raise around £100,000 for charity in the process, told the Kent and Sussex Courier this December's show could be her last.

"Who knows, it could be and yet it could not be, who can tell?" she said, adding that she did not think there is somebody eager to take on the mantle.

"I don't think anybody's got the patience to sit and write the script and the patience to teach these young children.

"Watch this space, that's all I can say. We might be back next year."

This year, the pantomime will be Dick Whittington and will feature around 50 girls from the town, with Emma Barker in the title role, and will be in aid of the Hospice in the Weald.

"We have got a lot of young children in it this year," Mrs Turner said, "the youngest one is two-and-a-half and the eldest one is about 18, so it's a wide age group."

Mrs Turner said her pantos were always guaranteed to be suitable for all the family, as she writes them herself.

"I know people coming to my pantomime will not be offended," she said, "because all the words are the ones that I have put in it."

The panto, she added, is a very Tonbridge affair, with all the costumes made by local woman Hazel Ryder as well as the cast and teachers coming from the town.

If this is to be her last year in charge, Mrs Turner said she was confident it would be one of the best.

"I feel very proud of it and I'm very proud of all the girls that have left and have gone on," she said, adding that many of her former pupils had made it as professionals and appeared in the West End.

"It is nice to think I can go up and watch a show and say 'I taught them to dance'."

This year there will be three evening performances of the panto – at 6.30pm each day between December 18 and 20, with a matinee at 1.45pm on the Saturday as well.

Tickets cost £7 for adults or £6 for concessions and are available now from the box office on 01732 359966.