During my time as Publicity Manager, one of the productions which stood out for me was "Accrington Pals".

 

This great play about World War 1 was being presented on the 80th anniversary of the Armistice and I realised that I knew too little of that period. I called the library at Accrington and Helen Barret, in charge of the local history section was incredibly helpful, sending me various materials and indicating there was much more. Sue and I were thinking of a holiday in the north, so we went to the area of the Ribble Valley and during our stay went into Accrington to meet Helen. She had laid on an huge amount of material for us to look through, newspapers of the day and so on - incredibly interesting - all sorts of human stories. There were also books by a Bill Turner a local writer about WW1 in general and the Pals in particular. Hearing that Bill was out in the street, Helen fetched him in and introduced us - he gave consent for us to quote from his books and also Peter Whelan's 'phone number. I spoke to Peter's wife about his preface to Bill's book and the following day a charming letter arrived giving consent to use and wishing us a good show. Helen also gave us tips on what to see in the area, including possibly the largest collection of Tiffany ware in Europe. We had a great week and managed to see some beautiful country into the bargain. I like to think that the material from the visit helped the cast to visualise this difficult period in history and it certainly helped with publicity. 

Jim Wilson.