WHEN Shelley’s Pierrot Players step on stage next week, there will be one special person much on their minds.

The company has been putting on two shows a year for over 30 years. Its next opens at Shelley Village Hall on Wednesday.

And there will doubtless be a moment during each of the three performances when the thoughts of cast and many audience members will turn to the woman who started it all, Kathy Elsley.

More formally known as Kathlyn Mary Elsley, but much loved simply as Kathy, this is the woman who in December 1981 called a meeting to start a new drama group in the area were she lived.

Kathy, who sadly died last year, had once been a member of St Paul’s Dramatic Society and when she returned to live in Shepley, decided to try and pick up the theatre reins once again.

“As her good friend and neighbour, I went along to give Kathy some moral support, not expecting to be cast in the first production,” said Chris Schofield, whose husband Ted is currently the group’s chairman.

But theatre had, after all, been a lifelong passion for Kathy who was born in Leicestershire and had first become interested in amateur theatre when she was at school in Devonport. And she clearly wanted to share the thrill of it all with others.

When she returned to live in Devon Kathy continued her teaching career and her devotion to theatre. But she has never been forgotten by her friends in the Pierrot Players.

It helps that her eldest daughter, Rachel, had the acting bug too and has followed in mum’s footsteps playing both for the Pierrot Players and for Huddersfield Thespians.

“Kathy has always been proud of her daughters, Rachel and Ruth and of the Pierrot Players, said one of the group.

“She has been treasurer, chairman, director, actress and worked tirelessly backstage. Kathy never forgot about us when she moved to Plymouth. We miss her very much.”

Which is why next week, the company will say a big thank you to Kathy without whose inspiration, the group that they all have such fun being a part of, might never had existed.

Anna Bushell directs the production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, a classic murder mystery from one of fiction’s best-loved super sleuths.

Anna says she has wanted to do the show for a number of years. It’s a tough call for any society, fielding a cast of 11 of which eight are men.

“Like many societies, we don’t have a great many men to choose from, but what we do have currently are blooming brilliant,” she said. “I’m a lucky lady.”

That cast includes father and son Arthur and Andrew Firth who have both played with Pierrot before, Arthur for many years. This year, they’ve persuaded Andrew’s wife, Fiona to join them on stage so she makes her debut with the society on Wednesday.

Jonathan Wilby returns to the company after a 10 year absence and Gareth Dickinson also makes a welcome return, though it’s not been quite so long since he last appeared with Pierrot.

The performances begin at 7.30pm, tickets on the door or from Shelley Stores, Shepley Newsagents.