If there is such a thing as a thespian gene then it runs strongly in Peter Armitage’s family.

It’s not a stretch to say this is a family that has lived and breathed the literary, musical and dramatic arts for best part of a century – and four generations.

It all began with Peter’s mum and dad, Harry Armitage and Madge Kirby, who met while performing with the Marsden Evening School Dramatic Society.

In a 1925 performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – for which Peter still has the programme – Harry played Egeus to Madge’s Hermia.

By the age of 15, Peter, now 78, was joining them on stage with the Marsden Parish Church Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.

Since then there has hardly been a time when the former electrician, probation officer and firefighter didn’t have a part in a play, light opera or musical ensemble. More often than not he was also the producer.

Until now that is, because this is the year that Peter has decided to finally stand down.

His swan song was last year’s production of the Calendar Girls for the Marsden society that has been such a big part of his life for more than six decades.

It was a production that very nearly didn’t happen. Peter explains: “I’d been to see another society perform it and had my doubts about doing it. But it was a great script. In the end we played to full houses and had a great cast. It turned out to be one of the nicest things we had ever done.

“I had a bit of a health scare before Christmas so this year I thought I would quit while I’m in front and on a high.”

With theatrical blood still running through his veins, Peter will not be giving up entirely. He plans to continue writing the annual all-male pantomime for his group the Avalanche Dodgers which has earned a certain local notoriety as well as more than £100,000 for charity. In fact, he will oversee his 28th panto, Further Up the Jungle, to be performed from Friday, February 21, at the parochial church hall in Marsden (tickets from Duncan’s barber shop in the village).

“I go to Majorca every year for two weeks and write for a couple of hours each day and that gets three-quarters of it done,” says Peter. “It is vulgar and insulting, has political satire and is topical. There is a big accent on singing with songs old and new. It’s written for fun and laughter.”

It’s clear that Peter is a man of many talents. As a youngster he sang as a treble for the BBC boys choir in Leeds. In later years, by which time he had acquired a deep baritone, he formed an acappella group called the Victorians.

He has also written a musical, named Bellas after the historical Marsden vicar (for which the late John Morris, founder of Sing Live, created the musical score), and two plays, A Funny Old War and Old Peculiar. His production skills, teamed with choreography by the well-known Huddersfield dance teacher Doreen France, have been called upon by operatic societies from all over West Yorkshire. Theirs was a professional partnership that lasted for several decades.

Given his background perhaps it’s not entirely surprising that Peter’s son, Simon, has become a widely-respected and world-famous writer and poet.

“It didn’t surprise me that he became a writer,” said Peter. “I totally believe it’s in the genes, but it did surprise me that he became a poet.

“Simon has been in several plays and musicals, but is not a singer. My daughter, Hilary, is a dancer and danced with the Doreen France school, but didn’t want to perform.”

His wife Audrey was also a dancer and is currently a committee member of the Marsden operatic society .

The fourth generation of thespian is Peter’s teenage grand-daughter, Emmeline, who shares his love of Shakespeare and is a member of a drama school.

“If I had to choose to do only one thing in life it would be to move to Stratford and see some Shakespeare every day,” said Peter, who explained that his devotion to The Bard was born during his years of National Service.

After training as an electrician Peter was called up to serve in the RAF at Sutton Coldfield where he studied for his O levels, having left school at 15.

“Once a month I was taken to Stratford and got to watch Shakespeare for free,” he said. “I was the only one who was interested. Now we go there regularly. In my opinion everyone should go to Stratford once and see a play. Only then would they have the right to say they don’t like it.”

While his spare time has always been packed to the brim with music and bright lights, Peter’s working life in the probation service – and latterly the prison service – was full of drama of quite a different kind.

“After I qualified they sent me straight to Moss Side in Manchester and I learned very quickly,” he said. “I have always looked for the good in people but I became rapidly aware that in some people to find good you have to delve very deeply indeed. I am convinced that some people prefer to prey on others as a lifestyle.”

However, at the end of a challenging day there was always the theatre.

And it was his devotion to the theatre that earned Peter an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list of 2011 for services to the amateur stage.

The year before son Simon was awarded a CBE .

“I was made up,” said Peter. “Simon took his wife, Sue, his daughter and his mum and I waited outside Buckingham Palace. When I got my award I took my wife, my daughter and my granddaughter and he waited outside.”

In 2011 both father and son were honoured at the Examiner’s Community Awards – with Simon taking the achievement award and Peter receiving the arts award.

Despite winning awards and becoming one of Marsden’s most famous residents, Peter says humility is something that every thespian should have. “I’m not a lovey,” he said. “I have taught a lot of kids in the theatre and I say to them don’t think you are the ‘be all and end all’ because there are people three miles from here who don’t know who you are.”

And while the theatre has been a massive part of his life, Peter, almost unbelievably, has found time to have other interests. He is also chairman of the Hemplow Bowling Club and Marsden Cricket Club, so he will have plenty to do now that his role as a producer is at an end.

“I have no regrets whatsoever,” he says.

How many people can really say that?

The National Operatic and Dramatic Association, which represents amateur groups throughout Britain, has more than 2,300 societies under its umbrella organisation. Many of the big names in theatre began their careers on the amateur stage. Huddersfield’s Patrick Stewart, right, was an amateur thespian and even lost his first job as a journalist because he put rehearsals before his work.

The Phantom of the Opera is the most popular and long-running  Broadway musical of all time, featuring nearly 10,800 performances,  with Cats second (7,500) and Chicago third (7,100).  Phantom opened in  1998 and is still running, as is Chicago, which opened in 1996. The Lion King,  Mamma Mia! and Les Miserables also appear in the top ten.