TAKE a beautiful, classic building, add the skills of a group of top theatre and music talents and what do you have?

The answer is a night to remember and that is just what a team planning a spectacular Son et Lumiere at All Hallows Church in Almondbury in the autumn aims to achieve.

The story of the village, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, will unfold in a series of 13 performances at the church beginning on October 20.

A team of nationally known actors, including Timothy West, his actress wife Prunella Scales and Huddersfield-born actor Gorden Kaye, have all been drafted in to record stories about a village which has, after all, had quite a history.

James Sykes, who lives in Highburton and is well known as actor, writer and theatre director, was asked to put the show together.

“The church wanted to raise both funds and its profile and it started from there.

“Richard Wood, who is treasurer at All Hallows, contacted me to see if I would be interested in coming on board. It’s a big challenge as far as I am concerned but it has been an exciting one.”

The team organising the show have also called on technical help from the Media department at Huddersfield University.

Huddersfield Choral Society members have lent their voices to the project and children from King James’s School in Almondbury will be heard playing Elizabethan children.

“We went to the school to record them. It is, after all, in effect a radio performance.

“We went to see Prunella Scales and Timothy West at their home and recorded them.”.

The two have long been supporters of Mikron Theatre Company as is James. But Prunella also has local connections.

“She told me that she spent part of her teenage years in Kirkburton where her uncle had a mill,” he said.

“She knows Shelley Hall well. Her first job was at the repertory theatre in Huddersfield and she told me about her first digs in the town.

“She read a fantastic poem by Rudyard Kipling and we will be using music by Elgar as a counter-point to that. I shall be very surprised if people don’t have a lump in their throats by the end of that.

“Timothy has read a piece for us in character as John Wesley, the Methodist preacher who was given a hard time when he crossed the Pennines to deliver his views.”

Actor Gorden Kaye has the strongest Huddersfield roots and he was only too happy to record a contribution to the show.

“He is an old boy of what was the Grammar School in Almondbury and so he was only too pleased to record some pieces for me about its Charter. We also got him to play a role as a drunken steward which he rather enjoyed.”

“I’ve also recruited a few local people to record pieces for us including actors Kenneth Greenwood and Alun Jones who I have worked with for many years but most recently in a Jimbo Productions’ show at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.”

“We’ve had wonderful support from Alexandra McNichol, senior lecturer in the university’s media department and his team.

“They’ve been fantastic and we have really benefited from their expertise.

“By the beginning of August, we should have all the elements of the Son part of the event. Then we’ve got to do the Lumiere bit.

“It might need a couple of torches. But seriously it should be quite extraordinary.

The whole piece tells the story of the village from the Domesday Book through events such as the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the civil war, the Victorian era and on and up to the Coronation of the present Queen.

“We could not have done any of this without a team of people who have been so generous with their time and expertise,” said James.

“There will be 13 performances beginning in mid October and running through until mid November. Some of the matinee performances are aimed at schools and they and churches throughout the diocese have been told about the project.”

Booking is through Kirklees booking offices, www.Kirklees.gov.uk/townhall or by telephone on 01484 223200.

The Bean Cafe in Almondbury is also expected to have tickets.