Robinson Crusoe (1977/78)
1977-1982
At this low point in the Society’s fortunes, we were approached by Broxbourne Borough Council with an invitation to present our annual pantomimes at their recently opened Broxbourne Civic Hall in Hoddesdon.
After consulting our members, many of whom already lived in the area, it was agreed that ETCEA would leave its home of the past 34 years and move to Broxbourne. In September 1977 rehearsals began in Cheshunt for our first Broxbourne pantomime, Robinson Crusoe.
One last twist of fate was that Alec Stretch, our founder and inspiration, died in June 1977 after an extended illness and therefore never saw the start of this new chapter in the history of ETCEA.
The Pajama Game (1983)
By 1982 ETCEA had firmly established itself in Broxbourne, attracting members and audiences from Enfield, Broxbourne and the surrounding areas, helping to bring Broxbourne Civic Hall to the notice of a much wider public. Our members therefore voted to change the name of the society to Broxbourne Theatre Company, formerly ETCEA to reflect our new future whilst not forgetting our past.
Hello Dolly (1986)
1983-1994
Throughout our years in Enfield we had enjoyed the use of a permanent base for our rehearsals, together with excellent workshop and storage facilities for our scenery, etc.
On moving to Broxbourne we had to use a variety of public halls around the Borough for our rehearsals and our scenery was consigned to various damp and draughty old buildings.
Bollescroft
The final tragedy occurred in the summer of 1992 when vandals set fire to our storage building in Cheshunt, destroying almost our entire stock of scenery and props. This was a serious set back as we lost many highly specialised pieces of equipment that were used to create special effects in pantomimes, as well as stock items that had appeared in many shows over the years.
Since those first exploratory discussions back in the summer of 1977, we have received enormous encouragement and co-operation from many of the Councillors and Officers of Broxbourne Borough Council. With their help we embarked on various projects in search of a permanent base for our activities. These finally bore fruit in September 1993 when we started our 50th Anniversary Season by opening Bollescroft. Entirely at our own expense, we converted and completely refurbished this formerly derelict building near Broxbourne Civic Hall at a cost of £60,000 for use as our new headquarters.