In the darkest days of war torn Britain, the staff and students at what was then Enfield Technical College in North London decided to boost morale by presenting an end of term show. But this was not to be just another school carol concert! Revue was the popular form of entertainment in those far off days and so College Pudding was to be a rich mixture of song, dance and comedy.

Little did the College staff know what they were starting when they turned for advice to a lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department. Before the war, Alec Stretch had for many years been the Chief Electrician at the Intimate Theatre in Palmers Green when it was a fully professional repertory theatre. Now he was on temporary secondment to the College to train army engineers desperately needed for the war effort.

The result was a polished show that was so well received that an Entertainments Association (ETCEA) was formed and more Revues were presented throughout the remainder of the war years. Each production was more ambitious than the last, building up to the presentation of our first annual pantomime Cinderella in 1946.

1947-1949

The reputation of ETCEA's productions spread quickly and the demand for tickets grew at such a rate that by 1948 our third pantomime, Babes in the Wood played to packed houses for 10 performances. This was nearly 5,000 people – no mean achievement for a school production!

A spectacular show with fun for all the family was what the public demanded in those dreary days after the war. and that was what ETCEA gave them. As well as producing, directing and designing sets and lighting for all of our shows, Alec Stretch also took a major hand in the writing of scripts for those early productions. A measure of his success can be gauged by the fact that our script for our 1949 production Dick Whittington was used a year later for the first ever ice pantomime at Wembley.

1950-1970

But Alec had even bigger plans and in 1952 ETCEA presented both its first major musical, A Country Girl and its first straight play, Full House. The scale of the productions had now outgrown the resources of the college students alone and so ETCEA became an official Evening Class, allowing its membership to expand to include anyone who had a genuine interest in the performing arts.

Throughout this period, and for many years to follow, ETCEA enjoyed the wholehearted support and encouragement of the Principal and Governors of the Enfield College. However, it ran its own affairs and, as now, was financed entirely out of the sale of tickets.

The high standard of Alec’s productions provided an excellent breeding ground for local talent and many members went on to success in the professional theatre.

1970-1977

In the early 1970s a national reorganisation of higher education resulted in Enfield College becoming part of the new Middlesex Polytechnic (later to become the Middlesex University). ETCEA continued as it had for the previous 30 years but it soon became apparent that the Polytechnic authorities, who were controlling a number of college sites all over North London, had little interest in what was to them just another obscure “Evening Class.”

1977 was ETCEA’s year of KISMET – the Arabian word for Fate, and our chosen musical to be presented during the College Easter holiday. This was a time of student agitation at many colleges throughout the country. Rehearsals for Kismet were frequently disrupted by students conducting a campaign of sit-ins. Just before Easter, the police finally evicted the students and the Polytechnic authorities ordered that the College be closed throughout the holiday. As a result, a number of our scheduled performances of Kismet had to be cancelled at the last moment.

The future for ETCEA looked bleak indeed. Ill health had forced Alec Stretch into retirement. Our position at the College looked increasingly uncertain as we no longer had the support of the College authorities, and there was no other venue in Enfield suitable for the scale of our productions.

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.

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.

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. 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.

1994-2002

In September 1994 we again expanded our activities by launching our youth section The Young Set. Run entirely by our own members on a purely voluntary basis, The Young Set aims to meet the enormous demand for opportunities for youngsters from the age of 9 to enjoy this wonderful hobby, in the hope that they will want to go on to the join the adult section of the company when they are 16. This has proved to be very successful and a number of the youngsters have indeed joined the adults and several now regularly play leading roles in our main productions.

2003/4

Broxbourne Theatre Company has now been based at Broxbourne Civic Hall in Hoddesdon for over 25 years. Our membership continues to be regularly replenished with new talent but still includes many members who were with us during the Enfield days. Above all, we still strive to maintain the production standards set for us by our founder, Alec Stretch.

Ian Stretch
January 2003