About Us
Fleckney Duckpond Players
Registered charity number: 1185291
Fleckney Duckpond Players are a local amateur theatre company based in the village of Fleckney, Leicestershire.
Bringing live theatre to our village since 1998
Meet Our Trustees
Jill Hoy
Chair/Choreographer
Jill has been a member of Fleckney Duckpond Players for over 10 years. In June 2023 Jill became the groups Chair. Her main my main role until 2023 was the groups choreographer. She works with the adults and children in the cast to create the dance routines for most of our shows. She tells us that watching the children grow in confidence to get the ‘bug’ to perform is very rewarding. She hopes to meet more of the audience at our up coming shows. Maybe they will get the ‘bug’ to perform too!
Kelly Hill
Treasurer
Kelly first appeared with the group as a member of the kids chorus in our 2003 panto Babes in the Wood. Kelly tells us that being a member of the group has given her the opportunity to play many amazing roles, such as 'Beauty' in Beauty and the Beast, but it has also allowed her to learn the other integral parts of performances such as, sound and lighting, set design, producing and directing...to name a few! Kelly says her hope is that the Duckpond Players are able to continue to bring quality shows to Fleckney for many years to come, and that we may inspire a new generation of performers and technicians to join us!'
Nicola Mistry
Trustee
Nicola, first performed with us as a child almost 20 years ago. After returning from University where she got a degree in performance Nicola once again returned to the stage with Fleckney Duckpond Players. Nicola’s passion has always been dancing but she is also a very talented actress and has played a vast variety of roles. Nicola has just taken a short break from performing after the birth of her first child. Her hopes for the group, is that it will continue to inspire future generations as well as provide high quality entertainment for many more years.
Jill Smith
Producer/Director & Social Secretary
Jill joined the Duckpond Players in 2008 to help with props and set. After a couple of years Jill says she enjoyed being a member of the group so much that gradually she moved on to play parts on stage as well. Jill took the lead role of Geraldine Granger in our production of The Vicar of Dibley. I addition to being in charge of our props department Jill is also the groups Social Secretary.
Lee Edgerton
Trustee
Lee joined Fleckney Duckpond Players in 2014 having previously performed with another local theatre group. Lee took the main role of Aslan in our 2017 production of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and not to be type cast, but he also played the Cowardly Lion in our 2021 production of The Wizard of Oz. Lee also sings in a male choir and was assistant producer of our production of Nunsense in 2023.
Bet Haggerty
Trustee
​Bet was a founder member of Fleckney Duckpond Players. Having performed on stage since the age of four. her passion and love for all things theatre have been a driving force within the group. Over the past 25 years Bet has performed many roles both off and on stage, she has been Chair, Producer, Treasurer, as well as performing in many of our shows. Bet also makes a lot of the wonderful costumes you see in our productions and works closely with our wardrobe supervisor Jack. Bet’s favourite line is ‘we may be amateurs but the audience are paying to see us therefore we need to be as professional as possible’,
Our Story
This year sees us celebrate our 25th year. In August 1998 Fleckney Duckpond Players was formed by a small group of people following an appeal in the Fleckney Communicata for anyone interested in joining a new drama group to attend a meeting in the village hall. Two of the people who attended that meeting are still with the group today Eric Gamble and Bet Haggerty. After that first meeting it was decided that there was sufficient interest to form a new Fleckney drama group. Fleckney Duckpond Players took the village by storm opening with its first play to a sell-out audience in January 1999 ‘Inspector Drakes Last Case’.
Fleckney Duckpond Players also pride themselves on the contribution they give to the local community and work closely with other local groups providing entertainment for OAP’s Christmas Parties, we also hire our stage equipment and lighting to the Village Hall for the use of other stage users.
Over the years we have been lucky to have been able to sell our tickets locally firstly in the newsagent, when that changed hands the local post office became our box office for many years, and currently box office is Fleckney Community Library.
Over our 25 years we have embraced the impact of social media and the We work closely with amdram groups in the surrounding villages, supporting each other with costumes, props and we also enjoy going to their performances. In September 2019, Fleckney Duckpond Players became a registered charity. Our constitution was updated, and trustees were appointed. To date we have performed 57 shows in Fleckney Village Hall.