Blidworth woman Cherry Hutton’s recollections of appearing with Nat Jackley and Dick Emery in the pantomime Robinson Crusoe, in 1947, form part of a book celebrating the 150th anniversary of Nottingham’s Theatre Royal.

A member of Kirkby’s Flying Ballet, she was a dancer and understudy in pantos throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Cherry said: “For the first panto I was a flying fish. It was set under the sea with all green and blue lighting, and there would be three of us flying in between, with men on either side pulling us across with ropes.

“It used to absolutely stop the show because you could hear all the children as soon as we flew across the stage.”

The commemorative, limited edition book is priced £10 and available at www.trch.co.uk/anniversary or from the box office and front-of-house foyer.

It has been written by two well-known local historians; Ade Andrews and Andy Smart. Ade, who has been leading the venue’s popular character-led backstage tours for many years, has written the history of the venue from its construction in 1865 to the major restoration in the late 1970s.

Andy Smart has been a journalist for more than 40 years. He said: “The Theatre Royal has provided so many of us with our earliest and most vivid memories of trips to the theatre.

“Prompting readers of this book to revisit some of those memories and fondly remember plays and performers from days gone is both a privilege and a pleasure.

“When my parents took me to my first panto with Beryl Reid in Jack and The Beanstalk back in the 1950s, I could hardly have imagined she was to be just the first of hundreds of stars I have seen at the Theatre Royal. The fact that it later became part of my job was just a wonderful bonus.”

PHOTO: Theatre Royal Nottm c.1899 courtesy of Nottm Historical Film Unit and www.picturethepast.org.uk