THERE won’t be a pantomime in Allendale this year for the first time in over three decades. Oh no there won’t!

But the Allen Valley Drama Group, which has staged popular performances in consecutive years since 1983, insists the panto will return in February, 2018.

The group’s Margaret Stonehouse said the hiatus was unavoidable due to several key players, including director Lee Falkingham, having other commitments.

Margaret explained: “We always have a pantomime in the early part of the New Year. It’s a tradition which people rightly expect to be maintained here in Allendale.

“Lee and a few others have been overwhelmed with other commitments, and we just haven’t had the chance to put a script together. But the important message is that we will be back next year.”

Margaret said that the drama group would begin rehearsing in the autumn for next year’s pantomime, which she said would be a local adaptation of Cinderella.

And panto fans should look out for a special event involving the drama group, set to take place on a date yet to be confirmed, in June of this year.

Margaret added: “To make amends for the absence of the pantomime this year, we are planning a mid-summer entertainment show at the village hall, which will involve the Dale Singers and Catton Line Dancing Club. We are aiming to do this over two nights, a Friday and a Saturday.

“We appreciate that people of all ages enjoy the panto. Everybody is talking about it and we thought it was important to update people with what is going on.”

Margaret was keen to stress that the drama group was not short of numbers, and that there remained a strong appetite for next year’s return.

In February 2016, a 16-strong cast performed Mother Goose in front of an appreciative audience at the village hall.