From an ambitious drama group founded by the Old Boys of Trinity School to one of the most flourishing amateur theatre companies in the South East of England. This is the story of the first 35 years of the Mitre Players!

How it all began...

Prior to leaving Trinity School, Croydon in July 1972, Martin Tyrrell , Colin Warnock and Tony Britten became involved in the Croydon Students Music Group's touring production of Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale. Tony asked Anna Zemla to do the costumes and here she met Warnock and Tyrrell for the first time.

As their swan-song at Trinity, Tyrrell and Warnock masterminded the Trinity School Variety Performance, enlisting a cast of hundreds that included the school rugby team, the Trinity Swing Band and girls from nearby Coloma Convent Grammar School. This involved a variety of sketches and musical items choreographed by Andrew Thompson.

On leaving school, the friends felt the need to foster their thespian inclinations. Thus, they enlisted the support of Tony's father, Gerald Britten and Alan Swaffield and in March 1973, Trinity's Sandison Room hosted a revue by these recent Old-Boys who wished to reform the Old Mid-Whitgiftian Drama Society (which had lain dormant since the 1950's) - The Mitre Players. Included in the cast were Stuart Duff, Janet Stimson, Martin Tyrrell and Tony Britten - who spent the majority of one sketch asleep in a teapot. Audience members at this revue included John and Gillian Bartle, Alan and Heather Sexton, Gerald and Pat Britten, Alan and Joyce Swaffield and other senior members of the Old Mid-Whitgiftian Association (OMWA).