OUR recent article looking back at the Alhambra Sunbeams prompted this lovely memory from reader Kath Knott (nee Smith):

“I have very fond memories of the time that I was a Sunbeam for the 1964/65 Tom Thumb pantomime.

The role of Tom Thumb was played by Jimmy Clitheroe, supported by Kathleen West, Hope and Keen and Danny Purches.

All of the cast were very supportive of us and each of the Sunbeams was ‘adopted’ by one of the girls in the chorus.

I was looked after by a girl who moved into digs with my grandma and we kept in touch for several years after.

The lady who trained us, Mrs Padgett, was my dancing teacher and asked if I was interested in being a Sunbeam.

I did have a bit of a dilemma before deciding to audition as I had long hair and knew that I would have to have it cut.

I also only just qualified with the height requirement.

Mrs Padgett trained us well to ensure that we gave a good performance every time.

This photograph is of the party that we had at the end of the season.

The biggest bonuses were the facts that I had one afternoon off school every week to enable me to be in the matinee and also we got paid!If I remember correctly we received £1 10s per week. Fond memories.”

The Sunbeams were introduced by founder of the Alhambra Francis Laidler in 1917.

Known as the ‘King of Pantomime’, Laidler delivered half a century of pantos in his Bradford venues, as well as his theatres in Leeds, Keighley and London.

The theatre impresario started the Sunbeams for his production of Robin Hood in 1917 at the Prince’s Theatre in Little Horton Lane. In 1930 the Sunbeams came to the Alhambra, when Laidler switched his pantos to the venue.

The Sunbeams were, said Laidler, Bradford’s “ray of sunshine in the darkness of the war years”.

The junior dance troupe was an instant hit with audiences. Recruited locally from open auditions, the girls often joined in with comic capers on stage.

Each Sunbeam had their hair chopped into matching bob cuts and they had to meet strict height criteria and be “in perfect health, with evidence of six months regular school attendance”.

They were auditioned by Laidler himself, and some of them lived in digs with chaperones during the panto run.

There was no Alhambra panto in 2020, due to the pandemic, and when it returned in 2021 it was a scaled-back production, in line with Covid restrictions, which meant no Sunbeams on stage - for the first time in more than a century.

This year, after an absence of four years, the Sunbeams returned to the Alhambra panto. The youngsters, from the Sara Packham Theatre School in Keighley, are currently delighting audiences in Cinderella, starring Billy Pearce, Strictly Come Dancing finalist John Whaite and Emmerdale star Samantha Giles.

Emma Clayton