‘Unsung heroes’ honoured for their service to the Kenton Theatre

A VOLUNTEER who has worked at the Kenton Theatre since the Sixties is one of 20 “unsung heroes” who have been honoured with a plaque in the foyer.

Nansi Diamond, 89, began a life-long relationship with the theatre when she moved into a cottage across the road in 1960.

She had moved from Cardiff with her late husband, Garth, and visited the theatre one day with an ironing board she thought it might make use of. Not long after, she made her theatre debut in Oklahoma!

More than 60 years later, Mrs Diamond has twice been theatre chairman and also served as the front of house manager. She has performed almost every duty in the theatre, except box office. In between theatre roles, she was also chairman of Henley Amateur Operatic and Drama Society.

She has lent her expertise in front and behind the stage but said she has had the most fun in her various performances, including her favourite, as Mrs Danvers in a Henley Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society production of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

She said: “It was my best role because I got to just stand up there and look mean.”

Later, as front of house manager, Mrs Diamond was responsible for organising up to 50 volunteers and opening and closing the theatre on the night of a performance.

She still recalls her fear of the fire warden, who had shut down the theatre for four years in 1963, and the resident “ghosts” which some who work late nights in the building claim to have come face to face with.

Mrs Diamond said: “The worst thing was [late at night] that’s when you might see the ghost. Everybody goes home and you’re stuck there as a woman alone in the theatre.

“It used to be if you locked up and did the lighting you were at the wrong end of the theatre and you had to walk through in the dark.

“So, I am glad it has been sorted because it was quite frightening.”

However, above all, she said she can remember worrying about how to get enough ushers ahead of pantomime season.

She said: “That was a fear for me — not being able to get enough ushers at Christmas. I can feel it now, ‘who is going to come and do the ushering for the pantomime?’”

These days, Mrs Diamond still volunteers the odd ushering shift and offers her expertise to community theatre groups. Recently, she helped cast a production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which will be performed at the Kenton in March.

She said: “Selfishly, it’s just made my life the most tremendous fun. I think the secret to long life is just to meet people and do things. I just think it is a great help to have an ongoing hobby.”

Mrs Diamond said that she is still amazed how embedded the theatre is in Henley life.

She said: “Such a cross section of Henley has been involved here, the number of people who will say, ‘oh I was in a production in 19-whatever it was, I had a lovely time’ — I really like that.

“Everybody has got a cousin or a somebody that is connected, and in the choruses, in the amateur things, everybody used to know each other.

“I had one chap who was a member and he wasn’t very well, and I remember he wrote to me, as chairman, and said, ‘I would like to ask you, after my day, could I have my ashes buried in the garden of the Kenton Theatre?’

“So, I said, I would bring this up at the meeting. We all sat around discussing what will we do with this man’s ashes, and in the end, we agreed to have his ashes.

“He has since died and I hoped that nobody when he asked said ‘no you can’t’, because it was passed that he could.”

Tara Macleod, who has chaired the theatre’s trustees since 2023, said the organisation consulted “widely” to form the list of “unsung heroes”, without whom the theatre “might not exist today”.

The list was announced at the annual meeting in September and features on a plaque which can be seen in the foyer of the theatre.

Mrs Macleod said: “The Kenton has long prided itself on being a front-of-house, volunteer-led organisation, with a strong and dedicated team drawn from the local community.

“However, we recognised that over time, the invaluable contributions of many — both past and present — have not always received the acknowledgment they truly deserve.

“We wanted to correct this; to recognise and formally honour the outstanding efforts of those who have helped build and sustain the theatre through their commitment, passion, and generosity for decades.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that without their tireless contributions, the Kenton, as we know it, might not exist today. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude, and this recognition is long overdue.”