THROWBACK THURSDAY: Bong Trees, Bosh, Dong, And Dripping

At the age of 10, my parents took me to the traditional pantomime in Tunbridge Wells, which happened to be The Owl And The Pussycat that year (based on the nonsense verse of Edward Lear).

At the back of the of the show guide (a four-page A5 pamphlet, essentially a sheet of A4 folded in half) there was a challenge for children to "count how many spots a Plum Pudding Flea has", fill out a form and pop their answer in a box in the foyer.

I have no idea how many spots I counted, but nevertheless I won the competition and got invited back to see the panto again, then visit with the cast afterwards or as the programme put it: "tea with all the inhabitants of 'The Land Where The Bong Trees Grow'" (they were more innocent times then).

The "big names" in the cast that year were John Dryden (who played 'The Dong With The Luminous Nose', stop giggling at the back!) and Glen Stuart (who was The Owl to Cindy Kent's Pussycat).

These two gentlemen were the stars of The Sunday Gang, a very earnest Sunday morning Christian kids show that ran from 1976 to 1981.

However, the highlight for me was meeting a member of The Sunday Gang who wasn't in the panto, but had turned up anyway to support her colleagues: Tina Heath. She had played the lead in Lizzie Dripping and would then go on to front Blue Peter for a year before leaving to have a baby.

Besides rubbing shoulders with some '70s celebrities, I was also given a copy of Edward Lear's Book Of Bosh, with the inside cover autographed by all the performers in the show (see below).

I originally posted this piece online back in 2015, and five years later I got a lovely comment on the article from Cindy Kent herself:

"Hi. I am the Cindy Kent mentioned and was delighted when someone sent this to me! Wow - what memories it brought back just seeing the poster. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It was my first panto and I loved it. I am now a semi-retired Anglican Priest living in Kent and look back on that time with fond memories. I wonder what happened to the other cast members? God Bless you"