AN ALL-singing and all-dancing exhibition is being staged at Milestones museum.

Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society, which celebrates its 90th anniversary next year, certainly has something to sing about judging from the displays of costumes, programmes, photos, props and scenery, which will be on show until October 2 at the museum in Basingstoke Leisure Park.

An impressive musical note timeline in the exhibition shows that the society was originally called the Thornycroft Amateur Operatic Society back in 1922.

The commercial vehicle factory, which stood where Morrison’s supermarket is today, was a major employer in town and had a willing workforce who joined the society.

BAOS’s first production was Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore. The Second World War saw a break in production for several years as the factory was geared up for manufacturing vehicles and equipment for the war effort.

However, a modest production of Trial by Jury was performed in 1944.

In 1946, the society changed its name to Thornycroft and Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society. By 1951, the society had moved from the Thornycroft canteen to The Haymarket Theatre, in Wote Street.

Nevertheless, the canteen was still used for rehearsals.

During the early 1970s, the society was renamed Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society, and its inaugural production under that name was in 1974 with The Yeoman of the Guard.

Among the cast members was 87-year-old Charles Dellow, who has been a member for 40 years. He enjoyed the exhibition launch party.

He recalled: “I sang in Thornycroft’s canteen for Ruddigore in 1957 and was so impressed, and I finally joined in 1959.”

Another member who recalled his first performance was former Gazette production worker Tim Price, who now heads the computer department at Peter Symonds College, in Winchester.

Tim said: “My first performance was in The Mikado. I was in the chorus and it was my old junior school teacher who was producing it.

“We wore long black cloaks and what looked like Max Wall wigs and masses and masses of thick orange make-up. It got me hooked.”

Since then Tim, who is the society’s membership secretary, has been involved in the majority of BAOS performances and he is looking forward to the society’s performance of Oliver! next year, which will mark his 30th anniversary of being involved in BAOS.

Being a member of BAOS has certainly been a family affair with his wife Caroline being chairwoman.

Caroline, who has many fond memories of her time at BAOS, has seen its fortunes ebb and flow. She said she had met many wonderful people and made life-long friends.

“It’s no different than a church group or a social group,” said Caroline. “We look after one another and we care for one another.”

Caroline spoke of the fraught dangers of helping other performers with quick costume changes.

Recalling when she helped one member, who had a ballet number to perform in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Carousel, she said: “She was wearing a very pink frock, a wig, and she needed a boater and needed to put on some ballet shoes.

“We were off on the side of the stage and she was saying ‘quick quick quick!’. So we put the hat on and I put the hat pin in and she went ouch!

“She stood up and said she felt alright, but the blood trickled and it dripped on the pink dress.

“We had to call the first-aid man and that was a big performance. He kept asking for her name and address, and I kept saying ‘never mind that, she’s bleeding from her head’. Anyway, we patched her up, but subsequently, she couldn’t go on and do her ballet number. After that, nobody at BAOS ever asks me to help with their hats!”