In April 1925, led by local landowner and theatre buff John Kingston, the first Kings Langley Players (KLP) trod the boards in the then village hall, in two one-act plays – The Bishop’s Candlesticks and Storm in a Teacup – and the amateur dramatics group has been presenting theatre every year ever since.

This month sees the start of an exciting programme of productions – including the group’s first ever full-length musical – to celebrate 90 years of KLP.

The season begins with a revival of The Accrington Pals, Peter Whelan’s World War One play that the group first performed 30 years ago, directed by Ron Balmforth, KLP’s longest-serving, still fully active member, who returns to direct the anniversary production as well.

“I joined the Players in 1971,“ says Ron, 65, “so I’ve been with them for 43 of their 90 years – almost half their lifetime, which is a very scary thought!“

Ron, who lives in Watford, was introduced to KLP by friends as a 22-year-old, and began helping out with the productions’ sound and lighting under the late chairman of the group, Barry Deane, and making a few appearances on the stage as well. In 1984, he first tried his hand at directing.

“I was burning to direct Antigone,“ Ron remembers, of the Greek tragedy set in the Theban civil war, and he enjoyed the experience so much he has gone on to direct 15 of the group’s productions in total.

What changes has Ron witnessed in the Kings Langley Players in his 43 years as a member?

“We’re more democratic nowadays,“ he says, “in the past you had the chairman and the committee saying what would happen; now you have people saying they’d like to do this or they want to do that.

“And we’ve widened our member-base, we’ve got members from a very wide area.“

Ron has had plenty of time to ponder just what it is that has kept KLP going for so many years, and believes he has the answer.

“I think we’re still probably the only drama group around that concentrates on doing plays,“ he says. “We do a panto every year and occasionally a bit of old time music hall, but basically we just do plays and there’s not that many groups around nowadays that do that, I don’t think.“

But the group has decided to branch out a little bit as part of its 90th birthday celebrations, with a production of the rock musical Little Shop of Horrors next June.

“It will be the first musical we’ve done,“ says Ron. “We’re very excited.“

After The Accrington Pals, the celebratory season continues with the annual pantomime, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, in Janauary, and the Neil Simon comedy classic The Odd Couple in March.

What does Ron see for the future of the Kings Langley Players?

“I think one of the healthiest signs of any amateur dramatic society is that it keeps getting new members,“ he says, “and in The Accrington Pals we’ve got four completely new members, so that’s a very good sign.

“We just want to keep going – do more of the same but always bigger and always better. Our hope and aspiration is to always put on a good show.“