Humble beginnings Port Talbot and District Amateur Operatic Society was started in 1947 by Mrs Aurelia Vowles John. In the intervening years the society has gone from strength to strength. Assisted by her deputy, Mr Norman John (who would later go on to be the society’s musical director and then their honorary patron), Mrs John took the society from its initial venue at the New Hall, Aberavon, via Margam College, to the Sandfields Comprehensive School hall. Each change of venue was an improvement on the last, and the more modern facilities enabled the Society to present shows, which would have been impossible to stage at their previous performance venues.


In 1987, the Society performed its first show at The Princess Royal Theatre; the show was “Music Man”. For the playing members, the stage was huge in comparison to what they had previously performed on and for the first time the Society’s producer at the time, Mr David Thomas (who served the Society for 35 years in this role), did not have to worry about the lack of space available to him. The Society’s annual productions (and the Youth Theatre’s annual productions) are still performed at the Theatre and indeed it is hard to imagine them staging their shows elsewhere.



In addition to the Society having to move to different performance venues, the Society’s ‘home’ has also changed many times along the way. For many years, in common with most musical societies at the time, the Society had nowhere to call home; rehearsals were held in various school halls, member’s homes and even in the storeroom of a cycle shop! Then, in the early 70s, the Society, courtesy of the then West Glamorgan County Council, was given the use of a building at the Eastern Schools complex. It boasted large modern rooms and excellent facilities. However, a few short years later, much to the disappointment of the then members the building was held unfit for the purpose, and the Society again was without a place to call ‘home’. Following this the Society set about finding an appropriate building to become their headquarters and eventually a run-down building behind Taibach Library was found. And that, we should say is history, the Society first leased and improved the building, then purchased and further improved; improvements have included an extension and extensive modernisation to provide the members with the comfortable, up-to-date facility that is enjoyed by today’s members.

The Society still goes from strength to strength, and in the capable hands of today’s Musical Director, Mr Alec Brooks, Accompanist, Mr John Llewellyn, Producer, Mr Keith Clarke, and Assistant Producer, Mrs Moira David we are sure that it will continue to do so. The Senior Society’s annual production is performed in April each year, with the Youth Theatre’s production staged in October. 

If anybody is interested in joining the Society, please contact the Society’s Secretary, Mr Leighton Joseph on 01639 896228, or fill in the form provided on the 'Contact Us' page. Rehearsals are held on a Tuesday night at the Society’s headquarters.



E-mail: Admin@porttalbotopera.co.uk