Lorna Mawson could have been a Hollywood film star.

The Bingley Little Theatre stalwart was hot property as a teenage actress, by all accounts.

Now a sprightly 90, she recalls how she took part in a talent competition at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford when she was only 16.

"I won £5 which was an awful lot of money in those days. I was very proud and there were some people there who were so impressed with the way I could express emotions that they wanted to take me to Hollywood," she said.

"But my mother wouldn't let me. I would have loved to have been a professional actress but I never had the chance. I did join a semi-professional concert party later."

Mrs Mawson, of Heaton Close, Eldwick, also wowed the judges as a youngster in an acting competition at the old Regent Cinema in Manningham Lane, attended by a youthful Hughie Green.

But for most of her life, her love has been Bingley Little Theatre, which is currently celebrating its golden jubilee.

And on Sunday she will be an honoured guest at a gala performance of JB Priestley's, When We Are Married, the highlight of the 50th anniversary year.

Mrs Mawson, the oldest founder member of the theatre, recalls how she and her friends worked their fingers to the bone converting the Oddfellows Hall, a billiard hall which had been a musical hall, for their first performance. "When we took over we worked with our bare hands, pulling the place to pieces," she said.

"I have such happy memories of the old theatre. In the old days people like my late husband Nol and I used to go down and it was a family affair. We formed a green room for 11 to 18-year-olds and our own son and daughter were in the theatre for a while as well."

Bingley Little Theatre had grown out of Bingley Dramatic Club, which had staged productions from 1943 at what is now Beckfoot Grammar School.

For a quarter of century the building in Warrington Street was its home. But the hall was demolished and the theatre raised more than £20,000 towards new premises in the new Bingley Arts Centre.

"The theatre could have gone out of existence when the old building was pulled down. When they began knocking it down I just stood with tears rolling down my face," said Mrs Mawson.

Mrs Mawson is a past chairman, was publicity officer for 16 years and has also produced, directed and acted in countless plays for Bingley Little Theatre.

She received rave reviews, in particular for her interpretation of the part of Ada Thorpe in Walter Greenwood's Saturday Night At The Crown, a part written for Thora Hird.

But her favourite roles were Elvira in Blithe Spirit and Dolly in Hello Dolly.

Over the past 50 years, Bingley Little Theatre's reputation has spread far beyond West Yorkshire.

The theatre featured in the 1957 film Room At The Top, made by John Braine, himself a member of Bingley Little Theatre.

Mrs Mawson was heavily involved for the three weeks of location shooting. She travelled to Shepperton Studios for filming - where a little piece of Bingley had been recreated especially.

"They actually built a replica of the theatre in their studios because the real building wasn't big enough for them to fit in their equipment. It was the same, right down to the wallpaper," she said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.