How newly-wed stage roles led to a 40-YEAR MARRIAGE
Let's Talk|November 2020
It’s a real life love story that will leave you with a tear in your eye. This is Ashley and Aileen’s story, told here
Richard Batson.
How newly-wed stage roles led to a 40-YEAR MARRIAGE

ROMANCE IS OFTEN SEEN on the stage of Sheringham Little Theatre as dramas unfold.

But real-life relationships are also hatched there – like the uplifting and poignant story of Ashley and Aileen Gray.

They met as strangers thanks to an ‘am dram’ play casting crisis, took the parts of newlyweds and went on to enjoy a 40-year real life marriage.

Memories of their first meeting were sparked by a recent story about the theatre discovering original programmes from its first ever summer drama season in 1960.

They came from the collection of local actress June Cooper, who brought Ashley and Aileen together as she strove to find two more female cast members for a Sheringham Players production of Beside the Seaside back in 1965 … otherwise the show could not go on.

Ashley takes up the tale:

“June (then Wade) told everyone that unless we could find two extra ‘stars’ – a couple of girls – the play couldn’t go on. It was a case of ‘do or die’!

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