A long family link will be maintained when Burgess Hill Theatre Club presents Mother Goose panto from January 9 while celebrating two anniversaries.

In the cast will be youngster Amy Somerville as The Fairy and watching her will be grandmother Norma Somerville, from Burgess Hill.

Norma, 78, starred in the club’s first Mother Goose in 1968 – as the Goose.

The latest production will be the 50th year of panto for the club.

Norma said: “I was in more than 40 pantomimes and all my family have been in it at one time or another.

“The people in the town still love their panto and often stop to talk to me about it. That first Mother Goose I was in was fantastic.

“We had to move from the Park Centre where we had been rehearsing because there was a fire there.

“They forgot to put the heating on at Oakmeeds School and it was freezing. I was well wrapped up as the Goose and I think I was the only warm one.”

Pictured with Norma and Amy are long-standing club member Liz Batten and her grand-daughter Cidney Wilson, who also appear in the show.

The club has also been celebrating its 60th anniversary as Burgess Hill Theatre Club.

Mother Goose is at the Martlets Hall on January 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24.