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Markfield & Thornton Theatre Group

Proudly present …..

Tiger Aspect Production presents an amateur stage adaptation of the beloved British sitcom, The Vicar of Dibley.

🎭 What’s the play about?

The plot centres around Geraldine Granger, a lively and unconventional vicar who surprises the sleepy village of Dibley by taking over—despite the parish council expecting a male vicar. Much of the comedy stems from Geraldine’s encounters with the eccentric locals and the humorous clash between her progressive views and their traditional ways. The script usually incorporates key moments from the TV show, such as:

  • Geraldine’s arrival in Dibley
  • Parish council meetings filled with quirky personalities
  • Alice and Hugo’s budding romance
  • Their famously chaotic wedding

✍️ Playwrights

The adaptation for the stage was written by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter, drawing inspiration from Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s original sitcom.

🌟 Main characters featured

  • Geraldine Granger (the vicar)
  • David Horton (the pompous council chairman)
  • Alice Tinker (the lovable but scatterbrained verger)
  • Hugo Horton (David’s timid son)
  • Jim Trott (“No, no, no, no… yes!”)
  • Owen Newitt (straightforward farmer)
  • Frank Pickle (fastidious minute-taker)

🎬 Comedy style

This light-hearted production delivers feel-good British humour, often with rapid set changes between the parish hall and vicarage. It preserves the famous jokes and inviting warmth of the television series.

MTTG production features some new faces, alongside our regular performers.

For tickets, priced at £8 each, email us at mttg.theatre@gmail.com or ring Anne on 01530 469714 / 07450 137182

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St Peter’s Church, Thornton.

Can you help? Do you have a few spare hours in the week or the month? Then please read on.

Our ancient and beautiful church has an important place in the life of the village.

Maybe you enjoy a walk that takes you through the church grounds seeing the snowdrops,
beautiful trees including the copper beech, spotting the squirrels or hearing the
woodpecker.

Maybe it’s visiting the church for some solitude or quiet prayer.

Enjoying one of the church services.

Or maybe it’s the amazing heritage and history of the building.

Or even just the reassurance that it gives.

There is no doubt that this church is valued by many villagers.

This is our problem: the team ‘looking after’ the church is small in number, aging and needs help.

And it does need a lot of ‘looking after’.

From cleaning, gardening, odd jobs to fund raising for repairs.

We would be so very grateful if you could help in one of the many ways.

And you do not need to be a church attendee, just someone who is interested and wants to help this church building and its grounds survive for future generations to enjoy.

This is where we need help:
Cleaning – could you give a couple of hours every 3 weeks or so to help us clean the
church?

Church yard maintenance – We try to meet monthly on a Saturday morning for 2 hours to look after the churchyard. Odd jobs that need doing from time to time.

Fund raising – The happy band of people that make up the Friends of St Peter’s has been
raising money for the church building since 1995. But now we really need folk with
energy and enthusiasm to help raise the funds to keep this grade 1 listed heritage
building from crumbling.

Money is always needed. If it’s not the roof, it’s the stonework or the plaster work or the bees or death watch beetle, or mildew or …

There are always things that need doing in and outside this building which we all care
about.

If you are interested in finding out more, please do contact: –
shirley.garlick19@btinterent.com or phone 07925170803.

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Markfield and Thornton theatre group (MTTG)

Markfield and Thornton Theatre Group (MTTG) is based at Thornton Community Centre .

We welcome new members. We meet every Wednesday 7:30 – 10 pm at Thornton Community centre.

Our next production is “The Vicar of Dibley “on 10th to 13th June 2026.

Contact: MTTG. Theatre@gmail.com.

The theatre group are currently taking part in the all  England 1 Act Play Festival.

They finished 3rd in the quarter finals this week and qualified for the Central Area semi final in May.


Paul Hurst and Wayne Roberts were nominated for best male performance and Wayne won.


Charlotte Parish and Katie Wells were nominated for best female performance.


The group received the adjudicator’s award for the best choreography sequence.

Why not pop along on a Wednesday evening and meet the ‘players’.

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Thornton Nature Notes

Summer visitors arrive as Winter birds depart.


Cool breezy weather in early March encouraged birds to linger and migration seemed to be on hold.

A single Egyptian Goose was at the out flow on the 11th and two Ravens were fly overs.

On the 13th 120 Starlings were heading east and eight Snipe were at the Top End.


Two Kingfishers were chasing each other on the 14th and photos from a nearby private site confirmed mating.

Warm and sunny weather on March 18th had Brimstone and Peacock on the wing and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming from the Church yard.

Noctule and Pipistrelle bats were also out at dusk.


On the 19th good numbers of Smooth Newts were active in the garden pond and the Wigeon count on the reservoir reached 61.


The final Webs count took place on March 21st and totals included 75 Mallard, 44 Tufted Duck, 35 Coot,25 Great Crested Grebe and 22 Moorhen. Also on this date 9 Buzzards, 4 Skylarks and my first Holly Blue of the year were noted.


March 25th observations revealed that seasonal change overs were taking place. A female Brambling was feeding up before heading back north, and three male Swallows were new in from their wintering grounds at the Western Cape of South Africa.

On the following day a Little Ringed Plover was on the dam and more recently there has been a probable pair.

As March drew to a close Buzzards, Red Kites, Peregrines Sparrowhawks and Kestrel were all recorded, and many were displaying.

My first Comma was sunning itself on the month’s final day.


April has commenced with typically changeable weather and some very warm days.

On the first a male Goosander was heading north, and on the second a Tortoiseshell butterfly was in the garden.


On April 5th Sandmartin numbers had increased to 130 but the highlight was an Osprey that flew west.

On the following day three Common Sandpipers were on the dam, three Red Kite were circling and Linnet was added to the year list.

Orange Tip was an addition to the butterfly list.


The thrill of April 8th was a stunning male Emperor Moth found by Dave.

Copyright Dave Wright

This species despite being common and well distributed is rarely seen. This may be due to a short flight season, so the glorious weather was an important factor.


As I write summer visitors are arriving with House Martin and Willow Warbler new in. The dawn chorus is in full swing as bird species commence their breeding cycle.

Avoiding disturbance of hidden nests is much appreciated at this time.


Andy Smith 11/04/2026

Willow warbler
Swallow
Little Ringed plover
Female brambling
Egyptian goose – all copyright of Andy Smith.

See the separate Nature Notes page for more information.