Melanie Whitehead

In 1975, at the age of 3, I moved from a friendly local pub in Somerset where I could play 'Dancing Queen' on the juke box and dance on the pool table to it (naked usually) to a 10-year standing derelict house in Staffordshire with no gas, electricity or functioning toilet! It was lucky that only 3 doors down was my new best friend Susannah and together we decided to focus on changing the world.

We created the SMW club which on the surface may have seemed to be a vehicle for extorting money from our parents and neighbours but through which we were able to explore the realms of creativity and artistic pathways that simply wouldn't have been possible without its framework of support. It also demonstrated an early recognition of the fact that whilst art for arts sake is fine, without a firm financial plan and some good commercial grounding, you won't get very far!

We started with radio plays (usually involving minimalist plot-lines but a need for many sound effects); delved into the world of table-top puppet theatre (the be-caped wooden spoons were always marvellous!); explored special effects and makeup (blue eye-shadow bruising, tomato ketchup gashes and scalped Girls Worlds); attempted cinema on discovering an abandoned Super-8 camera and realising the local train tracks would make the perfect location for a silent melodrama; branched into circus (painted snail racing and gerbil/domino rallies) and had a brief foray into the world of musicals - although this was met with some unnecessarily cruel reviews from older siblings (the cheery melody "riding along on my pedal bike, watching the people go rushing by, what an experience, what an experience, riding along on my bike (drrring, drrring)" still acts as a great soundtrack for my current cycling escapades) although we were truly dedicated to improvisation, role play and devised theatre - our earliest influence being the great American director Aaron Spelling.

In recognition of the need to not present art as an exclusive activity, we diversified our membership and created cards which were not only practical (offering privileges such as protection from enemies and discounts on baked goods) they were also pieces of portable art. The market for this service was something of a niche.

It is unfortunate that the demands of more professional bodies such as school plays, ballet class and piano lessons led to the demise of SMW in about 1985 although its legacy is strong.