LYMM Panto is marking 30 years of comedy and camaraderie this Christmas – and for the show's founder Simon Plumb that represents half of his life.

Simon, 60, wrote the first panto – an adult version of Snow White – when he was 30 to help raise funds for Lymm Rugby Club which was struggling financially in 1986.

Fast-forward three decades and it is a very different story.

Around 50,000 people have now seen the Crouchley Lane club's pantos since 1986 which have also raised £250,000 for the Lymm Grass Roots Clubhouse Appeal.

"It feels great," said Simon, who played rugby in Lymm for about 20 years.

"I wouldn’t quite define it as my life’s work but I think we’re on the cusp of something amazing at Lymm.

"We’ve got a plan to create a 3G pitch and build a state-of-the-art clubhouse and we’re just waiting for the planning application to come through.

"I’ve been involved with the club since I was 18 and I’m very proud of what we’ve done and where we’re going with it.

"The panto has raised around £250,000 towards the appeal. It’s become very important in that sense."

This year's panto is Peter Pants which around 1,600 people will see between December 1 and 11.

The shows consistently sell out and this year's production is expected to raise about £40,000 towards the clubhouse appeal.

Simon, who used to have the same agent as Steve Coogan when he was in a comedy double act called Haddock and Plumb, admitted that many of the scripts get recycled.

Peter Pants has made it to the stage three times but each play gets rewritten and revamped to keep it up-to-date.

"Donald Trump is quite heavily involved this year," added the dad-of-three.

"With a name like Trump you can imagine how we utilise that.

"We bring it up to date and because we’ve been at it so long we tend to use mechanisms and sketches that we know are going to work.

"We’re constantly improving. I honestly think the shows are getting better and better. I start thinking about it in July and might have a first draft finished by September.

"It’s collaborative so I’ll go to my chums and we’ll sit around a table and knock a few ideas around."

Simon and his team of 20 have no plans to pull the final curtain on Lymm Panto anytime soon.

He said: "It would be very difficult to stop doing it because of the enjoyment we all get out of it.

"Also people are asking me in the summer: ‘What’s next?’ They get excited about it. How could I stop?

"I’ve got to find a way of making it carry on when I have to withdraw through age or infirmity or whatever."

Simon said collaboration and blending everyone’s strengths are two of the reasons the panto has been a success.

For example, retired art teacher, Pat Stoor, has been creating, designing and painting the Lymm Panto sets for more than 20 years.

She had a stroke just before the Vaudeville Show in 2015 and has been recovering since.

Simon added: "Pat is still producing the sets this year and it is taking a huge amount of effort from her but she is determined to get it all completed.

"Her commitment is amazing but I know she loves being involved and puts her heart and soul into it."

Simon said that writing the scripts with the audience in mind has also been key.

"We don’t write it for rugby club members," he added.

"We write it as comedy and slapstick that anybody could enjoy and that goes right back to the beginning.

"We didn’t want in-jokes. The whole purpose of the show was to bring people in from a very wide area

"That’s why audiences got bigger –we have had people coming from Yorkshire and Nottingham and I’ve got people from London who come every year now.

"The guys involved also have a broad appreciation of comedy. We love Morecambe and Wise, we love Tommy Cooper.

"Looking back, we love the old Vaudeville acts but we also love the modern stand-ups like Stewart Francis. We have an encyclopaedic knowledge of comedy.

"I still love it as much as I did 30 years ago. There’s a joy at putting it together at rehearsals with new ideas coming in all the time. I love that creative process."

- Tickets for the December 1 and 8 evening shows and December 4 matinee show of Peter Pants are still available for £20. Contact Colette Cartwright on 07596 938839 or email: ctcartwright@talktalk.net