Hinchley Manor Operatic Society was founded in 1949 by a small band of employees of the Milk Marketing Board in Thames Ditton, Surrey. They had been enthusiastic members of the Milk Marketing Board’s Theatrical Group, which was disbanded early in that year, a victim of post war austerity.

Two of the founders of HMOS, Peter and Joyce Tatlow, maintained their enthusiasm for the theatre, ignored the austerity and, following the demise of the Milk Marketing Board Group, went on to form Hinchley Manor Operatic Society (also known as HMOS Theatre Company) in the same year. After a period of rehearsals, the new Society performed Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe as its inaugural production at the Thames Ditton Village Hall, now known as The Vera Fletcher Hall, on March 14th 1950.

The society has gone from strength to strength over the last 75 years and has produced and performed a diverse array of shows, from the traditional Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in the early days, to modern day musical theatre successes such as RENT, We Will Rock You, Calendar Girls, Chess, The Wedding Singer, Fiddler On The Roof, Sister Act, Legally Blonde and The Sound Of Music, at theatres such as Epsom Playhouse, Hampton Hill Theatre, Cecil Hepworth Playhouse, Vera Fletcher Hall and Adrian Mann Theatre.