When Richard Hillier and Daniel More left school they were at a loss with what to do with their spare time, so decided to put on a Halloween-themed cabaret.

Fifteen years later and the Stage Theatre Society is now one of the South East’s largest youth theatre companies and has worked with more than 700 young people on 30 productions.

The company, which started out in Bredhurst Village Hall, has seen many members go on to perform professionally and some, including West End performers Gemma Scholes and Patrick Coulter, returned to Medway for the society’s 15th anniversary gala on Sunday.

Mr Hillier and Mr More attended the Howard School in Rainham where a lot of time and resources were dedicated to performing arts, and this set the pair in good stead for their first amateur production.

Mr Hillier said: “We decided to gather a group of friends to stage a Halloween-themed cabaret – have you ever tried to come up with 30 songs all on the theme of Halloween?

“Our friends soon grew up and went about being adults, but Dan and I weren’t ready to walk away from the theatre quite yet.

“We put an advert in the KM, advertising auditions for a production for Cinderella to be performed at the Brook Theatre in Chatham. And the rest, as they say, is history.”

He added: “What started as a project to stage a one-night only cabaret with a group of friends, has now grown into a company working with more than 100 young people every single year.

“We are still that theatre company that started one day based upon the ideals of creating life-long friends and life-long memories.”

A few years ago, the company partnered with a school in Germany for exchange visits and a production at the English Theatre in Frankfurt.

Mr More said: “It’s not just about the shows but about the difference we can make to young lives.

“We’ve had some brilliant success stories where kids have told us they’d probably be sitting in a park every evening if it wasn’t for STS.”