Thursford Christmas Spectacular at 45: the £4.5m festival that conquered the festive season

The Thursford story began with Cushing’s father, George, who was born a stone’s throw from the venue. Having left school at 12, George worked as a farmhand and steamroller driver before establishing a contracting business that had 15 steamrollers.

When steam power became obsolete after the Second World War, George began buying showman’s engines at scrap prices and built the Thursford Collection, Europe’s largest assembly of steam engines, which he exhibited at the farm where he had once worked. In 1989, he was awarded an MBE for his work preserving Britain’s steam heritage. The Christmas show began in 1977 as a carol concert that John Cushing organised to take place among the traction engines to attract visitors in the quiet winter months. The concert grew in size each year until it had performances every Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout December. At that point, the featured local amateur choirs were replaced with professionals. Today, the show runs twice daily from early November to December 23.

“By 1982, we’d gone into showbusiness,” Cushing says. “In the late 1970s, we got more than 100,000 people to see the steam engines and only 15,000 or 20,000 to the Christmas show. Now it’s completely the other way.”

Although the Spectacular still features carols, festive favourites and Christmas readings, the three-hour show now ranges from opera to Coldplay, from comedy and variety to speciality circus acts, with a fly-over of white doves thrown in for good measure. The audience remains surrounded by steam engines and vintage fairground rides, while an Aladdin’s cave of glittering decorations hang from the ceiling above their heads. Among the show’s stalwarts is Phil Kelsall, who has been playing Thursford’s 90-year-old Wurlitzer organ for the past 43 years.

Cushing begins choosing the show’s 85 pieces of music in mid-January. Three months later, he brings in a creative team of 21, including choreographers, costume and set designers and a musical arranger, to turn his vision into reality. Casting takes place in the summer. “We had 2,000 singers and nearly 900 dancers audition this year. The queue was right around the studio.”

Despite its agricultural origins, Thursford boasts a large, bright, modern backstage area, while its facilities include a full-size rehearsal stage so two numbers can be rehearsed at the same time. The extensive laundry facilities reflect Cushing’s former ‘day job’: until 14 years ago, he ran the Spectacular in parallel with a commercial laundry business that employed 200 people in nearby Fakenham.

Now 83, Cushing doesn’t like to think about retirement or “succession”, as he says with a slight shudder. He does, however, have two sons who have followed him into the family business. For sons George and Charlie, the Christmasshow has always been the backdrop to their lives.

“One of my earliest memories is sitting on the sound and lighting desk, watching the show,” George says. “As my brother and I have been growing up, the company has been growing and the show has been growing and it feels as if we have been growing with it.”

George’s main job title is project and marketing manager, but he is also associate producer of the Christmas show, while Charlie is general manager. “Like a lot of people here, we wear a lot of different hats,” George says.

One of George’s innovations is a walk-through attraction, the Enchanted Journey of Light, which opened in 2020 to fill the gap when the Christmas Spectacular was cancelled due to Covid restrictions, and features illuminated Chinese lantern-style sculptures of flowers and animals spread over a four-acre site behind the main venue.

George has also been behind upgrades to the technological aspects of the show. “It’s very easy to get left behind and you’re suddenly left with a very old-looking show,” he says. “There’s been a huge investment this year in lighting and special effects, just to keep on top of what other people are doing.” The company has even opened a boutique B&B and a weddings-and-events venue to keep business coming in all year round.

And would George like to be producing the Thursford Christmas Spectacular when he reaches his father’s age? He doesn’t hesitate.

“I truly hope so! I truly hope that we can keep putting on the show to the scale it is now in another 45 years.”

The Thursford Christmas Spectacular runs until December 23. Visit thursford.com for full details