The Society was founded in 1928 and in the early 1960s (and possibly earlier) it staged a winter production at the Winter Gardens in Morecambe. There was an equivalent society in Morecambe, founded in 1903, which is still active (MAODS).

Katherine Gregson (then Katherine Bolton), who was active in the HAODS, has preserved some programmes of the productions at the Winter Gardens.The first is from 1960, for the operetta Naughty Marietta, Victor Herbert’s most successful musical. 

In 1961 and 1962 the HAODS presented two Frank Loesser musicals, the well known Guys and Dolls and the less known The Most Happy Fella.

The six pictures below from the programme of Guys and Dolls.

Finally these pictures are from The Most Happy Fella programme. The story is based on a play, They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard, about a romance between an older man and younger woman.