The Bankie behind an amateur panto group admits she took inspiration to start the group from her pantomime-loving dad.

Maggie Harkness-Smith recently founded the PantoZoneians and plans to put on a must-see show for the local community this Christmas.

The creation of the amateur group comes on the back of her work with the Awestruck Academy last Christmas when she performed panto Santarella – a show written by her dad.

And speaking to the Post, Maggie admitted it was the success of that performance that convinced her she had to start her own group and put it on again this year.

She said “I remembered that my dad wrote this pantomime back in the seventies about Santa, called Santarella.

“I said to the group: ‘if you want, go and read your scripts on the stage when you are performing,’ and it worked.

“Everyone thought it was funny.”

This year’s show will be put on at the Goodyear club in Drumchapel in December and Maggie promised those in the audience are in for a treat in the show that is a festive take on the classic Cinderella fairy tale.

“I’m going to have the two stepsisters dancing to the slosh,” she added.

Maggie, whose dad was a stagehand at Glasgow’s Pavillion Theatre, was taking to shows such as Jack Millroy’s Francie and Josie when she was a youngster and credits that upbringing with her love of theatre.

And, with her parts now all cast, the group are getting set to begin preparations for the Christmas time show.

Maggie finished: “We are starting rehearsals in August, so that gives us 16 weeks to rehearse.

“We are not a charity, and we are doing our own funding to get costumes, I go on eBay and bid for stuff.”

Tickets are £3 and will be available from going to the PantoZoneians Facebook page.