Anyone living in or around New Mills will have visited New Mills Art Theatre, either watching your children in school productions, attending the many gigs, dramas, comedy’s, musicals and pantomimes and to those talented and brave enough entertained the masses from the stage.
The place is just bursting with history and has seen several ups and downs over the years but now after giving so much to New Mills your Theatre needs a little bit of love and attention to make it good for the next 100 years.
You can help, we all can help.
There is a major program of restoration and building work planned and it is a costly exercise with £250,000 needed to upgrade and add to the toilet facilities, disabled access to both the foyer, toilets and stage, new roofing works and the lower orchestra pit
To donate please use the following link and click on donate on the left hand side of the page – it doesn’t matter if it’s £1 or £100
Phase 1 of the work is the re-supporting of the existing original proscenium arch above the current ceiling line.
You may not be able to see the works when they are finished but you would certainly know about it if this vital works was not carried out without further delay, the theatre would have to close.
At a cost in excess of £20,000 and with no funding from anywhere the work is funded directly out of the theatres own funds which have been generated over the past 10 years.
Directors gave the go ahead for the essential before Christmas and contracts where drawn up with the builders. The board of Directors hope that with the start of some works that, it would generate local interest and hopefully bring in some much needed funding from the wider community and interested parties, once people could see what is been undertaken to preserve the heritage of this theatre for your local community.
Work commenced in earnest on the 16th Feb 2015 and will be completed in 10 weeks if all goes to plan.
Whilst all this work is happening both NMAODS are starting rehearsals for the upcoming production of HONK in June and our now well established Youth Theatre group “Take Part in the Art” who are busy rehearsing for their latest production just before Easter.
As the work will still be ongoing then they will be busy decorating the scaffolding as part of the set, which will certainly give a new meaning to the old saying “The show must go on !”
Please look out for further details,information and works updates and please don’t forget to tell all your friends about out cause.
