Crown Wharf Theatre

Council donates cash to theatreproject

The mission to bringa new theatreand community event space to Stone has received amajor cash boost with £50,000 of grant funding from the Town Hall Charity Trust, which is managed by Stone Town Council.

The Crown Wharf Theatre charity is settouse the funding to adapt and fit out the back of house areas, transforming the empty building into afully functioning space that will support the venue’s activities for years to come.

Aspokesman for the town council further explained: “Half of the grant will be used to make vital alterations to the internal layout, ensuring the dressing rooms will be large enough to caterfor bigger productions. This is particularly important for groups with big casts, such as schools, Scouts, Guides, dance academies and musical theatre productions.

“The second half of the money will be usedfor the internal fit out, helping the Crown Wharf Theatre charity to install electrics, heating, toilets, akitchenette, changing facilities, ameetingspace and storage.”

The Town Hall Charity Trust was created largely from the proceedsofthe sale of the former Town Hall in the High Street, and the towncouncil act as trustee for the charity, but the funds cannot be used to support the council’s own activities.

Crown Wharf Theatre charity trustee Mark Doran said: “We’re absolutely delightedtoreceive this grant, which has really accelerated the project. “It’sgreat to have the work planned out and under way on the back of house. “These facilities will play a vital role in ensuring the theatre willdeliver as much benefit to as many people in Stone as possible.

“As the work progresses on theback of house we are also making good strides in the auditorium, and the grant from the Town Hall Charity Trust has been ahugeboost in helping us move the whole project forward this year.”

Councillor Mark Green, former Stone Town Mayor and Chairman of the Town Hall Charity Trust at thetimethe grant was made,said: “These funds have been held in trust by the charityfor the benefitof the town. “I’m pleased to be able to announce that the town council, acting as the charity’s trustees, have been able to make this £50,000 grant to support the Crown Wharf Theatre charity and help this exciting project to reach fruition.”

The Crown Wharf Theatre charity would like to hear from local contractors, tradespeople and suppliers who can donate expertise, labour and materials to the back-of-house work.

Here is around-up and furtherupdate allabout the Crown Wharf Theatre projectfrom trustee Leo Capernaros:

In January 2019 we were granted charitable status by the Charities Commission and a new charity, creatively named ‘The Crown Wharf Theatre,’ was born.

Alot has happened since then, including of course the pandemic, and whilst this has had an impact on the project, it has only made us more determined to realise the dream of bringing this fantastic newfacility to the town, in our opinion it’s more vital than ever.

The charity is solely made up of local volunteers, each of whom around busy day-jobs and family lives are working flat out to make the most of this rare and fantastic chance to bring atheatre and community space to Stone.

The way the projecthas presented itself is unusual. In the beginning we were making tentative enquiries and imagined perhaps aten-year journey of raising the money, making plans and then eventually developing atheatre (somewhere in Stone). But with the massive leg-up from Joule’s Brewery, our journey has been moving very quickly and in some ways is slightly back to front.

On April 1thisyear, we signed the lease and got the keys to the shell of the theatre building, and the responsibility is now ours to raise the funding, complete the internal fit-out and then run the building for the benefit of as many people as possible.

Whilst we can’t thank our lucky stars enoughfor the wonderful and wholehearted support from Joule’s Brewery, it has meant we have been playing catch-up from day one. It’s alittle like building the plane whilst you’re flying along.

Firstly, we had to get charitable status,adrawn-out process with an extremely busy Charities Commission. We had to set our charitable purposes, governance, bank accounts, insurances, tax and accounting procedures, all thenuts-andbolts stuff which ensure we’re properly run.

At the same time, we had to quickly raise funds in orderto commission specialist theatre architects who have worked with Joule’s during the design and build process to ensure the building shell is fit forpurpose.

We have also had to consult with arange of theatre experts and quantity surveyors to capture the full scope of the internal fit-out, from heating and ventilation, to floor coverings, acoustics, comfy seating and the multitude of different types of cable required to be embedded into the walls of afunctioning theatre.

While all this has been going on,wehavehad to think aboutthe future. To give major funders the confidence and to make sure thetheatre will be self-sustaining in the long-term we have had to research and build afully costed and viable businessplan. We continue to talk with potential user groups, ensuring we develop aformula that keeps the building accessible, affordable and occupied as muchaspossible.

Covid-19 has of course slowedthingsdown, quite rightly all of our priorities shifted whilst we dealt withthis painful and wide-reaching disaster. The pandemic led to the pausing of many grant schemes and put astop to all the big fundraising events we had plannedfor last year.

The total fundraising target is £750,000, which would deliver ahigh-end fully finished auditorium with lots of bells and whistles. Given everything that has happened, we are now taking aphased approach and looking to raise aproportion of that figure which would provide us with enough equipment and finishes to make the space usable.

From there we can startto use the theatre, have some fun and continue to fundraise and develop the building over time.

Continuing to raise money is of course aprimary objective, and if you want to help out there are all sorts of ways to donate: You can visit our JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/crownwh arftheatre; Hold your own fundraising event on our behalf; Name aseat; Become a ‘Founding Partner’ be that as an individual, family or if you own abusiness.

Email info@crownwharftheatre.org.u ktoenquire.

But it’s not just about cold hard cash, we have had some incredible helpfrom volunteers, helping us in all sorts of ways,bethat volunteering at our community events, helping us with websites, communications, accounting and technical expertise.

It’s been brilliant to feelthe community getting behind the project, and now we are full steam ahead with bid writing and planning some exciting events for 2021 it would be great to hear from you. If you feel like you have something to bring to the party please do get in touch.

We are also on the lookout for support from local contractors, tradespeople and suppliers offering expertise, labour and materials, all of which will help reduce the overallcost of the project.

We will recognise any business that wants to support the project on apermanent ‘Founding Partners Wall’, so do get in touch if you think you could help out and be part of this incredible ‘legacy project’.

So where are we today? Now we have gotthe keys it’s time to press on. We are ready to begin fitting out the back of house areas such as the changing rooms, toilets and green room straight away, so there are lots of opportunities coming up for tradespeople, nifty DIYers and anyone who can hold apaintbrush to get stuck in. The auditorium fit out stillrequires more secured funding, but by hook or by crook we will make it happen. There’s amountain of work to do, but stepbystepwewillget there, together.

For further information go online to: www.crownwharftheatre.org.u k