fundraising

FUNDRAISING

The Playhouse Theatre has been running for over 40 years and in that time there has never been any major improvement to the building in respect of the electrical installation, sound and lighting system etc. We have always managed to patch up and make do! However there is no longer the option to do this and therefore the committee have agreed that it is time to upgrade extensively, not only to provide a more sophisticated lighting and sound system but also to install a stair lift and hearing loop for the comfort of our more elderly patrons and friends of the theatre. It must be acknowledged that without their support over the years it would have been impossible to continue and for this we are extremely grateful!

We have received several estimates for the necessary works and have established that we need to raise in the region of £15000.

In order to raise the funds required a special fundraising committee has been appointed. There are various activities we will be undertaking over the forthcoming months to achieve our goal and looking forward to the support of all our friends to help us in our endeavours!

We decided it would be quite a good idea to apply to appear on the BBC's Cash In The Attic thinking that we had so much stuff in our Attic we might well be able to raise some money by auctioning off some of it. Within 20 minutes of making the application Sue Marlow received a phone call from the film company who make the show expressing their interest to feature the Playhouse Theatre on the show!!! A few of the members visited the theatre to see if we could find anything of interest and value and rallied the troops, patrons and members to see if they could donate any items we could auction off!!! During the last production of Two on each night before the play started an appeal to the audience was made to either kindly donate items for Cash In The Attic or to make suggestions for future fundraising activities. We were overwhelmed by the level of interest and support we were given, so much so we were able to offer some interesting items for Auction.

The format of Cash In The Attic is usually based around someones home where Angela Rippon (of BBC fame and not to mention those lovely legs on the Morcambe & Wise show!) and the antiques expert Jonty would rummage around and find items of interest. Sue Mallock (Patrons Secretary of The Playhouse Theatre) kindly offered her home to be the base for filming.

On Wednesday 16 May, Sue Marlow & Paul Warren-Roberts joined Sue Mallock at her house together with the film crew - Bill (the director) Gareth (the researcher) and Phil who made us all a lovely lunch and kept the tea and coffee flowing! We spent a very busy but most enjoyable day in the company of the celebrities!! All three of us were very nervous but Angela Rippon was very supportive and extremely professional which helped to make us feel more at ease. We learnt a few tricks of the trade when filming is taking place!! Who knows..... today The Playhouse Theatre.... tomorrow the West End.... as seen on TV!!!

The next stage is the Auction which is due to take place on Tuesday 12 June........

Well... on Tuesday 12 June Sue Marlow and Sue Mallock attended the Auction at Gildings Auctioneers and Valuers in Market Harborough. We arrived at 9.30am and met up with the crew: James (the director) and Mita (the researcher) and not forgetting Angela Rippon and Jonty Hearndon. The Auction room was absolutely full of items from teaspoons to limestone fireplaces - in fact there were 694 lots all together!! The Auction started at 10am. There was another family from Dunstable who ran a pub that dates back 400 years and their items were Auctioned off first. It was interesting to see how the bidding was done - careful not to scratch your ear in case you inadvertently bought an item!! Then it was time for us to watch the bidding for our items.

We had some lovely things donated for Auction and particularly from two of our long standing Patrons - Mr & Mrs Lander who were extremely generous.

They donated, amongst other things, a beautiful 18th Century tortoiseshell pocket watch which raised a fantastic £200!

Other items auctioned included a part dinner service, Kitchenalia, Victorian silver plated fish knives and forks, Cranston Pottery Vase, a Toby Jug, Blue tinted glass boat-shaped vase, Art Deco Table Centre, a framed advert 'Queens Theatre' for Friday April 10th 1835 (this used to hang in the lounge/bar at the Theatre and fetched a whopping £50!), a Victorian embroidered Mourning Dress and two vintage tops which were found in our own costume department - these only managed to raise £65 and we were hoping for closer to £150! We had a Birmingham hallmarked silver three piece teaset and finally a 9ct gold hollow-link bracelet. All in all we managed to raise a total of £668! A fantastic start to our fund raising effort!

We finished filming around 4.30pm. Nick Shaw a reporter from Harborough FM radio interviewed Sue Mallock, Angela Rippon and Jonty Hearndon and said that it would be featured in the programming the following day. Also Andrew Carpenter from the Harborough Mail/Herald & Post was there taking photographs too! They appeared in the paper on Thursday 14th June. A copy of this has been forwarded to Sue Marlow and will be taken to the Theatre for everyone to see!!

Photographed at the end of the Auction from left to right - Angela Rippon, Sue Mallock, Sue Marlow and Jonty Hearndon.

Also Sue Marlow contacted Jacquie Pryce from the Chronicle & Echo and she has kindly agreed to include a special feature in the paper which will focus on our forthcoming appearance on Cash In The Attic and our future fund raising endeavours. We are hoping that a regular slot can be featured tracking the success!

The payoff day of filming was Wednesday 20 June and Paul, Sue & Sue met up at the theatre with Rosie from Leopard Films. Also Paul from Mushroom Lighting kindly offered to come along to demonstrate a few lighting ideas we might be interested in using when deciding on what new lighting system we will be installing. The special lighting and filters were great and will really help set the mood of a play whether a thriller, romance or a comedy etc. Rosie told us that our episode of Cash in the Attic should be televised in about 6-8 weeks but they will confirm the actual date and time later.

23 August 2007

In addition to the funds raised through Cash in the Attic we have received very generous donations from Lema and Steve Townsend, Mrs Thornton, Mr & Mrs Palmer and The Weatherley Charitable Trust, which means that our fundraising total has already reached a healthy £3000! Let us all keep up the great work!!

October 2007

Fund raising has now reached approximately £5000 including a donation from Mr Andrews a generous Patron of the theatre. This has enabled us to have the new sound equipment has fitted with new lighting to follow shortly.

The Variety show on 26 October was well supported and a fantastic £215 was taken at the box office and £48 on the raffle not to mention the bar takings which haven't been totted up yet! A big thank you for all those who performed and watched the show! Andy Nettleship was the Master of Ceremonies - what a great job he did, so much so we are planning to do something similar in April 08 - details to follow in the New Year.

Cash in the attic was televised on Wednesday 12th December at 12.15 lunch time. It was a very good show and gave the Playhouse tremendous publicity.