Memorial Theatre celebrates 100 years with glamorous gala evening

The Memorial Theatre marked its 100th anniversary in spectacular style with a glittering gala dinner held at the Assembly Rooms on Friday 18th July.

Lavishly decorated for the occasion, the venue welcomed a host of distinguished guests, including the Mayor of Frome, Anita Collier, accompanied by her consort Steve Potts, and the theatre’s patron, Sarah-Jane Bungay.

The theatre’s President, Humphrey Barnes, commenced the evening reflecting on the period in the 1980s when the theatre was scheduled for demolition.

“Most of you here this evening will remember the struggle we had in the early 80s to keep this complex from demolition,” he said. “They could have sold it for £350.000 and built housing; that would have left no legacy to the fallen of Frome and District from the Great War. It would have been the loss of a memorial funded by the people of Frome.”

Humphrey was hosting a table of past trustees and supporters who came together to save the theatre.

“All those in the room were thanked for their commitment to saving the theatre and those no longer with us were remembered for their outstanding contribution to the saving of the theatre,” said Chair of Trustees, Richard Lines.

“The Gala event was attended by a wide range of theatre supporters who continue to make the venue a great success.

“The entertainment for the evening was provided by Andrew Bourn, the international swing and jazz vocalist who was a finalist on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

“A table was sponsored by Frome Rotary members who invited volunteers from charities from Frome which was a nod to the show at the theatre last year when Andrew donated the balcony seats to volunteers of Frome. One table was also taken by a family who descended on Frome to celebrate a family birthday.

“Following a sumptuous four-course dinner provided by James Morrison, the evening took off with a lively performance by Andrew Bourn culminating with the audience being up on the dance floor dancing to the Sinatra classic ‘New York, New York’.

“Andrew said he had a great time in Frome and was looking forward to performing his show ‘Crooner Revolution’ at the theatre in October with a fabulous seven-piece band of ‘West End Big Band’ musicians.

“A raffle was held to raise funds for the Purple Elephant charity, who attend the theatre regularly with the families they support around Frome. The grand prize in the raffle was a magnificent voucher for £250 kindly donated by Domesticare. The star prize was won by Sandra Elmer and a total of almost £500 was raised for Purple Elephant.”

Richard also announced that the theatre had recently made a planning application to improve the front of house facilities. It was the Trustees’ aim to achieve increased toilet facilities, install a lift to improve accessibility and extend the foyer which will benefit patrons and support Frome community groups. Richard also presented flowers to Jackie Moss, Jo O’Connor and Karen Stewart for their sterling work organising the evening.