FROME Memorial Theatre has undergone major electrical works in preparation for its reopening next month.
The theatre’s trustees have praised the financial support of its 100 Club supporters, private donors and the John Wainwright Futures Foundation, who have all made the works possible.
Chairman of Frome Memorial Theatre Trust, Humphrey Barnes, said, “The Frome Memorial Theatre had a major electrical problem recently and we had to address it urgently. It was brought to the trustees’ attention that the main cable bringing in the supply to the theatre was damaged, and could fail at any time; the present cable is some 25 years old, the cable run is 40mtrs 300mm 4core and runs from the rear car park to the theatre, much of the cable is underground.
“The trustees were suddenly faced potentially with a huge expense at a time when there is no income coming into our theatre.
“Since the outbreak of Covid-19 the theatre has still had to cover certain monthly outgoings, which is slowly eroding our reserves, but to make sure our theatre is safe when we open on June 25th the work had to be done, and somehow the finance had to be found.
“The theatre trustees will be forever grateful for the help given to us by the John Wainwright Futures Foundation who willingly came to our aid by offering to do the ground work for us. This took three days, we also had the usual voluntary help from our in-house maintenance team, at one time including the employees from John Wainwright it took 17 of them to lift the cable into position.
“It then only remained for the trustees to find the necessary finances to cover the cost; the Memorial Theatre run a 100 Club and part of the funding was financed that way, so those members and patrons who support our 100 Club “thank you”.
“We also had additional contributions from private anonymous donors for which we are very grateful.
“So once again we have been able to overcome a serious problem at our 96 year old theatre, we look forward to welcoming back our patrons on Friday June 25th at the ‘Queen Tribute Concert’ with Gary Mullen.”
