The Future

Over the last few years the members of Holybourne Theatre have been on a quest to secure the Theatre's long-term future within our community. We have been searching for a suitable site to build the district a brand new all singing all dancing Theatre and arts centre.

Why does the Theatre need to do this? Why can't we stay and be happy where we are?

Our existing prefabricated agricultural building was erected and converted into a Theatre in the early seventies. As we all know these prefabricated buildings have a limited life and ours is certainly well past its best! We are seeing the effects of old age with chilly winter breezes and water finding its way through the roof and walls. This building was never designed to cope with our modern day Theatre standards and lacks in so many areas. For quite some time now we find our performances being restricted by the inflexibility of the building, rather than what the performers are capable of! There is a real need for the district to have a new modern purpose built community Theatre and Arts centre. A centre that will be the focal point for the wonderful imaginative artistic talents of the youth and adults of our community! A Theatre and Arts centre where professional acts and artists would love to perform, exhibit and conduct workshops. We hope you can see what a wonderful project this is and will grant us permission to build the community a new purpose built Theatre and Arts Centre that will have access for all. A Theatre designed to spark the fires of imagination and creatively! A Theatre where we, Eggars School, and the other local groups can rehearse and perform in comfort! A Theatre the local community and district can support and be proud of!

Why can't we fund raise for a new building on our existing site?

Money! As we all know it's all about money! If we were to stay where we are, we would be starting with nothing and to fund raise some where between two and three million pounds would be a mammoth task! Not a completely impossible task but one we feel would take a very, very long time! Time the building hasn't got to give!

If we can't fund raise for a new site where we are, how would we fund raise a new Theatre on another site?

Firstly we would look to sell our land for residential development this would raise about a third of the money we require. As the saying goes it's easy to get money once you have money! This substantial amount of money would kick start our building fund and we would we look to gather as many grants as possible from the likes of the Art council, Community fund, Carbon Trust, Local government, etc, these prospective funders would see we have a huge financial start and this was a serious community backed project with a very high success rate. This grant funding combined with the monies raised from selling our existing site would be enough to rehouse Holybourne Theatre in a new state of the art Theatre and arts centre!

Has the Theatre researched other available sites?

As we mentioned we have been searching for the right site for years. We thought all of our prayers had been answered when the church opposite the cinema became available. We approached the council and got planning permission to build houses on our existing land and looked to exchange it for the converted church. But unfortunately this was not to be! When the builder decided to inflate the conversion costs and price us out of the equation and go for permission to convert the church in to flats instead. This left us feeling battered and betrayed as we later learnt the builder blamed us for the Theatre conversion not going ahead.
But we are a resilient and committed bunch and since then we have kept a close eye on local developments and existing buildings hoping the right opportunity would appear. The problem again is money! Obviously everyone who has land is looking to receive as much money as possible from its sale. There are no buildings or land around that we can afford to buy because everyone wants to sell them for residential development. Which is of course is what we would hope to do with our land, you don't have to have the best business brain in the world to realise that if we did this we would have little or no money left! That's why the Chandos Lodge development is so important to secure our role within of the community.

Has this project got enough local support?

The answer to this one is a definite YES! All the time we have been promoting this project we have been overwhelmed with the positive response from the community of Holybourne and Alton, they along with us would love to see this scheme become a reality. As well as the letters we have already mentioned from Alton Town Council and Eggars school, letters of support have been sent to E.H.D.C by the Grange Hotel, Alton Chamber of Commerce and Alton Initiatives Management.

Holybourne Theatre and the community are in your hands!

Please support our youth and adult community group; it would be a huge loss for us all, if in a few years the Theatre didn't exist any more! Together we have a chance to make a difference!

Get in on the Act!

Why not become a Member Of Holybourne Theatre

Download the theatre petition

It's been a full year! since we took our first steps towards building a new Theatre in the balloon field next to the Grange Hotel as part of the Chandos Lodge development scheme and wow! What a year it has been! The Theatre has been attending meeting after meeting promoting Holybourne Theatre's vision of a new (please excuse the pun) an all singing all dancing Theatre and Arts Centre.

This journey was never going to be a walk in the park and has turned into a bit of a marathon but as everyone knows Holybourne Theatre has a very long history and we can certainly stay the coarse! It may be a long hard journey but it has been a true pleasure gaining lots of new friends along the way.

Many of these new friends including Alton Town Council councillors, District councillors, Holybourne Village Association, Alton Chamber of Commerce, Alton initiatives management and Alton 2020 stood up and sang the Theatre's praises at the open meeting organised by the North West Area Community Committee to discuss the Chandos Lodge development plan. At this meeting it was clear how much the community care about and support our little Theatre. Unfortunately the officials at E.H.D.C were unable to include us within the Chandos Lodge scheme because of the planning issues surrounding the balloon field.

But all is not lost! Our next step is to apply for out line planning permission. (Watch this space). We hope everyone can see and believe in Holybourne Theatre's dream and that it can become a reality! We hope the District Council will allow us to build a Theatre that will have the ability to become the focal point for the districts arts.

A Theatre designed by Holybourne Theatre members and Format Milton architects in conjunction with the council and the community where we, Eggars school and as many local groups as possible can use the space to its full potential. This new Theatre will have many new exciting features along with a fantastic auditorium and studio, we would like to provide a quieter life for the community with some sound proofed rehearsal rooms for all those budding bands out there who currently are unable to rehearse without up setting their neighbours!. Ideally we would like the building to be as green as possible with very little or no running costs. Perhaps we can have a boiler less Theatre! Just like we have now!

Are you able to help in any way? Or are you keen to act? Go on! Get in on the Act! Come along and join in the fun! Call John Priddle today 01420 86457.