150th_Supplement

Newbury Weekly News

Thursday, 2 March, 2017

ARTS

1998: Art lovers fight to save Workshop 5 November 1998 THERE was standing room only on Tuesday, when Ms Lee and the workshop’s other member of staf f, Miss to rescue the Arts Workshop, and perhaps act as a new governing body if it could be saved.

scene and the exchange of creative ideas the workshop offered if its work had to be done in several different venues. “The Arts Workshop is not just a place, it’s a whole ethos,” one man told the meeting. “It’s greater than the sum of its parts – you can’t just take bits and move them here and move them there.” Mr Stuart Hillman, a member of the Newbury Youth Theatre company which recently won rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival, said the group depended on the Arts Work- shop building and the back- up provided by dedicated staff like its former artistic director, Ms Trish Lee.

1979: Second century for town orchestra December 13 1979 PROBABLY the only good thing to come out of 1879 was Newbury Symphony Orchestra, claimed Col. the Hon Gordon Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, at Saturday’s centenary concert. It had been a bad year for the country, which had been torn apart by the Zulu war, suffered a great trade depression, and experienced unusually severe weather conditions. “However you measure it, 100 years is a long time,” he said. In 1879, Queen Victoria was on the throne, Disraeli was just finishing his last term of office as Prime Minister, and Winston Churchill was still confirmed to his nursery. Composers such as Holst, Sibelius and Debussy were all under 17, Elgar was 22 and even Tchaikovsky was relatively unknown. One of the oldest amateur orchestras in the country, it survived thanks to the dedication of those people who had played such a valuable part in it, many from generation to generation. Despite all the sophisticated methods of recording which exist today, there is still nothing like a live perfor- mance, stressed Col. Palmer. “Music is still the most common bond between peoples and has no boundaries.”

Amanda Campbell, were served with redundancy notices last Friday. “If we have to raise extra for a rehearsal and performance space, we are generally going to fail to function,” Mr Hillman said. “The loss of the Arts Workshop ... is going to be a major problem for us.” Mrs Suzanne Arnold, from concluded that art lovers “should be trying to keep it [the Arts Workshop], not look for alternatives”. Eight people, including Mr Hillman, said they would serve on a steering committee that would work Chaddleworth, was applauded when she

about 100 art lovers packed out Newbury Town Hall to deliver a simple message: “Save the Arts Workshop.” The meeting was called by Newbury MP Mr David Rendel to discuss life after last week’s closure of the 20- year-old venue – but it soon became clear that what people really wanted was for the workshop to be saved. Speaker after speaker praised the Northcroft Lane venue for giving ordinary people access to arts facili- ties, for its handy location, and its intimate atmosphere. They also warned it would be impossible to recreate the knowledge of the local arts

But the meeting also took the precautionary step of listing possible long and short-term homes for the work of the Arts Workshop, if it disappeared. These included New Greenham Park, where the Greenham Common Trust has offered to turn one of its buildings into an arts centre, Shaw House Mansion, the library building in Newbury’s Carnegie Road, and the Waterside Centre. It also drew up a list of possible sponsors, including Vodafone, Lord Lloyd- Webber and Trencherwood.

The former Arts Workshop in Northcroft Lane

1993: Exchange’s £3.5m facelift 31 August 1993

venue for performing artists and companies, as well as resources for local performance groups and meeting and conference space for the local business community. The future of Newbury’s historic Corn Exchange build- ing was in grave doubt when it was closed down five years ago. Then, Liberal Democrats on Newbury District Council backed the top- level refurbishment scheme, which has just been completed.

Saturday, having undergone a year-long refurbishment to transform it into a complex housing a 466- seat auditorium, two bars, meeting rooms, a café and a fully computerised booking office. The Corn Exchange is holding a series of open days in the first two weeks of September, laying on a series of backstage tours, children’s events, live music, film, circus and dance. Facilities in the Corn Exchange provide a

NEWBURY’S Corn Exchange has been officially handed back to the council, after contractors finished a £3.5 million refurbishment scheme. A ceremony to mark the hand-over of the building – now transformed into a showpiece arts centre – was held on Friday when Newbury District Council took the Corn Exchange back from builders Alfred McAlpine. The re-fitted building opens to the public on

Work is carried out to completely refurbish the Corn Exchange in 1992

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