Old Bourne Town Hall live events to be curtain raiser to major fundraising
The Old Bourne Town Hall is launching a major series of live events in the New Year.
The series of workshops, talks, music, theatre and cinema, will act a curtain raiser to a major fundraising campaign for the volunteer-run centre in North Street.
Bourne Town Hall Trust chairman Charles Houseago says 2019 was a ‘busy year’ for the historic building.
“With the help of a community grant from South Kesteven District Council, fundraising and significant ‘donations in kind’ from local contractors, the ‘Shambles’ was converted into a small events space.
“The work included installing a bar and the trust gained a premises license to provide a convivial social space for events. In June, the building opened is first live music event with local band Penniless. Since then, the team has hosted music, comedy, talks and theatre in the new space. In the summer, the old courtroom was transformed into a pop-up cinema.
The initial events sold out and now the team has launched a live programme for the first six months of the New Year, featuring both live events and cinema screenings once a month.
Having achieved their initial goal of getting the building open to the public, with temporary events spaces, 2020 will see the trustees moving their attention to raising the capital to fully restore the building and convert it into a fully-functioning arts centre.
The team will submitting a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and will need to raise more than £1.5million to complete the project.
Charles continued; “The restoration and conversion project will take several years and will only take place when funding is secure. However, we are receiving excellent support from all levels of our local government and the community, which we are grateful for.”
He added; “Our ‘meanwhile’ events programme together with fundraising and donations is currently supporting the cost of keeping the building running.
“We have a fantastic team of volunteers and we are optimistic that together we can deliver this major venue, which will become such a fabulous asset to Bourne. We are sure with the support of the community, we will do it.”
For details of the restoration project, the events and opportunities to volunteer, go to www.bournetownhall.org.uk
