The Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton was today celebrating a £40,000 lottery grant which will help record its illustrious 114-year history.
The cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund will go towards a project to gather information including memories, photographs and brochures from visitors. Stars who have performed at the venue over the years include Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery and Marlene Dietrich.
The new project will involve youngsters who will work alongside an historian to record memories of theatre-goers, staff and actors. Archives will also be scoured for more information on events throughout its colourful history.
Louise Bent, the theatre’s education officer, said today: “The grant will enable us to celebrate and share our history with the local community.”
The Grand is Wolverhampton’s oldest surviving theatre and is regarded by many as the finest of the seven built by Victorian architect Charles Phipps.
Its opening-night show in 1894 was a production by the D’Oyly Carte opera company, which was repeated a centurty later in 1994 by current members of the company.
In the seventies the theatre was threatened with closure but a campaign by visitors, called Save The Grand Action Group, was set up and helped guarantee its future. Supporters were instrumental in lobbying the local authority for support and now it has approximately 320,000 visitors per year.
Anne Jenkins, head of the HLF in the West Midlands, said: “The Grand has such a special place in the heart of the community and we are delighted to be able to award them this grant to help them build a thorough picture of the theatre’s history.”
The Grand, in conjunction with the Express & Star, launched its appeal for theatre-goers to come forward with their memories in April and was delighted with the response.
Among the memories shared were frantic staff desperately trying to entice a reluctant Spike Milligan to the stage in the 1960s as the audience chanted “Why are we waiting?” in the auditorium.
Elaine Mullett, whose father was stage manager at the time, told how the nimble star dashed out on to the cobbled street at the back of the theatre before being talked around and delivering a perfect show.
Love stories were also shared during a nostalgic memories session at the theatre in May when Susan and John Humphries told how their romance blossomed when she was a chorus girl and he a stage hand in a 1961 performance of Cinderella. The pair shared their story as they prepared to celebrate nearly 50 years of marriage.
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