In March 2021, we set ourselves the huge goal of raising £110,000 to save the roof of our beautiful Grade II listed ex-chapel and our Raise the Roof Appeal was launched.
Today I am thrilled to announce that we have reached £98,000! Next Stage now only has £12,000 more to raise and, from a long-time patron, we have a pledge of matched funding of £6,000. This means that if we can raise another £6,000 before Christmas, making £12,000 in all, we will have reached our target!
Please, please please, if you are a company, an individual or a group who have already helped but feel you could manage to give just a little bit more, could you consider donating this week? Or, if you have not as yet contributed please can I appeal to you to do so? The renovation of the roof is complete after an exceptional 6 weeks of work by D.R. Vowles and Sons Ltd and his fantastic roofers. The final bills are coming in and to be able to conclude this huge endeavour by Christmas would be fantastic.
Come on everyone just ONE MORE EFFORT!
When The Mission Theatre had been left empty and cold for 18 months through lockdowns and closure, its roof had seriously deteriorated resulting in significant damage that required urgent repair. The roof had begun to leak, causing alarming cracks to appear inside the building, and failings in the theatre’s electrics.
When the roofers arrived and started to strip back the cracked slates and damaged lead work, we were horrified to learn that the deterioration of The Mission Theatre's roof far exceeded our expectations, with over 50 major issues identified beyond that which we had anticipated. It was clear that the work had begun just in the nick of time.
Photographs of decaying wooden beams in The Mission Theatre's Roof, before and after being repaired and reinforced.
A photograph of the completed repair of the leadwork and guttering on the building's north side.
Photographs of lead guttering, before and after being repaired.
It seems like a lifetime ago that we first started asking people to sponsor slates, but finally, last week they became a part of our roof.
Photographs of Slates from our Sponsor-a-Slate campaign being tiled in to the building's roof.
As we celebrate our brand new roof that will protect our theatre for many, many years to come, I should like to take time to thank the great number of people who have helped us get this far - from all of our wonderful supporters who have donated to our campaign, to visiting companies who’ve kindly offered to collect at the end of shows; from our generous patrons, to our tremendously supportive neighbours, E. Hooper and Sons Funeral Directors and The Gainsborough Hotel, who have been so accommodating whilst we have had scaffolding around the building. We could not have done this without your kindness, understanding, appreciation of our work and, above all, your generosity.
If you would like to get involved and support us in the last leg of our journey, you can find more details about our Raise The Roof appeal here.
Thank you for your continued support.
A photograph of the roof, completed.