News from the Empire
Updated News from the Empire Theatre
Empire Theatre to hold Annual General Meeting
Your are invited to attend the Empire Theatre Trust CIO Annual General Meeting
on Thursday 26th October 2023 at the Empire Theatre.
7.00 for 7.15 start
Agenda 2023 AGM
Welcome by the Chairman - Mike George
followed by the Chairmans Report
Treasurers Report
Trustees Report
Announcements
Plans for Future
Election of Officers
Any other business
Halstead's Got Talent cancelled
It is with regret the event has had to be cancelled, due to the shortage of acts that have come forward to audition for the show, so we have had to cancel. We know that there is some tremendous "talent" in Halstead, so we hope to run with this event next year.
Roxy Magic postponed
It is with regret the Roxy Magic show this Saturday has had to be postponed, it was out of our control as one of the band members has become unavailable due to hospitalisation, this has lead to a new date, Sat 3rd Feb 2024, for the event, all the current ticket holders will be contacted personally to establish if they wish to carry their booking over to the 3rd or request a full refund.
Halstead's Got Talent
It is the first event of this type we have attempted at the Theatre and we have a received a few entries, but there must be more talent in Halstead, give your talent a chance to shine at our show....entry form on Halstead's Got Talent page.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the Empire
We would like to give an update on what has been going at the Empire in recent months...so let's start with the "Ugly", the scaffolding that surrounded the Theatre during the replacement of the roof tiles have all been removed now and the roof has been completed, and we are quite pleased with the outcome, and we would like to thank Halstead Town Council for their for the continued support and their commitment to the Theatre in funding the works. Also the bare plaster in the auditorium which was repair to damp and blistered paint work, has now finally been sealed and painted, so that has been tidied up nicely, we have some further painting to do inside the auditorium and the seating and carpets are to be cleaned as they gathered a lot of dust during the "works", we also making good the front steps again with some repair and repainting...so that covers some of the "ugly".
Moving on to the "good", we have installed a new heat pump heating system within the Theatre and this will enable us to provide heat and cooling during events, and in so doing we will have more control, this has replaced the old radiator and fan system which was expensive to run and difficult to control, again we are very pleased with the new kit. We have also undertaken an electrical upgrade to bring us into line with new legislation and requirements for public buildings, which ensures we are providing a safe environment for all our visitors. Continuing on the "good" we have been providing a full film programme during all the works, but feel that some visitors may have stayed away believing that we were closed, however, we are very much open for films, live theatre, comedy, live acts, music acts and streamed events, all our information is available on our website, which is the main place to find out about the Theatre and what's on, and of course book tickets, we know that we cannot expect everyone to have access to internet and be able to use our website, so we do produce regular leaflets with full programmes for two months at a time, we cannot always get these to everyone, we do try our best, we also have our Ticket Helpline on 07778 025490, we are always looking for help, if there are some people who would not mind helping deliver leaflets please do not hesitate and send us an email or give us a call.
We have had some fantastic streaming events recently with The Sleeping Beauty ballet from the Royal Opera House and the amazing stage production from the National Theatre of Life of Pi , there will be a new programme advertised soon, which will include The Nutcracker near Christmas. We have had some good comedy acts as well, plus some great live bands "The Fillers", a tribute to The Killers, were an amazing act with a fantastic non-stop show, they shall be returning next year. We have also welcomed to Theatre some more local groups who are using our facilities, The Photographic Society and the Bridge Club are now regular users, this in addition to the Halstead Community Choir and the Dementia Friendly Choir,who are holding their Summer Concert on Friday 7th July at the Theatre, so go to our website for further details.
Just to add we are now stocking Jeremy Clarksons Hawkwood Brewery beer and cider, as well as the Gosfield Brewery's IPA and Gold beers, So lots of "good" stuff going on...
So to the "bad", the Theatre had to cancel two recent events, "Fleabag", due to the very low ticket sales, which left us with little choice, we have also had to cancel this Fridays live charity concert, "Rabbit, Rabbit", which was in aid of the Teigan Smile (Cerebral Palsy) Charity, the event was a fund raiser, but sadly the organisers had to make the decision to cancel as numbers of tickets sold would have meant the Charity actually losing money rather than raising funds for the worthy cause, the Empire does not like to cancel events but sometimes it is unavoidable, all ticket holders will receive a full refund. Other "bad news" was that the Theatre applied for a National Lottery grant this year for a new projector which is at the heart of what we do at the Empire, with films and streaming, we sadly were turned down despite being told we put in a "good application", it was judged that there were other causes in our area more worthy of funding, but undeterred we applied for funding through an application to the Halstead Community Fund, which had a "pot" that contained £600,000, our application was rejected because we failed to submit one document with our application, we did appeal several times, as our original application was on time within the deadline, but we were told no, we were then advised that only 12 applications were made, and we were the only one rejected. So, having been turned down by both of these organisations, we have decided to plan a campaign to raise the funds required for the new projector ourselves by creating a series of fund raising events specifically aimed at "a projector fund" we are hoping, with the support of the town, visitors and supporters we can reach a target of £60,000, which will enable us to modernise our projector with the view to possibly even running first run films, if there people interested in fund raising for us and/or with us please get in touch.
More bad news was that one of our volunteers planted some French Marigolds in our large flower pots at the front of theatre, to add some welcome colour for our visitors, to go with the Halstead in Bloom hanging baskets, which are kindly donate each year, but I have to report that it appears that they have all been taken, very sad...probably muncjac are the culprits.
In closing we would all just like to thank everyone who has been supporting the theatre over many years, for your continued support, help and generosity, we provide a wide ranging series of events to town and offer something for everyone, but could not achieve what we want to achieve with you the people who support the Theatre. Thank you.
Please go to our website at www.empire-theatre.co.uk to see What's On, any ideas or wanting to get involved please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we look forward to seeing you at the Empire....