Christmas pantomime
The Christmas pantomime is a tradition in Stornoway, and one that the school pupils (and adults alike) love to attend.
The local drama group put a huge effort into the show, with months of rehearsals, scenery construction and costume design cumulating in a long run at the centre of civic life, the Town Hall.
No longer.
Three days is all the Council will let them use the Town Hall for, after which they are told to use An Lanntair.
Which they can't afford.
Which means the kids are going to lose out.
Can anyone shed any light on why this is happening?
The local drama group put a huge effort into the show, with months of rehearsals, scenery construction and costume design cumulating in a long run at the centre of civic life, the Town Hall.
No longer.
Three days is all the Council will let them use the Town Hall for, after which they are told to use An Lanntair.
Which they can't afford.
Which means the kids are going to lose out.
Can anyone shed any light on why this is happening?
14 comments:
Budget cuts, probably.
Where do you get this stuff???
the town hall is closed as we all know for refurbishment so the council aren't letting anyone use it at all!
Stornoway Thespians will put on a panto for 3 days at the beginning of december (and youre right we can't really afford it!) and have arranged with a professional company to come up in January
there is enough seating between the two shows that nobody will miss out! No thanks to CnES though!!!
I thought that they weren't allowed to use the Town Hall at all and had to resort to using An Lanntair which they can only afford for three days as it is so expensive and apparently with a smaller capacity.....
Can they use the town hall?
Oh no they cant. Oh yes they can.
to 5:21
- somebody had to do it I suppose -
'cumulating' ??
Can i suggest they use the bridge Centre open up the sports hall to the cafe area and you have a fantastic space.
Surely one of the many churches in Stornoway accommodate them?
certainly my own Martins Memorial is big enough! (I am of course a member of the congregation and not the owner of the building - but i am sure it is worth at least asking!)
This is EXACTLY what the save the town hall campaign was saying all along.
The council reports clearly identified An Lanntair as an alternative venue as justification for reducing seating capacity and removing the stage in the Town Hall.
ie. Lets stop the town hall being used for preformance functions and let the Lanntair make money out of it.
Who is the chairperson of An Lanntair? Cllr McCormack. Who also was most vocal from the council and most dismissive of campaigners? Also, councillor Mccormack.
Clearly he didnt think about any conflicts of interest here...
Anyway... we now have no public or civic true public builings in Stornoway - well done CNES!
10.27
The Town Hall only 'appears' to be cheaper at point of use because of the hefty public subsidy being put into it. With budget cuts coming down upon us, I think you might find that situation changing.
10.27
And the Lanntair doesnt have public subsidy? Get real.
The town hall is cheaper and can hold a larger audience meaning greater returns. The pantomime is the only show the thespians break even on (I believe).
The town hall is also more practical for preformances like this - like it or loathe it, the lanntair just isnt as well equpiped as the town hall.
8.04
I'll ignore the rude comment.
Of course the Lanntair has public subsidy - at the moment. Things may change.
The Town Hall, however, which you say is 'cheaper', is only so because it has been allowed to run down and is in a parlous state with very limited budgets. Unless attended to in one way or another, and given appropriate running cost budgets, it will become unusable for health and safety reasons.
I would regret the loss of the current facility but the fact remains that people have become used to certain, largely council, facilities being 'cheaper' than others when they're not really so at all. Some very uncomfortable choices will be being made by the council shortly and who knows but that this situation may be affected.
Total sympathy with what you are all saying- its a hard life. but every other area of the Hebrides is lucky to have even one local venue, usually a community hall or a school hall. So perhaps Stornoway Town Council is not being totally unreasonable in pushing business out of the Town Hall. Has the Nicolson not got a school hall?
Mind you, there is no point in releasing the Town Hall unless they've got a decent plan for its future. Have they?
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