As, increasingly, the theatre is in use throughout the year, we realised that it would cause problems if the entire 200 seats were removed for refurbishment at the same time! After much thought (and experimentation by John Hill!) it was decided that it would be possible to do the work ourselves. The materials were duly sourced and acquired and work has begun, by a working party of members, on recovering the seats row by row. The first two rows of the centre block have already been removed and several seats re-covered. The most time-consuming part of the process is the removal of the old cover material and the interior foam & springs. The seats were last renovated in 1982/83, by the Barnsley Theatre Trust when they acquired the lease of the old Globe Cinema in New Street, which opened in 1914. The Trust converted it into an amateur live theatre which was used by the Barnsley Playgoers Society, The Barnsley Junior Operatic Society and the Barnsley Children’s Theatre Group until 1990 when it finally closed to make way for the Western Relief Road. As our members stripped away the blue material from 1982 re-furbish, we discovered that the original 110-years old seat covers were an Orange/Brown velour (faded!) and the wooden beech frames were, thankfully, in good condition. However, as the original foam padding was on the point of disintegrating face-masks & gloves were the order of the day!

Work will continue between shows as and when possible and hopefully, the refurbishment will extend to the whole auditorium before the end of our Centenary year.

A sincere Thank You to those who have already donated to our Renovation fund. If anyone wishes to donate please contact us through the “Contact” form.