News

A number of Queen’s Theatre staff are limbering up for this year’s Brentwood Half Marathon to raise money for the theatre’s Learning & Participation department. Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul ran last year and raised over £2,000 for the theatre. He will be running the Brentwood Half Marathon again on Sunday 19 March and this time will be joined by Abi Booth (Wardrobe), Ashley Darran (Finance) and Tom Lowe (Fundraising). Running in the 5K race on the same day will be Claire Bailey-Day (Admin Assistant), Lewis Tomlinson (Workshop), Ben Collins (Technician) and Peter Thorne (Front of House). The Learning & Participation department offers a variety of programmes that enables everyone the chance to discover and nurture their performing arts talents. Last year, the Learning & Participation team at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch facilitated 20,670 engagement opportunities across Havering, East London and Essex with people of all ages and backgrounds. This includes producing high quality productions involving the local community, training young people in theatre skills both on stage and behind the scenes and assisting schools in delivering the curriculum in an innovative way. This year the youth theatre celebrates its 25th anniversary. Donations received will contribute towards continuing this work that promotes creativity, helps build confidence and enables participants to develop new skills and make like-minded new friends. The Queen's Theatre has recently faced significant cuts from local government so donations are vital for the theatre to continue bringing arts into the community. Anyone that would like to support the Queen’s Theatre’s vital work, they can do this at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/QueensTheatreRunners. The theatre aims to raise £3,000. As a registered charity, the Queen's Theatre receives regular funding from the London Borough of Havering and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation but also relies on donations and a wide range of fundraising activities and initiatives in order to be able to continue its work across the region. For more information about the Queen’s Theatre and its Learning & Participation programme visit https://queens-theatre.co.uk/get-involved/youth-theatre/