It’s wonderful the Shelley Theatre will stage a production and reopen (Daily Echo, October 21).
Cllr Wakefield, is wrong, however, to say we have “lost” the Boscombe Centre for Community Arts (BCCA).
We, the Friends of the BCCA, are – at the request of the leader of the council – revising our business plan to reopen.
The BCCA will be Bournemouth’s ‘Big Society’, with a range of programmes and activities for residents to learn and enjoy, which are also aimed at aiding the local economy and reducing costs to the council, the police and the NHS. Aiding Shelley Theatre and other groups to thrive is also part of our plan.
Dame Sybil Thorndike was the patron of the BCCA when it was under the inspirational directorship of Mr Leslie Williams and known as the Drama Centre.
British fashion designer of the year (1989), Graham Fraser, says: “The work at the Drama Centre and the inspiration of Mr Williams made thinking outside the box natural. You could say it formed the cornerstone in my success.”
Gareth Malone (BBC TV’s The Choir and Extraordinary School for Boys) attended drama classes there and also taught there.
Linda Ni’Man, Katherine Edgar and Claire Keates, friends of BCCA
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