Much Wenlock firm sees stunning costumes on show in Royal Opera House screening
It will be a night of celebration for a Shropshire business tonight when the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London live screens its production of Norma across the county and around the world.
Hundreds of thousands of people will see stunning vestments for the opera produced by Croft Design of Much Wenlock and worked on by apprentice Charlotte Tonks, from Bridgnorth.
Joint owner Brendon Quinn said the commission was the biggest it had undertaken and he was delighted with the work from Charlotte.
"We were approached by the Royal Opera House because we are specialists in vestments and we produced all of the ecclesiastical garments needed," he explained.
Designs were made before approval by the costume experts at the company and work began which took several months. It involved sourcing lace from the Papal suppliers in Rome and other items from Italian specialists and huge quantities of gold thread from Yorkshire.
"Charlotte worked so well on this project, and others, that we taking her on full-time from October," said Brendon who runs the business with his wife Julie.
The work included making massive cloaks for which they had to use the floor in nearby Holy Trinity Church as a cutting table.
Croft Designs makes individual vestments for the clergy and lay helpers as well as altar cloths and other religious items.
But it's not all about the 'real' church, as Norma has proved. Brendon and Julie regularly produce vestments for TV programmes, including choir robes in The Forgotten on the small screen last year, and films where accuracy is needed.
They are currently working on the robes for the vicar in the BBC's EastEnders and a "secret" film for which they know the actors' sizes but not their names.
Brendon and Julie, along with Charlotte, will be watching the live screening in Shrewsbury and seeing their hard work in all its glory. And Norma is indeed a spectacle.
Screenings are taking place tonight in Ludlow at The Assembly Rooms, The Edge at Much Wenlock, the Odeon in Telford and at The Old Market Hall and Cineworld in Shrewsbury.
