Grand return for Ludlow Assembly Rooms as place to be for cultural events
The team at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms began a week of celebration at the weekend to mark their return as the centre of entertainment for the community.
A £1.8 million renovation which was expected to take about six months stretched out for three years, after the building was found to be in a worse state than expected and then Covid meant the building programme came to an abrupt halt.
Ludlow MP Philip Dunne cut the ribbon for the official ceremony, heralding a new season of entertainment at the arts centre.
The Returns Week, which will run until Saturday, April 23, kicks off with talented young people performing a Songs of the Shows music extravaganza, and stuntman Justin Pearson on stage on Monday night.
Jolene Archer, a spokesperson for the Assembly Rooms, said: “The whole of Ludlow Assembly Rooms is so excited to celebrate our new building, fabulous audiences and wonderful local talent with this great week of live events!”
Chief executive Helen Hughes said: "Renovating The Assembly Rooms has been quite the journey as the building was found to have been in a much worse state than anticipated and more remedial work had to be undertaken than planned. Add on to that the cessation of work for Covid and the original six months turned into three long years.
"It has been worth the prolonged wait as what we have now is a thoroughly modernised building, with state of the art air handling, photovoltaic panels on the roof to generate electricity, a brand new lift and a fabulous new raked auditorium.
"As with all big building projects there is more that we would like to do, but the pot has been emptied, so if you can please help us with a donation please do so via our website."
It’s poetry night on Tuesday when local author Gareth Owen will be talking about his life in writing with musical accompaniment by Martin and Kim Olyett.
On Wednesday, Bella Acappella and the Ludlow Male Voice Choir will perform a joint concert.
Then on Friday there will be classic café theatre with Two Score Theatre Company, who will be performing two one-act plays in Oscars, with supper from Bill’s Kitchen Ludlow included in the ticket price and local musician Oscar Teo performing live during the interval.
Saturday night is party night, when members of the audience at the Assembly Rooms let their hair down with two live bands, Little Rumba and Blue Moon.
For ticket details visit ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk.
