It has been a long road…

Its been a long road…a 232 mile one in fact! The walk was originally suggested by core walkers Dawn and Tony as a way of raising funds for the theatre. It was with the help of Head of Development Julia Read that this event came to life. As many will know, this year marks the 200th Anniversary of Theatre Royal and we’ve programmed a wide range of performances and events to celebrate. We’ve also set up the 200th Anniversary Fund. This year, our wonderful Development team has set out to raise £200,000 that will enable Theatre Royal to augment its extensive programmes for children and Youth Theatre; boost our ability to deliver the often life-changing Community Engagement Programme, working in collaboration with local community groups; and support Theatre Royal’s ability to be a producing house, enriching the heritage interpretation as the last remaining example of a Regency Playhouse in the whole of the UK, for current and future generations. The walk has been a key part of the fundraising plans and has been hugely successful.

 

I would like to send my warmest thanks to the following people and organisations:

 

To Nicky and Andrew Hunter at Bury Physio for their generosity and who sponsored the event

 

 

To Turner’s of Great Barton who ferried walkers to Ixworth for free in two lovely shiny coaches.

 

Here’s Turner’s Operations Manager Matthew McCarter with a lovely smile on his face!

To Liz, Keith and Marcus from Theatre Royal Board and Duncan and Vanessa who joined me in ferrying walkers to Knetishall at a hideously early start on Easter Monday.

 

To Gordon and Judith Cawthorne for the incredible amount of sponsorship they raised and to Gordon for always remaining so utterly charming throughout his ordeal.

To Steve Smith who did a phenomenal job in supporting the core walkers throughout their 200 miles as Support Vehicle and who worked magic ensuring the walkers’ wellbeing for the whole 9 days. The game of ‘What Can Steve Bring Us?’ kept the walkers going!

 

To Bruce Davidson who was the ‘Backmarker’ on the last day of the walk.

To the lovely Maggie Wright who was the third person undertaking the whole 200 miles.

 

And finally, to the wonderful Dawn and Tony, for doing the whole thing, and I gather it was actually 232 miles all in – it was your idea you two so you’ve only got yourselves to blame!

 

The walk went extremely well with over 90 people ending at Theatre Royal on Monday afternoon. They were welcomed back to a celebration with well-earned snacks and drinks.

‘The 200 for 200 Sponsored walk was a really memorable, happy and sunny day. I would like to thank our walkers so very warmly for raising funds to help support Theatre Royal.’

The walk may be over but the 200th Anniversary celebrations are not! The new autumn season goes on general sale on Sat 27 Apr and features the second half of our programmed celebrations including An Evening with Sir Michael Parkinson, An Evening with Sir Derek Jacobi CBE and Libby Purves OBE and A Right Royal Revue: Theatre Royal’s 200 Birthday bash hosted by Roy Hudd, OBE. Head on over to our Upcoming page to see more!

 

Julia Read

Head of Development