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Chelmsford Theatre Workshop (CTW) members all have a passion for our theatre.

Having been a member for 10 years now I really thought it would be interesting to find out how it all started and who started it.

Talking to some of the original members like Hugh, Cyril, Mike Phillips and Mick Morris, I was able to find out more information.

Christine Davidson from CTW

Con and Tom Johnson were the instigators of our beloved theatre. They both thought it wrong that individuals were coming together for one event and then dispersing, so they arranged a meeting, at their own home, for all interested parties.

In April 1969, Chelmsford Theatre Workshop was formed to produce plays of merit, both established and contemporary, and to embrace as many aspects of drama as possible. A competition was held to find an emblem, which now adorns all Theatre Workshop posters and programmes.

Con & Tom both believed in the value of theatre for the development of personality and Con with Yvonne Peacock began children’s drama classes.ÌýCon ran these classes for two and a half years.

Previous plays on the wall at CTW

Tom during this time had produced ‘Tom Jones’ as the 1970 Festival play and ‘Rape of the Belt’ for CTW.Ìý Their hopes and aspirations for the future of CTW were for a more active membership and their vision was to produce up to 8Ìý plays a year in their own theatre. To have a strong active membership and not merely to produce plays but being the centre of cultural activities in Chelmsford was the imprint of what we now have today.Ìý

Subscriptions were collected and stalwarts began running jumble sales and sponsored walks to raise funds for the initial venture.Ìý During the summer of 1969 there was ‘Poetry in a Pub’ and various other poetry readings and in November 1969 our first production – 'The Anniversary' was staged.

Scenery in the props store

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop’s search for a ‘home of our own’ began in autumn 1973 and started off with a sponsored Shakespeare read-in where over £200 was raised.

The group were offered two huts and a possible piece of land to put them on but the huts were not in good condition and moving them would have proved expensive. Fund raising continued but the situation seemed hopeless mainly because of the acute shortage of property in Chelmsford.

Robin Winder helps to build the sets

A year later Tom and Con learned of the proposed 'Trackrail' development in the Moulsham area which was to include large areas of office blocks and three cinemas!! As the town already had three cinemas and two of them were half empty Tom and Con felt that a purpose build amateur arts centre would be far more beneficial to the community.

CTW called a public meeting of all the arts and drama groups in the town and from this Chelmsford Arts Council was formed with the main aim of obtaining an arts centre for the town. In the meantime CTW found a temporary home at the Sillett Barn in Brooklands educational centre.

The Barn Theatre was excellent in the short term but had the disadvantage of being well outside the centre of Chelmsford and increasingly its use being required for the residential courses held at Brooklands.

Old Court Theatre sign

At the beginning of 1979 David Madams who was a local solicitor heard that Springfield Parish Hall which dates back to 1898, was coming onto the market at a purchase price of £18,000, as All Saints Church were building a new hall annexed to the church.ÌýÌý

The hall was purchased by five trustees, who were all members of the group and who gave personal collateral for the loan. They also applied for a County Council grant towards the purchase. The Carnegie Trust gave them a ‘no strings’ grant of £10,000 also towards the purchase. Once the hall had been purchased CTW stopped using the Civic Theatre as it had become too expensive to put on productions there.

During the first year of our existence the original group held regular play readings, later interspersed with interest evenings concerning other facets of drama, improvisation, stage fights, make-up, costume, stage management and design.

Saturday morning classes flourished with about 80 children from the ages of 5-15 and they later helped with the founding of the Essex Youth Experimental Theatre which had its headquarters at Brooklands.

As you can see from a dream that started in 1969 when we were first formed by a very enthusiastic and driven group, we have continued to grow and are now a wonderful 40 years old.

From speaking to some of our wonderful older members who were in the original group, it has made me realise just how much hard work and enterprise went into our theatre and I think we should be very proud of the Theatre Workshop.