EVERY now and then a councillor comes out of the woodwork to take a hand in trying to secure a theatre for Warrington.

What annoyed me more this time is that so much money has been wasted on an external report.

As the ex-treasurer of Theatre for Warrington I told Cllr Price I had already inquired about the Old Drill Hall, (having worked there for many years) and that it would cost far too much money to transform it into a theatre.

Of course, people are entitled to their own views, many of them have no idea what goes on behind the scenes.

As a young lad I watched the old music hall acts in The Palace, bingo hall and nightclub. I got in for free because one of the doormen left his bike in the Lion yard.

He would open the side door for me and I would run the three flights of stairs into the gods. Later my uncle Tom Maguire moved his business from the Lion yard to Barbauld Street.

The garage was called the ‘Theatre Garage’ named after the new theatre just around the corner in Rylands Street.

When that theatre closed, the council could have purchased it for a few hundred pounds.

That building in Rylands Street is now empty, I wonder how much of that beautiful old theatre is left?

The Parr Hall is a thorn in the side of the council, it was given in trust to the council to be used as a concert hall for the residents of Warrington.

A few years ago it was subsidised by the council with public money at £600,000 per year. It is now the problem of Culture Warrington to keep its head above water.

Many times I have given my views to secure a theatre for Warrington, unfortunately the council and powers that be do not trust the third sector when any large payments of finance are involved.

ALF CLEMO 

Warrington