Volunteers plan to return ‘Albert Hall of the North’ to its glory days | The Art Newspaper

When the bitter wind blows from the sea, the cracks in the ornate doorway of the Morecambe Winter Garden emit a creepy song, like the musical ghost that once filled the spectacular Victorian Auditorium in northwest England.

Vanessa Toulmin, chairman of the Morecambe Winter Garden Conservation Foundation, said: "This is what we have to do here. It fills the whole place with music again. This is its purpose."

The theater used to have elaborate stage equipment, but closed in 1977, and many theaters were always worried. For many years, Winter Gardens has been the first expense on the Theatre Trust’s list of risks, but a small group of skilled volunteers are now bringing this hard-hit area back to life.

When Laurence Olivier performed in

Filmed there in 1960, the theater represents the decline of the entire seaside entertainment world

The roll-out of the Lancashire resort’s glorious period is melancholic: two piers have been eroded by storms, empty waterfront plots mark the old bazaar, and the Alhambra Concert Hall is now a fishing gear shop. The Midland Hotel has survived and restored a large number of seaside decorative arts from its dereliction of duty 12 years ago. It is planned to be in the northern branch of the Eden project, which is an eco-tourism attraction in Cornwall that can accommodate the world It’s the largest indoor rain forest on the island, but the town needs its beloved winter garden to open again for performances.

The theater is the sole survivor of luxurious complex facilities such as bars, restaurants, palm-lined indoor gardens, beaches and aquariums. Entertainment venues include Miss Ada Webb reading, weaving and smoking underwater. It was designed by Mangnell and Littlewood, and the famous theater architect Frank Matcham served as a consultant. It opened in 1897 and has 2500 seats. The dazzling wedding cake is plastered and colored. The glass and Burmantofts tile nymphs and cherubs are all under the spectacular vaulted ceiling.

The building changed hands many times in the 20th century and has not been well updated and maintained. Its exquisite cream, gold and sea green color scheme is suffocated under the thick coating of Germolene pink. Although it was awarded II* status, it was empty, rotted, deprived of stalls and round seats, a large hole in the roof, and other surrounding buildings were demolished. When Laurence Olivier's famous performance was

According to John Osborne's drama filmed there in 1960, the theater represents the decline of the entire seaside entertainment world.

It could have shared the fate of the Alhambra, but the Morecambe Winter Garden Conservation Foundation now owns the building and maintains its faith. It is hosted by Toulmin, an academic and popular entertainment history expert at the University of Sheffield, whose family used to run the Winter Gardens exhibition.

Toulmin estimates that the cost of a complete restoration is between 5 million and 8 million pounds. However, due to the long history of England, the Theatre Trust and the Cultural Recovery Fund of the British Government provided emergency roofing works to survive this winter. Progress. The first floor was opened for small events and guided activities, drains were replaced, and the roof was repaired. The original seats restored from the closed Masonic Hall are being

. Malc O'Neill, a plumber on site (other useful volunteers include retired cabinetmakers, electricians and oil rig workers, who appear in court twice a year to clean the curtain walls) proud of the new locker room. "Look at that sink-running water!" he said.

Fundraising in winter is very tricky because the buildings are very cold even on days with mild weather. Crowdfunding is working with the government's Coastal Communities Fund to allocate 100,000 pounds, and the project will start using the new heating system this winter.

Toulmin said: "This is the Albert Hall in the north, and this is what we want to return to."

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