Key meeting on Marina's future

DISCUSSIONS to take an historic Lowestoft theatre forward into the future were held this week.

A key meeting, organised by the Friends of the Marina Theatre, was held at the Edwardian venue on Tuesday evening - and it was hailed as a success, with another discussion now in the pipeline.

The friends, together with local groups and those interested in the theatre's future, met at the Marina this week to discuss a way forward for the venue in light of a decision by the Waveney District Council operated facility to look at alternative management options.

As the theatre already boasts a strong Friends scheme, they are not a fully-constituted organisation. But after months of 'positive' talks between a small group of friends and the council - as revealed by The Journal on May 28 - a vote was proposed and carried this week for the current group to form an elected body, which will then put forward the membership's views.

Members of the friends, including Mike Holroyd and Mike Pinner, had called for a meeting - via The Journal - following widespread concern over plans to outsource the theatre.

'Following some positive dialogue with Waveney District Council over the future of The Marina we believed that we could not go further without having a mandate from the friends and therefore this meeting enabled the Friends to vote on a proposal to fully constitute the current organisation,' Mr Holroyd said.

'A meeting will now take place in the near future to elect a committee to administer the friends organisation and to progress the idea of a possible theatre trust to take on the management of the venue.'

The Journal understands that the idea of a trust to manage the venue is thought to be just one of a number of options likely to be discussed by the authority in the near future.