About the Nomad Theatre
The Nomad Players amateur theatre group have been around since 1934, when they performed
Journey's End. Originally without a theatre, the Nomad's got their name by
rehearsing their shows in local residents living rooms.
After years of performing their shows in the local village hall, a local Horsley resident
left his barn to the group in his will, providing us with a fantastic
home for our loyal members.
After much discussion, it was decided that the Nomad Players would work hard to
develop a new theatre, by applying for funding from various Arts organisations.
The decision to build a new theatre led to an immensely busy period for the Nomads,
with the planning and designing of the new theatre, the preparation and submission
of an application for a National Lottery capital grant and the raising of the obligatory
partnership funding to pay for the new building. The National Lottery gave us a
unique opportunity to develop a theatre that provided all the facilities we need
for our wide-ranging drama activities. From our preliminary application onwards
the Arts Council of England encouraged us to build a really well-equipped, good
quality theatre.
Initially, in the autumn of 1995, we were awarded an interim grant of up to £50,000,
of which we spent £34,000 on developing the best possible design. In April 1996
the Arts Council, after a redesign had been submitted, awarded us a major grant
of £911,000. In early 1997 we were awarded a increment to cover additional items;
this resulted in a final cost for the building of £1,346,000.
With the Theatre completed in 1998, the Nomads celebrated with a great performance
of Under Milk Wood, which was to mark the beginning of a new era.
The Nomads have now been in their new theatre for a number of years, performing
around 8 shows per year.
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