The show will go on for a local theatre group after securing funding from Hayward Sanderson Trust.
Borders Youth Theatre have been giving budding actors the opportunity to star on stage for more than three decades.
And with the award of a three-year fund from Hayward Sanderson Trust (HST), the group can continue producing and performing to the delight of local audiences.
Borders Youth Theatre (BYT), who have been offering opportunities for young people, aged eight to twenty-five, to learn theatre skills with experienced professionals and putting on various productions for over 30 years, run multiple workshops in different locations across the Borders.
David Bisset, Trustee of BYT, is grateful to the charity for its continued support.
David said: “The past couple of years have been a very difficult time for everyone but especially small organisations such as ours which rely on people meeting face to face.
“We recently launched an exciting three-year plan to deliver the range of theatre-based opportunities we have been offering to young people in the Borders for over thirty years. The grant from the Trust offers support for three years.
“This is invaluable in allowing us to plan ahead by securing venues and professional staff to support the projects. We are already planning performance projects for 2023 – Seniors in February, Juniors in the Easter holidays and a large mixed production in the summer.
“Without the grant from the Trust, this forward planning would have been much more difficult.”
Representatives from HST were met with applause when they joined the Galashiels group of BYT for their workshop.
Led by Oli Bisset, the local group were keen to show their passion and love for theatre when they presented an improvisation exercise in which they had to represent inanimate objects in a room.
Martin Hunt, Trustee of HST, was invited to take part in the exercise and was reminded how much impact grants can have on small organisations.
Martin said: “The Trustees of the Hayward Sanderson Trust are pleased to be able to help Borders Youth Theatre give young people the opportunity to take part in live performances which in addition to being enjoyable will be useful experience when they enter the world of work.”
HST are always keen to support local initiatives and groups, and are looking forward to supporting more in the future.
Any group or charity can apply for funding with HST.
Photo left to right: back row – Angus, Casper, Miguel, Sol, Oli Bisset (Galashiels Group Leader), Martin Hunt (HST Trustee); front row – Esme, Louis, Tarrin
