APAC Members’ Meeting – February 2025

Our February APAC Members’ meeting will take place on 17th February from 10:00 to 12:00.

Zoom link here.

We will have our usual updates from the APAC board and the following presentations from members:

Deborah Baker, Lead Archive Volunteer at Todmorden Hippodrome Theatre

Nestled in a beautiful West Yorkshire valley, halfway between Manchester and Leeds, the Todmorden Hippodrome Theatre is proudly the UK’s largest volunteer-powered theatre.

It has been lovingly run by the Todmorden Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (TAODS) since 1956. Our Archive Project is a window into the theatre’s rich history and the vital role small variety theatres have played in mill and market towns across the Northwest. Through photographs, posters, programmes, and set designs, we trace the stories of performers and audiences dating back to 1908. Treasured items like a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings from 1915 and fire-damaged printing blocks tell the tale of a theatre that has always been at the heart of its community. Find out more by visiting www.todhip.org/our-archive

Abby Pendlebury, Heritage Engagement Manager at Capital Theatres based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The People’s Archive: Creative Projects working in Theatre Archives

Capital Theatres is the largest independent theatre charity in Scotland. We work across three venues: The Festival Theatre, The King’s Theatre, and The Studio Theatre. In 2022 we embarked on a redevelopment project of the Edwardian King’s Theatre, and part of our project involves developing an accessible archive.

Since 2022, we have been cataloguing, digitising, researching and collecting Oral Histories to develop a digital resource that will be accessible and will explore the creative ways people can engage with an archive. Research projects, arts displays, schools resources and more will make up this platform when we launch it in April 2025. This will be a working resource that will be updated regularly to ensure we continue to preserve and celebrate our theatre’s history after the reopening in Spring 2026.

We are keen to share our history and stories, while becoming more educated as an organisation on heritage skills and awareness across the theatre sector.

Georgina Donohue- Heritage Officer, Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Georgina became TRCH’s first Heritage Officer in March 2021. Key areas of the role include widening participation in heritage via a new schools’ programme, programming public backstage tours; and supporting a strong team of volunteers to archive the collection, conduct oral history interviews and support theatre tours.

2025 sees the 160th anniversary of the Theatre Royal Nottingham which will celebrate the theatre’s heritage with public tours of the venue, an onsite exhibition, public talks and engagement activities. It will also be an opportunity to highlight new donations to the collections, most notably an original Mousetrap programme from 1952.

This meeting will be open to APAC members.