ASSUMING that due attention has been made towards the acoustics in Northwich’s new 500-seat theatre, may I suggest a one-week drama festival, which, if successful, could become a permanent annual fixture on the town’s arts calendar?

There are many amateur dramatic societies in and around Northwich and, with a different society performing each evening, the festival could become competitive with adjudicators and a trophy.

In the 1950s, before Northwich Memorial Hall was built, I enjoyed attending productions by the Denville players, a professional company, at the old Pavilion cinema. And, plays by the Century theatre-on-wheels set up on waste ground which, in 1960, became the site of the Memorial Hall.

As a local journalist I covered opening nights at several local drama groups and the Memorial Hall itself staged productions by Northwich Parish Players with packed audiences.

One particularly moving play I attended was the Diary of Anne Frank at the Harlequin Theatre, located then behind the Greenbank Hotel.

So, how about it Northwich?

Kenn Oultram Barnton