NRTF
18 Mar 2025
It’s Village Halls Week 2025 and National Rural Touring Forum is shining a light on rural venues and the people at their heart.
First up - the seaside south Cumbrian town of Arnside. Situated on the banks of the River Kent with spectacular views of Lake District mountains, Arnside is in Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
It’s walking routes, beaches and sea air make it a fabulous place to live. And for nearly a quarter of a century a loyal band of volunteers have been bringing culture to this corner of Westmorland.
The Arnside Education Institute (EI) is a key location for Highlights Rural Touring Scheme and provides a cultural lifeline for a place with limited bus services and often unreliable rail network.
NRTF paid a visit to the EI to meet Debbie Laving and the team who bring cultural experiences to Arnside residents.
How long has Arnside been a venue for rural touring?
This is our 21st year. I've only been chairing the volunteer group since 2023 although I've been a punter for about 12 years
What kind of things to you put on?
All sorts! Theatre, family, dance, musical, comedy, tragedy, political drama. In Arnside we particularly like to stage work where the subject matter is challenging or controversial. We've hosted stuff which tackles immigration, gender, race, nationalism, mental health.
Theatre is a really safe way to explore challenging subjects and look through new lenses. The majority of our theatre events are promoted under the Highlights Rural Touring umbrella.
For gigs, we have a couple of bands who have a strong following in the area, Budapest Cafe Orchestra who do wild gypsy jazz and Ninebarrow - a folk duo. We are on the circuit for these artists. We host bands in the Arnside WI Village Hall as opposed to the Educational Institute because the acoustics are better and bands prefer it. Craft workshops, willow weaving, watercolour, felting, printing - if it's available we offer it it
Everything goes on in the village halls from public meetings, wedding receptions, funeral wakes, badminton, bridge, Brownies, snooker, dance, fitness, choir practice, stitching, community cafe, WI events, cinema, theatre, gigs. Folk can walk to the events and everyone knows someone when they get there.
Because the halls are not for profit, hire costs are manageable, this is important everywhere, but more so in rural locations. It allows groups to hold events that people can afford to attend.
We are the only group promoting theatre in the village. The quality of our productions is very high. I've seen drama here in my village that has gone on to tour in much bigger and more expensive venues.
Village halls are small, the veil between performers and audience is very fine. There is an intimacy to theatre in village halls that just isn't possible in bigger venues. That intimacy is valued by artists, volunteers and audiences alike. You might even see and meet the performers in the pub afterward.
Not everyone has the means to get into town for events, without a village hall we couldn't bring live theatre to this village and the community would be poorer for that. Some shows are still being talked about for days and months afterwards. I don't think that happens in quite the same way in towns and cities.
Any stand-out moments?
A couple spring to mind: The first events we staged post COVID when we were allowed to convene in large groups again were poignant. That intimacy I mentioned earlier flowed between artists and audience like an electric current. People just need that experience where they collectively agree to suspend disbelief for an hour or two in the company of others. We'd all experimented with the digital experiences in our own homes, but that was a very pale imitation. To have the real thing back was emotional.
Last year we experienced our first ever sellout theatre event when Theatre By The Lake brought us Every Brilliant Thing. The play is about suicide and mental health and a number of charities had been involved in the pre production and direction. Being the last show of the tour the official guest list was pretty full anyway but on the night representatives from the charities came in droves fully expecting me to know who they were.
Our volunteers made each welcome, magicked up extra seating in the already packed house and made sure each bought a raffle ticket. The play got a standing ovation and the post show Q&A was almost as well received as the play. Hard to believe you can have such a good night on such difficult subject matter. But that's the power of theatre isn’t it?
What are your audiences like?
Our audience demographic was described by our treasurer as "fatal". This in some respects reflects the demographic of the village. However, staging family shows, craft events and using social media to reach other local groups is starting to bring in some new, younger audiences.
Arnside isn't staid though. Some of our more controversial shows have gone down very well. Our regulars know that the shows are always quality and will give most things a try. Post show Q&As are very popular with Arnside audiences and I'm always impressed by people's willingness to engage and the originality of the questions. No awkward silences in Arnside.
How vital are volunteers?
It wouldn't be possible to stage any of our shows without our cheery band of volunteers. We have about 14 active volunteers. It takes five front of house volunteers to make a show run smoothly and we always get people to turn out.
Some volunteers like to co-ordinate the FOH team, others like to run the raffle and refreshment stall, some favour door duty and a few are happy to do the whole artist co-ordination thing too. I mostly take care of communications with Highlights and the promotional newsletters.
We don't make a lot of money but we have and need a very capable volunteer treasurer to look after the books and pay the bills.
I feel it's very important to make sure performers have a home cooked meal pre show. If the performers and technicians are prepared to come to this place on the edge of the world where sky, sea and river merge, the least we can do is make sure they don't have to eat garage sandwiches or nasty cold pasties. Offering food also contributes to that intimacy I talked about earlier. The artists definitely appreciate it.
