Panto saved by funds draws in record crowd

Record audiences were in attendance at this year’s Barns Green Players’ pantomime after a county councillor secured vital funding to help the show go on.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Feb 2014, 06:00 BST

With lighting and sound being an important part to their productions, when the group realised they had problems with their microphones the North Horsham County Local Committees (CLC) stepped in to provide a Community Initiative Funding to rescue the situation.

This came following a request from Barns Green Players which resulted in the CLC providing the group with £4,000, enabling them to buy ten new state of the art radio microphones .

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They were used for the first time at the six performances of Robinson Crusoe which was performed in the Village Hall on January 17, 18, 24 and 25.

Barns Green Players technical director, Simon Gale, said: “Most amateur productions find microphones and sound one of the most challenging aspects of any production and we are so grateful to Horsham CLC for their great help and support.

“Of course, the microphones will also be used by various other groups in the village so the benefits will go beyond just our theatrical performances”.

One of the elements of the Barns Green Players’ productions that receives great praise is the technical quality of the shows and most of the performances were sold out with almost 900 people watching over the two weekends of shows.

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Commenting on the success of the shows, Simon added: “We pride ourselves on every aspect of our productions and the new radio microphones have made a huge difference to the quality of the sound that we are able to deliver.”

Local county councillor, Amanda Jupp was instrumental in helping the Barns Green Players secure the funding for the new equipment and witnessed it in action first hand when she attended one of the performances.

She said: “I thought the pantomime was wonderful and I was extremely impressed by all aspects of the production.

“Barns Green is a wonderful local community and it is so encouraging to see such huge efforts from so many people going into producing their own entertainment for local people. I am absolutely delighted that North Horsham CLC was able to help the group in this way.”