The multi-million pound redevelopment of Bolton’s Octagon Theatre has received a £450,000 boost from six local, national and regional charities.
The Foyle Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation have each donated £100,000 to the £9.87 million Octagon Reimagined project to expand and refurbish the theatre, improve access and extend its community work.
The Wolfson Foundation has pledged £50,000 and Bolton’s Sir James & Lady Scott Trust has given £30,000. These are added to donations totalling £145,000 from The Oglesby Charitable Trust and The Granada Foundation.
The grants are the latest to the theatre’s capital appeal to raise £1.5 million towards the £9.87 million total.
Octagon Chief Executive Roddy Gauld said: “The reimagined Octagon will be a theatre that all of Bolton can enjoy and be proud of for generations to come. These grants are highly competitive, so it says a lot about our plans that we’ve been so successful.
“We’ve still got the final £1m to raise and there’s a huge amount of fundraising going on, from grants such as these to bucket collections and marathons. I’m really confident that others will keep supporting us and I’d like to thank everybody who has donated so far.”
Building work will start at the Octagon in May and is due to be completed by autumn 2019. Productions will take place across Bolton during the redevelopment.
Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Linda Thomas, is a member of the Octagon Theatre Board of Trustees.
She said: “We are very lucky to have such a superb arts facility in the borough and the theatre is also an important part of our masterplan to redevelop the town centre.
“The Octagon has been doing superb work for 50 years, producing high-calibre theatre and doing much-valued community work.
“These generous donations will help to ensure that it continues to be loved by generations to come, not just by people living in Bolton but by the many visitors it attracts to our town.”