Town gears up for first panto in 30 years

The town's old church has been renovated into a new community arts centre

A town is gearing up for its first panto in 30 years following the opening of an arts venue.

Winchcombe's Isbourne Arts was launched in a former church earlier this year, after a 16-month fundraising campaign.

The newly formed theatre troop, the Winchcombe Players, is now preparing for its first panto, Cinderella.

Dave Wade, from the Gloucestershire art centre, said until this year it was "probably the largest town in England" that did not have a performance stage.

'Absolutely marvellous performance'

Director Penny Kain said she did not realise Winchcombe had "so much talent" and expects the performance to be "absolutely marvellous".

"One of the ugly sisters is well over 6ft (1.8m), used to be in the army, holds himself beautifully, but is inclined to take a 36in (91cm) stride I'm hoping to put him into high heels so he takes smaller steps," she added.

Helen Mcllveen, from the theatre team, said the "beautiful" hall still retains some of the features it had when it was a church.

"We are very lucky to have a stage and it's quite heavy, so we have a squad of volunteers on hand to move and shift it around.

"There's still lots of capital work to do. We want it to be really professional," she added.

Members of the church moved out in 2022 because the heating costs were too high, Mr Wade said.