Welcome to the UK's largest community owned theatre
Hippodrome in the Community
The Hippodrome is a jewel in the crown of Todmorden and we are honoured to play our role in bringing the arts and creativity to the town. However, we also recognise that we wouldn't survive without the support of our local community and it is important for us to play a role within our wider community that goes beyond welcoming our audiences to the theatre. The Hippodrome tries to support and become involved with community events as much as possible and below is a snap shot of what we try to do.
Hippodrome Out In The Community
At the Hippodrome we value our place in the community and wish to be involved in important community events as much as possible. Here is a snapshot of some of our involvements out and about in the town.
We are proud to support and have a presence at the annual Country Fair where members of the public can engage with us about the theatre, what we can provide and how individuals can get involved. We also support the Carnival Committee by providing them with a regular meeting space in our Props Room Bar area to enable them to come together and organise the parade and events that take place each year at Centre Vale Park.
We are also proud to be involved in Todmorden In Bloom, which strives to turn the town into a riot of colour and nature making our section of Halifax Road a tranquil and colourful space which includes our own contribution to Todmorden's little libraries which promotes the reading and sharing of books throughout the town.
We are also keen to support and commemorate national moments of importance such as the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Remembrance Day each November. During our commemorative performance of The Accrington Pals in 2016 we worked alongside the local branch of the Royal British Legion and the Todmorden Pals to help raise funds for their cause during show week and we partake in the parade and service each Remembrance Sunday; something the town is very proud of preserving so many years after the Great War.
For ten years the Hippodrome also ran a bi-annual writers competition Voices of Todmorden open to all this was a great way to celebrate the wider community of Todmorden and the Calder Valley as well as support local writers or those who have always wished to try their hand. The entrants were independently judged by specialists with the highest ranking entries then being performed in an intimate Foyer Production at the theatre. Voices of Todmorden is something we would very much like to revisit in the future
The Community In The Hippodrome
Our recently established Christmas Tree Festival and Market has been a fantastic way to welcome in members of our community as well as supporting local traders and organisations.
Local schools and groups are invited to decorate a tree at the theatre which members of the public will then vote for for.
The winning tree will receive a donation of the door takings for the event for themselves of their chosen charity. We would like to thank Gordon Rigg's Garden Centre for their tree donations that make this event possible.
The centre piece of the festival is our enormous knitted Christmas tree, loving made by our knitting and crochet group The Cast Offs who meet regularly on a Thursday evening to chat, and of course, knit!
It is around this centre piece and the wonderfully decorated trees that we are then able to support local handmade trades. Many local sellers have stalls at the festival providing a whole range of goods in preparation for the festive period.
The whole day is a celebration of what is great about our town, many hundreds of people pass through our doors, many of whom may never do so if we were only open for stage productions. It brings the community together and spreads some lovely festive joy to set the season off in just the right fashion.
Again a huge thank you to our members that make this event happen and to the Mayor of Todmorden for his support at this, and many other of our events.
There are many other ways the Hippodrome tries to welcome and help those in our community. We have regularly held coffee mornings to support MacMillan appeals, bringing in members of the community for a warm drink, cake and conversation.
We also screen community films for free such as our recent festive screening of It's A Wonderful Life this is alongside the screenings we provide for local primary schools.
When possible we also try to work with others for example the Royal British Legion having collection boxes with members of the Todmorden Pals during our 2016 production of The Accrington Pals and collections for the food drop in during our HYT performance of the musical Oliver.
We take this responsibility seriously and are keen to support the community where ever possible.
Heritage of the town is of great importance and here at the Hippodrome we are building an archive of the theatres past. The work began just before the Covid-19 pandemic and since then has taken off. With much appreciated support from the Town Council and Community Foundation we are now well underway cataloguing our many thousands of pieces and collecting written and soon oral histories of the theatre and the town.
To celebrate this we regularly hold archive coffee morning that the community can attend to find out more about the theatre and the history of the arts, heritage and culture in the town.
