The theatre was not the first building development of my Headmastership, but it was by far the largest enterprise, until later on when we purchased the Botanic Sidings and built the Junior School and the swimming pool.

So it was an exciting time and I remain so grateful to my wonderful governors for agreeing to this expensive but necessary development. We visited other schools with theatres to get ideas and we were fortunate to have excellent play producers and actors such as Richard Grayson (OH Staff 1990-2007) and Neil King (OH Staff 1974-2006) to give expert advice. The new building was also planned to incorporate a new staff room, which, of course, went down well with all the teachers.

Of course there was some disruption during the building work, but the whole thing went up surprisingly quickly, and I well remember, on its completion, being taken up onto the roof for the mandatory topping out ceremony with the cans of beer to celebrate.

The only difficulty we had was with a small group of local residents, who mistakenly believed that the theatre would become a commercial enterprise, operating every evening and creating huge traffic problems in Hymers Avenue. I used to attend the residents’ meetings and was able to reassure most of them – they were lovely people – but on the day of the opening a small group of people gathered outside the school gates with placards protesting. Fortunately, that was the end of it, as they soon realised that our theatre would create no problems for them.

The opening was a wonderful occasion with the lovely Judi Dench doing the honours. And soon the drama activities were in full swing, and what superb productions we were privileged to experience.

I am so pleased to hear that the theatre is so well used 30 years on: may it continue for many more years.

John Morris, Former Headmaster 1990-2006, OH Staff 1980-2006

Related Articles:

• The Judi Dench Theatre
• The Judi Dench Theatre: Mr Richard Grayson's Memories
• Preparing for Hamlet in 2025
• Allelujah Ross
• Teacher Feature: John Morris (1980-2006)