STEP back in time with Jestaminute Community Theatre which will be presenting the results of its National Lottery funded project, ‘Redditch 1964 – the Start of Something Big’ in a special event next month.
The project has been collecting memories of Redditch as it developed as a new town with volunteers and school children carrying out interviews with more than 40 residents of all ages.
The project was made possible by a grant of £43,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), together with contributions from the Worcestershire county councillor divisional fund and supported by Redditch borough council.
Jestaminute Community Theatre, a community interest company, will hold a celebratory event at the Palace Theatre in Redditch on March 4 from 11am to 4pm.
The event will share the findings of the project and premiere a new radio play by local playwright Andy Higgitt, which will be recorded by members of the U3A play reading group and others.
Work by students from Birchensale Middle School, Ridgeway Academy, Trinity High School and Woodfield Academy, who have been interviewing local residents about their memories of the town between 1964 and 1985, will also be shared.
The event will also see the re-launch of an interactive kiosk in the Palace Theatre known as ‘Pod in the Palace’ which will celebrate the town.
The ‘Redditch 1964 – the Start of Something Big’ project will create a new visual display around the Pod designed by local artist Steve Rigby and enhance the Pod with new information collected through its research and through a previous HLF-supported project, ‘Engineering the Past’, which preserved memories of the town between 1939 and 1964.
The event will also be supported by an exhibition about Redditch New Town staged by Redditch Local History Society.
