By Isle of Wight Observer
The King’s Award for Voluntary Services, or KAVS, is an award equivalent to the MBE for individuals. It is given to voluntary groups across the UK who make a significant contribution to their community.
Every year, the Lord-Lieutenant calls for nominations for the Award, which is made by the King. Nominators must ensure that the groups they propose are truly outstanding and make a big difference to their local community; that volunteers, rather than paid staff, are in the driving seat; and that they have the highest standards in everything they do.
This year the Apollo Theatre Players were nominated for their services to the arts on the Island – along with two other IW organisations, Brading Community Partnership and the West Wight Dementia Choir.
More than 50 years ago the Players’ founders, John and Pat Hancock, identified a disused Methodist chapel, in Newport, and through their energy and commitment managed to raise the funds necessary to buy it – at a cost of £7,007 in 1971. During the subsequent decades, through much hard labour, volunteers converted it and turned it into a 130-seat theatre, producing seven plays a year, and raising sufficient money year on year not only to continue doing so but also to improve the facilities. They managed to purchase the house next door and convert the ground floor into a bar, and continue to build their impressive store of costumes and props. They are members of the Little Theatre Group of Great Britain (LTG), which exists to represent the views of amateur theatres across the UK, who own or lease their own premises.
The Isle of Wight has expensive and sometimes infrequent links to the mainland. The Players therefore aim to produce plays of various genres that patrons would usually have to travel to the mainland to see, while at the same time using a pool of actors which is limited to the Island, so they have to ensure that plays are challenging and appealing to them as well. They have found a mix of old favourites coupled with new plays works well.
The Players pride themselves on encouraging people from all backgrounds to take part in their productions. As an arts organisation they are strongly committed to the principles of equality and diversity, both on stage and off, and believe that diversity is the cornerstone of a theatre, which can reach out to all corners of the Island and bring new ideas and perspectives to the way they produce and interpret productions.
The 220 members do everything necessary to run the theatre: act in the plays, run a youth theatre, staff the bar and box office, build the sets, maintain and develop the Grade II-listed building, carry out marketing and publicity, and manage the finances. Thus not only do the population of the Island benefit from what they do, but the members themselves form a close and committed group.
And they do all these things because of their commitment to bringing a high standard of theatrical and other artistic activities to an area far away from the cultural centres of England. The impact of the theatre on the Isle of Wight cultural life is significant: not only in relation to the standard of their own theatrical productions, but also because they host visiting companies and activities, such as the IW Jazz Festival, as well as being a venue for screening National Theatre Live and Royal Opera House productions.
The Players’ next production, Iron, by Rona Munro, runs until December 13.
The Apollo Theatre Players are delighted and honoured to be recipients of the King’s Award for Voluntary Services.