Press Release

13 November 2024

Royal Visit at Fareham Live

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh visited Fareham Live today (Wednesday 13 November), following the venue’s official opening in October.

The visit was an opportunity for His Royal Highness to see the brand-new community, arts and entertainment venue, which has been designed to be much more than a theatre. It features not only the very best national touring shows on its stage, but also welcomes community theatre groups, while also providing a bright and friendly gathering place for local clubs and societies and general members of the public.

During the tour of the venue, The Duke was introduced to members of the Fareham Musical Society who were rehearsing for their upcoming production of Black Coffee, cast from the Fareham Musical Society Youth Theatre, who were rehearsing for their upcoming show Annie Jr.  His Royal Highness also stopped to talk to members of local community groups who use the venue to get together and socialise over their hobbies.

His Royal Highness was shown the venue’s intelligent design, which has ensured that it is not only fully accessible to all members of the community, but is also environmentally friendly. While its clever construction made use of as much recycled materials as possible, a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into making it a green and sustainable community venue long into the future.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled at the venue by His Royal Highness to mark this special occasion.

His Royal Highness commented: "Thank you very much for inviting me to see this wonderful new building that you’ve created here and for all the thought that’s gone into it, which is absolutely brilliant. I hope it’s a really good addition to Fareham. I hope it’s a really good addition to the local area, and that you use it well.

“There appears to be some thriving companies here which is fantastic,  and lots of brilliant ideas of what you can now do with the space. I’m guessing now that you’ve got these brand-new facilities, and it’s so much better than what was here before, the standard of productions will go up. Everybody will lift their game, as you come in here and feel inspired, whether you’re on the technical side or the performing side, it doesn’t matter - a space like this tends to lift everybody’s ambitions and their whole game. So, I wish you all the very best of luck.

“I’m delighted that you can use this space throughout the whole day and that there are other groups that are going to come and use it, who don’t necessarily need to use the theatre or studio spaces, but can use the other spaces in the day. The place is alive the whole day, which is brilliant.”

Executive Leader of Fareham Borough Council, Cllr Simon Martin, said: "It is my absolute honour and privilege to be here today to welcome HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, to Fareham Live. His Royal Highness has a genuine interest in and enthusiasm for theatre and the arts, which we all share. 

"This site has been synonymous with theatre for more than 40 years, but today Fareham Live provides a statement of intent to totally transform our town centre. It sees the first stage of our plans for regeneration complete and will continue to have a vital role in the future of Fareham.” 

ENDS

For further information contact:

Customer Enquiries

Tel: 01329 236100
Email: customerservicecentre@fareham.gov.uk

Media Enquiries

The Communications Team
Tel: 01329 824310
Email: publicity@fareham.gov.uk
Fax: 01329 550576

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