This is one of the more unusual charity fundraisers, but one which shows how old some of the UK theatres are. Probably only of interest to anyone interested in the minutiae of comedy – but it encapsulates the struggle of venues like this.

Comedians in the UK start off in rooms above pubs, move up to clubs and then progress to the theatre circuit. This allows a career development route of moving up from a handful of people (in a pub) to 2-3000 in a theatre. And then the lucky few move on to Arenas.

This story is about Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. Owned by Nottingham City Council by 2012 the 2,500-seat venue had seating that was 30+ years old. It was clearly getting ratty and they needed to raise £750,000 to replace them all.

An October council meeting signed off on a tender invitation, to the tune of £1,077,000, for the seating and a front of house lift. Noting that the theatre would be 150 years old in 2015.

July 2014 the British Theatre Guide reported that the seats were going to be installed (starting on the 28^th) and flooring in the stalls would also be repaired. It doesn’t say how much the appeal had raised – only that the renovations were “partially funded” by an appeal supported by Alfie Boe, Mick Hucknall, Harry Hill and Nigel Kennedy.

Jimmy Carr had performed there on May 31^st 2013 (Gagging Order tour) and posed for a picture to promote the appeal. This image and the details of his involvement are not online any more – just a similar image from Jimmy Cricket from October of that year.

I can’t locate the copyright details for this image so, if anyone knows who needs the credit, please leave a comment below.