New director excited at new challenges with De Valence (From Western Telegraph)

New director excited at new challenges with De Valence

1:00pm Sunday 1st February 2009 in

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A new era could be dawning at Tenby’s cash-strapped De Valence Pavilion.

The entertainment venue has been struggling for years to shake off its ‘white elephant’ tag, despite the efforts of its trust to promote it as a community arts and entertainments centre.

New director, Victoria Smathers, has taken on an under-programmed and overdrawn project, but is confident that, with the support of the trust’s new chairman, Mike Neal and the people of Tenby, she can turn it around, she told Tenby Town Council.

“The challenge of taking the De Valence forward inspires and excites me,” said Victoria, who has spent the past 12 years in the theatre arts industry, including the Theatre Royal, Bath and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

“This venue needs to reconnect with the people of Tenby and be a community meeting place for all ages.”

She now hopes to fill at least two of the four time-slots a day with events for the community — ranging from parent and toddler sessions, classes and get-togethers for retired people, Saturday morning children’s shows and workshops and monthly theatre performances, as well as continuing the music and comedy performances that proved successful last year.

The new chairman of the trust is recently-retired insurance broker Mike Neal, who has taken over following the resignation of Mike Thorne.

He and Victoria have now made an appeal to the town council to throw out a financial lifeline to the trust in the form of a £10,000 loan.

Mike assured the council that there had been no misconduct in spending and it was felt that, after doing projected income figures, the financial situation could be ‘easily and quickly rectified’.

Several grant applications are also in the pipeline for building improvements, community activities and education programmes.

But, town councillors were initially cautious of the trust’s call for financial help.

The mayor, Councillor Sue Lane said: “I feel it is very hard to justify a loan. Over the past three years, this council has put an awful lot of money into the trust — £47,500 a year — which is a third of the council’s income.”

Councillor Mike Evans suggested that instead, the trust could be given an advance of three months’ grant which would help towards clearing the current overdraft of £13,000, and this was agreed by councillors on a majority vote.