Long running plans to develop a theatre in Tramore, which could act as a hub for the local cultural scene, received a boost recently when a feasibility study was completed and handed over to senior officials at Waterford City and County Council.<\/p>\n
The council is advancing the idea in association with the Tramore Area Community Theatre (TACT) group, founded by Garrett Wyse and James Power.<\/p>\n
The plans will be presented to a local body called the Tramore Town Centre Management Group (TTCMG), before advancing to the full council stage.<\/p>\n
Mr Wyse said it\u2019s an exciting development that has been eight years in the making. The duo set up TACT about three years ago as the legal vehicle to progress the concept, bringing on board local experts.<\/p>\n
TTCMG is the formal body which applied for grants on behalf of the council, receiving funding about three years ago. On foot of that, a feasibility study was commissioned to seek the public\u2019s views and identify sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feasibility study was extended in time and resources,\u201d said Mr Wyse. \u201cNow that study is finished. It\u2019s sitting on the desk of the senior executives of the council. They have to make a decision on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the feasibility study has to be adopted or accepted by Tramore Town Centre Management Group. Then it goes to the metropolitan council, and then to the full plenary hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
TACT has identified about 14 sites, on brownfield, greenfield, and former business sites. The criteria to narrow down the perfect suitable location will depend on ownership, access, existing use, parking and other issues, said Mr Wyse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has to tie into the development plans, local area plan, and spatial strategies. I assume some of these 14 sites will be whittled down over time, due to those factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe serious professionalism of the council is now meeting the imagination of the people,\u201d said Mr Wyse. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs it is, the town is decades behind. The social, cultural, artistic, even education and training, and sporting and community facilities \u2013 this is the opportunity to address an awful lot of them complimentarily in the one go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arts scene in Tramore is just one area that could be dramatically enhanced by having a dedicated theatre venue for local townspeople, said Mr Wyse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1987 when I left secondary school in Tramore, there were 250 in the school. Now there are 250 in each class, and there are six classes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The population hasn\u2019t increased dramatically since then, but the catchment area has, bringing in students from miles away.<\/p>\n
\u201cTramore in the early and mid-1970s, when I moved here, had about seven hotels and about 24 bars. Now it\u2019s down to two hotels and about seven bars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wyse came across a ticket stub recently, showing on one line-up that legendary rock bands Skid Row, Thin Lizzy and guitarist Rory Gallagher were due to appear, while the Fleadh M\u00f3r attracted names such Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had South (a Tramore superclub), down here, with Laurent Garnier opening it up on the first night. It was crazy that things were like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wyse remembers going down the road to see French music producer and DJ Laurent Garnier, Paul Weller, Shane MacGowan, and Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, and up the road to see Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was in Tramore,\u201d he said. \u201cThen there was the showbands down here before that and the Atlantic Ballroom. There was the Silver Slipper. Tramore has a huge history of this, with big fine hotels.<\/p>\n
\u201cA development like this has a couple of aspects to it. It really does facilitate the development of this town as a standalone town and not just a glorified housing estate on the outskirts of Waterford, with a nice beach beside it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are actually now a suburb of Waterford because we\u2019re Waterford city west. But it\u2019s the biggest town in the county. It has by far the fastest growing population and the demands of this young, growing, population have to be met with something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wyse said a new theatre could create a critical mass of cultural groups and movements, and attract more tourism. Tramore doesn\u2019t have a cultural quarter \u2013 \u201cthere are little bits and pieces here and there, but there\u2019s no coherent centre of gravity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Wyse said the town lacks a social space where people can come and relax and chat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe library would be the closest, which is great, but it\u2019s overrun with people trying to use it, morning, noon and night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now open 12 or 13 hours a day up until 10 o\u2019clock at night with your access card. All these services \u2013 they\u2019re bursting at the seams.\u201d<\/p>\n
An amenity like a theatre hub could provide a home for local clubs and associations, and act as a centre for visiting artists and performers, added Mr Wyse.<\/p>\n
Even the Christmas pantos used to be huge in Tramore, but \u201cthey\u2019ve all gone for lack of facilities and services to really make it happen\u201d. <\/p>\n
Dance and drama clubs had to go elsewhere to do gigs too.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring them all together,\u201d said Mr Wyse. \u201cCreate a critical mass where this happens and say \u2013 this is the focal point for the redevelopment of our town and we\u2019re starting with the cultural, the artistic, the social, educational and training, sporting, community and voluntary, all of them in one go get a piece of the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long running plans to develop a theatre in Tramore, which could act as a hub for the local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[37898,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-237874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-eoin-kelleher","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}