A THEATRE company has opened the doors on its biggest ever production - the £400,000-plus transformation of a decaying building into a new centre for the arts in Rossendale.

The Horse and Bamboo Theatre decided to open its doors to the public to show off the work on its HQ in the former Liberal Club in Waterfoot.

People were invited to browse around the arts centre on the 100th anniversary of the building being constructed.

The open day also coincided with the Waterfoot Millennium Day celebrations and theatre staff took part in the community fun day by organising a small parade.

The theatre, a registered charity, was among the first organisations in the country to win a National Lottery Arts Award. The lottery cash of £149,000 together with other money from Rossendale Council, European Regional Development Fund cash and £90,000 of its own funds helped the group transform the Bacup Road landmark building into a community-based arts complex.

Work on the building is expected to be completed within nine months and only part of the large club was open to the public on the open day. Staff plan an exhibition, workshop and office areas, together with a large open area which will be used by the theatre for half the year.

It will open to community groups for the other half.

Artistic director Bob Frith said: "We were told when we moved in that in another three years the building would have been totally destroyed by dry rot and other decay. It was riddled with it.

"We've already done a massive amount of work on the building and there's still a lot to do, but things are beginning to take shape and we wanted people around here to see what's been happening.

"We want to use the building for the benefit of the community and particularly local artists so we've been out and talked to them about what they would like to see."

Marie Davies has been appointed as arts development officer for an initial 12 months to look into ways of opening up the building to community groups.

The first major event will be a three-month arts project for people with disabilities entitled Guided Imagery which begins in January.

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