Welcome to Birchvale

A state of the at community theatre and hub that opened its doors on October 7^th 2021

This is a new chapter for the club that was first formed in the 1930's.

Birchvale is owned and managed by Birchvale Players - a local drama group that has been performing in the town since the 1930's. The building provides a modern home for the drama group, touring companies and regular film nights. It is also a valuable community space that can be hired and used by community groups.

The journey began in 2016 when it became clear that leased premises used by the Players were going to need a lot of work. Planning and organising funding took up most of the intervening period, but in 2019 a former three classroom school in the centre of Dalbeattie passed to the drama group under a Community Asset Transfer from Dumfries and Galloway Council for £1.

The half a million pound build began in April 2021 and - on time and within budget - Birchvale opened its doors in October 2021.

Our impossible dream turned into a reality thanks to some very generous funders and a dogged funding team that patched together the money to make it happen. Of course this is only the beginning of a new journey to bring fun and entertainment into the heart of the town. Here's to the future.

The project has created:

• A 72 seat theatre and cinema with modern lighting sound and dressing rooms.
• A Green Room that contains a café / bar.
• A new box office, meeting room and a large room for hire plus a theatre workshop and storage room.

There will also 44 parking spaces plus motorbike and bike parking and full disabled access to the building and all its facilities.

You can read more about our history here.

This facility will also act as a community hub for other local groups.

Below: The images show the old Birchvale Theatre in Southwick Road, home to the Birchvale Players for over 40 years. It was initially a HORSA hut which were portable, temporary classrooms that were introduced during the post World War II rebuilding programme. The name HORSA is an acronym taken from the term, “Hutting Operation for the Raising of the School-leaving Age”.

The hut was the "Dream" of many but among the most dedicated was Mrs. Rita Aitchison who wanted to create a lasting theatrical legacy in the town.

-------------

Below: The images show the first visit of our committee to St Peter's RC Primary School as it was. The building was untouched for a year or two, the contents from it's time as a school were also left. For us the building suited us perfectly, we could imagine what all the rooms would become and how fantastic a venture it would be for the town.

Even now it is hard to imagine how much we have accomplished.

The plan create a home for the Birchvale Players as well as a hub for the community and the Arts.

Below: These images show the project from start to finish. At times it was stressful but the end product is worth it. Although this building was built in the mid 60's and didn't need any major structural work done, we had a lot of work to do to transform the building into a theatre and community space.

Below: These images show what we have managed to create in our new building.