And it was gone...

No sooner had it appeared than it was gone again. Apart from a brief glimpse if you stand at the rear of the auditorium, the pool is now covered over once more, as the guys cracked on yesterday and laid a great deal of the new floor. The photo (left) shows some of the platforms on which the seats will be fixed and gives a good idea of how greatly improved the visibility will be over the heads of the people in front. And if you are worried at just how high each step appears to be, fret not – a further set of shallower step platforms have yet to be installed between each of the seating platforms.

The seating capacity of the previous auditorium was 230 and, to ensure better comfort and visibility, this is being reduced by over 40 seats (although row A will be permanently in use and not require removal when the orchestra pit or apron stage is required). A little piece of research has revealed that in the 1950s, they somehow crammed a total of 272 seats into this same space! The seats must have been much narrower and leg room must have been minimal. The seating plan from the time shows that each row had as many as 20 seats in it, with no central aisle and two seats the other side of the existing pillars, resulting in very narrow aisles at either end (and presumably very poor visibility of the stage). There was also one row at the rear of the auditorium that was only available for purchase on the night and one raised section of 30 seats at the very back.

Finally, an apology. There were actually TWO winners of the recent competition, as Phil Hopkins also guessed the correct answer of 648 bolts. Apologies to Phil, and a bottle of wine is on its way to him, too!