It's difficult to imagine Huddersfield today without the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

But there was a time when the theatre only existed in the imagination of those who believed the area deserved a high-quality performance space.

And in order to make their dream come true they had to fund-raise, plan and give selflessly of their time.

This autumn the LBT comes of age and for many it will be a time to reflect on what can be achieved by members of a community when they come together with a desire to foster the arts.

The Examiner’s former arts editor Val Javin was one of those who was invited to join a Kirklees Theatre Trust back in 1980 with the aim of creating a modern, professional theatre for the town.

Little did she know it at the time but it was to be the beginning of a long association with the LBT. She remained a trustee of the theatre for 25 years and today is the secretary of the Theatre Users Association as well as being a trustee of the LBT’s resident company Dark Horse.

Her memories of those early days are that while being a ‘hard slog’ it was a time of great camaraderie during which lifelong friendships were forged.

As she says: “The opening night was an emotional experience for those of us for whom it had been a dream. A lot of us thought it might not get to that point, but there was a great determination. It was always a community project.”

Local art groups gathered at the LBT to pay tribute to Val Javin.

Val was appointed chairman of the development committee, which had the unenviable task of raising £3.3m in just two years towards the cost of the theatre. She recalls: “We would go out to organisations and take a model of the theatre with us. We went to festivals to promote the theatre project, chatted to businesses, ran fund-raising events, did guided tours of the building site, whatever we needed to, in order to raise money. But we couldn’t have done it without business and commercial sponsors, including The Examiner, and what really boosted the campaign was the £1m we got from West Yorkshire County Council when it was wound up in 1986.”

Kirklees Council played a pivotal role in the creation of the theatre, along with Huddersfield Arts Council and the many amateur theatre and arts groups that were involved. However, the single biggest individual contributor was the local businessman Lawrence Batley. And it was because of his generosity and support that the theatre bears his name.

Val explains: “Lawrence Batley was very proud of his home town and had done a lot for local organisations, so it seemed an appropriate name. He viewed it as an investment in his home town and showed a real interest in the project. He never raised the subject of the theatre’s name, but was delighted when the Trust approached him and asked if he would agree.”

The drive to build a new theatre arose from what Val describes as a “groundswell of opinion” that the town’s facilities - church halls, Venn Street, and the town hall - had their limitations as performance venues for theatrical purposes.

Various sites in Huddersfield were considered before the Queen Street Mission, which had been used as a squash club, attracted the attention of architect Rodney Atkinson. Kirklees acquired the lease for the building, which dated from 1819, and in 1992 conversion work began. The total cost was £5.3m.

In 1993 the actress Dame Judi Dench laid the foundation stone and on September 11 the following year Sir Patrick Stewart officially opened the theatre. The grand opening festival included performances from Thelma Barlow, Randal Herley, Bill Owen, Kazia Pelka, Sir Patrick Stewart, Huddersfield Choral Society and Sellers Brass Band. Longwood Amateur Operatic Society was the first amateur group of its kind to produce a show at the new theatre. Curious audiences packed into the building to see for themselves what had been achieved.

The theatre was part of the blueprint for the Kingsgate development, which ended up being completed many years later.

While there was support for the new theatre from the amateur theatrical community Val says there was also some trepidation: “Some of the amateurs were worried that people wouldn’t come to see them in the town centre and that the venue would be expensive, which is an ongoing concern. But they needn’t have worried that audiences wouldn’t travel to see them because they did.”

The theatre’s first artistic director, Ron McAllister, was appointed two years before the opening and is remembered by Val as “a really entrepreneurial chap, who was so charismatic that he was able to enthuse the whole community.”

Over the years the LBT has enjoyed many highlights, including the launch of its successful Comedy Club; the founding of a youth theatre group, now called Young Company; development of a Lottery-funded North Wing with rehearsal space and offices; becoming home to a theatre company for adults with learning disabilities (now Dark Horse); and opening its own coffee shop, Queenie’s.

Andrea Williams and Toby Meredith from Dark Horse at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Snakebite

However, in the early 2000s, the LBT suffered a financial and leadership crisis. In 2007 when the present director Victoria Firth arrived, bringing a new perspective and new ideas, she says there was even a shortage of pens and paper. “We were living hand to mouth,” she added.

Victoria, a politics graduate, was brought on board to turn things around. She had launched a career in theatre by taking a young director’s course while still at university. Over the years she’d worked variously as an actor, director, stage manager and technician and says it is this blend of skills that helps her to understand every part of what goes on at the LBT. “My mixed background serves me well,” she says, “I have worked in business, community theatre and professional theatre.” Since arriving in Huddersfield she’s also taken an MA in ensemble physical theatre.

She aims to sample performances before bringing them to the LBT and travels widely for this purpose. Her own tastes have evolved along with the seasonal programmes during her time at the LBT. “I had a bit of an interest in dance so I looked around and what I found was really exciting,” she explained, “and that inspired me to build on our dance programme, which is now one of the most successful elements of what we do.”

Victoria Firth at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
Victoria Firth at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

Victoria is all too aware that theatre today has to compete with many other entertainment media. But she feels that there’s really nothing to compare with the live experience. She said: “There is something about it that really connects with being alive; a moment when you feel something or see something that moves you or entertains you and that you share with other people. We need that unity, it is life affirming.”

Programmes for small regional theatres have to be as varied as the populations they serve. And this, says Victoria, is the key to survival. She explained: “We need something for everyone but not everything is for everybody. We don’t just have work that is safe or commercial. If you do that then there will be no new work for the future or to support a diverse audience base. It’s a balancing act.”

During Victoria’s ‘reign’ at the LBT the theatre has been rated as ‘outstanding’ by the Arts Council England, joined a project to increase audiences for contemporary circus skills, and is part of a consortium that was awarded a £2m Arts Council grant to increase arts engagement in North Kirklees. It has a rosy future.

“Theatre is my passion,” says Victoria, who is hoping that the LBT’s new fund-raising drive, launched as part of the 21st birthday celebrations, will ensure that the venue goes on to serve the public of Huddersfield for another 21 years.

* See tomorrow’s What’s On Where supplement for details of the theatre’s 21st Birthday Gala Evening on Friday, September 25.

During the construction of the LBT workmen stripped out 7,500 cubic metres of debris from the Queen Street Mission site, enough to fill the Cellar Theatre 14 times.

Eighty tons of steel were used in the structural frame, plus 800 cubic metres of concrete.

There are 153 kilometres of cable to power the theatre’s lighting system and an air conditioning system that uses a circular duct with a diameter large enough for a man to walk upright through.

The theatre took more than 220,000 man hours to complete and at the height of construction there were 75 men on site.

In 1970 when the Methodist Church gave up the building, the bodies of 84 people were exhumed from the chapel’s vaults. The operation took place in the dead of night as there were fears that some of the dead may have been the victims of infectious diseases such as smallpox. The crypt is now the Syngenta Cellar performance space.