18th June 2011 1.pm

Theatre in the Park is a play, based upon the book ‘A Mansion in the park’, and is an account of the Gladstone family and servants of Court Hey in Victorian times. The play was specially commissioned by The Friends of Court Hey Park. The script was written by Fil Fiori of the Petite Ullaloom Company and the development of the script was funded by Knowsley Arts & Heritage Service.

Theatre in the Park update July 2011

The children of St. Gabriel’s Primary School were absolutely fantastic! Well done to all of them and Deputy Head teacher Kate Sawyer for your excellent narration.

We had wonderful weather on the day which was a special treat because every time the children came to the park to rehearse it rained!

The PA system loaned to us by Aileen Jones of Christ the King Centre for Learning worked very well and we were able to hear the performance well – thank you very much for this essential piece of kit.

At the end of the play the children were then provided with a buffet thanks to the Get Growing Project at the National Wildflower Centre.

We would like to thank our Green Space Ranger Karen Brady for all your hard work helping us set up this event with the school and also helping to organise the seats and gazebos for the audience.

We would like to thank Prescot Museum for their help with a number of costumes and also Norma Samuel for the loan of some hats.

We would also like to thank Steve Jones for the horticultural presentation on site (with the help of three Italian female exchange students) and for the donation of pots of flowers on the day. Many thanks also to Councillor Christine Bannon for the lovely introduction to our play.

Thanks to everyone that helped make this final part of our ‘Gladstone Roots Project’ a reality.

We have now initiated a community archaeological dig, helped create a unique heritage site and educational information board - a historical artefacts display in our room - a new book - a ‘rap’ and now - a play. We also provide historical talks a number of times throughout the year.

Pictures can be viewed on our 'Flickr' page.