WEYMOUTH Arts Centre entertained the community for half-a-century and its recent demise saddened many people. Echo reporter Harry Walton takes a look at some of its history

ART legend John Constable was held up as an example of the fine tradition Weymouth Arts Centre should try to maintain when the building opened its doors in 1955.

Constable lived nearby at Osmington in the early 1800s and it was in 1860 that the centre's home was built on Commercial Road.

The building started life as Weymouth Middle School, the Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester Telegraph of the time noting: "The ventilation of the school is unexceptional and speaking trumpets afford communication with several rooms.".

It became the first Weymouth Grammar School and later the original home of Weymouth Technical College and lasted as an educational establishment for nearly a century, ending its schooldays' as a temporary home for the pupils of Holy Trinity schools following the destruction of their own building by Second World War bombing.

Derelict When it was taken over by the Arts Centre Committee the building, which had been leased by Weymouth Corporation for £100, had been derelict for more than a year.

A report of the time said that the committee very wisely swelled its ranks with a solicitor, two bankers and one lady who actually knew what an arts centre was'.

It was a period of tremendous enthusiasm for the project with a spectacular awakening of interest in the arts which saw membership swiftly jump to more than 500, but money problems proved a thorn in the side of the Weymouth and South Dorset Arts Centre.

Its treasurer warned that it was caught in a poverty trap' with more than enough money for maintenance and improvement work by members but nowhere near enough to have the work done professionally.

It flirted with commercial sponsorship but member apathy was also being blamed for its problems, international artists playing to less than one third capacity audiences.

Attendances for its silver jubilee in 1980 were so bad for a series of poetry readings, classical music, stage shows and painting exhibitions that its then president, Betty Palmer, criticised them as appalling'.

The centre continued to stage everything from radio stars to watercolour exhibitions and even spent a spell in the early 1980s wondering if the building was haunted by a butterfly which appeared at performances for several years.

But the writing was on the wall and then Dorset Evening Echo arts critic, the late Greville Poultney, noted that members were being warned it might have to close.

The threat sparked a rush of cash offers to avert that closure and 1983 seemed to produce a rally with greater use than ever before.

But the new lease of life didn't last and by 1985 a top class play, Seduced by Millstream, had to scrap its run at the centre after a disastrous' first night audience of only 15 paying customers.

By 1990 it was estimated that it could take £150,000 to bring the building up to modern standards.

A bitter row broke out over where town arts events should be held and there was even a stormy borough council meeting which only defeated a move to sell off the building by one vote.

More council cash rows followed, but an appeal to re-roof and refurbish the building did succeed while 2006 saw Weymouth Arts Centre re-open after a major refurbishment.

It was a false dawn and in less than six months crisis threatened with Weymouth Arts Centre Ltd saying it could not afford to sign a council lease because it would have to generate annual income of £640,000 to be able to pay the service costs of the building in the lease agreement.

Weymouth Arts Centre Ltd finally ceased to exist after staging a large event at the Nothe Fort in September 2007.

Hub Former members Angela Nankivell and Jenny Hawker both miss the arts centre.

Angela said: "It was a hub for people interested in carrying out their own artistic groups.

"We used to get together and hold open days and events and we used to hold an annual market outside the arts centre to raise funds through things such as a mile of pennies.

"In the early days it was a thriving place for many groups from an orchestra to a gourmet group, the art group and also the photographic society.

"It is very sad to see it gone and we would like it to still be here so we could continue developing the arts for Weymouth."

Jenny agreed and said: "I remember when it first opened because it was such a vibrant atmosphere.

"Weymouth librarian Jack West and the architect, Hugh Crickmay, were important figures in the centre and it is very sad that it is no longer operating. Weymouth will be the poorer for it."