Time to celebrate

After a 4-year fundraising campaign and an 18-month build, we are excitedly awaiting the official handover of our new Drama Centre at the end of this month.

Alongside the rebuilt theatre, two studios have been converted from the previous Masters’ and Prefects’ Common Rooms, and each is ideal for drama teaching within the curriculum and for rehearsals.  Studio 1 (on the site of the former PCR) is equipped with technical gantries which will allow pupils safely to learn the art of theatre lighting and sound, and the studio will be the venue for in-the-round small-scale shows.  The theatre itself also now has technical gantries, but more spectacularly still it has a high fly-tower above the re-worked stage, allowing scenery (and even actors?) to be flown in and out.  We have a full-sized orchestra pit for musicals, the rake of the theatre seating is steeper, and of course the new seats are upholstered and comfortable.  We have made changing rooms out of nearby offices, and the old Tuck Shop has been transformed into a refreshments bar.

We are having a series of opening events, starting with a ‘Thank You’ evening for our donors on 9 November, when a star-studded Old Mancunian panel will feature in an ‘Any Questions’-style evening. Invitations have gone to all who donated to the project.

On Saturday 27 November OM Robert Powell will be bringing some friends to perform a light-hearted history of cinema, Silver Screen. We shall be providing a gala supper to follow the show. Tickets will be on sale from early October via www.mgs.org or the Development Office. Very generously, Robert and his colleagues are donating the proceeds of the evening to our final fundraising push.

MGS has produced great drama over many years, with a host of old boys going on to professional fame as actors, producers and directors.  Countless more have maintained a lifetime interest in the theatre.  I think that we can confidently expect our new Drama Centre to inspire new generations to equal, if not greater, achievements.

Term ends today

Another busy term officially comes to an end today, with a Colours Assembly this afternoon to celebrate the sporting achievements of the winter sports teams, followed by the Rugby Club's Phil Wade Memorial game and, this evening, the Rugby Club Dinner at the Cresta Court in Altrincham.

There are so many outstanding sportsmen in MGS at present (20 with international honours in their age-group) but here are two with unusual achievements: Alex Haynes is the current captain of the England Independent Schools' Football Association U18 team, and Max Drakeley has been selected for the U19 England ice-hockey team: he plays for Manchester Phoenix.

Yesterday I had a fascinating hour being shown with one of our major donors round the fast-developing Drama Centre building site. The new stage has a full height orchestra pit below to provide for our musicals, and a tall flytower above for moving scenery up and down. The auditorium has been completely reshaped to allow for proper knee-room and comfortable seats (twin revolutions for MGS!). Sponsor-and-name-a-seat opportunities still exist - please help if you can.


The old Prefects' Common Room will become our Drama Studio, with technical walkways just below the ceiling to allow shows to be rigged with great versatility. Many MGS boys still like to join TechCrew rather than strut their stuff on stage, and this will allow them to operate safely.


Completion of the project is scheduled for late summer, with opening events in the autumn and spring terms.

Next week MGS groups will be travelling as far afield as China and St Kitts. Wherever you are, enjoy Easter.