This page of general press cuttings is home to those articles which appeared in the local press during the life of the theatre and aren’t in any chronological order. Cuttings relating to specific shows appear within those show’s own pages beneath the Publicity tab.
At the moment, we cannot source a scanner large enough to take some of the full-page newspaper pages in which Grange Theatre articles appeared, so we’ve had to resort to photographing them instead. This has considerably reduced the clarity of the text on some images but once we overcome this problem, the updated images will appear here.

This mini-history (left) of the theatre was penned by the then arts critic on the Banbury Guardian, the well-loved Ted Hanson who always enjoyed his visits to us. He refers to Memory of Spring, and The Man Most Likely To to the end of the latter’s critique this little article was appended. He was to become MBE sometime around 2012 five years ago and was a staunch supporter of the Radio Horton hospital radio station he started up with Graham Wilton back in 1964.

(Right) The ‘snapper’ for this little article in the Observer, December 1979, was quite picky about how he wanted the place lit; first no house lights, then house lights but no stage lights, then both lots on together. Yours truly can be glimpse with his nose pressed against the control room window, awaiting his next instructions!

This next clipping (left) features – apart from FGT – a lovely chap called Chris Hayes who was a teacher at Easington Secondary Modern Boys School and worked alongside Fred. During the theatre’s early days Chris was a staunch helper but always happiest working in the background.

(Right) Now, remember the Grange was situated in deepest rural Oxfordshire and was thus part of the countryside and its day-to-day life. A large well-established (and very noisy) rookery lived happily in the trees near the house, and for autumn shows Fred or the car-park chaps had to warn patrons not to park their cars beneath one huge, ancient chestnut tree whose falling conkers had been known to actually dent car roofs! Meanwhile, just across the lane, the farmer created a large manure heap which was just too much for the inhabitants of the surrounding homes! Unfortunately “just across the lane” was precisely where the theatre’s control room was situated, so us techies were first in line to savour the earthy aroma . . .



