Big Imaginations, the north of England’s children’s theatre festival, is welcome to visit Dewsbury, which has apparently been identified as a place that is “characterised by low engagement with the arts” (Letters, 5 October). They will find, however, that it is far from a cultural desert.
Dewsbury Arts Group has converted a former Quaker meeting house into an arts space, with a 100-seater theatre, rehearsal rooms, a massive stock of props and, of course, a bar. We have a life-drawing class that exhibits a least once a year, and a youth training scheme that presents two youth theatre showcases a year. The adult drama group presents one musical and five plays each year, which usually reach, and sometimes exceed, West End standards, and at a fraction of the price (£9 a seat).
Dewsbury is easily accessible by rail from London, and even from Manchester if you can find space on a Transpennine train.
Our programme is available on our website.
Peter Wrigley
Birstall, West Yorkshire
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