...Yours later

THE meeting room at the Old Pavilion was full for Wargrave Local History Society’s September meeting, when Sally Hughes recounted the history of the Mill theatre in nearby Sonning.

The history of the site goes back more than 900 years. As the county boundary is in the middle of the River Thames as it passes under Sonning Bridge, it is actually in Sonning Eye, which lies in Oxfordshire.

When the Normans compiled the Domesday Survey in 1086, they recorded “three mills at Sonninges and Berrochescire”. With a mill stream fed by the flowing Thames, it was an ideal site.

Being built of timber and with the fine powder of milled flour, mills were susceptible to fire. This happened in the 1300s at Sonning, after which a new mill was built.

By the 17th and 18th centuries, it belonged to the Rich family of Sonning but another fire in 1797 meant the building had to be replaced again.

By the end of the 19th century, it was owned by the Witherington family, who supplied flour and semolina to Huntley and Palmers’ biscuit-making factory in Reading.

They added further buildings of clapper-board construction in the 1890s and these are what now form the main part of the theatre.

Mr Witherington used steam-powered lorries to transport the sacks of grain and some of these sacks were found in the building during recent renovation work.

Changes in the biscuit-making industry led to Sonning mill becoming redundant and it closed as a working mill in 1969.

The building was put up for sale — the Beatles wanted to buy it to use as a recording studio, the entertainer Kenny Lynch had a scheme to convert it into a casino, while the Berni brothers, who operated a chain of restaurants, bought it to create a steakhouse.

However, local residents did not like any of these potential uses, and none of them were granted the relevant planning permission.

The mill lay empty for a while before Tim and Eileen Richards became interested. Tim had served in the 8th Army during the Second World War, while Eileen had been in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, where she worked as a driver. They met after the war, and were soon married.

Tim was a civil engineer and his work took him out to South America. The family moved back to England but, as he approached retirement age, Tim considered what he might do and it was suggested that he “find a little project”.

Meanwhile, their daughter, Sally, had become interested in the theatrical world and had managed to gain a place at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Tim and Eileen went to watch her as she performed in a play in Islington in London — the King’s Head. It was a dinner-theatre, a new concept at the time, and Eileen suggested that starting one could be the project that Tim might tackle.

They toured the area around London for suitable premises, and were waiting at the traffic lights by Sonning Bridge when they saw the “For Sale” sign.

They decided to take a closer look at the dilapidated building — it was boarded up but they broke in! Having got up the ladder to the top floor, what they could see was the sky and pigeons. They decided to sell their house, and buy the mill — the people of Sonning liked the idea of a theatre.

It took four years to convert the building, the old granary becoming the auditorium, while the site includes not only administrative offices, but also workshops where stage sets etc are created.

The theatre opened on July 22, 1982. The first year was disastrous — the restaurant was not right, so it was decided to close the theatre and restart the next year. One of the actors Sally had worked with, Peter Egan, also worked as a director and he became the first artistic director for the Mill at Sonning.

After leaving drama school, Sally worked with the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, but in London. The play was performed in several churches and the first outside London was Sonning, where the vicar at the time was Rev George Stokes.

Her next job had been at the Bush Theatre, in Shepherd’s Bush, where the artistic director was Simon Stokes — the vicar of Sonning’s son! More recently, the theatre has undergone a programme of refurbishment. This has included changes to the restaurant.

Sally, with her son Adam, chooses the plays they perform, invites directors and designers to take part, and casts the plays. The set itself is built in the theatre’s own on-site workshops, whilst costumes are designed by Natalie Titchener, from Twyford.

Recently, the theatre embarked on its first national tour, taking the adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley to a variety of venues over an eight-week period. As well as plays and musicals, like High Society, the theatre has put on a variety of musical performances — notably jazz and big band with shows featuring acts such as Acker Bilk or Humphrey Lyttleton — the styles being particular favourites of Tim Richards, and similar concerts are still arranged for Sunday nights.

Sally is optimistic about the future, she said she was “a glass half-full” type of person — although managing the situation could be tricky.

For more information about the society, visit www.wargrave
history.org.uk

Peter Delaney