Everyone at Common Ground is heartbroken to hear about the permanent closure of Lincoln Drill Hall.

The Drill Hall has been our spiritual home since it opened in 2004. Our first production in the main auditorium that year was It’s A Wonderful Life, and in all we have performed 20 different productions there, either in the main hall or in the studio space The Room Upstairs. Our last Drill Hall show was Waiting for Godot last year.

The Drill Hall team always welcomed us to their venue, tolerate us with great patience and offered us their full support – as they always did to all amateur and community groups. That happy mix of amateur and professional shows was just one of the things that made the Drill Hall a unique and special place.

Our thoughts and best wishes go to Chris Kirkwood and his team. We can only keep our fingers crossed and hope that somehow the venue rises pheonix-life at some point in the future. Cultural life in Lincoln will be much poorer without it.

Jez Ashberry