Drill Hall closure

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

Committee re-elected online

For the first time in 19 years there has been no annual meeting this year because of restrictions on gatherings of more than six people.

However we did circulate an update to everyone on our mailing list. If you would like to receive this update please email us.

We also consulted members who agreed to re-elect the existing committee for another year:

Jez Ashberry (Chair)
Su Toogood (Secretary)
Fraya Grove (Treasurer)
Kev Gillingham (Technical member)
David Thew
Elaine Howell

Let’s hope things get back to normal soon and we can get back onto the stage!

Ladies’ Day postponed

Sadly we have to announce that we have postponed our production of Ladies’ Day by Amanda Whittington.

The play was due to be staged at the Broadbent Theatre in Wickenby from 23rd to 25th April 2020.

We are all very disappointed, but we’re sure you will agree that we have had no choice.

If you have already bought tickets, the theatre assures us that Ticketsource will refund the cost, if they have not already done so.

We are currently waiting to hear when the Broadbent Theatre may be able to re-open.  It may be the autumn, or even next spring, but whenever it is, we intend to stage Ladies’ Day as soon as possible.

Thanks for your understanding, and stay safe!

General meeting cancelled



Sorry to inform you that our meeting on Tuesday 17th March has been cancelled owing to the coronavirus situation.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Please watch this space or our Facebook and Twitter pages for further updates.



Diary date: General meeting

We will be holding a general meeting for all members and anyone else who is interested in our theatre company on Tuesday 17th March 2020.

The meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 17th March in The Kennel behind the Dog & Bone pub on John Street off Monks Road, Lincoln LN2 5BH.

At the meeting we will be discussing our production of Ladies’ Day which is currently in rehearsal, future productions, venues, fund-raising and anything else people can think of.

All are welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!