Stourport Civic Hall is looking forward to reopening on May 17, with a host of comedy shows and theatre productions lined up.

After over a year of closure, Stourport Civic is back with a bang with a selection of theatre productions such as Truly Jack the Ripper on May 19 and The Time Machine on May 26 which are both one man shows performed by Jonathan Goodwin.

Last of the Summer Wine will also take to the stage on June 3 with ENCORE’s adaption of the timeless television series.

On June 10 the hall will also be home to Lou Sanders, a comedian who has recently appeared on live at the Apollo.

Stourport Civic manager, Caroline Caldwell said she is so excited to reopen after what has been a horrid time. She said: “We closed last March and thought we would be back open in July! The last six months has been horrid as we have not been able to do anything, and we have not been able to work.

“We luckily received a grant from the Arts Council which has in effect kept us open as we were all so worried the hall would have to close.

“The building is owned by the council but is run by volunteers. The council have been very good and have put our rent on hold until we were able to financially ok to pay rent. It has been quite a worrying time with fear of losing the hall and our jobs.”

From May 17 Stourport camera club will also be displaying their photographs in an exhibition in the halls newly revamped foyer.

The civic hall will be working at half capacity until June 21 when restrictions are fully relaxed. Track and trace, one-way systems and the compulsory wearing of face coverings will also be in place.

Caroline, who has been involved in the civic hall for the last 12 years added: “I’m so excited to reopen and this week is my first week back and it feels great. We were meant to be celebrating our 10th anniversary this year but instead net year we are having a ‘10 plus 1’ celebration next year to make up for lost time.

“We are putting everything in place and lots of things have happened over the past 12 months. I suppose the only good thing to come from the closure is that we have had the chance to complete work on the hall that otherwise would not have been done."

The Civic Hall is run by a group of volunteers called Civic, Stourport who fought the decision to close the hall by Wyre Forest District Council in February 2011.

Before the Covid pandemic, The Civic Hall would usually host around 200 events a year, with 50,000 people visiting in the last six years.

For more information and to book tickets, please visit The Civic Stourport website.