Could a disused pit in the centre of Hitchin once again be the site of a glorious open air theatre in our town?

Plans have been revealed to raise £30,000 in fewer than two months to allow the Dell at Woodside to host open air performances this summer.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to boost a week-long series of planned events at the disused site in Hitchin town centre.

The £30k target - to be raised in 55 days - has been set in a bid to ensure theatre returns to the Dell, a long-lost site with an interesting history near to Windmill Hill.

The cash will also help cover costs and develop a longer term plan to mark the 70th anniversary of the first open air theatre performance at the Dell.

Hitchin Festival, Hitchin BID, Hitchin Initiative, The Queen Mother Theatre and Bancroft Players are all working together to plan cultural events this July to showcase 70 years since the Dell first hosted live theatre.

Hitchin Festival is also working in conjunction with North Herts District Council and the wider community in a bid to reopen the historic area as an open air theatre.

Renowned pillar of the Hitchin community and the tireless former town centre manager Keith Hoskins spoke to Nub News about the exciting plans.

Hard-working Keith, who was awarded the MBE by the Queen for services to Hitchin and our community in 2015, is part of the Hitchin Festival team, and has an unrivalled wealth of knowledge about our town.

"It's a two phase plan," the respected Keith told Hitchin Nub News, explaining: "Phase One is to get a performance in there to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first-ever performance at the Dell as part of the Festival of Britain on July 25, 1951.

"And then, once we've looked at the logistic of how everything works and what the problems are, we are aiming to work towards a longer term project to get some sort of semi-permanent use to it - in a way that will ensure it can be used more than once every 20 years.

"It's absolutely delightful. If you've ever been to an open air theatre somewhere like Regents Park or the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, then you'll know how wonderful it can be.

"We've got an underused site for performance - and particularly now, in the current climate, there's a wish for more open air activity. If we can do that, it would be lovely."

The Dell's last official performance was around the year 1999 or 2000 when the Bancroft Players performed a Midsummer Night's Dream there - a nod to the first performance ever staged there in 1951.

"The site and setting simply lends itself to such an 'Athenian Wood-type' performance," added Keith. "It really is lovely."

The Dell at Woodside

The Dell, or, its full name, Woodside Open Air Theatre, can trace its antecedents back to the Georgian era – when a pit was carved into Windmill Hill in a bid to procure much-need sand for the construction of Hitchin Priory.

Yet, the moment the work was finished the pit was simply sidelined and nature took over.

Fast forward to post-war period, and with the 1951 Festival of Britain looming civic notaries - including our town's long-running and renowned theatre group called the Bancroft Players - decided the area would be perfect for an open air theatre.

And so, it came to pass that in July 1951, to coincide with the Festival of Britain, The Dell was officially opened with the Bancroft Players' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

However, due to the vagaries of the weather during English summers, and the fact there were no amenities on site, the Dell was not as popular as many hoped it would be as part of Hitchin's cultural scene.

Prior to the handful of shows around the turn of this century, The Merry Wives of Windsor was the last performance of that era back in 1963.

"People loved the idea of open air theatre in Hitchin," said former town centre boss Keith, "I came to Hitchin in 1997 and saw the last performance there around the turn of the century."

Plans are also afoot for a children's theatre group to put on shows during the first week on the summer holidays.

The site would quality for various grants and even under 'reopening the High Street programme' because part of that fund is about providing more open air venues for people to make use of in a post Covid world.

"Hopefully we can fill up the other evenings as well," added Keith looking to the summer. "It is expensive to do because everything has to be shipped in. But if it works we will be looking for other things to do there.

"I'm hoping that people with Hitchin in their hearts as well as any corporate bodies would be interested in contributing to our fund.

"Or," he added, "if everyone in town donated a tenner it would open."

For more information on the exciting plans, or to donate to the crowdfunding campaign click here

With thanks to Richard Whitmore's illuminating autobiography 'Didn't you used to be…Richard Whitmore?' which is a must-read for all Hitchinites.