Time Capsule Buried!

7 Dec 2019 News

A few eagle eyed people of Ipswich may have noticed the brand new building going up in front of the New Wolsey Theatre, this adaptable space will be used for theatre performances, rehearsals, meetings and as theatre work spaces. Due to be completed in May 2020, this new building is part of a new £2.8m reimagining of New Wolsey Theatre and the public areas that surround it, wholly and generously financed by the owner of the site, Peter de Savary. The building itself will be a new purpose built participation space that will become the new home to all our community engagement and creative learning programmes.

Recently the New Wolsey’s Facilities Manager Neil Daines put together a time capsule filled with previous brochures from 2018 and 2019 plus some programmes of the on stage work that has been presented at the New Wolsey theatre including Cinderella, Our Blue Heaven, One Man, Two Guvnors Once, Grandma Save the Day and,our current pantomime, Aladdin, also included in the capsule was the latest cafe bar menu and a list of the names of current staff. All sealed up in 2 boxes the time capsule was safely placed into an alcove of the new building ready to be discovered in the future.

Talking about the reasons behind putting the capsule into the building Neil said:

‘What inspired me was I have always either written something down on walls before putting up cabinets or boxing in pipework, underneath veneer or underneath a leather / baize top when I was cabinet making, whenever working on my own property or within my job. Especially here at The New Wolsey. I’ll put down the date, what sort of day it is, and maybe what the weather is like.

The first time capsule here at NWT, as far as I’m aware, I put up in the roof when we had the 2013 refurbishment which included the extension which now houses Finance, The Learning Curve and on the ground floor The Garage. During those works part of the roof was also repaired which facilitated being able to slide it under the tiles.

‘It is a little bit of history which in years to come people can look back on.’