“I’VE BEEN involved at the Lyceum and at the Playhouse 2 in Shaw – but this is the place which feels like home.”
So says Pauline Walsh, theatre director and long-time member of the Millgate Arts Centre in Delph.
Strewn across the stage behind her sits a podium, balcony, and a large banner that reads ‘Degrees for Women’ – the leftovers of the theatre’s latest play, Blue Stockings.
But on this one unusual evening, however, there is not a single cast member in sight. Rather, it is the visitors who are this time being swept behind the curtain.
A member since 1982, Pauline is just one of dozens who know the every inch of the Millgate. Her own start in theatre came when she was a little girl, putting on “excruciating performances” for her family and neighbours:
“They used to be very tolerant,” she laughs, “but I do just think it’s in your blood sometimes.”
The Millgate describes itself as a charity community theatre and is run largely by an army of volunteers spread across the cast and crew.
Alongside the actors of the Saddleworth Players, these also include enthusiasts from the Saddleworth Film and Concerts Societies, as well as the Players’ youth group, SPY Theatre.
“For the past two or three years, we’ve run training courses for any volunteers who are interested in stage writing, doing props, doing front of house, doing lights, doing sounds, doing PA… it’s a real team effort, it all feels like family,” Pauline continues.
“It’s not just your actors, it’s the director, the people who do the props, the people who build the set, the people who paint the set, the people who manage the stage and the lights and the sound.
“Everybody’s working in the same direction towards the same end, which is hoping that people have a great time when they come.”
But between all those looking to have a great time, only one can be afforded the best seat in the house. The seat in question is most often claimed by David Cartwright, the lighting technician who watches over it all from the box behind the audience.
Having first started pushing buttons at 11-years-old, he has now gone on to spend more than three decades lighting up the stars of the Millgate – and has no plans of slowing down.
“If you do the lighting, you get the best seat every night, and then a drink in the bar after a performance,” he says. “So there’s many pluses to it.
“The hardest bit is doing everything in the last week before the show. If you’re lucky, you can start rigging lights early and start building up, but Sod’s Law says in most cases, it only comes together a week or so before.
“And then you’ve got to do things simultaneously! The painters want to paint the floor, the actors want to act on it, we want the stage dark so it can do the lights, and so on.
“It’s all about wanting to put on a show and being committed to the quality and the vision of the director, and contributing to that. My creative contribution is through lighting.”
Exploring where the lights cannot reach, however, unveils a creaking maze of corridors, storage cupboards, and hidden stashes of props and costumes.
Behind the stage sits a long display table of hats and tools, alongside a vintage bicycle and weathered projector, which has since been replaced as the Millgate continues its ‘Building the Future’ scheme.
After generous support from Saddleworth Hydro; the Linsbury Trust; the Roger Tanner Foundation’ and The Saddleworth Festival Fund, the front of the Millgate Arts Centre was replaced last summer amid fears it could collapse.
The building’s rotting joints were replaced shortly thereafter, as was the stage floor and all the wiring around it.
Having now announced its latest theatre season, the Millgate is now cracking on with the second phase of its plan. This will include repairs to the bar walls to prevent damp and replacing the stairs inside the theatre.
The third and final phase in summer 2027 will see the entire centre completely overhauled. A new bar, kitchen, lift, and theatre entrances will arrive alongside a new bar and theatre space.
The new plans are expected to sweep the Millgate into a brand new era of performances and events, particularly as it prepares to celebrate its centenary next year.
Among those most excited for its future is chairman Andrew Mann – but it is his colleague and wife Verity who finds herself most entrenched in its history.
Beneath the velvet seats of the auditorium lies a maze of polished leather shoes, heavy wool coats, and old-glamour dresses, carefully racked and labelled across the entire cellar floor.
“The Saddleworth Players have been going since the 1920s, and our collection has been building up since then,” explains costume designer Verity. “We’ve been in this building for 50 years, since 1973, and we don’t throw much away unless it’s really disintegrated. So it just keeps building.”
Verity herself has been involved in theatres for the past 25 years, starting off in costumes at university.
In her time at the Millgate, her job has now become as much about archiving as it has about sewing and fittings.
Between old-fashioned garment hunting and generous donations from local residents, the theatre’s collection has all but continued to expand – and prides itself on being overwhelmingly authentic.
“We do mood boards, storyboards, and then en-masse looking for stuff and seeing what we’ve got,” Verity continues.
“My favourite part is the planning – not the ironing or the washing. The actual sewing can be really tedious and often quite last minute – but it’s all part of it!”
With the Millgate now closed for its redevelopment, the team are as keen as ever to welcome people back for their September reopening.
The 2026-2027 season promises five new shows, alongside a string of events from the Concert and Film Societies and a new pantomime by award-winning Saddleworth company, The Big Tiny.
“It is important [to support local theatres],” says Mayor of Oldham Pam Byrne. “It’s a theatre, here, which has regular performances. I’ve been supporting it for a while; my daughter was on stage here 40 years ago.
“It’s a super theatre, so why go and pay lots of money in Manchester when you can come here?”
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