ABBOTSWOOD, behind Furness Abbey, has been home to Barrow’s first mayor, Sir James Ramsden, a nuclear disaster control centre – and some weird and wonderful theatrical productions in the early 1990s.
The shows were very popular, with the July 1991 production of Arthur Pod’s Secret Glade selling out all 18 performances.
It featured the ghostly characters of the Ramsden family, played by Philip Gregg as Barrow’s founding father, with Amber Roate as his wife and Dominic Greaves as their son Frederick.
In 1992 the Furness Thinks Green production team, led by director Rachel Ashton, took theatre fans on a nature trail in a show called Tales From a Loft — featuring characters such as a moth and a swift, a four-piece strolling band and sculptures made from wood and scraps.
The Mail, on July 22, noted: “The whole thing is a charming community-based mix of story-telling, performance and music, invention and improvisation.”
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