The Stand Comedy Club which has been based on Woodlands road for the last 25 years is set to move to the home of Websters Theatre, based in the former Lansdowne Church on Great Western Road, just a few hundred yards from its current location. From September this year, The Stand will provide its regular programme of comedy events from the ground floor of the former church.
The building belongs to a charity, Fact Three, set up by the trustees of Four Acres Charitable Trust to secure its restoration and give it a sustainable future. This followed the example of Cottiers in Hyndland which theTrust also restored and which has become a well known arts and wedding venue. Following the transition to the Stand, the pantomime, and a number of other productions and performances that have taken place at Websters, will move to Cottiers.
Websters itself was named after Alf Webster, whose stained glass is recognised as being among the finest in Scotland and now Fact Three, which has been raising funds to restore his two main windows in the building, intends to make them the centrepiece of a major new visitor attraction – a stained glass museum sited on the upper gallery of the old Lansdowne Church.
The gallery will also provide a working area for the specialists involved in the stained glass restoration, providing an opportunity for visitors to the gallery to view them at work. Traditional skills of this kind are a dwindling resource, and part of the funding will be earmarked for training so as to expand the pool of skilled stained glass restorers. It is hoped that work on the gallery will start later this year.
Picture credit: Websters Theatre