Theatre group to perform show inspired by Save Grange Lido campaign

Drip Drop Theatre is currently on tour with E.C.R. Roberts’s new musical All Those On Board and has its final show on Saturday (June 8) at 7.30pm at Victoria Hall in Grange.

All Those On Board tells the story of a group of outdoor swimming enthusiasts who are intent on saving and reopening the town’s 1930s art deco lido which has been closed for almost 30 years.

With a deadline for demolition fast approaching, the group members are determined to come up with the funding to save the lido, no matter what lengths they have to go to. 

The writer Emily Roberts explained the show has been 'very well received' by audiences across North Yorkshire and Redcar and Cleveland so far, with sell-out shows throughout the first week of the tour.

Whilst the story is fictional, the idea for the musical was inspired by the Save Grange Lido story. Emily has a lifelong love of lidos and spent many happy days in her childhood at Ilkley Lido near where she grew up. She even went to Grange Lido as a very young child.

The penultimate show took place in Otley where members of the town are currently trying to restore their riverside lido. Like the lido in Grange, Otley Lido was closed in 1993.

Baby Emily and her mother at Grange lido (Image: Submitted) There are 15 new songs using on-stage live instruments and covering a range of styles such as jazz, folk, upbeat pop and ballad. The cast doubles up as the musicians and between them play piano, violin, ukulele, cello, cajon, recorder and clarinet.

Choreography includes umbrellas, beachballs and some very eye-catching swimming caps made by the Yorkshire-based swimming hat designer Karen Thomas of Cool Bathing.

Tickets cost between £8 to £10 and can be purchased via the website dripdroptheatre.com