Welcome to the July edition of Ensemble. I hope you’re all staying safe and keeping well.

Following the government announcement about the delay in lifting the 21st June restrictions and several weeks of intense industry campaigning (including high profile media interviews by Howard and myself), there has been a hugely significant development for our industry.

Long-awaited findings from the government’s initial Events Research Programme have finally been published, which found “no substantial outbreaks” and just 28 positive cases of Covid identified from nine pilots involving more than 58,000 people.

What this all means for us remains to be seen, although new health secretary Sajid Javid did announce on Monday that he expects step 4 of lockdown easing will indeed take place on Monday 19 July – in line with the four-week delay from the original target, 21 June. We await with baited breath.

We were absolutely thrilled to finally open The Chiswick Cinema last week and enjoyed a wonderful launch event. You can see some of the pictures from that night in this month’s Ensemble. Huge thanks to Lyn, Kathryn, Iggie, Katie, Emily and all of The Chiswick Cinema team for their many months of hard work, long hours and dedication in preparing for this momentous occasion.

It’s been a hectic month for Trafalgar Theatre Productions and Jonathan Church’s team with casting announcements and rehearsals full steam ahead and our colleagues at HQ Theatres are busily preparing for panto season! Oh yes they are!

Finally, Stagecoach held its first ever digital conference last week for its franchisees; another great example of how the team has been innovating and adapting during the pandemic. Let’s hope things are very different next year.

Until next time, take care and look after yourselves.
Best wishes
Rosemary