We are delighted that the Regal Theatre in Minehead has been chosen to benefit from the Co-op Local Community Fund from now until October next year.

We hope that local people who care about the Regal will support this great opportunity and, by doing so, help ensure the Regal continues to make a real difference to all our communities across Minehead and the surrounding villages.

In particular, we’re using this opportunity to raise funds to help us attract and retain new volunteers – there are so many volunteering opportunities in the theatre, whether in the box office, as stewards, front of house or the bar, or helping with lighting, sound, set building – and so much more too.

We need a steady “workforce” of some 200 volunteers to keep our busy theatre – which is run entirely by volunteers – on the road, so the opportunity provided by the Co-op scheme will, we hope, bring us in both new funds and new friends.

To gain most from the Co-op scheme, we need Co-op members to support it - whenever one buys selected products or services from the Co-op they earn a five per cent reward for themselves plus a further one per cent for their chosen charity – hopefully the Regal Theatre!

Co-op members can choose a cause by going online www.coop.co.uk/membership, and readers who are not already Co-op members, please join at your local store or online at www.coop.co.uk.

Monica Hartwell, Regal Theatre,

Minehead.