Hammersmith People's Theatre Company

Hi, Thanks so much for your support before. As you can see, we fell at the final hurdle due to a late payment from America, but we launched a new campaign - and a week later COVID hit. SpaceHive have been great, giving us extra time. And our NEW appeal - it's the exact same concept although renamed West London Peoples Theatre Company - is now 80% funded with 2 days to go! Can you help? Even £2, the minimum pledge, would help. I know these are incredibly difficult times but we've had support from Sir Derek Jacobi, Sheila Hancock, Arthur Smith and loads of others, many who have seen their income disappear. The original plan was for a large scale play with music, but we may start with a short ‘teaser’ film which will be easier in terms of social distancing. It’d be great if you could help in anyway. Here’s the link... http://www.spacehive.com/west-london-peoples-theatre-company Thank you so much. Nick x

Thanks so much for supporting us last time. It's great you're involved. We're aware of how much demand there is on fundraising at the moment. We've still a while to go till our new campaign finishes and I'm guessing things will have improved by then. This is again, an 'all-or-nothing' campaign and we've already got some great ideas about how we will celebrate life in H&F and West London through our new production when things improve - a production which you will make and perform. If you could help spread the word with friends and family, that would be fantastic. Or maybe even pledge again - even if you need to reduce your pledge. Every little helps and we need to show support to allow us to get further funding. We may do a casual first meet up online in the next few weeks. Please let me know if you think that might work for you. Here's the NEW site www.spacehive.com/west-london-peoples-theatre-company Thanks so much again. Stay safe, Nick.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I hope you are well. It's incredible how the world and all our lives have changed since we first started fundraising for a new, democratic form of theatre. Just a few short months ago we launched the People's Company to create a new celebratory show about life in West London, with new performers being taught for free by top professionals. As you may remember, we made 101% of our funding target on our first campaign, but we fell at the last hurdle when a final payment from the USA arrived too late to be counted. So now we're going to put that right. This is perhaps a strange time to relaunch this project, especially as there are so many appeals, but we’ve thought long and hard and it could be just what we all need! To be able to look forward to a brighter future. A new creation. New artists, performers and creatives. A positive celebration of life with drama, words and music. And more immediately - an addition to our first campaign - we want to help currently struggling professional artists as soon as we can with paid, online session work with our new company. You very kindly helped before and so I'm asking if you might consider switching your old pledge (which was not collected last time of course) to our new campaign. We changed the name from Hammersmith and Fulham to West London so we would know the difference! Please have a look at - www.spacehive.com/west-london-peoples-theatre-company Please, please help if you can. And if you feel you can't pledge what you did before, the minimum is £2 and every penny will make a difference. These are crazy times. But please help us to do something great for new and established artists - and a future beyond lockdowns and viruses. It will be a HUGE opening night when it finally arrives! Thanks again for your support. Stay safe. Nick x Nick Hennegan [email protected]

Well! After all the euphoria of us hitting our crowdfunding target, it's all gone wrong! You may or may not know, but in the LAST HOUR of our crowdfunding, an anonymous donor heard about our shortfall and came in with £10,000! Which saved us! It was a 'Yee-Ha!' moment! We raised 101% for the new Peoples Company! But sadly, it was not to be. Because this donor came in so late, he wasn't able to pledge on the page. He is a famous U.S citizen, often in Hong Kong and currently in New Zealand without internet banking, who is very insistent on remaining anonymous. The cash has not yet arrived and so we have failed, because of the timing. It's a bit frustrating, to say the least, especially as I know who this donor is, and he's helped us out in the past, and the cash will be here this week, but Spacehive have their rules. So we've failed. They'll be sending you an official email soon. The good news, though, is that although we're all a bit strung out, emotional and tired after this campaign, Spacehive have said we can go again with a new campaign. So that's what we're going to do! Hopefully, Hammersmith and Fulham hive will back us again, as it's really important for us to have this local connection. We've already had hundreds of people sign up from the borough from our new website, (which we set up when we thought we were funded!) and I'd urge you to have a look. It's at www.MaverickPeoplesCompany.com And you can also sign up to our occasional mailing list there too! Or email me at [email protected] So it just remains for me to say, I'm really sorry it's gone wrong, but thank you SO MUCH for pledging. We're a small, committed charity but we've all been hugely moved by the support for our idea. I also have to say that there's been a huge outpouring from the industry too. Many top professionals have said they would work with us for nothing, or maybe just expenses. Both Hammersmith and Fulham council and Spacehive have, I think, been impressed with the level of local and international support. We're getting great vibes as well, not just from the RSC, but the Royal National Theatre too and it looks like they're both going to be involved. I think, in times when the arts are becoming ever more exclusive, we seem to have hit a nerve! So thank you so much to H and F council and Spacehive. But mainly to you. Your pledges have kept our small band of volunteers positive and believing in what we can do together. And of course, I REALLY hope you will stay in touch, support our next campaign and encourage a new generation of theatre-makers. We're going to have a GREAT first-night party, one of these days, y’ know…! Thanks so much again. Nick x

‪We did it! Incredible! Thanks so much. The Hammersmith & Fulham People’s Theatre Co is go! We’ve now got another 30 days to overfund for a new website, script publishing and a video! Please spread the word and share ! Thanks again. You are SO great! https://www.spacehive.com/handf-peoples-theatre-company ‬

Sorry for all these updates... but I've just had a couple of phone calls! High drama! We might actually make it after all... in the last few minutes! I could write a play about this...! Thanks so much again. Nick.