Church Hall that’s Hosted Operatic Societies for More Than 70 Years

A former church hall, which played host to one of Blackpool’s leading operatic societies for more than 70 years, has been furnished with a blue plaque. After 91 years of performing the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in Marton and on the Fylde coast, Marton Operatic Society folded last year. In commemoration of the old Marton Parish Church hall, where the society had performed for 72 years from 1930 to 2002, Operatic Society committee members thought that a blue plaque placed on the wall of the venue in Preston Old Road would be a fitting tribute.

The site had been previously occupied by Great Marton Church of England Girls’ School in the 1850s and later an infants school, but the present building dates from 1930 when a new hall for Marton Parish Church was built by Atherton Bros and opened in October that year. The new blue plaque on the site, which is currently the base of the Michael Hall Theatre School, was officially unveiled by Blackpool Mayor, Coun Amy Cross. The plaque has been promoted jointly by the Blackpool Civic Trust and Marton Operatic, who have met the costs of the plaque from the funds remaining after their dissolution. The rest of those funds were donated to various local good causes. Marton Operatic Society was founded in 1930 by the vicar of Marton Parish Church, Rev Charles McReady, but sadly Covid restrictions forced the group to close.