SIR: Your readers will have heard that Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover died last week, aged 94.

The national papers have recorded his many achievements; he was the hugely successful Chairman of the family business during the years when it was the indisputable leader in the supermarket field and he was involved in many other important national enterprises.

However, few may realise how crucial the Sainsburys’ help was to the rescue and restoration of the Theatre Royal in Winchester during the 1970s.

When a group of us were desperate to prevent the demolition of the theatre and to restore it to its former glory, I wrote to Lord Sainsbury explaining our problems and asking if he could help us to launch an appeal for its purchase.

The next day, I received a cheque for £5,000 ‘to get things going’ and an encouraging note saying how important it was to save the threatened regional theatres. He asked to be kept in touch with our progress.

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We got the theatre listed and started to raise the funds towards its purchase (for £35,000). John Sainsbury gave us £15,000 towards this. Later in the campaign he gave us a further £100,000.

Most crucial of all, in the last stages of the restoration, he and Lady Sainsbury came to our rescue. Our builder had gone bust and work stopped completely only four months before we were to have our grand re-opening - a potential disaster. We were forced to accept a much higher estimate to get the work finished on time and we were £80,000 short of the necessary funding - although we were confident we could raise it. Understandably, the builders were not happy with ‘promises’. However, when I explained our problem to the Sainsburys, they offered to guarantee the full sum - and all was well; we opened on time.

Of course, over the years, there have been many other very generous donors to the Theatre Royal’s restoration programme, but John and Anya Sainsbury were absolutely crucial to its survival.

Winchester owes them both real gratitude for their far-sighted, generous and always enthusiastic support.

Jennie (Enfield) Bland,

Firle,

Lewes,

East Sussex

 

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