A LONG-ESTABLISHED arts school is looking for a new home after spending more than four decades in the same village hall.

Winchester Theatre Arts has been teaching children dance and musical theatre in Kings Worthy for the past 45 years.

Based at The Jubilee Hall, the family-run business started with just 15 students on a Saturday morning.

It’s now home to 10 times that number, taking in pupils as young as three-years-old and tutoring them all the way through until 19.

However, principal of the school, Claire Goodwin, said it has recently had its hours cut by trustees of the facility.

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Registered with the Charities Commission, the trustees told her they feel the hall should instead be made available for further ‘community use’.

This, coupled with increasing rent costs, has forced her to consider moving the much-loved organisation to pastures new.

She said: “They’re putting up our prices in September and that’s the second time this year. We’re not too comfortable with the decision as we don’t want to pass that on to our customers at this difficult time. They’re also now limiting the number of hours we can use the hall, and that’s going to make things difficult for us.

“Our popularity continues to grow and we’re expanding, so we need more space now than ever before. Unfortunately, it means we’re having to look for a new home.”

Ms Goodwin has passed the day-to-day handling of the school to her daughter, Laura, after spending most of her working life at the helm.

She said she has helped ‘hundreds if not thousands’ of children pursue their passion during her tenure, some of whom have gone on to perform in the West End.

In fact, in the next few months, the school is expecting its first third-generation child to join. Steeped in history, Ms Goodwin said while the move could prove to be an exciting step in the school’s journey, it’ll be an equally emotional moment when the curtain falls on her time at the hall.

“This has made us think ahead,” she said. “It could be an exciting time with all sorts of possibilities, but we do need to find this new home.

“For me, personally, it’s going to be fairly sad because that’s where I started the school and we’ve had hundreds if not thousands of students pass through which who we consider family.

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“What we’re doing is clearly very successful, and we just want to carry on with what we love.”

Having just finished their annual show – which saw more than 130 children perform over three days – Ms Goodwin has said no move is imminent, and the school will continue to use both the hall and its studio for the time being.  

The Charities Commission has been contacted for comment.