Up to 2010 the Five Acres site at Berry Hill hosted the best leisure and recreation site in the forest. There was a running track, squash and tennis courts and swimming pool. But the best feature was the theatre. There was seating for an audience of 450 people, an orchestra pit to contain a proper orchestra, and a box office, and there were backstage areas for performers to assemble before their performance and for winding down after another great show.

I remember some great cultural events at the Berry Hill site. There were choirs and brass bands from the Forest and beyond, and some of the best musicals of the 20th century were performed to professional standards by our local musical groups, including My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, and Cabaret, a delightfully decadent view of pre-war Berlin. These shows featured great performances by local superstars Anna Whitney and Derek Walker and many other talented members of the Forest Musical Theatre group, and the Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra would provide the music.

Backstage at the performances of Oklahoma! there was enough room for my wife Ann, the stage manager, to manoeuvre onto the stage a carriage (known as a ‘surrey’, a horse drawn carriage but without the horse) for the show’s classic song ‘The Surrey with the Fringe on Top’.

In spite of strong opposition, all these cultural and sporting facilities were demolished. The Member of Parliament at that time, Mark Harper, called in to see what could be done. Dean Forest Voice and the very active local group FANS (Five Acres Not for Sale) campaigned, but to no avail. The site was levelled.

Every couple of years or so a plan to restore the Five Acres would be tentatively presented, only to be quietly buried. The latest one, which has just emerged, does not include a theatre or a swimming pool. It seems to be offered on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis. It will cost the District Council £1.8 million, which may be accepted, as the alternative is further delays. There will be some benefits, so the Council doesn’t have much choice. A sad blow to the theatre going public, the performers and the swimmers of the Forest.

Oklahoma! Incudes the song ’All or nuthin ‘ and it is sad that our council has been coerced into accepting ‘somethin’, however unsatisfactory, rather than ‘nuthing’, which may be the outcome if this offer had not been accepted. Could we please have our swimming pool and theatre back? We’ve been waiting 15 years.