We are delighted to be in a position to be actively fundraising for the purchase and renovation of Sunninghill’s much loved Novello Picture House. This is the cumulation of a successful community campaign to date, which has seen the owners – Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (RBWM) – set aside previous plans to demolish the theatre and instead prioritise its sale, as an Asset of Community Value, to the local people. 

The valuation RBWM places on the theatre dictates the purchase price and that valuation has been set at £300,000. The council has opened a window of six months for community groups to register their interest and secure the funding. In addition to the purchase, the previous tenants have left a renovation and repairs bill which our surveyor and architect team estimates to be in the region of another £300-£500,000. However, once the theatre is up and running, our business plan shows us that the ongoing running costs will be met and managed by the programme of events.

We are delighted and deeply appreciative to those individuals and institutions who have already expressed an interest in financially supporting the campaign. It is clear from the response that there is a deep appreciation for the potential of the Novello as both a flourishing arts venue and local community hub and many want to see it back in the service of the SL5 area. However, as with all campaigns of this nature, it will take a concerted and sustained community effort to raise the necessary funds. 

We have a flexible and transparent approach to fundraising which has been designed to offer a wide range of approaches to support the campaign, from small individual donations all the way through to larger, cornerstone individual donations and grants from local bodies and charities.  Every single penny helps towards the bigger goal of ensuring the Novello lives on – every pound counts and we are equally grateful for every donation we receive.

We are setting up a Just Giving page to make this process as simple as possible and to make it easy for individual donors to have their donations qualify for Gift Aid, which will add 25% to every pound given.  

Cornerstone donors will be permanently recognised on Honours Boards in the foyer of the restored theatre.

Fundraising Tiers

Supporters of the Novello - £500

Named seat in the theatre

Sponsors of the Novello - £1000

Bronze recognition on honours board in the foyer

Friends of the Novello - £5000

Silver recognition on honours board in the foyer

Members of the Novello - £10,000

Gold recognition on honours board in the foyer

Patrons of the Novello - £25,000

Platinum recognition on honours board in the foyer

Partners of the Novello - £100,000

Separate honours board in the foyer

We also plan to offer ongoing events and benefits to our cornerstone donors which will allow them to stay engaged and involved in the life of the reborn theatre.

If your donation falls into one of the fundraising tiers in the table above, please contact us directly (contact@savenph.org) to make sure we have your details captured and  you have the opportunity to be recognised as a Cornerstone donor.

In addition to donations, we will be running a series of fundraising events in partnership with the team at the Cordes Hall. We will be publicising these on social media as well as through our mailing list so please do sign up to find out what is coming up and how you can get involved. We hope to have some fun while also raising money and awareness for a great cause!

We recognise that in today’s society, people face multiple asks for charitable giving and that makes us even more appreciative of the local support, financial or otherwise. In return, we truly believe bringing the Novello back to life will have a deep and long-lasting impact on our local community. 

In partnership with the Cordes Hall, we can double our village venue capacity and substantively increase the volume and variety of productions and activities we can offer. We picture a future where we can provide our local schools with the invaluable experience of running their regular productions in a fully-functioning theatre complete with green room, professional dressing rooms, sound and lighting, front of house and theatre “bar”. Or where we can host coffee mornings, educational events, comedy nights, live music or drama rehearsals in the Novello while still having space in the Cordes Hall next door for exercise or dance classes or hosting the popular crafts fair or art exhibitions. By working in partnership, the opportunities for local people are that much more.  

All that is left to say is thank you for taking the time to read this page and for considering supporting our community and our campaign. The public support has been nothing short of incredible and we owe a debt of gratitude to all those who are uniting together to bring this slice of history back into the community where it can be best managed for the benefit and joy of today’s residents – local and otherwise – as well as future generations