The Roses’ Chronicle SUMMER 2023 Dear Friends, Summer has zoomed by here at The Roses in a whirlwind of change and growth throughout 2023 so far. While some of this has happened behind the scenes, that you can read about inside, some is very much at the forefront – we finally installed our fabulous new ground floor foyer bar, upstairs kitchen and complete makeover of Front of House, supported by a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund. With The Roses’ team firing on all cylinders, we are feeling super excited about our future. This sense of potential and opportunity is not only contained to The Roses: with the fastest growing population in the UK, a new and dynamic Vicar starting at Tewkesbury Abbey in September and the juggernaut success of new events like Tewkesbury Live and Tewkesbury Goes Wild there’s a real buzz in the air. Most excitingly there’s also a growing culture of collaboration in the town: new networking groups are springing up and Tewkesbury Culture Consortium is expanding to the Tewkesbury Culture, Heritage and Nature Network as it continues to attract new members from across the area. In partnership with international engineering and tech company’s they will be launching a winter festival and conference in 2024 that will place the town at the centre of cutting-edge conversations about human futures, climate and resilience. This new energy for connection can be seen at the Roses too – in less than 9 months we are almost at capacity for our Roses Young Creatives with nearly 100 young people expected to take to the stage next year. And only 2 months after it launched we have 7 Business Patrons, who alongside our brilliant membership (that’s you) provide us with vital support. The Roses can only make a small fraction of its turnover from ticket sales, so our family of supporters is the reason we are punching way above our weight. To each and every one of you, a huge thanks!
Jess Brewster Director