A SUMMER theatre has received a £10,000 boost which will help multiple projects in time for its 80th anniversary.

Frinton Summer Theatre has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant which will fund the publication of a book called Frinton Summer Theatre: 80 Glorious Years.

It will be sold to raise funds for the theatre, which is a charitable trust.

The grant will also be used to create a digital theatrical archive and to update the theatre’s website.

Author and historian Jacey Dias, one of theatre’s trustees, is researching and writing the book with members of the Frinton and Walton Heritage Trust and students from Essex University.

She said: “Not only have we been able to delve back into newspaper archives, but I have been interviewing famous actors, such as Lord Julian Fellowes and Sir Antony Sher, who first started their careers at Frinton.

“Some of them are sending me memorabilia from their own personal collections and telling some wonderful stories about their time at Frinton.

“Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this project will enable these stories to come to life for the first time to a wide readership.”

Clive Brill, the theatre’s producer, added: “It will put Frinton Summer Theatre on the map as the longest running summer repertory in the UK.”