In 2012, I volunteered as an usher at The Lyceum Theatre in Crewe. While there, I met and worked with wonderful people whose love of theatre was electric. I have never worked with such an amazing team or in such an incredible atmosphere. The work was fast-paced and sometimes difficult, but so very worth the effort. The lessons learned were priceless and changed my whole outlook on life. For personal reasons, I couldn't continue and ended my voluntary position after around a year and a half.

During my time front of house, I developed an idea for a story and began gathering facts to help me put it together. Over the next two years, I researched as much as I could about the building and its history. Some facts are well known, but so much was scattered throughout old newspapers and seemingly unnoticed pdf's online. Once gathered, they enabled me to feel the past a little more closely than I'd first thought, and the story started to flow.

Once I realised it would become a novel, I also imagined the other formats it could evolve into. In the beginning, I built the character profiles from poems I had written about each resident ghost, and the pieces fit into place easily. I imagined my story on the stage too, and also a theatre tour with special effects, allowing the audience to be part of the experience.

I have great faith in this project and believe The Lyceum Crewe should have all the legend, mystery and drama that its place in the town deserves.

​

The five main poems based on the ghosts are written and available as a free digital download.

The novel is mostly written and will be complete in 2027.

When the novel is finished, I will write the stage version and decide the parts to be included in the tour.