UK - This year, at the ABTT Members' Christmas Party on Friday 6 December, the Association of British Theatre Technicians, with the support of ETC and LW Theatres, honoured four of its members by awarding them Honorary Membership and Fellowship for their extraordinary work.
ABTT co-chairs Mig Burgess and David Evans kicked off the afternoon at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, welcoming the crowd and sharing the exciting news that this year, more members than ever would be celebrated. The Awards began by announcing that there were “two exceptional individuals whose contributions to the Association have been nothing short of extraordinary. This prestigious recognition of Honorary Membership is reserved only for those who have truly excelled in advancing the ABTT’s charitable goals – and these two individuals have certainly done just that.”
The first Honorary Membership was presented to Jane Thornton by ABTT co-chair Mig Burgess who explained that, since 2001, Jane had meticulously built the ABTT Archive ensuring that important information about the Association is retained and accessible. Jane has also created separate archives for the Theatres Advisory Council and the Standing Advisory Committee on Local Authorities and Theatre which were then donated to the V&A Theatre Collections.
Jane became the guardian of the ABTT book collection, now housed at The Theatres Trust for better access and oversaw the digitisation of the ABTT’s collection of interviews with industry practitioners. In 2020, Jane then archived and catalogued the ABTT’s archive ahead of the office closure, focusing on finalising the Archive for its new publicly accessible home.
Mig added that “without Jane’s tireless dedication, the ABTT’s moves in 2004 and 2021 – to Farringdon and to remote working – would not have been possible and this step to reducing our carbon footprint would never have been achieved.”
David Evans presented the second Honorary Membership of the day, noting that it was “with great pride that he got to award this Honorary Membership to his friend and previous ABTT CEO Robin Townley, in recognition of his unwavering commitment and exceptional service to the ABTT over the last 30 years”.
After taking one of the ABTT’s early training courses, Robin not only joined the Association but became an active force within it, quickly becoming involved in various Committees, including Training and Education Committee, Safety Committee and – most notably – the Technical Standards Committee, forging a long and impactful relationship with the ABTT.
The first Fellowship was awarded to Paddy Dillon who is one of the UK’s leading architects for cultural buildings. In 2020, Paddy initiated the development of The Theatre Green Book to provide guidance and standards for environmental sustainability in theatre. He united the UK’s leading theatre organisations, bringing theatre-makers together with sustainability experts to define clear guidance and shared standards for the journey to zero carbon.
The Theatre Green Book is now translated into multiple languages, and is being used worldwide, including by all the UK’s leading theatres and opera companies and has now been commissioned by Arts Council England and the Greater London Authority to develop the publication for all cultural organisations.
Following the acceptance of the certificate Mig Burgess then invited Brod Mason, Project Manager to introduce the recipient of the second ABTT Fellowship of the day. The second Fellowship went to Phil Parsons. Brod Mason delivered the f commendation: “Few people invent a product, which becomes ubiquitous in an industry. Everyone here and in the entertainment industry has either used, stood on, or had to move around a Steeldeck.
“Like Hoover, it has become the generic term for similar products, as well as the benchmark against which they are all measured. Since its launch in 1986 at the ABTT Theatre Show it is a product which instantly made gate-fold rostra a thing of the past, changing how we do things in theatre, events, film, tv, exhibitions, concerts, museums, schools and churches.
Parsons also designed the Mirage range of seats and the A-Pack Curved or Straight Retractable Seating Systems. Phil was unable to join, however his daughter Katherine Herzog Parsons who was present to collect the award read out the following quote from him, “I'm thrilled and humbled to accept the Fellowship, really on behalf of all the inventors and designers and crafts people and managers whose collective achievement this has been.”
