Ashburton Trust Event Centre manager Roger Farr has been part of the complex since the first fundraising efforts began. Photo supplied.Today Roger Farr looks at the Ashburton Trust Event centre and calls it his second home.

He’s the man who has driven the centre from the day it opened and says he’s as passionate about the complex and the role it plays in the district as he was when he first signed on for a one-year, temporary appointment.

For years Roger has been the nuts and bolts man who was happier behind the scenes than on stage.

His specialty is the technical side of things and there’s not much about lighting, sound and special effects he doesn’t know.

His involvement also goes back to the centre’s foundations.

Back when it was still a dream, Roger had just taken over as chairman of Ashburton Operatic, today’s Variety Theatre.

As planning for the project firmed up, operatic wanted to play a strong role in fundraising and that meant coming up with a bold plan.

“As president of Variety Theatre I was on the trust and we were looking at what to do with the excess land we’d bought for the carpark.

“I said, ‘why not put two houses on there and sell them’,” Roger said.

The idea captured the trust’s imagination, but even better, it attracted the support of two people who were to play a key role in ensuring its success, Nigel Smith and Alan McCormick.

“It couldn’t have happened without them.

“We put it in their hands and the amount of community support generated was amazing.”

Two town houses were built in what became known as Project 101.

The build generated a huge amount of public interest and when the two properties were auctioned, the prices were good, seeing $200,000 deposited in the trust’s bank account.

As the new centre took shape, the operatic team began to plan a show that would be a fitting tribute to its past, but would not put too much pressure on what would be newly installed technical equipment.

A compilation of numbers from many shows from the past was created and in the countdown to opening night, Roger says most of the moments and events were lost in a blur of last-minute activity.

“There were still builders on site on opening night and we were still in the auditorium putting hand rails on at midday.”

If things went wrong, Roger can’t remember.

He looks back and compares the old and the new.

“If the old Regent had been standing at the time of the earthquakes it wouldn’t have been standing afterwards,” Roger said.

“It was amazing the shows that were put on in that theatre in spite of its shortcomings.”

Today the theatre is a community asset vested in a trust and administered by a board, but it is Roger and his team who are the face of the complex.

They take an obvious pride in how far the event centre has come in 10 short years, the range of shows it now hosts and, importantly for Roger, there has been significant growth in the strength of local performing arts across all ages.

“The level of local productions is absolutely outstanding,” he said.

The event centre will be marking its 10th birthday with glamour show Mamma Mia, with Roger doing double duty as centre manager and the show’s director.

An official function will be held prior to the show’s opening and a celebration cake will be cut in the foyer with cast members post show.

The 10th anniversary will be a quieter affair than the opening when the red carpet was rolled out and crowds dressed to the nines to celebrate the event.

Celebrations won’t end when the curtain falls for the final time on Mamma Mia’s season, as Roger plans to bring a leading act to town towards the end of the year to mark the anniversary in another way.

Who and when, he’s keeping under wraps.

As the event centre moves into its second decade, it won’t be standing still.

Roger wants to see use of its various spaces increase, the range and number of shows staged increase and he hopes to grow his technical team to a level where they can be hired out to events around Canterbury.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 5 May 2018