The boss of a struggling theatre has given "humble and grateful" thanks the community and acknowledged its town council after the authority agreed a grant of £5,000 - but its dire funding shortage drags on.

Deal Town Council agreed to increase the threshold of its Emergency Grant Fund from £2,000 to £5,000 for businesses in crisis at a meeting last Tuesday, and The Astor Theatre will be eligible for that higher amount.

It comes after pressure from its artistic director James Tillitt and residents asking the council to step up and give the town's only theatre a cash lifeline from its reserves.

But the Stanhope Road venue was hoping for five times that amount to survive the forecast cash shortage from business disruption brought about by Covid-19 and prolonged social distancing.

Mr Tillitt said despite a commendable community effort that has already raised over £30,000 through a crowdfunding page and an art auction, it still needs £20,000 which he hoped would come from the public purse.

The pressure on the council stemmed from Mr Tillitt's call in May for urgency in helping the Astor.

He had in March asked the council for money from the £325,512 reserves. But he had not submitted an application for cash from an existing pot of money - the authority's Emergency Grant Fund - in the belief that accepting a capped £2,000 grant would make him ineligible for a more substantial amount from the reserves.

The lack of urgency came because of bureaucratic restraints. A decision on funding outside of the existing grants programme could only be made by the full council which had not, at that time, met since lockdown was announced.

A petition was started, which collected more than 1,800 signatures and asked the authority to grant money at the meeting last Tuesday.

As well as deciding to increase the Emergency Grant Fund cap, the council agreed to enter into talks with Mr Tillitt to help him identify extra public funding streams that might be available and to promote the Save the Astor fundraising efforts by encouraging local people to donate to the fund.

The town council has, to date, donated almost £30,000 to the Astor for the initial building renovation in 2009, and for subsequent projects such as the apprenticeship and community radio schemes.

Mayor Cllr Eileen Rowbotham said “Deal Town Council is proud of its record of supporting the Astor Theatre as a vibrant part of cultural life and as a vital community asset in our town.

"The Astor has rightly received national, international recognition and sympathy. However, we must follow the protocols and financial regulations when dealing with public money.

"We are keen to work collaboratively with the Astor management and I look forward to this meeting."

Mr Tillitt said: "On behalf of myself, the board of directors and the amazing staff and volunteers of the Astor Community Theatre I would like to express my profound gratitude to the people of this town for their extraordinary generosity in donating over £30,000 to our Save the Astor campaign.

"I would also like to publicly thank Penny Harvey who has organised the Great Art Raffle which to date has raised over £1,000, to Deidre Kashdan and Rebecca Bain Smith for collating the Postcards From Lockdown sale in aid of the Astor which is due to start in a couple of weeks and to publicly thank the three anonymous donors, who between them, have given the fund £15,000.

"Also, thanks to Amber Bytheway, who successfully organised the petition to save the Astor that so many of you signed.

"Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the mayor and Deal Town Council, who in spite of an unprecedented global health and social emergency and their own protocols and financial regulations, were able to award a grant of £5,000 as a small contribution to our survival.

"I welcome the mayor’s statement and look forward to the invitation from the town council to meet with them to discuss ways of working together for the benefit of the community.

"The Astor will survive and we are actively looking at ways to resume the special engagement with our community that has been the cornerstone of our success over these last 10 years.

"We will be starting a limited run of the Astor Picture House screenings, a few groups and classes will be restarting in September as well as a repositioning of what we are able to offer in other areas.

"The Astor Community Theatre has been an integral part of this town since 1906, has survived two world wars, an earlier pandemic and attempts by the town councils in the 1960’s and 1980’s to demolish or sell off the theatre, thoroughly rebuffed by the people of Deal at the time.

"For over 100 years the theatre has stood proud with the unerring loyalty and support from the community who treasure it.

"Thanks to all of you and your fervent belief in what this building represents, the Astor will get through this current emergency and will continue to provide the entertainment, the training, the education opportunities and the sense of community that exemplifies why Deal is such a unique and very special place to live.

"With my humble and grateful thanks."

How can you help The Astor Theatre?

To donate, visit the corwdfunding page.

Penny Harvey's Great Art Raffle continues, and she is in her fifth week of raffling original pieces of art, generously donated by the town's artists and galleries.

This Friday's piece is by Neil Kelly, owner of the Don't Walk Walk Gallery in Victoria Road. The raffle will be drawn at random electronically at 10am.

To buy a ticket click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Deal