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The Criterion Theatre at Blue Town is hoping to go up in the world.
It is installing a lift so all visitors can easily reach the top two floors which include a reproduction of Lord Nelson's cabin on HMS Victory.
But there is a snag. Founder Jenny Hurkett has won funding for the £25,000 mechanism from the Garfield Weston Foundation but has discovered she now needs a lift shaft.
She said: "I imagined, like most people, that the shaft would come with the lift. But it appears it doesn't. So we need to raise another £15,000 urgently for that work."
It is a race against time as she wants the lift installed by January when she is planning to relaunch the historic building, which is home to Sheppey's Blue Town Heritage Centre.
She said: "To be ready for the new year I need to book the lift in October which is why there is now such a rush."
The auditorium of the theatre is already doubling as a function room and staged its first wedding reception last month for staff member Tina Amos and her new husband John Vernel.
The couple, who formally married in Rochester on May 1, had to postpone their reception because of the Covid pandemic.
Colleagues secretly kitted out the ground floor as a surprise for the couple, creating a new seating arrangement and top table on the stage under an arc of balloons.
Jenny said: "It was a lot of hard work but really worth it. It proved the area can easily lend itself to becoming an intimate birthday or anniversary venue for up to 50 guests."
She added: "Luckily we have found a local builder who will install the shaft at cost price otherwise we could have been looking at nearly £90,000.
"We are holding raffles and writing to local business leaders to ask for financial help. Any assistance will be appreciated."
She said: "We have many coach parties, often with elderly visitors. Some can manage one flight of stairs to our museum floor but a second flight can prove one too many."
The new lift will replace a storage area currently hidden behind a door. To help, email bthc@btconnect.com or or call 01795 662981.
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