It's 40 years since the Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells hosted its first show.

To celebrate, the charity that runs the theatre has planned a series of events over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

It begins with a variety show on Friday, August 26, in which performers from across the community are being invited to take part, whether their act involves magic, music, dance or drama.

The next day. Saturday, August 27, will see the theatre in Church Road host a free summer fête complete with bouncy castles, face painting, a coconut shy, a tombola, and hook-a-duck.

The anniversary celebrations will continue into the night with a traditional ceilidh with dancing to a live band.

Finally, on Sunday, August 28, the theatre will host The Great Trinity Muck In, in which they hope the townsfolk will freely donate of their skills be they as cleaners, decorators, gardeners or handymen, to help spruce up the building.

A reward of tea and cakes awaits.

Trinity's archivist Roger Norton said: "I was fortunate to come across Trinity over 20 years ago, and have worked as a volunteer in many different roles ever since."

He said: "Tunbridge Wells is so fortunate to have at its heart such a lively, friendly and inspiring place for plays, music, films and comedy.

"I doubt there is a theatre anywhere in the country that can match Trinity's output. We are indeed very blessed to have Trinity at the centre of our local community."

Later this year, Trinity Theatre will be opening its 200-year-old clock-tower for the very first time after it is has been redeveloped as an exhibition space.

Visitors will be able to climb the tower’s new spiral staircase and discover the building’s fascinating history; from its origins as a Gothic Church designed by renowned architect Decimus Burton in the 1820s, to the community battle that saved it from demolition a century later.

The top of the clock-tower not only boasts the original clock and bell, but will provide unparalleled panoramic views of Tunbridge Wells.

Holy Trinity Church was declared redundant and closed by the Church Commissioners in 1974. After a petition by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society to save the building, the church gave the town one year to find a suitable public use for it.

After the church approved in principle a plan to turn the building into a community theatre and arts centre in 1976, £50,000 was raised in six months, to allow a long-term lease to be agreed with the Diocese of Rochester from January 1977.

However, the building had dry rot and damaged masonry which had to be repaired before raked theatre seats could be installed and it couldn't open until 1982.

Since then it has hosted more than 10,000 shows.

The very first performance was Stevie by the Channel Theatre Company at 7.30pm on Monday, June 28. They were closely followed by guitarist Michael Conn, The Royal Tunbridge Wells Male Voice Choir, and by the Tunbridge Wells Drama Club, who presented their version of Precious Bane by Mary Webb. In the second week of opening, the Medieval Players presented four plays, including The Pardoners Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Trinity continued to be run entirely by volunteers until 1996, when there was a major refurbishment of the auditorium, cafe, foyer and arts gallery and it was felt that it was time to instal its first paid manager - Les Miller. Since then other professional staff have been added although volunteers remain at the heart of the operation and continue to act as duty managers, ushers, box office staff and gardeners.

The theatre has flourished, winning for Best Kent Theatre Award on several occasions.

Its current artistic director is Sean Turner, best known for the long-running West End hit "The Play That Goes Wrong", which he has directed in many countries around the world.

He took over in 2021 from John Martin.

The ABC cinema closed in 2000 leaving Tunbridge Wells without a big screen. The following year, Trinity added regular film shows to its already diverse repertoire. The first film to be shown was a re-run of Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Sometimes Trinity combines screen and performance with live relays from The National Theatre, The Globe, the RSC, the Royal Opera, Glyndebourne and the Royal Ballet.

Trinity has always shied away from panto - even at Christmas. Instead it has produced first-class family shows based on classic stories: Roald Dahl's BFG (2013) and The Witches (1999), Oliver! (2015), The Wizard of Oz (2017), Wind in the Willows (2018),

A Christmas Carol (three times) and The Prince and the Pauper (2021).

It has also presented some top musicals, including Spamalot (2016) and the hilarious The Producers (2018).

Many famous musicians and singers have performed at the Trinity, among them Cleo Lane and Johnny Dankworth, the Humphrey Lyttleton Band, Julian Lloyd Webber, John Williams and George Melly.

Also Alan Price, Georgie Fame, George Melly, Kiki Dee, Acker Bilk and Kyle Eastwood, son of the actor Clint Eastwood.

Kyle is known as a jazz bass guitar player, but he is also a composer and has written the sound-track for nine of his father's films including Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino.

When it has been unable to secure the real stars, the Trinity has given a showcase to some top tribute acts: Letz Zep, No Jacket Required (Phil Collins), Hometown (Adele), The Who Show and Floyd in the Flesh among them.

For the first 20 years, the Trinity also hosted regular lunchtime classical concerts and monthly presentations by the Green Room Music Club.

Comedy has always played a big role at the Trinity. And if it cannot actually claim to have "discovered" them, its intimate Comedy Cafe can at least say it hosted performances by many of today's top comedy names well before they were famous. Among those given a break at the Trinity were

Eddie Izzard, Al Murray and Sean Lock (all in 1996), Lee Mack and Jenny Eclair (1998), Ross Noble and Reginald D. Hunter (1999), Stephen K. Amos (2000). Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Briain and Lucy Porter (2001), John Bishop (2002), Alan Carr (2004), - the list goes on.

Many top comedians at the height of the fame have also performed at Trinity, with some using it as a "warm-up" venue to practise their acts before going on to perform at the O2 or the Hammersmith Apollo.

Among them have been Jo Brand, Dom Joly, Milton Jones, Ruby Wax, Alexei Sayle, Rory Bremner and Ed Byrne.

Plus Jack Dee, Hugh Dennis, Lee Evans, Josh Widdecombe, Phil Jupitus, Tony Robinson, Griff Rhys Jones and Tim Vine.

Nevertheless, theatre remains the heart of Trinity. As well as top drama from national touring companies, such as the performance of Billy Liar by the National Theatre, and Cut and Dried by the Hull Truck Touring Company, Trinity has also developed its own resident amateur theatre group, the the Trinity Theatre Club, which has itself presented mote than 200 plays over the f 40-year span.

It's latest production, Private Lives, Noel Coward's comic masterpiece, starts on Tuesday, July 19, and runs until Saturday, July 23, with tickets starting at £16.50, bookable here.

In addition there is a thriving youth theatre, for seven to 19-year-olds, which presents three shows during the summer - this year they are The Addams Family, The Jungle Book and Seussical the Musical - and often additional shows during the February and October school half-term breaks.

Past performances have included Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd and Legally Blonde.

This year, they will again be presenting a new play at the Edinburgh Festival .

Trinity has its own Creative Engagement team, which aims to ensure there is something for everybody, be it Baby's Rhyme Time, Children's Storytelling, Move with Music which provides seated exercise to popular music from years gone by, or Senior Sing for the over 55s.

The latter is a chance to sing along to music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, but the organisers promise: "It doesn't matter if you can't sing - it's all about meeting people, having fun and eating biscuits!"

The theatre has has its own education department that in more than 20 local schools each week, helping children use drama to improve their speech and communication needs.

For those who prefer not to be in the lime-light themselves, there are classes in costume and mask-making.

The latest addition to Trinity's ever-expanding repertoire is the Repair Cafe, held on one Saturday a month. This green initiative gives residents the chance to take along some broken household item and have it fixed rather than throw it away. "Customers" can also sit in with the repairers if they want to and learn how to do the job themselves in future.

In short, Trinity Theatre has embedded itself into the life of Tunbridge Wells. It's amazing to think that without the determination of a small group of people more than 40 years ago, none of this would have been possible.

Around 20 miles away, another community group is struggling to save a redundant church building for community use.

The Heart of Headcorn group wants to buy the village Methodist Church in Headcorn High Street, which was closed to worship in 2021, to turn it into a community centre.

Perhaps Trinity's story will be an inspiration to them.