A LEADING community-based drama group is celebrating a grant of £4,898 from Awards for All, which provides Lottery funding for local groups.

The Teesdale-based Castle Players will use the money to buy a lighting control desk and all the associated equipment needed to light a theatrical production to professional standard.

The company is well known for its open-air productions of Shakespeare in the grounds of the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle each July. A trademark of those productions is the spectacular lighting in the trees of the museum park as the summer nights draw to a close during the second half of the shows.

Mary Stastny, the director responsible for fundraising, said, "This is great news for the company. We are particularly pleased, as our community approach to our productions addresses many of the key criteria set by the Awards for All committee.

"Part of our plan is to train new people to use the lighting desk and other equipment and to extend the skill base of our team.

"The aims of the award body are to support local activity, extend access and participation, increase skill and creativity and improve the quality of life."

Press officer Trudi Dixon felt that funding from sources such as the Lottery was becoming a fundamental part of being able to produce the kind of plays the Castle Players had created their reputation around in the last 13 years.

"We must provide affordable access to our productions but we cannot raise all the funds required by ticket revenue alone," she added.

"This makes this award so very important to our continued success and development."

The Players will put their new equipment into use in this year's production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, which will be performed in the grounds of the Bowes from July 10-13