THE Octagon has taken a massive leap forward in its redevelopment project after collecting almost half a million pounds.

The town centre theatre received about £425,000 from recent donations towards its fundraising for the £9.87million Octagon Reimagined project, described as the most comprehensive revamp in the theatre's 50-year history.

The sum has been collected via separate donations from the Foyle Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation, which both gave £100,000, as well as the Wolfson Foundation, £50,000, and The Sir James and Lady Scott Trust, which pledged £30,000.

This added to the combined sum of £145,000 secured from The Oglesby Charitable Trust and The Granada Foundation.

The money has gone towards the theatre's capital appeal, which is aiming to raise £1.5million of the £9.87million total.

Roddy Gauld, chief executive of the Octagon, said: “The reimagined Octagon will be a theatre that all of Bolton can enjoy and be proud of for generations to come.

"These grants are highly competitive, and so it says a lot about the excitement and ambition of our plans that we’ve been so successful.

"We’ve still got the final £1million to raise and there’s a huge amount of fundraising going on, from national grants such as these to bucket collections and marathons.

"I’m really confident that others will keep supporting us and I’d like to thank everybody who has donated so far."

The Octagon Reimagined project would set the stage for the next 50 years, transforming the building and improving customer experience by updating backstage facilities, increasing accessibility and enabling a wider reach of community work.

Funding pledges have been made by Arts Council England and Bolton Council.

The authority's leader Cllr Linda Thomas, who is a member of the Octagon Theatre Board of Trustees, said: “We are very lucky to have such a superb arts facility in the borough and the theatre is also an important part of our masterplan to redevelop the town centre.

"The Octagon has been doing superb work for 50 years, producing high calibre theatre and doing much-valued community work.

"These generous donations will help to ensure that it continues to be loved by generations to come, not just by people living in Bolton but by the many visitors which it attracts to our town."

There are several ways to support the theatre, including corporate partnerships and the Buy a Brick and Sponsor a Seat schemes.

Hamlet actor David Ricardo-Pearce will be running the London Marathon to raise money for the Octagon and a team from the theatre, including artistic director Elizabeth Newman, are running the Greater Manchester 10k in May.

The timescale for the project will mean that the Octagon building will close from mid-2018 and re-open in autumn 2019.

While the building work is taking place, the Octagon will have productions taking place across Bolton.

This begins in May with Summer Holiday at the Travel Interchange and Albert Halls as well as Gulliver’s Travels at Queens Park.