Anna Fielding-O'Farrell is spearheading a project to secure the future of Wingfield Arts Centre near Eye
Imagine being a person steeped in the arts and getting the chance to take charge of a 16th century barn complex which is devoted to music, theatre and exhibitions and set in beautiful Suffolk countryside only a couple of miles from your own doorstep.
That chance came to Anna Fielding-O’Farrell, now operations manager at the Wingfield Barns arts centre near Eye. But she nearly turned it down.
“I had a secure local authority position which had lots of perks. I loved the people I worked with and the work itself and I genuinely didn’t know if applying for the Wingfield job would be the right thing to do,” says Anna, who has never regretted her decision to accept the opportunity.
While her work at Wingfield Barns is not without its pressures and strains, for Anna it is the ideal job, enabling her to pursue her love of the arts, being on her doorstep and offering her the flexibility to have a family life outside the workplace.
Wingfield Barns began its life as an arts centre under the guidance of artist and university lecturer Ian Chance, who had previously used his neighbouring home, a former ecclesiastical college, for exhibitions and music and theatre performances.
The barns, in use as part of a working farmyard until the 1980s, were renovated and converted into an arts centre with money from the National Lottery but, situated off the beaten track in a location many people consider remote, it had always struggled to become economically viable.
However, the centre was considered a valuable asset in a rural area where arts opportunities were confined to a few small venues in Waveney Valley towns.
Mid Suffolk District Council stepped in to take over the ownership of the barn complex and a new era was begun with the creation of a Community Interest Company to take over the day-to-day running, with the local authority paying the maintenance and, often hefty, repair and maintenance bills.
Now Anna is spearheading a project which would see the arts centre transferred to ownership by the local community.
It seeks a £150,000 grant from the Community Ownership Fund (COF), a grant which would have to be matched by a similar amount raised locally. The plan is to do this by the selling of shares. The COF money would cover the cost of maintenance of the site for the next ten years.
“We have put out feelers to organisations, businesses and individuals about the share idea and the response so far has generally been very good,” said Anna who lives with her husband, James, and two children, Eva and Fynn, in neighbouring Stradbroke.
If the project succeeds it will bring an end to reliance on the red tape and often slow wheels of local authority decision-making and provide freedom to pursue a variety of independent paths, as well as various new funding channels.
A separate application has gone to the Arts Council which, if successful, will fund a programme of cultural events, projects, opportunities and activities in the local community. The application is for £50,000 a year for three years.
“The money would revolutionise this place providing arts workshops for primary schools, people from under-privileged areas and people, including the elderly, who live isolated lives, especially as a result of the pandemic. “If approved this will make us a local ambassador for the Arts Council – it is a way of feeding out their money across the country.”
Anna has lived in the local area all her life. She attended the Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham and went on to take a law degree at Reading University.
“I’d always wanted to study law. I remember as a child watching programmes such as Kavanagh QC and thinking I’d like to do that. But I couldn’t afford to take the Bar exam because that would have taken another ten thousand pounds and we didn’t have that sort of money.”
Her working career began in a pub and restaurant, the Fox and Goose at Fressingfield. Anna had worked there during university breaks.
“I came home from uni not knowing what I wanted to do next. I worked at the Fox and Goose all through the summer and then the owner invited me to take over running the pub side of the business, so that’s what I did. I was there three years.”
An advertisement for a job at the Apex arts centre at Bury St Edmunds took her eye. She became front of house manager after a short time as deputy.
“I learned a lot about event management. I tried to make sure the performers had a good time as well as the audience and that they wanted to come back again.”
Six years later, after giving birth to the second of her two children, she found the daily “commute” to Bury increasingly problematic and living costs high expensive in terms of childcare. But for her family’s sake she needed to earn an income.
“Going back to the Apex after having the new baby was really hard. My mum showed me a leaflet which had come through her door advertising the job at Wingfield Barns. I thought I would give it a go although when I turned up for the interview I’d had absolutely no sleep because Fynn was not a good sleeper.”
There were several other applicants but Anna was offered the job and she has never regretted the move. “I genuinely didn’t know if it was the right thing to do. It seemed a massive risk. I almost turned it down because I was scared, but in the end I thought I’d give it a go.”
That was six years ago and, while it does not make a fortune, Wingfield Barns now operates on a solid financial footing, an important part of its income being earned through the hosting of weddings and other celebrations.
Anna works many more hours than the 30 she is paid for and this is also true of her assistant, Anna Nelson, who is paid for 20 hours.
“We see our role as providing arts and cultural service to the community and Mid Suffolk’s role in that is to maintain the building. It is a Grade II listed building and they have a duty of care towards it.”
As well as art exhibitions there are theatre and music performances and a new programme of educational outreach work.
The centre’s ongoing success depends greatly on a team of volunteers who do everything from manning the bar on performance nights to cutting the grass in the grounds.
“The volunteers are amazing. They are so loyal and enthusiastic. I absolutely love what I do, including the variety of it. No two days are the same, no two weeks are the same and I can’t imagine going in to a nine to five job.”
Anna is also grateful for the support of Diana Kearsley, chairman of the board which oversees her work, and board members including Matthew Abercrombie, former theatre manager at the Theatre Royal Stow/Bury.
Space in some buildings at Wingfield Barns is also rented out, tenants including picture-framer Ivor Butcher, surveyor Eammon Andrews, consultant Andrew Pilling and the multi-academy All Saints Schools Trust which provides admin services for eleven local primary schools.
The complex of buildings - until the 1980s part of a centuries-old working farm, with dairy, grain silos and a cattle yard - is also the home of Open Space Theatre Company, which tours venues in the Waveney Valley, from Diss in the west to Lowestoft in the east. Another theatre company, RoughCast, also rents a store on the site.
