It is with great sadness that I have to inform you of the death of Con Chandler, Chairman of the drama sub-committee and one of the founder members of the Havering Arts Council.

The contribution Con and Grant Chandler have made to amateur theatre in Havering goes back over half a century. With Romford Children’s Theatre they were involved in theatre in education long before it became a buzz word and fashionable, and Shakespeare in the Park, of which they were founder members, pre-dates the Havering Arts Council by many years.

Sadly we have lost a member of our team that contributed so much to theatre in the Borough.

There will be many memories of Con – tea lady, sandwich maker, feeder of stage crews, caterer for festivals, seamstress, milliner, wardrobe mistress, producer, director, actress - a lady of many parts and of great talent.

Con’s funeral was at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch at 1.15pm. on Monday 20th April with cremation following at the Corbets Tey Crematorium at 2.00pm.

'Con'

Among the many tributes paid to Con Chandler we are privileged to have been given permission to bring you part of the talk given at her funeral by Jim Rimell, a long time friend, colleague and member of the Romford Summer Theatre:

‘It was in the field of amateur theatricals that Con’s talents found their fullest expression. For over half a century she acted, directed, designed, supported, encouraged. There were exotic plays for young children, plays of classic stature for teenagers, festival pieces for competition, open air Shakespeare. As an actress, she could be imperious and haughty or malevolent and cruel, racily confidential or prissily disapproving. Almost uncanny was her ability to impersonate small girls of the obnoxious variety. She directed with assurance and command, knowing and trusting her text, and bringing the very best out of her players, whatever their experience.

As a costume designer, she was a marvel. With the simplest of materials, from the unlikeliest of sources, she worked miracles, she created wonders. A truly gifted needlewoman, she had a tremendous feel for texture and colour, for line and shape, for pattern and decoration. Her eye for detail remained undimmed throughout the long years, and whatever the historical period involved she produced costumes of the highest level of quality and execution (an adjudicator wrote that – one of the adjudicators who knew what he was talking about). But of course creating a costume was only the beginning – woe betide players who did not look after her costumes carefully, or wear them properly!

Her greatest legacy is not difficult to seek out. For forty seven consecutive years, a play by Shakespeare has been performed during June in the rockery gardens of Raphael Park. This huge undertaking inspires the loyalty of all those involved in its creation, and indeed of all those who come to see the play each year, complete with blankets and umbrellas, insect repellant and liquid refreshment. Ever since it began, Con has been at the heart of this enterprise, involved in virtually every aspect of its development. She loved the plays, and she cared passionately about their presentation in the park. Every summer she devoted hours and hours of her time and energy to this cause; she gave of herself abundantly, often to the point of exhaustion and beyond. More than any other single individual, she has ensured the continuation of what has become a tradition, without which a Havering summer would surely be unthinkable. She was proud of what Romford summer Theatre has achieved and rightly so. Her speeches of welcome to the audience came from the heart.

Con died three days before the first rehearsal for this year’s production of Romeo and Juliet.