AN iconic part of a North-East theatre will be brought into public use for the very first time – thanks to a cash injection from Northumbrian Water.

As part of the regeneration of Darlington Civic Theatre, due to reopen later this year as Darlington Hippodrome, the theatre’s water tower will be converted into a new function room and public area.

The £40,000 grant is part of a pot of £300,000 from Northumbrian Water which has been given to organisations across the North-East to support community, environmental and heritage projects.

The money, which has been released from legacy Landfill Tax funds, has gone to 11 projects, including £42,705 to Beamish, The Living Museum of the North towards the creation of an allotment in its Remaking Beamish project.

Groundwork North-East and Cumbria have been given £18,850 to develop a dementia-friendly Water Garden in Chester-Le-Street.

Durham Wildlife Trust has also been awarded £20,762 to restore the hydrology at a nature reserve in Witton-Le-Wear.

The funding has been allocated through the County Durham Community Foundation, Tees Valley Community Foundation and the Community Foundation Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

Louise Hunter, director of corporate affairs at Northumbrian Water, said: “We understand the value that strong communities bring to the places and customers we serve.

"Each of these 11 projects has demonstrated great potential to add real value to those communities, and we have worked with our partners to identify organisations with ambitions to deliver exciting ideas that also support and reflect the environment and local heritage.

“We are very excited to see the results of each of these projects as they are delivered and become a part of community life, helping a wide range of people to get more out of the resources around them.

“It’s great that we have been able to release some of our legacy Landfill Tax funds to support these projects.”