ACTOR Edward Fox has agreed to take a key role in helping to boost fundraising for restoration work on a theatre.

Harrogate's Grade II star-listed Royal Hall, in North Yorkshire, is being partially restored .

The Heritage Lottery Fund recently announced it would provide £6m, and its owner, Harrogate Borough Council, has tabled £2m.

Crumbling cement has forced closure of the building, following the collapse of a ceiling.

The scheme will enable the hall, seating 800 people, to reopen to the public in April 2007.

The circle will remain closed, but could reopen under longer-term plans for further restoration, boosting capacity to 1,200.

The trust aims to raise £1m, mainly to provide furnishings including curtains, plus improved dressing rooms and a more user-friendly main entrance.

Edward Fox, who has been appointed honorary president of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust, will be in Harrogate on April 7 for the relaunch of fundraising activities.

He will be attending a champagne reception at the St George Hotel, to be followed by a presentation on the restoration project, which is open to the public and starts at 6.30pm in the hotel.

It marks a nostalgic return for the actor to his family's roots in the town.

In 1894, his great, great grandfather, Samson Fox, a self-made millionaire, was the driving force behind building the Royal Hall, as well as benefactor for the Royal College of Music, in London.

Trust chairman Lilian Mina said: "The Royal Hall has been saved and fundraising is now going full steam ahead."

Published: 26/03/2005