Chequer Mead has a rich history dating back hundreds of years. Originally, it housed the Chequer Mead School, founded as a National School in the mid-19th century (around 1859–1861) for local children. The school operated here until 1990, when its pupils moved to newer facilities, which has since become Estcots Primary School. This historic building remained and evolved throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries with extensions and reorganisations. In 1994, East Grinstead Town Council commissioned the development of an arts centre on the former school site. The original school structures were retained and repurposed as a part of the centres front of house and studio spaces, with a new theatre building added on the site. The theatre officially opened in 1996 as a purpose-built community arts venue.
From the start, Chequer Mead was established as a community arts centre to host a wide variety of cultural and entertainment events, ranging from plays, musicals, and pantomimes to concerts and comedy nights. The venue soon became key to East Grinstead’s arts scene, including supporting the East Grinstead music and arts festival after its opening, providing a dedicated performance space that previously had been lacking in the town.
Nowadays, Chequer Mead operates as a community arts charity, with paid staff supported by over 60 wonderful volunteers. The theatre typically houses over 250 shows per year, including our own traditional pantomime which brings a returning crowd each year and is a notable highlight in our calendar. Many clubs and society’s have chosen chequer mead to be their home including The Arts Society, Eyes Wide Open, U3A, Meridian Probus, Pandas and many others. Multiple exercise groups ranging from yoga and Pilates to Thai chi use our studio space for their classes. We host many regular events aiming for all demographics such as fish and chip bingo, the collector’s fair and teddy bear story times for the little ones. We also host different types of workshops targeted to children and teens during school holidays. Recently we started our own adult choir and free crafting groups for adults and children. We aim to create a welcoming environment with something for everyone in our community.
As a charity we rely on volunteers and fundraising to help keep us going. As a creative pillar in the town, we hope to remain open as a hub for the community for many years to come and hope to continue to nurture creativity for future generations.
