A tribute to Trustee member Matt Dunham

It is with huge sadness that we learned that one of our Trustees, Matt Dunham, has passed away suddenly.

Matt served as a Trustee of the Liverpool & Merseyside Theatres Trust from 2018 and became the Chair of our Finance & Business Committee in December 2019. In a short space of time he made a massive contribution to our work at the Everyman & Playhouse Theatres.

An insolvency and restructuring professional who worked with organisations ranging from large corporates to non-profit bodies, he handled many high-profile administrations including Football Clubs and the British Association for Adoptions and Fostering.

Matt’s business skills, kindness and good humour helped guide the Trust through a significant period of change. This enabled him to meet more of the wider team and understand the workings of a regional theatre, a world far removed from his day to day. For this he was much respected.

Asked recently about how and why he became involved in the theatres he said:
“My first experience of Everyman and Playhouse was to see The Tin Drum. I was invited as a ‘plus one’ by a pal. It wasn’t my sort of thing, but it would give us a chance to catch up and have a gossip. How wrong I was! I was totally blown away by the production, the acting, story and the set. So when the opportunity came along to get involved with the Board, I jumped at it.

My only regret is that I didn’t get involved earlier.

My advice to my younger me would be, get involved. Take any opportunity to do something new that you can.”

Matt was a lovely, kind and supportive man and will be sorely missed. We considered him a friend. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.