Name that building ! Bands revisited !

I laughed to myself when I received this picture a couple of weeks ago ! As I recognized this building immediately ! [ it holds lots of lovely memories for me ] Can you tell me the name of the building and where it is located ? It is widely regarded as one of the finest neo-classical buildings in the world and is grade two listed. The first foundation stone was laid in 1838 [ to commemorate the coronation of queen Victoria ]but the actual building was not started until 1842 , a truly muti purpose community building where people could be tried for murder , attend a ball or listen to a concert all under one roof ! [and no , I was not up in court ]
It fell into disrepair in the 1980`s [ the law court was closed and moved location in 1984 ] but it re-opened in April 2007 following a £23 million award winning refurbishment project and is now a focal point for cultural , community , civic, corporate and performing arts activities. It stands 169 ft long 74 ft wide with a tunnel vaulted ceiling , the largest of its kind in Europe .The ceiling is supported on massive red granite columns ,
Behind the gold leaf and porticoes the hall has one of the greatest brick arches in the world and houses a priceless mosaic floor of 30,000 tiles ,The hall is also home to a concert organ complete with 7,000 pipes second only to the organ in the Albert Hall.
Several years ago a gang of us- consisting mainly of my sisters allotment buddies , myself and brother in law Chris decided we wanted to learn how to dance ! we joined a local dance class-I can`t tell you how much fun it was ! After several months we got a minibus going and treated ourselves to a night out here ! There was a champagne bar made from ice ! a demonstration by some of the stars from Strictly Come Dancing , We had a fantastic time !

It was lovely just to dress up ! Can you spot any familiar faces ? if the couple in the centre would only get out of the damn way ! there is rather a dashing couple in the background [to the right ] !! I`am so glad we made the most of these Spring and Summer balls when we did as they were deemed last year not to be cost effective so they no longer hold them .
I`am reliving it all again just seeing the photographs-its a fabulous place-don`t you agree ? So which building and where did our travelling bands pass by ?
For anyone like me who enjoys looking for antique bargains you will probably enjoy the programme Cash in the Attic . In a recent episode the actor Frazer Hines was donating unwanted items in support of his cancer charity [ Frazer suffered with bowel cancer-happily now he has received the all clear ] I met Frazer last year in Prestatyn while he was touring doing his one man show, he was a charming man and readily agreed to support Andrew and he purchased a MND band from me . You can imagine how thrilled I was while watching the episode to see that Frazer was actually wearing his MND band on the programme [ scenes filmed at the auction ] What a boost it has given Andrew and the family to see how actively he is supporting our campaign. I left a message on Frazers facebook page to thank him .

You can watch the programme BBC I player-cash in the celebrity attic: series 6 : Frazer Hines
www.bbc.co.uk