An amateur theatre company and a centuries-old charity are joining forces on a redevelopment scheme that aims to benefit them both.

Winchester Dramatic Society and the St John's Charity have submitted a joint application to the city council for an extension to the former Church of St Peter in Chesil Street.

As the Chesil Theatre, the 900-year-old building has been the society's home since 1966.

St John's owns a former coalyard next door as well as four terraced cottages which are currently rented on short lets - they would be demolished under the proposals.

The aim is to build an extension to the theatre, linking with a new daytime drop-in centre for the 100 "needy persons of good character" who live in the charity's four sheltered-housing sites in the city.

A new refectory and kitchen will provide a place where pensioners can get a cooked meal daily.

There will be a hall or community room between the two sites for use by both St John's and the dramatic society.

A new foyer will be created for the theatre as well as a new bar with space for meetings, exhibitions and rehearsals.

Backstage facilities will be improved with better dressing rooms and more space for wardrobe and set construction. Facilities for disabled people will also be improved with adapted toilets.

Theatre bosses say the extra space will enable it to put on more productions, increase the number of youth workshops it runs, provide daytime recreational activities for the elderly and host small-scale touring productions.

There is no parking proposed, but the city centre almshouses are within walking distance and there will be vehicular access with a drop-off point.

The charity also wants to rebuild a private pedestrian bridge from Chesil Street to The Weirs, over the River Itchen, so its elderly residents won't have to negotiate traffic on narrow Bridge Street.

The planning application includes proposals for five one-bedroom terraced houses to be built by a developer and sold privately.

Proceeds of the sale of land would help fund the St John's part of the scheme.

But, to turn its dream of a larger theatre into a reality, Winchester Dramatic Society will need to raise about £700,000.

If planners give the go-ahead, grant applications will be made to the National Lottery and other bodies and a community fund-raising campaign will also be launched next month.

Set up in 1893, the dramatic society claims to be the oldest independent one in the country. Certainly, it occupies one of the oldest buildings.

The former church of St Peter dates back to Norman times. The medieval flint and stone building was threatened with demolition in the 1960s but saved by the Winchester Preservation Trust - now the City of Winchester Trust.

Tom Williams, president of the society, said: "The final vision is a better theatre, producing top-quality work and providing a wider community facility for Winchester that will go on for the next 100-plus years."

The Revd Michael Jackson, director of Winchester St John's Charity, said: "We wanted to create a new community room and the theatre wanted to enlarge its facilities.

"After some lengthy discussions, we thought it might be possible to link the two developments and that they might support each other.

"It our hope that our active elderly people may become involved in the theatre, for example, making costumes and scenery."