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Saving our local cinema

(12 Posts)
nanaej Mon 27-Aug-12 17:04:51

Brilliant susie Have you been in touch with Film Education..they do some great stuff for kids/ students and may add weight to your bid! Wishing loads of luck in your project..sounds fantastic!

susiecb Mon 27-Aug-12 16:47:32

Thank you for the information several of these independants have contacted us and a couple like Curzon are bidding too. If we dont suceed we have shown you can do this and other rpojects and mobilise the community so i wont be downhearted and will defintely try to make something happen.
PS yes thats us in the Mercury.

baNANA Mon 27-Aug-12 16:02:24

Susie I wish you every success, I know if a film is one I really want to see then I like to go to the cinema and see it on the big screen. Communities need facilities like cinemas, swimming pools and libraries.

granjura Mon 27-Aug-12 15:52:06

Well done you and Melton Mowbray people smile The same thing happened here with our local cinema - the community now runs a Magic Lantern film club for youngsters, a Cine-Club and due to a change to digital, top films at the same time as the larger local towns. Lots of energy and effort - bu well worth it. BRAVO.

Maniac Mon 27-Aug-12 15:17:52

Well done susiecb and all good wishes in your project.
Look up Curzon Community Cinema on Google.Originally built in 1912 it was restored with lots of local and national support and now is a flourishing and well-loved community cinema in Clevedon N.Somerset.

Sook Mon 27-Aug-12 14:28:28

All power to you susiecb I think it's a great idea

kittylester Mon 27-Aug-12 12:09:44

Well done Susie. You've mentioned this before and I think I saw an article about you in the Leics Mercury. If we still lived in Melton I'd love to help. flowers

JessM Mon 27-Aug-12 11:09:09

Good luck Susie, there is a similar project in Berkhamstead - therexberkhamsted.com
so might be worth talking to them.

Also in NZ where they LOVE cinema, there are lots of projects. e.g. mobile cinema in a lorry. Cinemas there usually have a nice cafe/coffee shop. Oh the joy of taking tea and cake into an afternoon showing.

Where my son lives in paekakariki the local pub/restaurant/motel have just converted one end of their ground floor into a mini cinema. So you can combine a nice meal, or a pint, with a film.

www.finnshotel.co.nz

(NZ pining moment at this point sad )

Bez Mon 27-Aug-12 11:09:07

Our nearest Ville in France has a theatre/cinema which is entirely run by volunteers. It is all very friendly and they show all the current films and now quite a few in the Version Original for all the Brits. Until quite recently they had a lady with the ice cream tray coming round in the interval which was actually about ten minutes after the programme started when the adverts were finished. Now you buy them as you go in.
I think they must get some funding also as recently the whole sound system etc was updated.

Ella46 Mon 27-Aug-12 10:41:34

That sounds like a very worthwhile project susie, good for you!

annodomini Mon 27-Aug-12 10:15:54

More power to your elbow, Susie. I do hope you succeed in your enterprise. It's so worthwhile. I admire your energy and dedication. flowers x x

susiecb Mon 27-Aug-12 10:07:25

Can I just tell you about something I have started? In June our local cinema closed due to the untimely death of its lovely owner. A few weeks later the family decided to close it down. Its a single screen cinema which showed all the blockbusters. We are 12miles from the next nearest cinema a multiplex which is expensive and needs a car if you are going in the evening as the buses stop before the film ends. SO I wrote aletter to the paper saying why dont we , the people of Melton Mowbray run it ourselves. I was inundated with e-mails etc and requests from the local paper to get it started. So I did. I started a facebook page which now has 465 members and an e-mail contact list of another 100. I formed a small working group from people who said they would help managers, accountants and the like and we have written our business plan, got our papers together to form a Community Interest Company,are bidding for funds from The Big Society held a public meeting attended by 100 people and met with the chief honcos in the local council. I have been on BBC Radio three times and local radio twice and BBC TV Midlands wants to do a feature. We may not get the lease but we will have tried. If we dont get it we will have the beginnings of a good film club. My aim is to open the cinema gain but also do outreach media work with schools as a not for profit commuity interest compnay. My point in syaing all this is to encourage anyone thinking of having a go at running something in their own community to have a go. So may facilities are closing in this recession social enterprises are a way of keeping something open. Please have a look at the facebook page if you have it its called Save Regal Melton it was the fastest way of gaining support and demonstrating needs and wishes of a community when making a bid.