For some time now, Stratford District Council has been exploring the possibility of bringing a Rural Cinema scheme to many of our local villages. The project has now become a reality and is called ‘Moving Pictures’. On behalf of the Parish Council I have attended several meetings at SDC involving this project and based on the feedback, we as the Parish Council have decided to support the project as we see many benefi ts for all the Village as a whole.
This project gives access to films for residents who, in normal instances, would not be able to travel into Stratford. In addition the project will provide greater community cohesion by providing a regular social gathering for all ages.
In addition, as the months go by, we may be able to expand the concept to cover specific groups within the Village and also consider Matinee performances.
We have a natural venue in our Village Hall and we intend to run a ‘Moving Pictures’ event once a month starting in February 2008. All the equipment needed to ensure a successful event will be provided by the SDC at a hire fee to cover film hire, licensing, maintenance and administration. We estimate that ticket prices will be £4 per person and we will need to sell a minimum of 16 tickets per month to break even. (We will also have to cover the Village Hall running costs).
The portable equipment including screen and projector is the latest available, and the fi lms will be in DVD format. Two fi lms will be available for screening each month and all choices will cover fi lms released three months after Cinema general release. The choices are excellent and cover Hollywood blockbusters and classics from the 40s through to the 2000s
The initial launch in some villages is already taking place in November and the films available will be ‘Dream Girls’ and ‘Shrek the Third’. For December the choices are ‘The Simpsons Movie 2007’ and ‘White Christmas’ featuring Bing Crosby. I have targeted February for our initial launch and then monthly thereafter.
We are looking for volunteers who would be interested in helping me successfully launch this project into the village. We will be provided with templates for posters and tickets so the key help required will be for the setting up and running of the equipment on the specified day
Please email me on: j.jacobs@tinyworld.co.uk if you would like to help.
We shouldn’t let this opportunity pass us by.

John Jacobs, Snitterfield Parish Council