Archive - Tuesday, 18 May 2004


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Cinema plan branded 'pathetic'

ANGRY Abergavenny film-enthusiasts say the county council's proposals for a mobile cinema are "just not good enough ".

The Abergavenny Cinema Support Group have been campaigning over the past 18 months for a cinema to be opened in the town.

But they say a new plan to bring a temporary mobile cinema to the town's Market Hall is "pathetic".

David Powell, of the Abergavenny Cinema Support Group, told the Argus he believed it would be putting good money after bad.

He said: "The Market Hall is draughty and cold and it would only be able to show three-month-old films.

"We are a town not a village and deserve a proper cinema. Instead of making suggestions like this, the council need to get behind a plan for a real cinema. We need to direct all our efforts at the big picture."

Monmouthshire council estimates it would cost £1 million to convert or build a new cinema in Abergavenny.

So the council's area manager, Dale Roberts, put forward the plan to temporarily turn the Market Hall into a film theatre.

Mr Roberts said: "We recently piloted an exercise where mobile cinema equipment was used in village halls throughout the county.

"The feedback was so good we decided it was too good an opportunity to miss.

"We would provide a six metre wide screen, DVD and top quality digital projector together with surround speakers. "There would be heating in the colder months and the facility would be fully licensed."

For the plan to go ahead the group need to secure a grant of £5,000 from the local Bryn Y Cwm area committee as well as local business sponsorship.

Mr Roberts said that although the grant would be a large chunk of the committee's £15,000 budget it would be worth it.

He said: "If approved, a cinema in the Market Hall would not only provide a facility for young and old alike - it would also act as a good study of the level of interest there would be for a permanent cinema."

The proposals for the temporary mobile cinema will be put to the Bryn Y Cwm area committee tomorrow (May 20)