1 November 2005
 It is only recently that the opportunity has arisen to employ the services of Community Cinemas through the contact of the Chair of our school PPTA. The committee discussed at length the pros and cons of pursuing an event in school and finally decided to ‘give it a go’. Community Cinemas were duly contacted and several phone calls later ‘Robots’ was booked to be projected in our school hall.
The team arrived as arranged at 5.30 p.m. to set themselves up for the 7.00 p.m. film show which was scheduled to run for one and a half hours with an interval to enable the film reels to be changed over. To create the live cinema atmosphere the PPTA provided popcorn (covered with maple syrup) - which proved to be not too popular with the school caretaker! The full meaning of teamwork came into play as every available scraper and brush was frantically employed by members of the PPTA.
The film duly started on time and the audience of 160 pupils settled quickly for a full night’s entertainment. The full cinema effect came into play with the surround sound and the enormous screen providing a truly unique atmosphere for an expectant audience. The pupils responded in kind, behaving themselves appropriately and thoroughly enjoying the experience into the bargain! The interval provided the perfect break for refreshments of pop and real ice-cream and toilets.
The pupils were keen to return to their seats in readiness for the resumption of the film. The end of the film was met with a thundering round of applause – a true reflection of the way the children had enjoyed the evening’s entertainment. Then the PPTA members set to work on the popcorn!
The Community Cinemas team immediately commenced their dismantling process and, with the help of a few able bodies, had the screen sections back in the van in no time at all.
The early concerns about the risk of employing such a novel means of entertainment were totally eradicated – the expressions on the children’s faces and the positive feedback from parents was evidence enough for us to make a second booking with Community Cinemas – ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Children en masse deliberately avoided seeing the ‘Charlie’ film at the cinemas so that they could watch the film in school in the company of their friends.
The reception of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the children was wonderful to behold – the response was even more thrilling than the ‘Robots’ experience. (This time we avoided the popcorn with maple syrup!). We now await the visitation of Community Cinemas in January and March for the productions of the latest ‘Wallace and Grommit’ and ‘Narnia’ films respectively. |
