“We’re shaken but not stirred” was the whimsical response of Jason Mahoney, manager of the Academy Leisure Centre, New Romney, when producers of the latest Bond movie “No Time To Die 2’ postponed the planned April release of the popular franchise until November’ amid coronavirus scares.
The movie was to be the opening blockbuster for the new cinema on Romney Marsh. Nicknamed the Cinemarsh, it will be the first cinema on Romney Marsh since the Dymchurch Picture House closed in the early 1930s.
The brainchild of Shaun Simmons, principal of the Marsh Academy, this concept of a cinema within the Academy and Leisure Centre grounds was based upon the ethos of serving the community.
A five-year project started with an approach to local companies for funding, with Magnox, the decommissioning site license company for Dungeness power station, an early subscriber.
Additional funding came from the Garfield Weston Foundation Weston Anniversary Fund, the Foyle Foundation and the combined funding of the Overstone Fund and Kent Reliance Provident Society Fund through the Kent Community Foundation.
An in-house maintenance team under Jason Mahoney has worked tirelessly to bring the project in on time and within tight budget constraints, while Academy IT technician Ollie Staly has been the driving force behind research and installation of a state of the art projection and Dolby surround sound system.
“We have a seating capacity of 46 with the accent on comfort and quality. The viewing experience is what really matters” said Jason.
Once government guidelines allow for public gatherings to take place again, mainstream movies will be shown two weeks after their general release. All profits will be invested in local education, job creation and improved community facilities. “The project has already created one full-time job and we expect more, both full and part-time, opportunities once we open” said Jason.
“We will be targeting a Romney Marsh audience. Prices will be targeted towards those who can’t normally afford to travel to multi-screen commercial complexes”.
Refreshments will be on offer, as with normal cinemas, but at affordable prices.
In addition to the popular blockbusters, short films will be played prior to main features to promote local arts and film-makers. “It’s important to boost local artists” said Jason. “The annual Jam On The Marsh will be having a film festival” he added, “and we hope the project will become an exhibition facility for other local artists, crafts and photographers”.
“We’re ready to go” said Jason, who already has alternative plans for a suitable blockbuster opening as soon as government restrictions are lifted. Let the show begin.
Image Credits: Chris Lawson .
Good luck to the marsh academy centre, but lets concentrate on our own kino cinema in this town and support it,and not others out of town. If i wish to go on the marsh website,i will, but let Rye news stay local to Rye, we saw what happened to the Rye Observer, which not many read now, because of more news from elsewhere and not enough about the town.