All in all, a pleasing start to the season. Four films down; six more between now and Christmas. Membership is more than 15% up, with a very good re-enrolment of former members, as well as new ones. Similarly, attendances and completion of reaction slips have been encouraging – do remember that you can read all the reactions to our films on the website, as Martin only has time to read out a selection.
The first big news is that we have almost completed our discussions with our new host venue and can now reveal the basics. Much more information will follow over the next few weeks.
From January our films will be screened at the ABINGDON RESOURCE AND WELLBEING CENTRE in Crabtree Close, Abingdon, OX14 3GD. Crabtree Close is a turning off Audlett Drive with a car park right by the building; and there’s a public car park, free after 6pm, not far away – just before you get to the Waitrose campus. Our screenings will be in a pleasant, modern room comfortably large enough for our range of audience size, but not too big. You should find the chairs, which are upholstered, more comfortable than those in the Lecture Theatre. The ceiling is rather higher than at the College, so the space shouldn’t overheat. The venue has a flat floor, but we are going to work on the best possible seating layout and are confident this will not be a serious issue. At the moment we are likely to be the only evening users of the building on a Thursday. We have stayed with Thursdays as our regular night, because that’s the day when we know our current members can attend. It would be quite a big risk to change the night in order to accommodate unknown parties.
So in January we plan to show the “undated films” in the annual programme brochure. We will of course compile a list with screening dates and let you have it soon. If you have questions about the move, you will be able to address them to the Committee at the:
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – Thursday, 15th November at 7.30pm (followed by The Invisible Man). Our Secretary, John Grundy, has indicated he is standing down, but there is a willing volunteer ready to take up the reins. However, there will be three vacancies on the Committee for non-officer members. Perhaps you would like to fill one of them? We would be particularly glad to be joined by anyone who was willing to help with publicity and marketing. Please come along.
We have now taken receipt of our NEW PROJECTOR and the technical team will use it for Little Fish on Nov 8th (our next screening). We hope you will be suitably impressed by this upgrade.
Finally, subject to confirmation, we shall have our accustomed end of year SOCIAL EVENT on Dec 13th, when we are showing Meet Me in St Louis. We will follow the usual format:
- from 7.10: pre-film drink and nibbles (see below) in a nearby College room.
- 7.45: film
- 9.35 – 10.15: drinks and nibbles
(This will be our last screening at Abingdon College. The first was 37 years ago).
Please note that if you would like a glass of wine or two you will need to bring your own – we cannot supply it or any other alcoholic drink. But soft drinks, cheese and mince pies etc will be provided. You will be invited to make a contribution towards the cost. We usually cover our costs in this way.
The next newsletter will appear towards the end of November.