Forum Cinema fundraiser to secure Hexham treasure's art deco appeal
Actor Kevin Whately is backing the £25,000 campaign to restore some of his home town cinema’s best features. Tony Henderson reports
When a town’s new cinema opened 88 years ago, management did not spare the adjectives to pull in the punters.
‘Hexham’s new wonder theatre’ declared the advertising, ‘a modern theatre de luxe’.
The cinema was ‘beautifully decorated’ and patrons were promised ‘luxury carpets, streamlined seating, handsome curtains, specialist entrance and foyer’ and an auditorium embellished with ‘acoustic tiles’ and ‘gorgeous lighting’.
But the art deco lighting is showing its age since that opening night on August 23, 1937.
Now the Forum Cinema Supporters Association is to launch an appeal to raise £25,000 to restore the auditorium’s wall lights and replace the cinema’s worn-out screen curtains and drapes.
Cinema manager Clare Mwande said: “Time has taken its toll, and these features are in serious need of repair and conservation.
“The glass covers of wall lights are now missing in places and need to be restored with accurate replacements. Even the lights in good condition require specialist cleaning as they are stained with nicotine from the time smoking was normal practice in cinemas.”
The appeal will launch on Thursday (March 6) with a special screening of the 1957 comedy The Smallest Show on Earth which features a young couple, played by Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, and their challenges and misadventures in taking over a derelict cinema peopled by a band of quirky and difficult old timers played by Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford and Bernard Miles.
“When I was growing up in Hexham in the 50s and 60s, a visit to the Forum cinema was a real treat - a beautiful art deco building and the only place you could see a film for miles around unless you went to Newcastle.”
Actor, Kevin Whately
The film will be shown at 7.30pm following an introduction to the campaign. The cinema seats around 200 and the Association is expecting the event to sell out.
The appeal is being backed by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Inspector Morse and Lewis actor - and Hexham lad - Kevin Whately.
He said: “When I was growing up in Hexham in the 50s and 60s, a visit to the Forum cinema was a real treat - a beautiful art deco building and the only place you could see a film for miles around unless you went to Newcastle.
“It is now a hugely important community centre. Donate to the fundraising campaign if you can and your support will be greatly appreciated. It will be used to make this wonderful art deco auditorium an even more unique and special pace to visit.”
The Forum Cinema Supporters Association is a group of volunteers united by their love of the Forum and all it stands for as a community cinema.
A crowdfunding page, Lights, Curtain, Action! has been set up, with the aforementioned target of £25,000 in its sights and a deadline of May 1 to raise it.
“The Forum is an independent community cinema and is massively valued in Hexham. Culturally it is important to the town and well loved,” said the Association’s Tim Crump.
“It is as much a part of Hexham’s heritage as its historic buildings and we want to bring the art deco magic back to the cinema.”
The cinema was opened by Brigadier-General Loftus Bates and the opening programme featured ukelele star George Formby in Keep Your Seats Please, the ‘technicolour picture’ Echo Mountain, and the colour musical Lovers’ Paradise.