Cinema in the Park - Saturday 20th August
In
1976, Leiston Town Council unanimously pledged to save their local cinema, at a
time when many rural villages were losing theirs. Forty years on and following
many years of extensive refurbishment, to transform Leiston’s cherished cinema,
the town is preparing to celebrate this anniversary with another open air
cinema event.
Cinema
in the Park is to be staged in the setting of the Recreational Grounds, Victory
Road, Leiston on Saturday 20th August and promises to be a unique community
event, with a FREE open air screening of Disney’s hugely popular live action
version of The Jungle Book (PG).
The
previous event, held in 2014, to celebrate Leiston Film Theatre’s magnificent
centenary, was attended by over 2,200 people, who all thoroughly enjoyed the
screening of Disney’s Frozen and the
firework finale, with many commenting that the display was the best they had
ever seen.
The
celebrations start at 6.00pm, with the gates opening and Leiston Film Theatre’s
mischievous mascot, Cheeky the Centenary Chimp, welcoming the crowds onto the
recreational grounds to enjoy the variety of stalls and attractions, including a
barbeque, face painting, bouncy castle, ice creams and the all important
popcorn!
A giant 25 foot cinema screen will be
located in the western corner of the recreational grounds, close to the skate
park and at 7.45pm, the skate park will be closed in the interests of safety,
as the park lights are dimmed for the main event – a special screening of Disney’s 2016 family blockbuster The Jungle Book (PG), which was unanimously
selected by public nominations. The film tells the story of innocent man-cub
Mowgli, who is guided through the jungle by a spirited bear Baloo and the wise
panther Bagheera. Setting out on an epic journey, the jungle is a dangerous
place and there many animals that mean the young orphan harm - the fearsome tiger
Shere Khan, the hypnotic python Kaa and the scheming orang-utan King Louie.
Following the film, a £2,000 firework
display will light up the park sky, all set to music and including 40 rockets
to mark 40 years since the Town Council saved Leiston Picture House from
certain closure. It really is going to be a fantastic family night out.
Leiston Film Theatre management are
extremely grateful to EDF Energy for their part sponsorship for the Cinema in
the Park event and hope that those attending will give generously to the
retiring collection to help meet the substantial costs to stage this event.
The event organisers would ask that anyone planning to attend, strongly consider walking to the recreational grounds, or sharing cars, as parking close to the area will be somewhat limited. Victory Road recreational ground is a designated "no alcohol zone" and therefore, alcohol may not be brought onto, or consumed within the park grounds. Organisers recommend that cinema-goers do not bring their pets along to this event and suggest that pet owners, in the vicinity of the grounds, keep their animals indoors until the fireworks end at 10.00pm. It would also be greatly appreciated if all those attending are considerate to those living close to the grounds, when making their way home.
