Bromsgrove news, Bromsgrove Sport, Bromsgrove Leisure - From The Bromsgrove Advertiser

Big screen delights at village hall

From the archive, first published Wednesday 25th Sep 2002.

THE magic of the movies returns to rural Worcestershire this weekend when the curtain rises on the giant screen for a new season at the FeckenOdeon, which they claim is Bromsgrove and Droitwich's nearest cinema.

It may not be the the latest multi-screen entertainment complex, but the venue at Feckenham Village Hall does boast a 25ft cinemascope screen, Dolby enhanced sound and a programme made up of some of the greatest films ever made.

There's also another significant difference at this cinema - you can't just turn up and buy a ticket because it isn't open every night of the week.

The FeckenOdeon is a Cinema Society, with its shows open to members only, and there is a programme of eight monthly performances from Saturday through to April.

The good news is that membership is open to anyone and costs only £21 for seven shows, with members also enjoying reduced prices at a special festive Christmas show.

The `cinema' came into being after villagers in Feckenham and the surrounding area, concerned by the closure of their nearest screens, decided they wanted to arrange a good old fashioned night out at the pictures - and away from the gorefests and deafening soundtracks of many modern day blockbusters.

An experimental film night - showing Some Like It Hot - enticed over a hundred locals of all ages and the FeckenOdeon was born.

Some of the closures means that the FeckenOdeon serves a great swathe of Worcestershire - not only Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa, and neighbouring Redditch, but also Evesham, and just over the border to Alcester in Warwickshire.

Much of the equipment in use had been redundant and has been gathered from helpful independent cinema owners

This is the second season of films at the FeckenOdeon - the first was a huge success with capacity audiences enjoying films as diverse as The Third Man, A Private Function and The Boy Friend. There were also foreign films, comedies and even an evening of silent passion with Rudolph Valentino in Son of the Sheikh - complete with live piano accompaniment.

The new season opens this Saturday with a classic Ealing comedy double bill - The Happiest Days of Your Life and Two Way Stretch, one starring Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford, the other - Peter Sellers.

Later in the season there's a couple of shockers for Halloween, a Western for November, and the year is seen out with one of the biggest and best musicals ever made for the screen - Singin' in the Rain.

Around 90 per cent of the available seats have already been booked, but there are still a very limited number of memberships available. The membership secretary can be contacted on 01527 892140,or you can apply on-line at www.feckenodeon.co.uk

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