Cinema plan volunteers make plea for cash from council for West Hucknall

THE ambitious project to revive Hucknall’s Byron Cinema is not the only current scheme in the town which is aimed at showing films.

The West Hucknall Cinema Group has now been formed, based at St Peter and St Paul’s Community Hall on Ruffs Drive.

The group, which has 10 members and volunteers, wants to run a cinema club which would show a variety of films free of charge to ‘all Hucknall residents’.

A spokesman for the group said it would actively seek volunteers from within the community to manage the cinema, giving invaluable skills and experience that could be transferred to the workplace. The project is targeted at encouraging ‘community cohesion’.

The group applied to Ashfield District Council’s Hucknall Area Committee for a grant of £6,400 towards the total project cost of £10,212. Other organisations have given £3,800.

Coun Ian Morrison (Lab) said: “I am all for promoting culture and the arts but we would be paying more than half the cost.”

Committee chairman Coun Jim Grundy (Lab) commented: “This is a very large request for a total beyond our means and the project is very much focused on Hucknall’s West ward.”

As an alternative, members accepted a suggestion by council leader Coun Chris Baron (Lab) for himself and the other two councillors for West ward to contribute £200 each to the scheme from their individual allowances.

However, this offer is subject to the cinema group obtaining the whole of the required funding.

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