And We're Open!

It's been a very busy week. Ten months of restoration work, hundreds of hours of volunteer time and huge support from all of you brought us to Saturday night at 6.30pm when the doors opened to some very stylishly dressed characters waiting at the bottom of the red carpet.

Our 1930s evening was a fantastic success, and we had so many lovely comments from you all about what fun you had. The Regal looked amazing all lit up for the ocassion.

Our full house danced the night away to the fantastic music of Naomi Payne's Hotsy-Totsy band, with some very impressive swing dancing going on, and we were delighted to see those who'd worked so hard on the Regal to be so pleased with their Oscar awards in our awards ceremony.

Jenni Ord from the Heritage Lottery Fund, accepting the award

for 'Best Picture' from Tenbury's Mayor Sue Corfield

On Sunday, over a hundred adults and children joined us to celebrate the Regal's 75th birthday. Everyone really got into the swing of things with the party games, with much cheering from the winners, and the rendition of 'Happy Birthday' was sung with gusto. Local baker Sue Field provided us with a delicious birthday cake which was admired in looks and taste by all.

Sarah Fellows, Heritage Access Officer, cutting the cake

Our film, Bugsy Malone, was much enjoyed by all, and we were very impressed by how many children and adults got dressed up for the ocassion! There were some excellent outfits.

Usher Stephen Butler welcomes the party-goers at the door

We also launched our CineMonkeys and MiniCineMonkeys this week, with Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone and a magical themed under 7s craft session. We'll bring you some photographs next week of craft-in-action.

So all in all, a busy and successful week! Guided tours begin next Thursday, so if you're interested in having a look around and learning about the restoration please get in touch to book your place.

Finally, we just want to thank everyone who has helped us get this far; from construction workers and contractors to our fabulous volunteers to all of you who have supported the project.

We'll be continuing to bring you information about the cinema's history for some time here on the blog and over on our twitter and facebook pages, so we hope you'll keep following us.

See you at the cinema soon!