A Jane Austen Quiz

As some of you may know, January 2013 marks the 200 year anniversary of the first publication of Jane Austen's very famous Pride and Prejudice. A classic in every sense, this novel has been of great value to the film industry in the many film adaptions and reworkings that have been produced over the years, from the period dramas to the looser interpretations, such as Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Bridget Jones' Diary (2001).

To mark the occasion, we have a short Jane Austen themed quiz for you! All of the pictures below are taken from theatrical film or TV movie adaptions of Jane Austen's most famous romantic novels. Can you name them all?

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We'll get the answers up for you in February!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to the blog in 2013. It's going to be an exciting year, I can tell!

Firstly, we wanted to share the answers from the Scrooge quiz with you. We had people playing along over on twitter, facebook and here in the cinema, and we were very impressed with how many you all knew! Top marks to everyone, but especially to @CheltCinema over on twitter, who got all ten correct!

So, here goes, the Scrooges were;

1. Jim Carrey
2. Michael Caine
3. Alistair Sim
4. Patrick Stewart
5. Bill Murray
6. Albert Finney
7. George C Scott
8. Kelsey Grammar
9. Tim Curry
10. Ross Kemp

We hope you enjoyed that exciting whirlwind of Dickens to round of 2012!

Now, it is of course a new year, so we'll be back soon with a new quiz to test your film knowledge. If you've got a request for a topic for one of our quizzes, do let us know and we'll do our best to oblige.

See you soon!

Christmas Film Quiz - Bah, Humbug!

Hello everyone!

We've been promising you a new film quiz for a while, and Christmas seemed like a good opportunity to finally deliver on our promise. But what theme should our Christmas quiz have? Well, we decided we'd celebrate the magic of Christmas as only Dickens could - with an Ebenezer Scrooge quiz!

Simply identify the actors below who have donned the nightcap and slippers to play the famous miser (or a character based on him) in each of the pictures below. Where it's an animated character, name the voice actor.

We'll reveal the answers in the New Year, to give you plenty of time to ponder (and maybe print them out and inflict them on your family at Christmas dinner!).

Enjoy!

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Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

October Half Term Fun at the Regal!

Families looking for entertainment this October Half Term need look no further than the Regal! A programme of films and fun workshops promises to offer something for everyone whatever the weather.

The film of the popular children’s ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ books is showing on Monday and Tuesday evening at 7.30pm, and on Wednesday, Dr Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ takes over with showings at 1.30pm and 6.30pm. Both films have been box-office triumphs over the Summer and promise to be an excellent afternoon or evening's entertainment.

Before the afternoon showing of ‘The Lorax’ on Wednesday, we're excited to be bringing back CineMonkeys, the family games and craft workshop that proved so popular in August. Children can enjoy Lorax-themed fun from 12.30pm until the film starts in the Regal Community Centre for just £1 per child. We'll also be offering the chance to enroll as a CineMonkey, with free goodiebags and the chance to leave your children with us and go enjoy a quiet coffee in our cafe or a leisurely look around the town. Just make sure you're back by the time the film starts!

Oscar is super-excited to be back!

We're also excited to announce that local artist David Symons will be leading two animation workshops for us on Thursday for children aged 6 and up. Each two and a half hour session will guide participants through making their own micro animated film, using digital cameras and stop-motion animation. Sessions start at 10am and 1pm, cost £2.50 per child and include a DVD of all the films made in the day. Parents are invited to join in with under 12s at no extra charge. Pre-booking is essential, as we expect these sessions to be popular and places are limited. 

To book places at CineMonkeys or on one of the animation workshops, contact Sarah Fellows on hao@tenburytown.org.uk or 07980 692302. Film tickets can be purchased on the day, or in advance at the Regal’s box office in person or online at www.regaltenbury.co.uk.

Avast! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

As the title says, it is indeed International Talk Like a Pirate Day today. To celebrate (because why wouldn't you want to celebrate talking like a pirate all day?!) we've got a special film quiz for you, on characters most piratical!

Below are pirates, some famous and some not so much, from the silver screen.
Can you name the pirate, the film and the actor for each?

We'll post the answers up some time next week, to give you chance to have a think and pass the quiz around your friends.

May the wind be in yer sails, me hearties!

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If you'd like to submit your answers for marking, you can do so via twitter, facebook or here on the blog. Or you can email us if you don't want to give away your answers!

Oscar has something to say...

Our very own CineMonkey, Oscar, would like to say a massive thank you to all his new friends that he's made at CineMonkeys and MiniCineMonkeys this summer. He's had a fantastic time meeting everyone and making new friends and hopes you have too!

If you'd like to see him again, you'll be pleased to know that we are planning more CineMonkeys and MiniCineMonkeys sessions for the future. To help our planning, if you came to any of our sessions this summer we'd love your feedback on them. Just drop us a line via email, facebook or twitter and let us know what your favourite activities and films were, and why.

We've got some lovely CineMonkeys pin badges to reward you with, if you do!

Until then... Oscar says "see you soon!"

Is this film suitable for my child?

The question we get asked most about our films (after 'how much is it?') is usually "Is this film suitable for my child?" It's a very difficult question to answer, so we thought we'd post up some thoughts on it here.

As parents, you'll know better than anyone what might be likely to scare your child. It's different for everyone, and sometimes even a film that's rated U can cause some children to be frightened, or likewise, a fairly young child could sit supervised in a 12A and be completely fine. So from our point of view it's very hard to tell parents when they ask whether a film is likely to scare a child or not.

The BBFC ratings (U, PG, 12A, etc.) give you some guidance on the content of a film; a U film contains no material which is unsuitable for any age child, though of course that doesn't guarantee that they won't be frightened by it. You can find more information about BBFC ratings here: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

For more information about the content of a film, the Internet Movie Database is a good place to start. They have a parent's guide for most films, compiled by parents and fans, which lists all of the things that children may find scary (or parents might find inappropriate) within the film. Here are the imdb parent's guides for the remaining CineMonkeys films in our August programme and our special free showing of Singin' in the Rain:

The Lion King (U)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (12A)
Singin' in the Rain (U)

You can find the link to the parent's guide about half way down on a film's listing page on imdb, if you'd like to look up any other films.

Lastly, our CineMonkeys films are designed to be family showings, so we won't mind at all if you need to take your child out of the cinema during the film for any reason. Our ushers will guide you back to your seat by torchlight if you want to come back in as well, of course.

If these thoughts don't help and you'd still like to talk it over with us, you can get in touch with us by emailing hao@tenburytown.org.uk. Otherwise, we hope that this has been useful, and that we'll see you at a film with us soon!

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!

It's all about CineMonkeys!

You've probably already heard about CineMonkeys, our family film club, featuring an hour of things to make and do before a classic family film, but just in case you haven't... here's the low-down for you!

We're very pleased with our new logo and hope you like it too - it was designed by Katy from Lacon Childe School as part of a partnership project between the school and the cinema. We love the smiling monkey - look out for him at our summer events!

So, what's on? Well, we've got four great family films for you in August, each with an hour of themed craft and games beforehand;

Wednesday August 1st - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Wednesday August 8th - Happy Feet
Wednesday August 15th - The Lion King
Wednesday August 22nd - Pirates of the Caribbean

Tickets are £6 for adults and £4 for children. Some craft activities may incur an additional £1 charge.

Film fans of all ages are welcome, and you don't have to come to the craft and games session to see the film. During August, we're also showing a classic Tom and Jerry cartoon before the main feature, included in your film admission ticket. Craft sessions start at 11.30am, and the cartoon begins at 12.30pm, followed immediately by the film.

Win your way in!

We're so excited about CineMonkeys that we're giving away a family ticket (for up to five people) to each one of our CineMonkeys films. To enter the competition, just design us a poster for the film you'd like to come and see for free out of the four we're showing this August. We'll judge each week on the Monday before the film and let you know that day if you've won. There will be some prizes for highly commended entries too, so get designing!

CineMonkeys is aimed at families with children aged 7 - 12, though children of any age are very welcome. We're also running additional sessions on Tuesdays between 10am and noon for MiniCineMonkeys who are under 7, with two hours of craft and games and a short cartoon showing at 11.30am in the auditorium. MiniCineMonkeys sessions are completely free, and will feature similar craft activities and games to the following day's CineMonkeys session, but with the focus on our younger film fans.

If you've got questions about any of the CineMonkeys sessions, or if you'd like to let us know that you're coming, you can email us on hao@tenburytown.org.uk. Booking for the pre-film sessions isn't essential, but it is preferred. You can buy tickets for the films in advance or pre-order them and pay on the day - contact the Pump Rooms in Tenbury on 01584 810118 or email us.

Re-opening Announcements

We're very excited to announce that details of all of our opening events are now available right here on the blog, in our opening events tab. You can find that at the top of the page, or just click here: http://regaltenburyhlf.blogspot.co.uk/p/opening-events.html

If you've got any questions about any of the opening events, please get in touch and we'll be happy to answer them.

Otherwise, we hope to see you in the summer!

Family Fun: If you were a mural artist...

Our mural artist is hard at work at the moment restoring the George Legge murals in the auditorium. For a half-term activity, here's an exercise for your creativity (or your children's)! If you were a mural artist and could paint anything you wanted onto the walls at the Regal, what would you paint?

You can even have a go at redecorating the lino floor on this design too!

If you'd like a larger copy of the sheet, just get in touch via email and we'll send one over to you.

Any designs you or your family do (everyone is welcome!) you can submit to us and we'll feature them here on the blog. The same goes for any of the what's on drawings you do. Just email them over to us and we'll make you famous (well, amongst the people who read the blog anyway)!

Get drawing!

A bit of a mix-up

As Christmas is approaching I thought now was a good time to provide you all with some film-related fun for the holiday season. So, here are a couple of anagram activities to keep you all amused whilst you're waiting for the holiday to begin!

This first sheet is designed for children; all of the films are children's films, and the spacings are all in the right places. Children of all ages are welcome to play along, of course, even the big kids!

This second sheet is a little harder; more general films, and with the spaces in all of the wrong places (not even the right number of spaces in most cases, in fact). Well, you wouldn't want it to be too easy, would you?

You should be able to print out both sheets for entertainment away from the computer, but if you're having trouble send me an email at hao@tenburytown.org.uk and I'll email you over a pdf version.

If you can complete them all, you win the satisfaction of knowing you got them all right! And it'll be good practice; hopefully we'll have more of this sort of game in the New Year, next time with actual prizes!

If you'd like an answer sheet, send me an email and I'll send one back over to you.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Now showing?

Happy half term everyone! For those of you with children at home (or those of you feeling young at heart) here's a little activity for you. Below, I present you with the Regal cinema! In 2D form and black and white, ready for young creative minds to get their crayons out on:

So what's showing at your Regal?

Click here for a large version of the image which you can print out. Do send us pictures of your drawings! We'd love to see what's on your Regal screen.

Watch out for another use for this Regal picture, coming soon. Are you good at guessing films?