Red carpet on way to Ross?   16/08/2007

Now is the time to have your say, as the Ross Creative Arts Centre offers residents the chance to re-open a town cinema, showing anything from the very latest releases to the earliest black and white classics.

“Tell us what films you want to see, when you want to see them, how much you think you should pay, and we’ll do all the rest!” said community arts officer Amy Forbes from the Hereford Courtyard Centre for Arts.

She said that after the success of a similar community cinema at the Courtyard, staff now hoped to make the big screen excitement available to Ross residents as well.

“We’ve got the venue, we’ve got the equipment, we’ve got the funding and the popcorn; all we need now is you!” she said.

The Courtyard believes the experience of going out to the ‘pictures’ – the excitement of the big screen, the opportunity to chat with friends and meet new people – is much more engaging and community forging than sitting home alone with a DVD.

And it’s there for the taking if residents want it.

Ross-on-Wye first opened its doors to Hollywood in 1913, when the Kyrle Picture Palace opened on Gloucester Road with an audio system that consisted of live accompaniments on a piano during films.

In 1922, the second floor of the Corn Exchange also opened as a cinema, called The New Theatre, but was destroyed by fire in 1939.

Weeks later its owner H.G. Prickett replaced it with the Roxy Cinema, on Broad Street, which was reputedly one of the finest cinemas in the west of England. It was of advanced design for the period, with the latest air conditioning, projection and audio systems and wireless aids for the deaf in all 611 seats.

Both venues had a vibrant and lively history, from glamorous first nights and child births to fire scares and even mistaken police raids.

But in 1950 the Kyrle fell out of use and in the 1970s was finally demolished to make way for shops. In about 1982 the Roxy was also closed to make way for the Maltings Arcade.

Now, however, there’s renewed hope for the town’s cinema scene, with plans for the new venue only waiting on feed back from the community.

“First we need to know that you actually want the facility and then what genre of films you’d like to see,” continue Amy.

“Anything from the latest Hollywood releases and big blockbusters, to afternoon screenings for older generations, evening ‘screaming screenings’ for young people and family screenings at the weekends; it’s all yours if you say you want it!

“It’s open to the whole community. So get in touch and tell us what you want.”