Tenbury's Regal to have grand re-opening in the summer (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Tenbury's Regal to have grand re-opening in the summer

8:20am Friday 6th April 2012 in Ludlow By Adrian Kibbler

EXACTLY 75 years after the first customer walked into the Regal Cinema in Tenbury the building will begin a new chapter.

The Regal will be unveiled following its £800,000 refurbishment on on the day it opened its doors in 1937.

It all happens in the final week of July and children from the town will be at the centre of the celebrations.

Plans for the reopening include a film show and children’s party.

However, the opening will be ceremonial as the facility will not be fully operational until the autumn.

Tenbury Town Council owns the building and has decided that the Regal will not be properly open again until the charitable trust which will take over its day to day running has been established.

Work on the terms of agreement for the lease which could be for as long as 40 years is underway.

“Good progress has been made and we have about 50 volunteers that are interested in working on the project but there is no way we will be ready by the end of July,” said David Hambelton, one of the people working to establish the charitable trust.

“Our next step is to identify jobs for people to do.”

The future plans for the Regal envisage the town council continuing to own the building and retain responsibility for major repairs to the fabric of the Regal.

The independent charitable trust would pay a rent to the town council The trust will have responsibility for fundraising and an idea being considered is to enable people to have their name or that of a loved one on a seat in the auditorium.

Details of the scheme are being finalised but the fee for a dedicated seat is likely to be £250 for 10 years.

If all 252 seats could be allocated in this way it would raise £13,000.