Community Cinema Project for All Saints

..and more comfortable seats too...!

The Town Council has decided to directly manage popular cinema at its much-loved All Saints Centre, in the town centre.

Councillors hope to reduce the costs for operating the council-owned community arts and youth centre, based in a characterful old decommissioned church, in the centre of town.  A commercial company currently shows popular “blockbuster” films at the Friars Walk venue, while a local film club shows art-house and foreign-language films. 

There are also plans to install 100 retractable, tiered seats on the ground floor, the replacement of seats on the balcony and the replacement of other seats – a response to the long-acknowledged complaints from users of All Saints that it wasn’t all that comfortable!

By taking over popular film screenings itself, the town council envisages a potential annual benefit of more than £20,000 assuming average audiences of only half the venue's capacity, and with no increase in ticket prices.  Movies will continue on a regular basis for a wide variety of audiences, as now, including the latest releases.

The council is also to join with local disability group The Oyster Project to run a traditional kiosk service, selling confectionery, popcorn and drinks for each screening.

The plan was approved at a recent Council meeting, after hearing the recommendations of a steering group of seven councillors, which had been asked to look at reducing the current cost of operating the All Saints Centre.

Councillor Dr Mike Turner, a former Mayor of Lewes and the chairman of the steering group, said: “Lewes Town Council sees the main benefits of this move as feeding profits back into the community, while maintaining the role of All Saints as a much-loved place to watch popular films – saving filmgoers from travelling to Uckfield; Brighton; Eastbourne, or Hailsham - and reinforcement of the Centre as a community asset- as originally stipulated by the church authorities when the building was given to us.  We also listened to the customers who find the seats uncomfortable!”

Film programming, hire, publicity and screenings will be organised for the council by Lewes Film Club, a local voluntary organization that is celebrating its 25^th birthday this year, who will continue with their complementary programme of classic and Art House films.

What a start to an Olympic year! 

Lewes Corn Exchange echoed to the thunder of applause recently, when thirty-three young sportsmen and women received their 2011 Lewes Town Council Youth Sports Awards from the Mayor, Cllr John Stockdale, with the Mayoress, his wife Becca.  This was only the second year that the scheme has been running, and teams and individuals from clubs representing Badminton; Netball; Table tennis, and Tae Kwon-do were welcomed on to the podium.  The youngest winner was eight years old, and the assembled guests (including a host of very proud parents) were amazed to learn of the World-class achievements of one nine-year old in her chosen sport of Tae Kwon-do.  Cllr Stockdale said: “Sport is a Cinderella activity for young people today. There are so many other very worthwhile calls on your time that taking exercise for your generation has regrettably had to take a back seat. That’s why it is so encouraging to see so many of you here tonight. So ‘congratulations for taking part’ – and, even more so, ‘congratulations on being the winners that you are’. 

(Pictured, above right)  The winners of Lewes Town Council’s 2011 Youth Sports Awards proudly display their achievements.  Thirty-three young people received certificates and their clubs received welcome cash for equipment.  (photo courtesy of Nick Robinson)

For a full list of winners and what made them stand-out - please select this link 

Landport Bottom consultation - the results..

Just over a year ago, public concerns about possible conflict between different groups of users of Landport Bottom, and their physical effects upon the site itself, led to a lively public meeting of the joint Town and District Council Landport Bottom Management Committee; attended by many interested residents. It was agreed to set up a year-long public consultation, as well as seeking the views of local organisations and carrying out a variety of surveys on the site.

On 23^rd January 2012, the results of this exercise were reported back to another public meeting of the management committee. More than 250 people had responded to the online consultation, while others had emailed, telephoned, or attended consultation events held on the site through the year. It would be fair to say that the management committee had originally thought it should restrict horse-riding activities on the site because of possible conflicts with other users and damage to the turf.  The survey results indicated that these problems were less than originally supposed, (although two “dry” winters may have helped there!) though members of the public at the meeting were particularly concerned about churning up of access paths to the site not directly within the jurisdiction of the councils.

The committee therefore resolved:-

1.      To agree relaxation of restrictions for horse-riding, cycling and other non-vehicular recreation pursuits at Landport Bottom.

2.      To reserve the option to reinstate any restriction should it be deemed necessary for health and safety or ecological issues that may arise.

3.      To continue appropriate Monitoring (for example fixed point photography) and consultation in order to review this policy after one year.

4.      To liaise with neighbouring landowners to improve access route to the site.

We look forward to seeing many people continuing to enjoy the delights of Landport Bottom, but please do contact the District Ranger, on 01273 484408 or the Town Hall on 01273 471469 if you have any concerns.