September Update

Have you seen the dates yet for our next Drive In?

Tickets for the films are now available and we have put in a request for sunshine again, its bound to be a fabulous weekend. This time we are hoping to offer a brilliant selection of food and drink from local suppliers too.

As you may have seen, our cafe/bar is once again open on the main square and we are loving welcoming customers safely back into the space. We have worked hard to ensure your safety and that of our staff, and its been brilliant to see so many friendly faces again. We are now serving lunch too, with a small selection of locally produced artisan soups and baguettes as well as Charlotte Flowers home made cakes. Please come in and say hello. Opening hours are Mon-Sun 10:30am - 4:30pm

We know many of you are keen to know when we will once again show films. We are working on this, and hope to re-open the auditorium just as soon as we can but we don't yet have a set date. There is so much to consider including safety, costs, staffing and funding, and we are conscious that when we do re-open we want to be able to welcome you back with a brilliant selection of films in a safe and comfortable environment. Keep watching this space.

Once again, a huge thank you to our brilliant community, friends, members and funders who continue to support us. Your support is allowing us to keep going, and to prepare and get ready for re-opening. Since March we have raised more than £40,000 and we cannot thank you all enough.

This money so far has been used to:

• Keep the building running – each month we pay overheads amounting to £2,500 (insurance, heating, lighting, security, cleaning, internet and telephone) to keep the Birks Cinema space operational; these overhead costs will continue when we re-open, even when we are unable to fill the auditorium or café or host events due to social distancing regulations
• Invest more than £9,000 to replace, upgrade or maintain all of the equipment, and to carry out a thorough Spring clean of the entire building, Invest more than £2,000 to introduce the many adaptations required to comply with the new Covid-19 requirements.
• Following re-opening of the cafe-bar, these donations, together with grants from central and local Government, will cover the costs of the staff who provide the Birks Cinema friendly welcome and thoughtful service.

All of the above helps us be in a good position to re-open the auditorium as soon as we feasibly can.

So a huge thanks once again, and we look forward to seeing you at The Birks soon.