Alpha cinema - St Albans Labour party gets it wrong

2 extracts from a Labour party leaflet currently being circulated - under the heading Cinema News (sic)


...the current proposals for a single screen 'art house' cinema do not meet the needs of the city. They may delight the Civic Society, but will provide nothing for our young people or families who will still have to travel to Hatfield, Garston or Hemel to see the latest films.

and,

It is sad that inaction by the Lib-Dems lead(sic) to two schemes for a real city centre cinema with parking being lost.

Well, apart from pointing out that those 'cinemas' were rejected because of the horrendous developments they were part of, words, for once, almost fail me. Maybe people don't have enough reasons for not voting Labour this year (Iraq/the economy/avaricious M.P.s etc.). Oh why not add to the list by attacking the local desire to have our historic, purpose built cinema back. A master stroke of political strategy by Alma Rd H.Q..

the Alpha St Albans - eleventh hour facts

statement as of today (7 2 010) now on Allaboutstalbans site.

You might need to flex your synapses a bit to alternate between the Hannawayese idioms and the financial facts - but in the end the gist is clear enough: there is still time to help.


Bear in mind - there will be '000's of people (not just here but in places like London Colney, Shenley, Borehamwood etc) who will enjoy going to the Alpha and who don't, and never will have, the resources to help with this effort. If those of us who can pay at this point don't then it's not just us who will be going without.


(Sorry this is just dull old text. I know a pic of a signed cheque wd be nice. Not yet though.)

Alpha leaflet campaign Sat 6 2 010

Leafleting in St Albans market (near M&S) from 10.30 today ...see comment below from Sarah.

Anyone who wants to help now, or who would like to take leaflets to distribute elsewhere please just turn up...

Alpha cinema opportunities and audiences

Satyajit Ray takes a shot





As we are all too painfully aware the battle to rescue the Odeon and reopen it as a Rex style working cinema has hit a nasty moment fundswise. But there are some who have been forecasting doom for the project from the outset. A minority, of course, but they do exist. One of them is the Picotts End Residents Association blog which said back in the autumn:

But St Albans isn't Berkhamsted. The Rex succeeded because it was a David and Goliath kind of battle which people in a small town greatly applauded. St Albans is more streetwise and chavvy than Berkhamsted.


My own Borehamwood ingrained instincts tell me that anyone who thinks St Albans is chavvy needs to get out more but maybe that’s how people in Berko and its environs see S.A. Certainly there are differences. S.A. is bigger, livelier, much more mixed in class/ethnicity/ and age groups. But surely this is not a drawback to having a successfully functioning cinema? Surely it offers all sorts of opportunities for ventures that the Rex, lovely though it is, could never stretch to. The Alpha could for example host short film festivals for the culturally diverse audience it will command - for example festivals of Italian, Bengali, Irish and Polish interest. S.A. is not short of teenagers who would be game for all sorts of programming, with or without 3D spex. Older people in S.A. tend to the media/bohemian far more than in the Rex's own audience. No offence meant, Berko, but anything the Rex can do, the Alpha could do with more risk and boldness. Streetwise and chavvy it may be here, but since when did that ever mean a lack of life – or people willing to buy a cinema ticket??

Alpha St Albans Civic Society leaflet campaign

This is currently being distributed to help the fund raising bid...just in case you're not lucky enough to get one pushed through your door here's the text in full......




CINEMA IN ST ALBANS: ODEON TO ALPHA
FEBRUARY 2010 CUE ACTION NOW!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have The Odeon back again?
Wouldn’t it be lovely if it were just like The Rex in Berkhamsted?
IF YOU’VE EVER SAID THIS, THEN NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT
With days to go before exchange and completion, James Hannaway, the would-be buyer of this Art Deco building, urgently needs your help. Forget any assumptions about backers waiting in the wings: we are where we are.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• If you attended that packed meeting at The Rex on 29 November and made a financial offer you have yet to fulfill, PLEASE DO SO NOW.
• If you were thinking of making a contribution, think no more: ACT.
• Visit the website www.allaboutstalbans.com which is being used as well as that of The Rex for regular updates and for full details of the money-raising schemes on offer (brief details below).

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• For £285, sign up for first year membership of the Advanced Booking List at the restored Odeon – possible name Alpha, after the original cinema to operate on this site.
• For £1,000, sponsor a chair with your name recorded in perpetuity.
• For undying gratitude, give a donation – of any size.
• For even more gratitude, offer a loan of £2,500 upwards. Read more about this on the websites, or contact James Hannaway direct at The Rex on 01442 877999.
• Make your cheque payable to The Alpha Cinema Ltd/The Alpha
St Albans Ltd, and send, giving name, address, tel. no. and email, making clear the appropriate category, to The Alpha St Albans, The Rex Cinema, Three Close Lane, High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2FG.

JAMES HANNAWAY IS ALMOST CERTAINLY OUR LAST HOPE
OF SAVING AND RESTORING THIS BUILDING
LET’S SUPPORT HIM NOW

Published by St Albans Civic Society - 01727 834113

Alpha cinema St Albans loan from Civic Society

see the St Albans Review for details on one positive story so far this week. Text of their press release here too:

ST ALBANS CIVIC SOCIETY

PRESS RELEASE 1 February 2010

Civic Society Lends Its Support to James Hannaway

At an emergency meeting held tonight, the committee of St Albans Civic Society unanimously agreed to help James Hannaway secure The Odeon building by making a loan of £2,500 available, subject to necessary checks arising from ITS charitable status. This represents almost a third of the Society’s funds.
Here, in no particular order, are the reasons why we believe The Odeon matters.
1 It’s a landmark building on a gateway route. Restoration here would mean regeneration for the whole area – which sorely needs it.
2 St Albans has few examples of Art Deco architecture: this is one of them.
3 It’s built on the site of The Alpha Picture Palace, the county’s first purpose-built cinema opened in 1908 by Arthur Melbourne –Cooper, the UK film pioneer, whose importance to St Albans’ heritage is recognised on the continent – if not by our own District Council. And in an elegant compliment to this local celebrity, The Alpha it may very well become …
4 We need a cinema – and a cinema for everyone with a wide-ranging programme, like The Rex. And why not a beautiful cinema too?
James Hannaway is almost certainly our last hope of saving and restoring this important building. He deserves all the support he can get.
Further Information: Marion Hammant
01727 834113
marionhammant@hotmail.co.uk

St Albans cinema - the future?

this is what will happen if the Odeon is not bought and rescued. When people talk about the cinema 'being in doubt' this is what that actually means - these are pictures of the recently demolished Odeon in Doncaster and how it used to be. And a
drawing of the architectural gem offered as its replacement.

And are the people of Doncaster happy about this? Won't they love the new shopping precinct and casino they're going to get?Maybe not- see the Doncaster Free Press