A central Shropshire community cinema, cafe and arts centre will be screening their first ever film this Saturday 29 June.
After a lengthy period of refurbishment, Wellington Orbit, which was the former HSBC bank in Wellington is due to open the doors to the 63 seater cinema this weekend.
Sophie Eades, Chief Officer said: “Although we opened our cafe in May, it took a little more time to get the cinema ready, as there was a lot of technical equipment, testing and learning to be undertaken”.
Supported by volunteers, Wellington Orbit is the trading name of the Clifton Community Arts Centre (CCAC) which was established in 2013 with a view to raising awareness and funds to reopen the Clifton building in Wellington for the benefit of the community. Unfortunately, a developer stepped in and purchased the site for residential and retail development.
In August 2016 The HSBC Bank closed their branch at 1 Station Road, Wellington.
After lengthy negotiations by the CCAC the lease was finally signed and now we have ‘Wellington Orbit’.
Fiona Hunter, Honorary President of the CACC said: “We have had amazing community support to enable Wellington Orbit to open; not only financially but also we know the people of Wellington have been and are really encouraging”.
With a view to developing the further two floors at a later time. ‘Wellington Orbit’ is set to screen a variety of films; Sophie continued “we have been working on a programme to show recent releases as well as some real classics across a wide range of genres, we will also be screening Bollywood, French, Polish and other films too. There are many other plans to include themed screenings and dinner, and also ‘date nights’, where people can come and enjoy a delicious meal and watch a film after.”
Wellington Orbit is also a licensed venue, so film goers will be able to enjoy a pint of local ale or wine with their film.
Fiona added: “Saturday will be an amazing day for us, a lot of time and effort has gone into this project and to finally see a film on the screen will be fantastic. The film we have chosen will be ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’, so we are all looking forward to having a few laughs as well as enjoying the luxury seating and high-quality equipment that has been installed.”
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