23 Oct
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“Fabulous film. “Brilliant, thank you

“Where the Crawdads Sing” proved our most popular Sunday Matinee to date; we even had to operate a waiting list. The audience included quite a few “first timers” who had read Delia Owens’ very popular 2018 novel and who wanted to see how the 2022 film told the tale; feedback from them was very positive with a number saying they’ll definitely be back.

We had an introductory talk by Sarah Hawkes who explained the background and aims of HumanKind, one of our supported charities. She highlighted what were offering in town and how they intend to develop once their new cafe opens in the old Lloyds Chemist building.

Service was very busy and the cake flew out of the kitchen. Mark (one of our Volunteers) who had arrived from New York that morning and who had been dreaming of cake on the flight over was fortunate that there was any left! Note the main cover pic – two fab Volunteers, Jenny and Ken on the Front Desk being rewarded for their efforts!
“Please thank all the volunteers”
On which note, thanks to a bumper group of Volunteers: Jenny, Sarah, Nick, Ken, Chris, Paul, Paula, Iris, Martin, Little Mark, Big Mark, Jo and Adam.
“A lovely, moving story that will be hard to forget”
I’d originally seen Crawdads on a visit to the Atrium, a community cinema in Norfolk. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was very well attended. The film was very popular on the community cinema circuit and I was pretty sure it would work in Billericay. Fortunately it not only made the shortlist but our audience voted for it to be shown. My only slight concern was that at times soft Southern accents might prove difficult for some. We did have one comment (“Couldn’t always hear what was being said”) but overall I think the accent carried well.
“Enjoyed the film very much indeed”

I actually enjoyed watching Crawdads more the second time despite knowing the ending; I saw and heard more the second time around. In fact I’d go so far to say that this is probably my favourite film of the year.

Transcribing a book into a film inevitably means detail – and even entire sub-plots – have to be left out and seeing a film after having read the book can be a let down (especially if you have built up mental images of how the characters look and sound). We had one comment to that effect (“Good film, book better !”), however, this didn’t seem to detract from the overall quality of the film itself with our audience who scored the film a solid 9.6.

A bumper crop of tickets for future shows were sold – 46 in total. With 250 bookings for the new season the film selection is looking popular – and 5 have already sold half their tickets.

The audience vote for the “50/50/2023″ profit share was 58% for Human Kind, 23% for the Friends of Lake Meadows and 19% for Billericay Foodbank, This seems to be the trend for the Sunday shows – the distribution of votes for the Thursday show is quite different!

A few bills still to come in but approximately £65 will be added to the donation pot. 

Thank you to everyone who attended – and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

“Thank you. Absolutely brilliant afternoon”
As always a great afternoon
Yet another well-organised and very enjoyable event. Very moving film”
A wonderful afternoon. Thank you for organising.
Had a great afternoon – will definitely be back
Fabulous film
“So who did kill Chase ?” (Only in the last couple of minutes do you really learn the answer to this question !)
All good. Lovely cake
Super as always. Thank you
Another lovely Sunday. The Victoria Sponge was brilliant !
Good film, book better ! Nice day as first time. Will come again

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