There’s Something in the Water!

Erin Brockovich – Thursday 12 November 2026

Well, there certainly was something in the water on Thursday night. Although, unlike in Erin Brockovich, ours was entirely intentional – and came in the form of our specially created cocktail, appropriately named “There’s Something in the Water!”

And judging by the number we served, it proved rather popular!

With 71 tickets booked, we knew we were in for a busy evening. An incredible 68 people turned up so we had one of our highest attendance rates ever. That’s nearly 96% of those booked actually coming along. Clearly, Julia Roberts was quite a draw!

But before the film started, we had some important business to attend to.

Two more Volunteer milestones

We were delighted to recognise two of our wonderful Volunteers for reaching significant milestones.

Nick received his award for volunteering at 75 screenings. His first film with us was Funny Face in November 2022. Purely coincidentally, of course, he’s since become a very familiar face, whether welcoming guests, taking refreshment orders or relieving them of their hard-earned money at the cash desk!

Martin reached an extraordinary 125 screenings. He joined us back in September 2017, following a Volunteer recruitment evening at Billericay Library. He’s helped in numerous roles over the years, although he’s most often found in his favourite spot behind the bar. And his very first film with us? Some Like It Hot. Another coincidence, naturally!

Two remarkable contributions to BCC, and we’re enormously grateful to them both.

All hands on deck!

With 68 guests to look after, our Volunteers certainly earned their refreshments afterwards.

From welcoming everyone at the door to taking orders, mixing cocktails and mocktails, serving drinks and snacks, and keeping everything moving in the kitchen, it was quite an operation.

And then there was our team on the cash tills. As if processing everyone’s refreshments wasn’t enough, they also handled bookings for 57 tickets for our new 2027 season during the evening – bringing the total to almost 300 tickets sold,

A special mention, too, for three of our Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Volunteers.

Luke tackled a particularly stubborn technical problem with our projection system and got everything working properly.

Jack completed not one but two marathon expeditions to replenish our supplies of lemons and limes. Clearly, the cocktails were proving more popular than anticipated!

And Gemma, who normally Volunteers at our Sunday screenings, came along on Thursday because she won’t be able to attend a forthcoming film. She worked like a trooper in the kitchen throughout a very demanding evening.

All of our DofE students have become an integral part of the team.

To every single Volunteer who helped make the night run so smoothly – thank you!

And what about the film?

Well, the audience certainly approved.

Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts as the determined woman who takes on a powerful corporation over contaminated water, proved to be an enormously popular choice.

The film scored an outstanding 9.8 out of 10, while the evening as a whole scored 9.9.

And the comments were every bit as enthusiastic:

“Great film. Amazing service too. Another very good evening.”

“Very thought provoking, but scary too. Does make you think that this sort of thing could still go on. I thought this was well cast and very well acted.”

“What a great film! So uplifting in this day & age to see big corp lose ! Brilliant.”

“My usual great evening with everyone, but truly enhanced by seeing such a great film. Extraordinarily well done in all aspects with Julia showing just how good she is. So much more than Pretty Woman”

It was also lovely to receive this from someone discovering BCC for the first time:

“My first community cinema experience Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.”

And, inevitably, somebody commented:

“Shame you ran out of lemons !”

They were joking, we hasten to add. Although looking at how many cocktails we made, Jack might have been forgiven for wondering whether a third marathon was necessary!

More than a cinema

Of course, there’s another reason these evenings matter.

The money we raise goes back into our local community, and we’re delighted that our current fundraising pot has reached approximately £770, with another three films still to come before Christmas.

This half-year, our audiences are supporting three wonderful local organisations: Sunny Days Drop-In, Billericay Community Garden and Human Kind. Each makes its own contribution to helping people in and around Billericay.

So another hugely successful evening. An excellent film, a packed hall, wonderful feedback, two well-deserved Volunteer awards and a small army of people working behind the scenes to make it all happen.

As one guest put it:

“Absolutely yet another fantastic evening. Great voluntary people. Drinks, snacks and film. Keep up the great work !”

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer endorsement.

More than a cinema, we’re a Community Cinema.

Here’s the full feedback list

Great film. Great evening. Love a true story. 

Great night, thank you

Please thank the Volunteers

Great cocktail

Fantastic !

Great film. Many thanks to all Volunteers

Good atmosphere, good refreshments and well presented films. 

Always a pleasure to come and see a film here !! Well done. 

Excellent movie. Thank you

“Fab-u-lous”. Thank you to the crew and all. 

Great as always

Great film. Amazing service too. Another very good evening. 

Well worth seeing again. Thank you Volunteers – wonderful as always

Great film and performance 

This was a really good choice of film, I think not a bit like I imagined. It was soo good !

Very thought provoking, but scary too. Does make you think that this sort of thing could still go on. I thought this was well cast and very well acted. 

Great film, well done

Another good one ! 

Erin Brockovich is the definition of a “force of nature”. What a girl ! The late, great Albery Finney makes a great Yank ! 

Excellent film. Very attentive waiter ! 

Great film. Always enjoy BCC

Very good

Great film

My usual great evening with everyone, but truly enhanced by seeing such a great film. Extraordinarily well done in all aspects with Julia showing just how good she is. So much more than Pretty Woman

What a great film! So uplifting in this day & age to see big corp lose ! Brilliant. 

What a brilliant film, and a wonderful result at the end! The cast were all amazing too. I could see it again !

A great film. So entertaining and very emotional

Absolutely yet another fantastic evening. Great voluntary people. Drinks, snacks and film. Keep up the great work ! 

Seen film before. Enjoyed it more this time. Wonderful film. Excellent cocktail

Shame you ran out of lemons ! (Ed: This was a joke – people were drinking a lot of cocktails ! )

My first community cinema experience Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you. 

Excellent film and evening. 

A very similar film to Dark Water, also very good.