Monday 31 October 2011

Mystery film: revealed

We had some people playing along this week! Well done to Vicky, who knew it was an Indiana Jones film, and to David who correctly identified it as Raiders of the Lost Ark.

We'll be back to the mystery film again next week; look out for another object from the Regal collection this Friday for this weekend's guessing game.

Friday 28 October 2011

Mystery film!

I mentioned earlier in the week that you'd be seeing another use of that black and white drawing of the Regal's interior. Well, here it is.

To celebrate the greats of film history, I'll be taking iconic scenes from well-known (and perhaps not so well known, if you get too good at it) films and putting them up onto our miniature Regal screen. All you have to do is tell me what film they're from.

Unfortunately, the projectionist in our hand-drawn Regal doesn't seem to be very good at focussing the lens in the projector as the picture looks rather blurry...

As with our mystery objects, I thought I'd start out with a fairly easy one. Can you tell which film this is from?


Post your guesses either here in the comments, on twitter or on our facebook page.

I'll put up the answer on Monday, and credit all the correct guessers then.

Enjoy!

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Now showing?

Happy half term everyone! For those of you with children at home (or those of you feeling young at heart) here's a little activity for you. Below, I present you with the Regal cinema! In 2D form and black and white, ready for young creative minds to get their crayons out on:


So what's showing at your Regal?


Click here for a large version of the image which you can print out. Do send us pictures of your drawings! We'd love to see what's on your Regal screen.

Watch out for another use for this Regal picture, coming soon. Are you good at guessing films?

Monday 24 October 2011

Object of the Week: Revealed!

Well, we didn't have any online guesses this week but I'm hoping you were all playing along at home.

If you guessed that our mystery object was a projector lens then congratulations! You can give yourself a pat on the back. That fabulously sci-fi-looking piece of equipment was indeed one of many projector lenses that we've got in store now. Some of them don't belong to the current projector, but to previous projectors from the cinema.

You might be wondering why a projector needs lots of different lenses anyway. Different types of film, such as widescreen and cinemascope, need different shaped lenses to make sure that the image on the film looks correct up on the screen. The projectionist would be responsible for making sure that the right lens was on the projector before the film started; sometimes this meant swapping the lenses over after the adverts before the feature film started!

We'll have another 'object of the week' up on Friday next week.

Friday 21 October 2011

Welcome to... Object of the Week!

We've found some pretty cool things whilst we were taking everything out of the Regal to prepare the building for the restoration work. Every other Friday, I hope to be able to show you something from the cinema and give you the weekend to figure out what it is. On Monday I'll let you know the answer! Feel free to post your guesses in the comments here, or send them via twitter.

There are no prizes at the moment I'm afraid, other than the satisfaction of knowing you got it right, but I will announce the names of everyone who guesses correctly here on the blog, unless you ask me not to.

Some weeks will be harder than others. We're starting off with something fairly easy, since it's our first week...


So... it's not one of WALL-E's eyes, and it's not a part of R2-D2.

What is it?

Monday 17 October 2011

Open House Update

Well, what a fantastic turn-out to our Open House on Friday and Saturday last week! In total we had 377 people drop in and visit us across the two days, which was absolutely phenomenal; it was great to see so many people interested in the Regal and what's planned for it. We saw a lot of people from Tenbury and also from outside of the area. Thanks to everyone who turned up, and to the local newspapers and Sunshine Radio who got the word out there about the event.

I saw a few people scribbling down the blog's web address during the day, so hopefully some of you reading this now will be doing so because you dropped in at the weekend. Hello to any and all new followers!

The contractors take posession of the building today, so those of you in Tenbury will be noticing construction hoardings going up soon.

A lot of people at the weekend talked about the shows they remembered seeing at the Regal over the years, from queues around the building to see E.T. to classics like the Guns of Navarone and more recent offerings, such as the Dark Knight. What do you remember seeing at the Regal? It doesn't matter how long ago, all memories are welcome!

Monday 10 October 2011

Drop in and see the Regal one last time...

If you've been to the Regal before and are interested in the changes going on as part of the HLF project, don't miss your last chance to see it before all the work starts. The contractors will be on site soon, but before they start we're opening up to show you the auditorium and information about the restoration and renovation work that will be going on.

Friday 14th October | 11am - 2pm
Saturday 15th October | 11am - 3pm

You're free to drop in whenever you want during our open times. We look forward to seeing you!

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Welcome to the blog!

Welcome to the first post of the Regal's restoration blog. Here we're going to be keeping you up to date with the progress of the restoration work going on at the fantastic Regal Cinema in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.

As well as regular updates on what is going on behind the walls and construction hoardings, we'll also be using this space to give you some insights into the history of the Regal, and why we're undertaking the renovation project in the first place.

The project is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and in addition to the construction work the project will include events, activities and research into the history of the cinema. If you are interested in volunteering in any part of the project or if you've got any information about the history of the Regal that you'd like to share, please get in touch with me. I'm Sarah Fellows, and I'm the Regal Heritage Access Officer during the project. You can contact me through the blog, through our twitter feed @RegalTenburyHLF or by email at hao@tenburytown.org.uk.

Work will be starting on the Regal in the next couple of weeks, so if you're in town look out for changes happening as well as information at the site. We'll try and include all the on-site information here on the blog for those of you who can't get to Tenbury.