Second silver screen joy

The Leigh Film Society’s Classic Cinema Club launched at The Pelican Centre in Tyldesley with a screening of High Society.

The volunteer-run group shows old favourites monthly at The Turnpike in Leigh and has proved such a hit with cinema enthusiasts that a second screening has had to be set up.

The classic club now attracts more than 50 people and is open to residents with dementia and their carers, anyone at risk of loneliness or social isolation or those who just love the golden era of the silver screen.

The choice of venue in Tyldesley is particularly apt as it restores cinema to a building which has long been associated with it and evoked particularly fond memories for some film-goers.

Leigh Film Society business director Elizabeth Costello said: “The Pelican Centre is a great venue because many years ago it was the Majestic cinema and many residents will remember it.

“We had some people there who have previously supported the Majestic and said they watched High Society there in 1957 and were excited to watch it again in 2017.

“It has been so successful in Leigh, the growth has been incredible. I started the club because I loved classic movies and thought I would see if there was interest in seeing them in the afternoon.

“This move was also the obvious choice as we started in 2013 as Tyldesley Film Society and we’ve never lost our roots in the town. Bringing cinema back to a recently-completed building with such history in film feels like coming home.”

The Pelican Centre will now show films on the last Monday of each month, complementing the screening of the same movie in Leigh town centre on the last Friday each month.

Coun Stephen Hellier cut the ribbon at the first showing and the move has also been supported by new Leigh MP and local councillor Jo Platt through her Brighter Borough funding.

Other organisations backing the classic cinema club include the British Film Institute, which provided chairs and money towards blackout curtains, Tyldesley Rotary and Age UK.