With 2023 now behind us, myself and my co-directors can reflect on another successful year for Together For Cinema. I hope you are able to do the same.
More installations, more exposure, more support, more demand, more ideas, more of so many positive thoughts continue to fuel our desire and determination to further Together For Cinema and the good work that we are able to deliver to our community.
2024 will be an incredibly busy one for us with 10 (yes ten!) installations scheduled. Admittedly 2 are carried over from 2023, but as it stands now, we have 10 installs that we are working to complete. You can read more about these further in this update.
Thursday May 16th will see over 300 people sit down at the Together For Cinema £1m Celebration Dinner. This will be held at Epsom Downs Racecourse and will be a gathering of Together For Cinema partners, good cause venues that have been recipients of one of our cinema rooms and many others. It will be a very special evening with some very memorable moments, as well as a performance from a very well known singing guest.
On Sunday September 15th ‘Team TFC’ will squeeze into their Lycra attire, straddle their bikes and cycle from London to Brighton to hopefully raise £10,000 for Together For Cinema. With a team of at least 20 expected we are hoping that this will be possible. So many have done so much to further our good work so we hope that those who think ‘that’s a nice thing to do’ might be able to support and make a donation. With at least 20 of us we’re hoping to cast the net far and wide!
The second half of the year will see us furthering our re-purposing programme. This is a simple plan to re-purpose second hand, B-stock and discontinued AV stock to good causes. Be it Residential or Commercial equipment there is so much useable equipment that is landfilled, sold off cheaply or simply stored until it’s unusable. More to follow later in the year…
Ian Morrish
Founder and Managing Director, Together For Cinema CIC
With two installations carrying over from 2023, we find ourselves with 10 in plan to install for 2024. A big ask, but we’re already in good shape with venues committed and installers finalised for almost all of the installations. To be honest, if we achieve 7 or 8 I’ll be delighted, but currently we’re going for a full house of 10!
The installations below are listed in ‘Expected Installation Date’ order, though as we all know this will no doubt be subject to change! The current status is as follows:-
We are hugely grateful to the installers listed above for kindly taking on these installations and I am sure that they will find their journey to making a difference a rewarding one. As we all know the key to making these installations happen is a good installer and I reckon we have a pretty good bunch listed above. Thanks again to you all…
As we begin our work for 2024 it’s important for us to have as clear a picture as we can of what venues we will be working with next year. The list below is ever changing but I suspect we will work with some of the venues listed below, maybe in 2025, maybe not. We keep in constant touch with these venues and hence the list below is ever changing.
We are of course in touch with many other venues and have a strong pipeline to call on, however, if you know of anywhere that could benefit from our offering, please do let me know.
We had 73 Charitable Partners in 2023 all helping fund Together For Cinema and enabling the good work that we as an industry are delivering to our community.
As of early January we so far have 59 for 2024. We’ve had 6 decline, all for good reason, and all remain totally supportive of what Together For Cinema is doing. We still have 8 to reconfirm with and we’re optimistic these companies will all partner with us again for 2024.
We’ve had 6 new partners commit, but need a few more to balance the books for the year and allow us the most time to work on delivering to the community. With this in mind I urge you to support Together For Cinema and ask you to contact me directly to discuss a possible future partnership.
With this in mind, the levels at which you can support are as follows:-
- Bronze - £500
- Silver - £1,000
- Gold - £2,500
- Platinum - £5,000
Would you be interested in becoming one of our valued Charitable Partners?
Further detail can be found on our website under the heading ‘Charitable Partners’ or alternatively please contact Ian Morrish at ian@ad-con.uk to discuss what options are open to you and what difference you can help make.
Together For Cinema, and the difference we make to so many lives, can only continue with your support…
Continuing the cycling theme into 2024, we’re delighted to announce that Team TFC will again be taking on the London to Brighton cycling challenge. This is a 55 mile ride from Clapham Common to the Brighton Seafront and includes one genuinely ‘horrific’ climb over Ditchling Beacon! Well, it’s horrific for me!
So far we have 12 people committed, but are looking for a team of at least 20. Details as follows:-
- Date: Sunday September 15th. (wedged conveniently in between CEDIA Expo and Ei! Live).
- Cost: £56.50 to register, and you can do this at www.londonbrightoncycle.co.uk
- Our Start Time: 9.30am
- What you Get: A sponsored Together For Cinema cycling shirt, as well as a lovely day out and a sore bum!
- Your ’Obligation’: As part of Team TFC we would ask you to raise a minimum of £500
- Just Giving: Our page is at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/togetherforcinema
Once confirmed with the organisers please let us know and we will add you to our WhatsApp group. Just having you ‘along for the ride’ will help raise the profile of Together For Cinema, and the good work that we all help make happen.
Fundraising is important for any non-profit good cause so please try to support anyone who makes the effort to help Together For Cinema. Every penny counts, so please do what you can to support Team Lycra
Some of us will need all the help, encouragement and incentive we can get!!
Yes, we finally did it…, we reached £1,000,000 worth of good cause cinema room installations, and boy are we going to celebrate! What a great thing for our industry to have achieved and I’m delighted that over 300 of our industry will get together with some of the venues we’ve installed at to help celebrate this achievement. Details as follows:-
- Date: Thursday May 16th.
- Venue: Epsom Downs Racecourse - The Lammtarra and Diomed Rooms.
- Structure Of The Evening: 3 Course dinner with excellent wine. Champagne reception. Champagne toast. Auction. Music from Tennessee Twin, and from a special star guest from the 70’s. The TFC journey video. 5 recipient venue thank you’s. Plus much more…
- Cost: £145/person.
- Availability: With 290 tickets already sold or reserved, and 5 extra tables having just been added to the table plan, we now have 60 tickets currently available.
- More Information: To find out more please go to www.togetherforcinema.co.uk/million-pound-celebration-dinner/
All events such as this need more participation that just attendance so I wonder if:-
You could purchase a page within our Event Brochure (£295) to comment on your involvement with Together For Cinema.
You might want to purchase one of the three available Event Support Sponsor Packages starting at £2,500.
You could donate a ‘Money Can’t Buy’ Auction Prize.
If you’d like to get involved I’d be happy to talk with you about these options.
Listed below are a few other updates that might be of interest:-
- Thank You To Matt Nimmons And The CEDIA Team
As ISE 2024 approaches I’d like to shout out to Matt Nimmons and team CEDIA for again allowing me to base myself at their stand during the show. I’ll be there for much of the show, but will use it as my base camp, to hold meetings at, to arrange some photography etc… I suppose as a CEDIA member I’d be allowed to use the stand anyway but it’s good to know that I’m been made to feel welcome – thank you Matt!
- The Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC)
We have a good relationship building with RMHC and are just starting to plan our first project with them, this being a new cinema room facility at their Birmingham house. Early stages but you’ll read how things develop in these updates through the year.
A Major Project: RMHC has 14 houses in the UK, with over 500 rooms that house family and friends of those poorly children at 14 of the most important NHS Children’s Hospitals in the UK. None of the rooms currently have TV’s in but there is overwhelming demand from those that stay in the rooms to have a 32” SMART Television installed 4 venues. Together For Cinema have committed to try to help, and will be approaching the 6 major Smart TV manufacturers manufacturers for help. A simple equation…, if we get 20 screens donated every year from the 6 major screen manufacturers we’ll have this done in 4 years.
- Gasoline Media – Continued Support Making a Huge Difference
The ‘Gasoline Girls’ continue to raise our profile. Do you have any feedback?
A really busy year ahead, and now, three weeks in, the Christmas break seems years ago (okay I know it was last year, but you know what I mean!). So much to do, but all exciting, all progressive, all positive and all backed and supported by so many in our industry. Together For Cinema really is what it says on the tin…, together…, for…, cinema.
Really looking forward to getting over to ISE and kick starting our year and our installations. The first 4-6 weeks of every year are so busy and post ISE seems to be the point at which we can take stock and really define how our year will shape itself. With so many of our industry at the show I’m also hoping to tie up a few more ticket sales for the dinner and maybe an auction prize or two.
Together For Cinema is now a recognised, well supported and well-respected AV industry cause. If you’ve not reached out to help, please do contact me as I’d love to discuss how you might be able to help. Without our industry pulling together none of what we achieve would be possible.
Thanks again to all those that help make it happen and I look forward to hearing from anyone else that would like to get involved. Don’t think about it…, ‘Just do it!’. I have no doubt that you’ll be pleased you did…
I wish you well for the coming year and hope that our industry continues to thrive.
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