November 2021 - Progress Report

I’m delighted to say that the last two months have been extremely busy and highly productive for Together For Cinema. What with two live events, several site visits (including Oxford, Poole, Loughborough, Stoke-on-Trent and a long trip up to Carlisle), a cinema room opening in Southampton, several productive face to face meetings and of course the obligatory series of Zoom calls it’s been a very busy time.

This productivity has led to this years target of four new cinema rooms being pretty much secured. There are two completed, and there will be two more completed before Christmas. There are now 5 new cinema rooms (again on target), all in children’s hospices, booked in for 2022, and all of these have a credible and able installer committed to manage the project.

A wonderfully productive meeting with Medicinema, assisting with a Children’s Remembrance service, discussing industry fundraising events, starting to recycle second hand equipment etc, etc… It really has been a great couple of months.

Keep well, and please read on for more detail…

Ian Morrish

Founder, Together For Cinema

Installation Update - 2021

We have already completed 2 installations this year and there are two more that will be installed and completed in time for Christmas.

Already Installed:

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
Installed by Bespoke Home Cinemas and officially opened in August.
Rose Road Association, Southampton, Hampshire (see main image).
Installed by Wessex AV and officially opened in September.

To Be Completed:

Linden House, Fitzroy, Uckfield.
Installer: In the process of being sourced via AWE in Epsom
Current Situation:     Products almost sourced.
Completion Date:     End November 2021.
Reubens Retreat, Glossop, Derbyshire
Installer: Glo Audio Visual.
Current Situation: Just finalising last couple of products required.
Completion Date: End November 2021

Installation Update – 2022 and Beyond

For the first time ever Together For Cinema will go into a year with 5 installation venues confirmed, and 5 installers all committed and ready to deliver. Room designs and product requirements are being considered and then we have the ‘small’ task of going to our industry to secure the required items, With 5 installs (two of which are quite substantial) this will equate to a significant amount of product but I am optimistic that our industry will step up yet again to give back to our community.

The 5 venues, along with the committed installers, are as follows:-

Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People, Loughborough.
Installer: Gary Mills of Decorum Technology.
Jigsaw, (part of Eden Valley Children’s Hospice), Carlisle.
Installer: Ian Burrow of Majik House.
Andy at St.Andrew’s Hospice, Grimsby.
Installer: Ben Cook of Sonic Vision.
The Donna Louise Children’s Hospice, Stoke-on-Trent.
Installer: Andy Bell of Trusted Technology.
Julia’s House, Corfe Mullen, near Poole.
Installer: Iain Brown of Wessex AV.

Thank you to all the installers who are kindly giving their time to make these very special, life enhancing, cinema rooms happen.

For 2023 we are already talking to the likes of Richard House Children’s Hospice in Beckton, Ty Gobaith (part of Hope House Children's Hospice) in Conwy; Robin House (part of CHAS) in Glasgow; Ellenor House Children’s Hospice, in Gravesend; Helen and Douglas Children’s Hospice in Oxford and Claire House Children’s Hospice in Liverpool.

Sponsorship Support

Together For Cinema began in 2009, but it became an AV industry sponsored enterprise as from March 2021. Therefore 2021 is a 10 month year and so far, it has proven to be a great success with much being achieved and much been set up to further secure our delivery of AV equipment and facilities to good and deserving causes in the future.

I’m pleased to say that the Together For Cinema enterprise has been well supported by our industry and our 2021 sponsorship budget was achieved within only a few months. This enabled us to focus on furthering the foundation and stability of Together For Cinema and most importantly, getting the job done…

We had 34 valued sponsors in 2021 and I am optimistic that most, if not all, of these will continue their support for 2022. However, with this being a 12 month year, along with some ambitious aspirations and expectation, we are needing to secure about 45 sponsors for 2022.

The sooner this can be done, the sooner we can focus on completing the installations, and developing our other activities to further the difference that we can all make in our community.

What To Do Now?

If you are happy to continue your sponsorship support into 2022, or would like to become a new sponsor of Together For Cinema, please contact me at ian@ad-con.uk. Our entry level Bronze package is priced at £500, and there are various levels after this.

Official renewal requests and invitations for new sponsors will be sent out towards the end of November.

Together For Cinema can only continue if it is backed by the AV industry. Please consider being a sponsor…

Recent Developments 1

Listed below are a few of the other positive developments that we’re delighted to report on:-

CEDIA Summit London – September 8th
We are hugely grateful to CEDIA for allowing us to have a presence at their CEDIA Tech Summit at The Business Design Centre in London. It was great to engage with theindustry again and the event was a great success for all involved.
Children’s Remembrance Service at The Bluebells in Basingstoke – September 12th
Together For Cinema, aided by Graham Smith of Samsung, supplied the AV equipment for a very special Children’s Remembrance Service at The Bluebells in North Waltham, near Basingstoke. Many parents and siblings attended and it was as beautiful a day as it possibly could have been.
Ei Live! – September 29th and 30th
We are also hugely grateful to the team at Ei Live! for finding a stand space for Together For Cinema at their show in Farnborough at the end of September. Again, a really successful event and one that gave us great exposure to the industry and a platform to further the awareness of this AV industry good cause enterprise.
Meeting With Medicinema – October 5th.
After months of trying we finally had a meeting with the CEO and COO of Medicinema. MediCinema is a UK-based registered charity that builds, installs and manages state-of-the-art cinemas, screening the latest releases the film industry has to offer in hospitals and health facilities. It is likely that we will find a way to collaborate in the future and are planning quarterly meetings to build our relationship.
Recycling of Second-Hand Equipment – Mid October
October saw the first donated second-hand products recycled to some of the good cause venues that we work with. We anticipate that this will be the start of a more structured process recycling second-hand AV equipment to good causes. Beyond the obvious green benefit of conscientious recycling, we are able to help enhance the day-to-day operation of these deserving venues who otherwise might not be able to afford the AV equipment that is kindly being donated.
Crestron Stock Donation – Late October
Over the years there have been many companies that have donated products to Together For Cinema related installations. We are of course hugely grateful to all who have helped. However, every now and then we receive a larger donation, and on October 29th I viewed 5 pallets of ex trade show demonstration goods that Crestron had kindly donated to Together For Cinema. The 5 pallets consisted of about 150 items including Processors, Remotes, TouchPanels, Speakers etc… Thank you Crestron, we’re delighted to help recycle these items for you and will keep you posted…
LinkedIn Exposure – End October Update
From March 2021 to the end of October our LinkedIn network has almost doubled from just under 1,000 to now being at 1,865. These are virtually all AV industry contacts and it enables us to communicate our social media activity to a wide audience. This is ever growing and I am sure we will soon hit 2,000 contacts.
Fundraising Plans – Ongoing
We are discussing three different fundraising events, with three different companies. Updates will follow…

In Closing

As we approach the end of the year I look back on a remarkable 8 months (March to October) for Together For Cinema. Along with the assistance of our Steering Committee, our Sponsors, our Operational Partners, our Media Partners, our Installation Partners and of course anyone who has helped source equipment, we have established Together For Cinema as a recognised AV Industry good cause enterprise that has a clear and well-backed future.

There is a clear need for what we offer, and a clear desire for our industry to aide and assist in the delivery to good causes. I thank all involved in helping to make this happen and hope that I can bank on your continued support in the coming years.

Our 2021 Management Accounts will be available in January 2022, and will be available on request. By this time the 2022 budget will be completed and will be put to the Steering Committee for their feedback.

Thank you again for your support and remember…