Kites Corner

Location: Gloucester, Gloucestershire

Kites Corner

North Upton Lane

Gloucester

GL4 3TR

01452 612216

Kites Corner (part of the James Hopkins Trust), Gloucester, Gloucestershire

 

 

LOCATION AND INTRODUCTION:

Kites Corner is part of the James Hopkins Trust and was established in 1989 and is located just to the South of Gloucester, quite close to the M5.

Kites Corner provides care for babies and children up to the age of 5 who have a life limiting or life-threatening condition while supporting their families. They currently support over 90 children in Gloucestershire.

Since 1989 James Hopkins Trust has helped well over 500 children and their families in every corner of Gloucestershire, their free nursing respite can be night or day in the family home or at their purpose built multi-sensory respite centre and gardens called Kites Corner.

There are there to create very special, lasting memories at Kites Corner, which is filled with love and laughter.

www.jameshopkinstrust.org.uk

 

HOW INITIAL CONTACT WAS MADE:

It was in October 2015 when I was first contacted by Sarah James, Head of Fundraising at Kites Corner, and she had read an article about one of our previous installations in the Together For Short Lives internal email newsletter. After this initial contact it took a little while before we first met to discuss the installation, and this was in August 2017.

 

HOW THE INSTALLER / PROJECT MANAGER WAS FOUND:

In July of 2017 Charlton Farm, one of three hospices in the Children’s Hospices South West group, opened their cinema room that had been managed and installed by Wyrestorm, a manufacturer of signal distribution and control solutions products. The end result was of course fabulous and Wyrestorm were interested to help with another installation as long as it was reasonably local to their offices in Swindon, Wiltshire. With Kites Corner being only about 35 miles away it was a quick decision by Wyrestorm to agree to help and take on their second installation for Together For Cinema.

 

INITIAL MEETING AND SPECIFICATION:

In order to progress things a meeting was set up on August 22nd 2017 between myself, Sarah James and James Meredith, the International Sales Manager at Wyrestorm. I got the train from Leatherhead to Swindon where James picked me up and off we went to Kites Corner. With the journey being about 45 minutes we were able to discuss product thoughts and schedules and this held us in good stead for our meeting.

We were given a very warm welcome by Sarah and her energy and enthusiasm was instantly infectious. It’s amazing what some people do and how much they make a difference and Sarah was a great example of this…

Our meeting went well and the room chosen for the installation was identified. With the installation needing to be used for films, gaming, training, fundraising etc…, we had one or two installation challenges such as the lighting, the changing furniture requirements etc…, but nothing major. As with many of these installs it needed to be multi use and hence introduced one or two installation limitations.

After the meeting James and I discussed the Kit List and we quickly identified what was required to make this happen and when the install could begin…

 

SOURCING OF PRODUCT:

With the activity of Together For Cinema becoming widely known in our industry it is becoming ‘easier’ to gather the required products that we need to complete the installation. Many of our long supporting manufacturers were happy to help again and this included the likes of Monitor Audio, Middle Atlantic (via RGB Communications), Arcam, Epson, Dataflow and of course Wyrestorm.

With the CEDIA Expo being in September we were able to secure other items required so within a matter of a few weeks we had everything we needed to complete the installation.

One of the issues we had with the room is that there were several roof windows in the room and this made the room difficult to manage with regards to the amount of light that limited the blackout options. Fortunately an old hockey friend of mine works for a very well known roof window company (he’s asked me not to mention them but they’re quite well known!) and he was able to supply all the automated blackout blinds that we needed. A big thank you to Chris and the company that he works for!

 

INSTALL STARTED:

Thursday 30th November, 2017 (Automated Blinds)

Thursday 7th December, 2017 (Cinema)

 

INSTALLER PRE-INSTALL COMMENTS:

TO BE SUBMITTED.”

James Meredith, International Sales Manager, Wyrestorm.

 

INSTALL COMPLETED AND FINAL SIGN OFF:

Wednesday 12th April, 2018.

 

CUSTOMER POST INSTALL COMMENTS:

We are thrilled with the opportunities that the cinema installation has given our children. Sometimes the children staying with us are too unwell to go out into the community for an activity. Together for Cinemas providing a full surround cinema system to enable the cinema to be able to come to the children is beyond our wildest dreams! This is a great sensory and social experience for the children to enjoy and a real treat, the sound vibrates through your body and the screen is big enough to engage our children with visual impairments too. It is also an activity that the whole family can do together and is a great social experience for everyone, as the cinema can be particularly inaccessible for some of the children we care for. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the audio and visual technicians and companies who have donated their time, the equipment and their expertise.”

Sarah James, Head of Fundraising, Kites Corner Children’s Hospice, part of the James Hopkins Trust.

 

INSTALLER POST INSTALL COMMENTS:

TO BE SUBMITTED!”

James Meredith, International Sales Manager, Wyrestorm.

 

 

KIT LIST THAT WAS DONATED:

  • Arcam (AV Receiver): AVR550
  • Enado (Control): ENA-100-010 19” rack mounted control system (hosting HTML5-based control UI, triggering & controlling all components in system via easy macros)
  • Epson (Projector): EH-TW6100 in white
  • Middle Atlantic, donated by RGB Communications (Racking): Traditional style with plexi door in Light walnut with lockable door.
  • Monitor Audio (Speakers): Soundframe 5.1 speaker system in white
  • Monitor Audio (Sub-Woofer): CW8 in black
  • NAD (Blu-Ray Player): T567 BT Blu-Ray Player
  • Premier Group, part funded by Dataflow (Screen): Sapphire Electric Screen (16:9) remote Control Electric Screen, 270.3cm x 151.9cm. (SEWS270RWSF-ATR).
  • Sonance (Docking Station): iPort (keeping iPad, for control UI, secure and charged in removable wall docking station)
  • A Big Roof Window Company: Several automated solar blackout blinds.
  • Wyrestorm (Accessories):
  • EX-35-H2: AVR to existing TV including control.
  • EX-70-H2X: AVR to projector including control.
  • NHD-400-TX/RX: Sending SkyHD box (located in nearby building) over existing LAN fibre link, via 2 network switches into cinema room

On top of the list above many other products and accessories were generously donated by Wyrestorm.

 

PEOPLE INVOLVED IN MAKING IT HAPPEN:

  • Ian Morrish, Founder of Together For Cinema, and Sales Manager, Integrated Systems Europe
  • Dave Schorah (Product Manager), Wyrestorm
  • James Meredith (International Sales Manager), Wyrestorm
  • Alex Martin (IP & Control Support Engineer), Wyrestorm
  • Nick Roberts (Training & Specification Manager), Wyrestorm
  • All the manufacturers and distributors that supplied the necessary product, all of whom have already been mentioned…

THANK YOU to you all!! …you have all helped create a little bit of magic at Kites Corner.

 

FINANCIALS:

All products and services were sourced, supplied and installed free of any charge. The approximate total cost of the install, including consultation, installation, products and any other associated costs would normally have been in the region of £18,000 for an end user price. Wyrestorm have also committed to be available for any servicing and technical queries post install.

 

SUMMARY:

For Together For Cinema, this is our 20th cinema room installation in a children’s hospice and we are now closing in on our target of 25 rooms to be completed by 2020, this being about 50% of the children’s hospices in the Together For Short Lives group. We have four further installations planned and are actively seeking a suitable final installation to complete Together For Cinema’s initial journey… A new time for Together For Cinema will begin once the 25th installation is complete and this will be announced in due course.

The cinema room at Kites Corner is another fabulous donation from our industry and thanks must go to all involved, particularly Dave and James from Wyrestorm, and of course all those who donated product to the cause.

Everyone’s efforts, and the generosity of all concerned, will make a difference to all those that use the room for many years to come. Be it fundraising, teaching or home entertainment, the cinema room at Kites Corner is another installation our industry can be very proud of.

 

Report Created by Ian Morrish. All quotes to be from Ian Morrish, unless otherwise stated.

For further details please contact Ian at:-

Work: 01372 454366 ♦ Mobile: 07768 398007 ♦ Email: ian@ad-con.uk

 

www.togetherforcinema.com

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