Marie Curie Hospices help anyone with an illness they’re likely to die from, and those close to them, receive the care and support they need. Whether staying at the hospice, or staying just for the day, they are there to help.
There are nine hospices in the Marie Curie group and they are located all over the UK with five in the UK, two in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Newcastle site has a range of care and support services.
https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/hospice-care/newcastle
I first met Gill White from Marie Curie Hospice at the opening of the St. Oswald’s Children’s and Adult Hospice cinema room on January 11th, 2023. St. Oswald’s is located a little north of Newcastle town centre and they work closely with Marie Curie.
Having spoken to Gill before the opening we had agreed that I would visit Marie Curie before catching my train back home to Surrey. This I did and having met some of the team and families at Marie Curie I was keen to help as best I could.
As ever it was important to find a local installer who could take on the work. With Creative Install having helped us with St Oswalds it seemed fair to look at another local installer to make this happen.
Not knowing too many installers in and around the Newcastle area I contacted Steve Carter at CEDIA to see who might be appropriate to talk to about getting involved. Steve kindly suggested a couple of local installers and one particularly had expressed interest in getting involved with a charitable installation. This was the installer that I contacted first and they were immediately on board. Great…, I thought…, though sadly all that happened was that the installation was delayed by several months. The installer become very difficult to get hold of though was still keen to help. Ultimately they were unable to deliver and have since had some ‘challenges’.
So..., we needed to kick start the installation and we needed to find a new, and credible installer. Melanie Malcolm, one of our directors, suggested a company that I had heard of called Wakefields. I didn’t know much about them but I had been assured they were an excellent and credible installation company.
Fast forward a couple of months and Martin Wakefield, and his very extended team, were on board and fully committed to making a very special cinema room experience at Marie Curie, and this they did…
With the delays experienced with our original installer it wasn’t until October 2023 that Martin Wakefield of Wakefields, the now fully committed installer, was able to visit the Marie Curie hospice.
The hospice is actually only a mile or two away from his showroom in Newcastle and Martin already had some links to, and knowledge of, the hospice.
Martin’s visit was very positive, but the room that we had to work with had a few challenges in terms of size and shape, however Martin had a vision… This vision became grander and greater as time went on and as more skills got involved in the installation.
Martin recruited Lesley Mcdine from Fleur Interiors, a well-known interior designer, and also Dan Clint, a lighting consultant form CP Lighting. The combined skills of this team created an ambitious design that would surpass all expectation.
A great design for the room needed great product to deliver a quality cinematic experience. This we were confident to achieve but an added bonus to the room was that Silent Gliss had agreed to cover all the automated tracking and curtains. This was hugely generous but gave yet another special dimension to the room’s design.
All this and I’ve not mentioned the AV equipment yet!
With so many special design features it was essential that the AV equipment and the cinema’s performance was up to the rest of the room. This meant appealing to some our industry for some very special products.
Along with Silent Gliss we were delighted to again secure excellent products from long term Together For Cinema product donors Control4 and Denon. We were also thrilled to have first time product donors Origin Acoustics supply a comprehensive and high quality audio solution, and PPDS donated a 98” Philips Professional Display that is fed via Apple TV and gives a fantastically clear and high quality image.
A truly impressive and immersive cinematic experience, in a wonderfully crafted and designed room.
Great skills, great equipment and a desire to deliver from all involved ended up creating something very special…
- CP Lighting (Lighting): Various light fittings as required.
- Denon (AV Receiver): AVCX3800.
- Fleur Interiors (Interior Design): Materials, skills and a whole heap of ‘designability’!
- Origin Acoustics (Speakers): 3 x On Wall Marquees, 4 x M2500IC in ceiling speakers, 1 x M1500 sub and 1 x A500 Sub.
- Philips Professional Displays (Screen / Monitor): 98” Android SoC signage display.
- Silent Gliss (Curtains): 4 x Wave Curtains with associated automated tracking to accommodate straight line track and corner track.
- Snap One (Control): 1 x EA-1 controller, 1 x SR-260 remote control and relevant curtain control as required.
- Snap One (Lighting): 2 x Square Dual Load Wireless Phase Adaptive Dimmer, 2 x Square Faceplates, 1 x Araknis 110 Series 8 Port Switch and 1 x Pakedge WA2200-1 Wifi Access Point.
- Snap One (Mount): 1 x Razor Series XL Fixed Mount 49-90" Displays
- Together For Cinema (Content): 1 x Apple TV 4k 128GB, with wi-fi and ethernet.
- Wakefields Smarter Home Technology (Various): Installation consumables, as well as project management, design and installation time.
Thursday 21st March, 2024.
Wednesday June 5th, 2024.
With diaries as they are the earliest date we could get together was Tuesday 9th July, 2024. This eagerly awaited opening (particularly for me as I hadn’t been to site for 17 months!) was a well planned and well attended event.
Myself, along with Martin and Kevin from Wakefields, Lesley from Fleur Interiors, Alex Cockram from Control4 and a host of the care team enjoyed popcorn ice cream, sweety cones and also the pleasure of the company of artist, panto-star, and former BBC Radio Newcastle presenter, Alfie Joey, who kindly helped cut the ribbon, and also nibble the popcorn!
Martin kindly showed us what the room can do and it really is a room of the very highest quality, delivering a fantastic cinema tic experience. Lesley outlined some of the design features and went through the reasoning behind her fabulous fabric choices.
Having nibbled on cinema treats we were invited upstairs for a delicious buffet lunch where Gill White from Marie Curie and Martin Wakefield were presented with their Together For cinema plaques which they both seemed very happy to receive.
The end result was a lovely day and we were all grateful for the effort to make the official opening as special as it was, and looking after us all so well.
It was also very special for us to see how much this new room means to so many at Marie Curie. The night before we had the opening a young patient and his wife snuggled up with a bottle of wine to watch a movie and said that they hadn’t had a proper night out for months – that’s how special this wonderful room is…
”Thank you for bringing Wakefields in on our first (and definitely not last) Together for Cinema project.
Working with you and the Marie Curie Hospice team has been an absolute pleasure for all of us, and the whole Wakefields installation team has really embraced being involved in such a rewarding way -taking our skill sets and what we can do, and giving them over to the Marie Curie team who do so much for so many in so many ways.
Hearing the stories that the new Cinema Room is already in use and creating memories for those families that get to visit the Hospice is a reward far beyond financial; and we will carry that emotion with us every day. No doubt the next project will have an equally positive impact on all of us here at Wakefields. Bring it on!”
Martin Wakefield (Managing Director, Wakefields Smarter Home Technology)
“Last year we had a lady staying with us, and her young daughter just wanted to cuddle up with her mum and watch a Disney film. While we made it work as best we could using the large TV in the family room, we thought it would be really special if we had a dedicated facility where patients and their families could spend time together, watch a movie and escape from reality for a little while.
Not long after this I had the pleasure of meeting Ian from Together for Cinema. I was hugely impressed by a project that had been undertaken locally and I asked Ian for advice on creating a space at Marie Curie Hospice, Newcastle. I was delighted when Ian said he would like to work with us.
14 months later we have just opened the most beautiful state of the art cinema room which is much than we ever could have imagined.
Newcastle based companies Wakefields Smarter Home Technology and Fleur Interiors volunteered their team and expertise to the project; and worked with the hospice team to ensure the room is not only beautiful but adaptable and practical - making it accessible to all patients. They have been totally committed to the project and incredibly generous in helping to create this wonderful space., as have all the suppliers including Silent Gliss and Snap One/Control 4 who kindly attended the opening event.
The first patient to use the stunning cinema room was a young gentleman and his wife, they snuggled up enjoying a movie and a glass of wine. It meant so much to them as they haven’t had a night out in months.
We are incredibly grateful to Together For Cinema and the generosity of everyone in the industry, all of whom were incredibly helpful during the whole process. Without them, none of this would have been possible.
The cinema room will be an immersive escape for the patients and their families and provide them with opportunities to create cherished memories in such a special facility.
Thank you Ian and all associated with Together For Cinema.”
Gill White, Interim Head of Operations for Marie Curie North East services, Marie Curie Hospice
- Ian Morrish (Founder, Together for Cinema)
- Martin Wakefield (Managing Director, Wakefields Smarter Home Technology)
- Kevin Hogg (Project Manager, Wakefields Smarter Home Technology)
- Lesley Mcdine (Owner, Fleur Interiors)
- Dan Clint (Director, CP Lighting)
- All the manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers that supplied the necessary product, all of whom have already been mentioned in the Kit List above.
- The Together for Cinema Directors and Partners, without who these installations would not be possible.
THANK YOU…, you have helped make a real difference at Marie Curie in Newcastle, and in turn, have made a real difference to so many people’s lives.
With all the professional help that formed the design and installation team it is unsurprising that this was one of the more ‘high value’ cinema rooms that Together For Cinema had delivered. As I have always say a good installer is key to the success of any of our installations and Martin and Kevin really stepped up to pull together a great team that delivered an amazing room on so many levels.
With the addition of a high quality speaker package, an interior designer and tailor made curtains with high quality materials, it took a £30,000 room up to about £65,000 if all products and skills had been paid.
For Marie Curie this beautiful new cinema room with the big screen experience and the immersive audio is a wonderful addition to their facilities and will help create so many special times and memories to those families going through the most challenging of times.
This was Together for Cinema’s 43rd good cause cinema room installation and helped take the Together for Cinema good cause community delivery to approximately £1,158,500 worth of installations, had they all been paid for.
This installation, along with some of our others, shows how a team can come together and create something very special. Having Martin Wakefield driving this installation was key to it’s success and his commitment to the installation was comprehensive and considerate. I’m delighted that we’ve both agreed to work with each other again…
I know that Martin and all involved felt the ‘feel good’ factor, and took great pleasure in making this room happen. As Martin says, the reward is way beyond anything financial…
For further details please contact Ian Morrish at:-
Work: 01372 454366 ♦ Mobile: 07768 398007 ♦ Email: ian@ad-con.uk
www.togetherforcinema.co.uk
Report Created by Ian Morrish. All quotes to be from Ian Morrish, unless otherwise stated.
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