Dear SHTA Friends,
In this newsletter we’d like to draw your attention to two particular events coming up soon: (1) the Christmas Dinner & Party; and (2) the November Film Night. Please reply as soon as possible if you’re interested intending these.
Anyway, two weeks ago me and Mrs Jones, as the song ungrammatically goes, re- turned from our 5-week Rugby World Cup trip around France. Starting in Honfleur to see friends and discuss next year’s Honfleur group visit to Sandwich and ending in Nantes for our final match, we went from Summer temperatures to the surprise of seeing England progress through the tournament! Many thanks go to the Committee and to Vice-Chair, Mark Moorhouse, in particular for keeping SHTA matters ticking over while we were away.
The vast majority of you will have by now paid your £12.50 Subscription for membership of SHTA for another year. If you weren’t at the cinema on 18th October to receive your Member’s Card please ensure that you force me or a Committee member into a corner to obtain one of these; it’s a useful tool to refer to for any dates, film titles, events and contact details during the course of the 2023-2024 season.
At this point in the newsletter, as you know, I normally give some information about the upcoming film. This month will be different for the following reason: you have the opportunity to be a film extra! Those of you at the October film would have met Richard Herrington who, prior to the film, explained to us his wish to produce a film about the History of the Empire Cinema. Below are a few background details about Richard and his colleague, Terry Wilson:
“As retired residents in Birchington, over the past eight years we have worked together on community based film projects about local topics of interest. All the films have been supported totally by volunteer effort, freely contributed by many individuals and businesses. We don’t have nor have ever asked for any funding. Our aim is entertain and inform on topics of local interest. The films have been shown as part of an evening organised by The Birchington Heritage Trust, they also have some copies on DVD for research use.
Should you wish to view any of our past productions, below are links to the films:
• The Dambusters at Reculver https://vimeo.com/765825070 The password is Manston
• Thanet Coastal Birdlife https://vimeo.com/296496959
• The Destruction of St Mary’s Church Reculver https://vimeo.com/328170390”
Richard gives further details of the evening as follows:
“Our [intention is to produce a] film about The Empire Cinema and filming members of The Sandwich & Honfleur Twinning Society, playing the part of an audience in the cinema’s upstairs auditorium on Wednesday 15th November, at 17:00. This will enable us to film upstairs in the auditorium before your evening event starts and before the cinema opens to the public. Once the filming is complete in the upstairs auditorium, we’d also like to film some of your event in the lounge downstairs, which will show the local community supporting its local cinema. If anyone has any interesting Empire Cinema related stories, (I’m sure they will have) we’d love to hear them. As well as having a past life as a snooker club, dances were also held at The Empire, hence the large floor area in what was originally part of the stalls. I wondered if during the interval at your evening event we might persuade a few to briefly take to the ‘dance floor’, with the help of some suitable music?”
Our own film on the night, about which you’ll find more information below, will start, as usual, at 7.30 pm. However, if you attend the filming in the upstairs auditorium, you’ll be invited to a Free Buffet downstairs in the lounge. Richard and Terry would like to see as many people as possible upstairs for the filming and, therefore, invite not only yourselves but friends and family too. The process of making this short film and the final product will support the Empire Cinema and its staff who themselves are fully behind the project.
The SHTA film itself for Wednesday 15th November is entitled ‘Demain Tout Commence’ (English title – ‘Two Is A Family’). Released in 2016, the film was written and directed by Hugo Gélin. It is both a comedy of manners and a melodrama. It tells the story of a father (Omar Sy) who raises, with the help of a friend, his little girl, whom her mother abandoned at birth and who comes to take her back 8 years later. The film surprises with its theme. It nevertheless met with notable public success.
If you’d like to see our November film which runs for 118 minutes and has a PG classification then contact Jan Cooper on jannicooper@icloud.com or phone her on 01304 612895 to secure your place. The price per person is £7.50 per person and can be made online in advance to SHTA; account number is 42027168, and sort code is 30-90-09. If you’re unable to attend the upstairs live filming from 5.00 pm, you’re very welcome nevertheless to come to the SHTA film starting at 7.30 pm.
Numbers for this, as usual, are limited, so it’s important that you do reserve your place via Jan in advance.
We would appreciate knowing in advance for planning purposes exactly how many want to attend: (i) the filming upstairs; (ii) the free buffet; (iii) the SHTA film down-stairs, so please do let Jan Cooper or myself (or both!) know asap. As in recent years, there will be no film shown in December due to the other events we’ll be holding during the month, namely:
1) Our ‘Vin Chaud’ stand at the Christmas Lights Switch-On which will take place in the Guildhall Forecourt on Saturday 2nd December. You’ll find the SHTA stand strategically placed on the corner opposite Ossie’s Fish Bar from 3.00 pm – 7.00 pm. If you’d like to lend a hand for an hour or so on the stand helping to promote SHTA and selling cups of our famous brew, please do contact Christine Ratcliffe on christine.ratcliffe@outlook.com. If you can’t help we’d love to see you visiting the stand just for a chat. 2) The festive theme continues on Thursday 7th December when we’ll be holding our Christmas Party And Dinner at Tan Bueno Restaurant in New Street Sandwich. The cost per person is £32.00 for 2 courses and £37.00 for 3 courses. Numbers are limited to 50 and diaries around this time of year are often busy, so please by Monday 20th November:
(i) let me know if you’d like to attend.
(ii) what are your menu selections (it’s enough just to tell me the bold, underlined part in italics).
(iii) make your payment to SHTA.
Starters:
- Seared Pigeon Breast with Charred Pear, Wild Mushrooms & a Juniper Broth.
- Glazed Goats Cheese, Honey, Fig & Pistachios on Roasted Beetroot.
- Crispy Bread & Coconut crumbed Tiger Prawns with an Orange, Honey and Chilli dip.
Mains: - Serrano wrapped Turkey Breast stuffed with a herby stuffing.
- Roast Belly Pork
- Cranberry, Parsnip and Porcini Mushroom Wellington (vegan)
- All Mains served with all the trimmings
Desserts: - Christmas Pudding with Cream of Brandy and Baileys.
- Chocolate Brownie with Blood Orange Sorbet and Orange Blossom Sauce.
- Almond Tart with Poached Pear, Cinnamon Ice Cream and a Fruit Saffron Sauce.
You’re invited to dress in festive style (there’ll be prizes of course!) and join in the fun and games, for which there will also be prizes. There will be a complementary free glass of fizz on arrival at 6.30 pm and the meal itself will start at 7.00 pm. There will be tables of six, therefore it would be useful to know if you have a preference on whom you’d like to sit with.
While you have your diary out, paper or digital, you might want to note in it that there are now less than 12 months before the Honfleur Group arrives for its 4-day visit to Sandwich from Thursday 31st October – Sunday 3rd November 2024. The Committee has already made some provisional plans for the time our friends will be with us which we’ll pass on to you in due course.
Finally, you may or may not be aware of the very sad news that Janet Yapp passed away on 6th October at the barely-believable age of 89. Janet had been a member of SHTA for many years, spoke excellent French, regularly supported events especially the exchange with Honfleur, and always had the wish to help others. Her strong personality and ever-present smile will be sorely missed. Janet’s funeral will be on 8th November at 12.00 pm in St Clement’s Church Sandwich. If you’d like to attend, please contact us so that we can inform the family. The Honfleur Twinning Committee has also lost one of its longest-serving members in Rosine Grenier who sadly died on 20th October. She had, since 2005, helped to organise and participated in many visits both to Sandwich and Honfleur through which she forged many lasting friendships.
That’s all the news for now. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Empire Cinema on 15th November for the re-enactment of the occasion in 1993 when it was re-opened and the film ‘Cliffhanger’ was shown.
Best wishes, Stuart & the Committee