Dear SHTA Friends,
First of all, a big merci beaucoup to the many of you who came as ‘extras’ to the Empire Cinema on Wednesday 15th November. It was certainly a different kind of film night for us, since we’d been asked to arrive earlier than usual by local film producer and director, Richard Hetherington, so that he could capture us on film in various locations at the Empire pretending to be an audience back in 1993, the year the cinema was re-opened.
Some of our members were welcomed to the cinema by a commissionaire; others were given their tickets and shown into the auditorium; while the entire group was filmed reacting to the (imaginary) film, “Cliffhanger” being shown on screen; a number of volunteers were filmed in the downstairs lounge using the dance floor for its original purpose, doing a variety of dances. Finally a selection of our members were recorded giving their memories and anecdotes of the Sandwich cinema from thirty years ago.
Richard informed us that we’d be able to see the finished product depicting the history of the Empire Cinema when completed but, in the meantime, you’ll find a sneak preview of our group on the Homepage of our website. On the night we were delighted to welcome four members from Minster Twinning Association to join us. As a reward for their efforts our actor-members were given a free buffet downstairs, followed by our own French film, ‘Demain Tout Commence’, attended by a super-sized audience of almost sixty. Reactions to the film ranged from ‘great’ to ‘simply wonderful’.
Now that we’re into December, officially Winter and the festive period, we can look forward to our two SHTA social activities for this month:
1) Saturday 2nd December sees SHTA members in charge of our Vin Chaud stand in the Guildhall Forecourt. Many thanks in advance to those of you who have volunteered to do a stint of one hour on our stand, promoting and explaining what our Association represents and gets up to, as well as selling our famous brew. A generous and delicious portion of hot red wine, cinnamon, sliced orange and cassis for a mere £4.00 will guarantee to warm you up on what may well be a chilly but clear day. We shall be on the side next to the Guildhall itself and near the road from 3.00 – 7.00 pm, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible just to have a chat and exchange festive wishes. Oh, and by the way, the Lantern Parade around the town starts at 6.00 pm, while the Christmas Lights Switch-On is at 7.00 pm.
2) Thursday 7th December is the date forour Christmas Dinner & Party.
Forty-five members have already signed up for this extravaganza, but we could be persuaded to include anyone who thinks they would be crazy to miss this one. The cost for two courses is £32 while for three courses it’s £37. We’ll be at Tan Bueno Restaurant in Sandwich at 6.30 pm for a complementary glass of fizz with the meal starting at 7.00 pm. There will be a couple of quizzes and some compulsory silliness involved in the festive games. If you’re interested or would like more information please contact me asap (contact details at the end of this newsletter). We’ll be happy to include you! For those of you who are coming I’ll send you a reminder of the key points a couple of days beforehand.
In many respects 2024 may well seem like light years away, however, it’s perhaps useful to know what’s just on the horizon. If you’ve become a member of SHTA in the past 12-18 months we’re inviting you to a New Members’ Evening. This will be give you an opportunity to meet fellow new members as well as the 10 members of the Committee. It will take place at a venue in Sandwich which is probably well-known to the vast majority but which we are still to confirm and the date will be either Wednesday 10th or Thursday 11th January, also still to be confirmed! I’ll be in touch very soon with the twelve or so new members we’ve had during this time.
Our first film of 2024 will be ‘La Bête Humaine’ (‘The Human Beast’). We’ll be screening this on Wednesday 17th January at 7.30 pm in the Empire Cinema.
‘La Bête Humaine’ is a 1938 film directed by Jean Renoir, with cinematography by Curt Courant. The picture features Jean Gabin and Simone Simon, and is loosely based on the 1890 novel ‘La Bête Humaine’ by Émile Zola. Rotten Tomatoes’ “Tomatometer” rates the film at 94% and here is their synopsis:
“On board a train bound for the port city of Le Havre, France, railroad stationmaster Roubard (Fernand Ledoux) murders Grandmorin (Jacques Berlioz), who seduced his beautiful young wife, Severine (Simone Simon). Engineer Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin), stuck in Le Havre while the train is being repaired, also begins a passionate affair with Severine, who tries to entice the handsome stranger to murder her controlling husband. However, Lantier has a secret urge of his own that changes everything.”
As usual, if you’d like to see the January film, please contact Jan Cooper on jannicooper@icloud.com or phone her on 01304 612895 to secure your place.
That’s all for now, everyone. All that remains is to hope that we see you at one or both of our upcoming events and to wish you a very happy and peaceful festive period for you and anyone dear to you.
Best wishes, Stuart & the Committee
