Theatre flexibility can inspire Rawtenstall plan

RARELY a week goes by at the moment without more good news for Bacup. Away from the government funding pledges in recent weeks, it was lovely to hear of the community cinema plan for the Royal Court.

Bacup Now plans to hold monthly cinema events at the wonderful old theatre. Alan Boon of Bacup Now said: “We’ve been without a cinema for a very long time. Bacup Now has got together with the Royal Court Theatre and after quite a long discussion - months in fact - we thought we would try and set up a cinema inside the theatre.

“We have set the admission price as low as we can. We wanted to create a cinema where the kids that cannot go to Bury or Burnley without spending £20 each, can come.”

It’s a wonderful idea. The cinema can be remarkably expensive these days, especially if pester power gets going when picking up tickets, which at local Vues can only be collected from the sweetie and popcorn stands.

It’s interesting that only this week, the Reel cinema in Burnley announced plans to move to bigger and better premises.

It still seems strange to this column than Rossendale Council is so reluctant to consider community leisure facilities in the Spinning Point development.

At the moment, the council seems determined that the outcome of closing Haslingden baths to divert money into the Rawtenstall scheme, and borrowing millions more besides, should be a spa in the town centre.

Surely there is a more imaginative solution here - maybe the different uses for Bacup’s Royal Theatre is a place for the council to go looking for ideas.