Wonderful time to be outdoors!

OUTDOOR cinema returns to Southport this month with the 1946 Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life.

The event is hosted by the Friends of King’s Gardens, with their first ever Christmas event.

Families can enjoy watching perhaps the greatest Christmas movie of all time at King’s Gardens in Southport on Saturday, December 17, with entertainment starting at 2pm, and the film being screened at around 3.45pm as dusk falls.

Visitors can also tuck into a hog roast.

Denise Roney from the Friends of King’s Gardens said: “So you thought we had gone quiet for the winter? Not at all!

“All of our faithful patrons of our spring and summer events, and new friends too, are welcome to join us.

“There will be hot drinks available along with various crafts and of course some Christmas carols.

“Not only that but we have an Open Air Cinema commencing at approximately 3.45pm, usually around dusk.

“We are showing one of the old favourites, starring James Stewart, within the Community Garden.

“Donations of £2 per person are welcomed – all which will help fund our future events.

“You will need to wrap up really warm of course, blankets and a hot flask may be a good idea too.

“Don’t forget a chair to sit on as the ground will be really hard and cold.

“Although we all love snow at this time of the year – perhaps not on this day.”

It’s A Wonderful Life stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a small-town man whose life seems so desperate he contemplates suicide.

He had always wanted to leave Bedford Falls to see the world, but circumstances and his own good heart led him to stay.

He sacrificed his education for his brother’s, kept the family-run savings and loan afloat, protected the town from the avarice of the greedy banker Mr Potter and married his childhood sweetheart.

As he prepares to jump from a bridge, his guardian angel intercedes; showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls if he had never lived.