The final curtain hasn’t come down on Audrey
IN the late 1960s, the Ministry of Technology built seven custom mobile cinemas to go around factories promoting new developments.
The Bedford vehicles would show films while the attached trailer on the towing unit would provide supporting displays.
The moving picturehouses seated 22 and the plastic Perspex bubble above the cab housed the remote control projection equipment, giving the vehicles a futuristic look.
They were sold off by the Government in 1974 and it is believed there is now only one in existence.
That was passed to the Transport Trust and then to a private owner in Essex in November 1990.
Sadly the mobile cinema remained rather immobile for the next 14 years, until Rob Howell and Nancy-Rose Mills recovered it, taking it to Somerset by HGV.
But they quickly realised, with a young family to care for, that it was just too much work to restore the cinema to its former glory and so it was sold to Oliver Hall in Devon for £1200.
Over the next few years a reported £35,000 was spent on bringing the cinema back to working order, including a new engine, brakes and gear box.
Finally, in 2010, it went back on the road, touring up and down the country and even travelling to Holland and France.
Although it’s billed as being vintage, it’s kitted out with HD projection, Dolby surround sound, climate control air conditioning and sound proofing.
Last year, the cinema was sold on eBay for nearly £120,000 and new owner Ben Moorhouse is continuing to take Audrey, as she is now known, all over Britain showing our favourite films.
Audrey was the mobile cinema based in Scotland during her formative years, and this week she returned home when she came to Edinburgh to take part in the festival.
For the duration of the Fringe she’ll be parked on George Street, where she’s hosting a comedy club each evening and then at 10pm a different comedian will put on his favourite film.
As you would expect, there’s an eclectic list of movies lined up, with everything from The Muppet Christmas Carol and Raging Bull to The Sound of Music and Young Frankenstein.
it just proves that although she’s pushing 50, there’s still plenty of fuel left in Audrey’s tank.