The motivation came from a village appraisal where local people decided their needs and wants for Wray. The children wanted to see films in the Village Hall, rather than have to travel 15 miles to the nearest cinema in Morecambe. It also costs about £5 per head for adults at the Morecambe cinema, plus whatever petrol costs are involved to travel there. It’s virtually impossible to reach by public transport. Calculate the cost for a family of four, and you can see why it makes sense to have a cinema in the Village Hall! The Village Hall Treasurer had seen a TV programme some months previously about a company called ‘Flicks in the Sticks’ which toured movies in villages in rural Kent, and so we thought we’d try something similar.

The specialist equipment that we needed turned out to cost around £9,000 (provided by Lancashire County Council’s Rural Development Programme). For a full cinema setup we got a digital projector, a digital amplifier with theatre facility, a big screen and 6 speaker surround-sound system. The installers showed us how to put it all together, but I also wrote the instructions down because the handbooks that come with the gear are really complicated! Usually about 3 or 4 people from the village, of various ages, help to set up the equipment before a show, and they’ve all picked it up really quickly.

We can only get films from FilmBank Distribution (part of Warner Bros) and the performance rights costs about £100 per showing! To make sure we can cover this we charge £3 for adults and £2.50 for under-12s. Films are only available to us after they’ve been released to retail video shops, which can be up to 9 months after the original cinema release. It’s a pain, but we have to live with it. We try to get newish films for the kids, but the adult films tend to be more diverse. We also provide our own bar, selling wine, cans of beer, soft drinks and snacks. This takes a bit of forward planning as we have to get a licence from the Magistrates court.

An Arts Day was organised for all the Sure Starts so we could get ideas for costumes. With the help of one of the professional artists there, Jane Blackburn, we learnt that costumes that are the same in colour and design make more visual impact. The children involved in the Carnival were aged from 6 months to 4 years, so the costumes had to be child friendly. We needed to use materials that were light in weight and simple in design but also bright and eye catching. We also entered a 'Carnival Queen' candidate and had to remember that her costume was to come out of our overall limited budget.

Another meeting was held where we decided who would be which character and the costumes they would wear. We also decided to use and decorate the Sure Start minibus as our float instead of a lorry. A lorry was seen as too much of a health and safety risk with such small children being involved. Plus, we could also keep potties, baby changing equipment, water, picnic food and a first aid kit on the bus! We also agreed to take prams and pushchairs for tired little legs so they would need decorating too!

Danielle Molyneux, our Community Development Worker, arranged weekly sessions where we met up and made the costumes and pram decorations. People were given jobs and it was all hands on deck! The children were also encouraged to make and decorate fishes at Parent & Toddler groups, and at home. We used the fishes to decorate our prams and the minibus.

Five days before the big day we had a dress rehearsal and did last minute jobs. A map of the route was distributed and wristbands given to each child in case they got lost. One volunteer had a mobile phone and this number was printed on the wristbands. We were given wrist leads/reins for the children to keep them from running off or getting caught up in the crowds. Instructions were given as to where to meet and at what time. Forms were also filled out with details of family that could be contacted should it be required.

On the day itself I got the children dressed after breakfast so their costumes would remain reasonably clean! The sky threatened rain so I put cardigans and tights on the girls as well as flat shoes. I got the girls in the car as well as the pram, picnic, changing bag, drinks, umbrellas and camera, but completely forgot to think about my own needs! I didn’t take a coat or cardigan or put any tights or trousers on under my skirt. I also forgot to reckon with the traffic. I got stuck in a traffic jam created by the police closing off roads due to the carnival. Eventually we got there, went to our spot and I put on my huge fairy wings and tied the decorations to the pram.

We thought there might be a delay with the Carnival as it has a reputation for always starting late but after 2 hours of waiting we were all thoroughly fed up, cold and needed the toilet! I only had on a short sleeved t-shirt and thin skirt. Someone lent me a jacket which I draped around my shoulders and around the huge wings. My shoulders were starting to ache from the wings but I was reluctant to take them off in case we had to start at any moment. Now I wish that we hadn’t put our costumes on until just before the carnival set off, and brought more warm clothing from home.