'Our small cinemas bring the community together'

Tucked away in a side street in St Helens is an unexpected, thriving cultural hub, kept going by a group of dedicated film lovers.

Hidden behind a courthouse and in a former Unitarian Chapel is Lucem House Community Cinema.

For the past ten years a team of dedicated volunteers have worked to bring films from across the world as part of a "traditional cinema experience" for people in an industrial town best known for its mining and glassworks.

"When people come to watch a film it's not a question of just walking in and then walking out afterwards, people stay for a while, people have conversations," volunteer director Rose Davis said.

The 50-seater cinema shows mainstream movies, independent films, foreign language features and also has a space for other arts events including performance poetry and history readings.

"We offer that choice, the types of films maybe you'd have to travel to, Liverpool or Manchester, for most people in St Helens that's quite a big trip out," Rose said.

"But mainly for us it's about the local community."

The venue's success is also part of a trend which has seen people shun multiplex cinemas in search of a more traditional cinematic experience.

"It's quite a unique environment we have here," fellow volunteer director Dave Morris said.

"We try to give as much as we can back to the community."

In order to help pay for the building's overheads and license the films the cinema is also available for hire, which Rose said is popular with local community groups who want to have the cinema to themselves "as a safe, enclosed space".

"We have community groups who come here and, say for example it's a musical, they can sing and dance if they want to during the film - the kind of stuff you can't do in a multiplex cinema."

It is a similar vision to that shared by Wythenshawe community cinema The Block, founded in 2019 by Stephen Evans.

He said he wanted to "bring people together and introduce them to cinema".

From humble beginnings in the utility room of an apartment block to an audience of 30 people, the cinema is now located in Forum Library, where the "pop-up" seats up to 120 people for one showing a week, and remains Wythenshawe's only cinema.

"In an age of distraction, to actually have the beauty and the comfort, the relaxation to sit down, leave and unpack everything that's going on in your life," Stephen said.

"I really think that's what we're about.

"We definitely deal with issues like isolation, loneliness and well-being - as well as responding to a demand for affordable cinema locally."

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