BBC presenter’s Movie Night hits target for ‘a great little school’

FUND raising for Aston Rowant Primary School’s new hall was given a boost after its charity movie premiere, organised by BBC Sport presenter, Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, made just over £3000.

Members of the dance group, White Star Performers, with Amit Gupta, Ray Panthaki and Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes

In a pop-up style cinema, Kingston Blount Village Hall was packed with movie goers to watch the DVD premiere of the British feature film, Jadoo, followed by ‘an audience with’ the Director – Amit Gupta’ afterwards.

Delighted with the success of the evening, Lizzie said: “The night was everything I’d hoped it would be. It had a proper ‘movie premiere’ feel with the red carpet and dancers. Everyone loved the film and we had so much local support with free canapés from DuoChef, to the wine and beer from a local wholesaler who wants to remain anonymous. Kingfisher lager and Majestic Wine were also very generous and the popcorn was donated from Waitrose. It was just like a real cinema!”

The film’s Director, Amit Gupta, lives locally and his daughter attends Aston Rowant School. He explained how the event came about: “I was asked by Lizzie, whose daughter is in the same class as mine, if I would mind the film being screened to raise money for the new hall. You don’t say ‘no’ to Lizzie and the school clearly needs a hall. The kids can’t do PE if it’s raining and they need somewhere to stage plays and performances.”

Amit’s close friend and one of the film’s stars, Ray Panthaki, also attended the premiere. The former Eastenders actor joined in the question and answer session and pulled the raffle.

Aston Rowant’s Head Teacher, Judith Lawson, thanked the audience for their support afterwards adding: “This is just the beginning. We were given planning permission this week to build the new classroom so we can convert the old hall back into a hall for sport and assemblies, and for the children to eat their lunch. We need to raise over a quarter of a million pounds to complete the building project. Aston Rowant is a great little school and together we can make it greater.”

As well as the film screening, the red carpet event featured a specially choreographed dance routine from White Star Performers who provide dance tuition to school’s in the Oxford area. Tanya White, Director of White Star Performers, said: “We felt strongly about supporting this event because the new hall will enable the pupils to do dance classes at school. It was wonderful that so many of the guests were delighted with our dancers as they came onto the red carpet, even to see some joining in with us! We’d like to thank Linda Mace who provided our costumes for this fantastic event.”

The cinema experience was made all the more genuine by Kandya Limited who provided their professional screening services free of charge. The company’s Director, Graham Southgate, is friends with the event’s co-organiser Phil Archer, whose children recently attended Aston Rowant Primary School. “Because I know Phil, when Lizzie asked, I wanted to help,” he explained. “The end result looked and sounded really good. It’s incredible how you can turn a village hall into a proper cinema. They even had my friend’s children as ushers with torches!”

ABOUT JADOO

Co-starring Madhur Jaffrey, Jadoo is a British-made comedy about two feuding brothers and their curry restaurants in Leicester (a bit like East is East.) The film has just finished its UK general release following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Express – “Buoyant and beautifully shot, the picture is a celebration of food and family life that adroitly sidesteps many cultural clichés”

The BBC’s Mark Kermode – “I watched the whole thing with a big smile on my face.”

Jadoo’s classification is 12a, running time – 84 minutes.